The aims of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction of hotel employees and to find a way to increase job satisfaction of them.

This study is a cross-sectional empirical study conducted for hotel employees in Korea. A total of 314 completed responses were collected and analyzed. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses.

Emotional dissonance decrease job satisfaction, but emotional effort improves it. “Ability to understand emotion” and “ability to understand others’ emotion” are moderating factors that increase job satisfaction joining with emotional effort.

In order for hotel employees to be satisfied with their jobs, it is necessary to develop and implement an emotional intelligence improvement education program that can improve job satisfaction by positively moderating emotional labor.