In the modern globalized age, travel has become much more accessible to the average person. As such, it is not uncommon to see people from all sorts of nationalities and backgrounds traveling all around the world.

This flow of travellers around the world has been very good for the hospitality industry (COVID-19 notwithstanding). New markets bring new revenue streams. However, they also bring new challenges. Communication being chief among them.

The solution is simple in concept but hard to implement; multilingual support. So, in this article, we will go over some ways to incorporate multilingual support at your hotel. This is meant to be a starting point to guide you on your way to being a welcoming hub for guests from all over the world.

1. Hire the Right People

Let’s get the most obvious point out of the way. The best and easiest way to add multilingual support to your hotel is to hire staff that speak more than one language. The more the better.

This is so commonplace that it is becoming something of a standard in the industry. However, we argue that language alone is not enough. One must also be somewhat familiar with the culture as well. There are many faux pas in cultures foreign to our own that once committed, is taken very seriously.

As such, when hiring, consider looking at staff who might have had contact with the culture, not just the language.

2. Translate your Promo Material

This second one entails translating the material you offer to guests in order to promote your hotel, its facilities, and services. These can include anything from social media posts to pamphlets to menus to digital catalogues. Translating this material into other languages offers two main advantages. So let’s go over them one by one.

Firstly, you are able to ensure that the guests who do visit your hotel fully understand what is being offered and what they are choosing to spend on. This can reduce buyer’s remorse and help them enjoy their choices more. Happy guests make for a happy (and profitable) hotel.

Secondly, you are able to enter new markets from around the world. Each of these markets are goldmines for potential new guests, some of whom might even become recurring guests. This is why your promo material needs multilingual support.

3. Update your Online Presence

The third tip we have goes hand in hand with the second one. Just like how you should update your physical promotional material, you should also do the same for your digital material.

By taking some time to provide multilingual options / translations for your website and its content, you make it accessible to countless more potential guests. These are people who would have never known about your hotel or its great offers due to a mere language barrier.

Considering the near-infinite reach of the Internet, there’s no telling who might end up discovering your website or app. Adding multilingual support goes a long way towards making the greatest variety of people feel welcome at your hotel.

4. Incorporate Digital Tools

Last but not least, let’s talk about digital tools and how they can help with multilingual support.

There are a myriad of digital tools that can help translate languages. Tourists often tend to use such devices to communicate when in foreign countries whose language they don’t speak. There are also apps for your mobile phone that can translate speech or text in real-time.

Suggesting tools like this to your staff or making them a standard at your hotel can help further bridge the gap between your staff and your guests.

And there you have it. Four different ways you can incorporate multilingual support at your hotel. We’ve also touched on why it is important.

That being said, if points 3 and 4 caught your attention, let us take a moment to tell you about TripKit.

TripKit is our easy-to-learn, easy-to-use, highly customizable digital concierge app. It is chock full of features to make your staffs’ jobs easier and your guests’ experience more pleasant. One of the more relevant features to this article is its multilingual support.

If you decide to use TripKit to display your hotel and its offers (fully customizable as per your brand requirements), your guests can choose what language with which to view this information. We support most major languages.

We invite smaller hotels to try the default version of TripKit at an affordable price, while larger hotels have the options of getting a white label version of the app, which they can customize to their liking.

If this interests you, why not take some time to visit our website and learn more.