Hospitality Translation Services
FAQ
FAQ
The tourism industry has boomed thanks to global travel becoming increasingly accessible. If businesses are to make the most of the opportunities this brings, they need to start implementing strategies that engage with travellers worldwide. Clear communication is essential, which is why translation services have become a fundamental part of the hospitality industry.
How does translation benefit the hospitality industry?
Good translation services will allow you to deliver high-quality services to any customer from all around the world. This clear communication will help you avoid any problems caused by misunderstandings, ultimately helping grow your business. Read on to find out how.
Reach a wider audience
One way translation can benefit all industries, including the hospitality sector, is by helping you reach a wider audience. The more people you can reach, the more of your services you can sell.
However, simply using machine translation software may not be enough. You also need to consider the nuances and local dialects of your target audience in order to shape the right impression and protect your brand image. This requires human judgement and linguistic expertise, which is why hiring a professional translation agency would be the best way forward.
Deliver a great customer experience
Another benefit of translation within the hospitality industry is that it significantly enhances your customer service. When guests stay at a hotel where they cannot communicate with the staff, they might feel as though they are missing out.
From room service to asking for help at the check-in desk, it would be difficult for them to receive the full experience. Even worse, it could lead to miscommunications and negative experiences. By offering translations, all your guests can have a great experience and receive the same quality of service regardless of the language they speak.
Drive bookings and increase profits
The customer experience, and therefore translation, can also have a big impact on your bottom line. In today’s digital age, the quality of customer service a business offers can be broadcasted to millions of people with the click of a button. If guests cannot enjoy their trip to the full, then they might leave a negative review.
On the other hand, if you translate your content, you can deliver a better experience and encourage people to leave positive reviews. This will help improve your rating, building trust in your services and encouraging other travellers to book their stay with you.
Why choose Intertranslations?
Customer satisfaction is crucial in today’s hospitality and tourism sector, so make sure to invest in quality translation services. Here at Intertranslations, we have nearly 25 years of experience in delivering quality translations to businesses within the travel and hospitality industry.
Offering over 75 language combinations, we can help you attract customers from all over the world by planning and implementing an effective global translation strategy. Our certified linguists will deliver expert translation services, supported by computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools to ensure consistency throughout your documents.
We also offer advanced machine translation and post-editing solutions that combine the best of both machine and human translation services. This lets us provide cheaper, faster and more reliable translation solutions for all types of documents in every sector.
Looking to translate your tourism content? Contact our team to learn more about our translation solutions.
Localisation and translation are typically viewed as the same, but in reality, translation is just a small part of a wider localisation strategy. Translation is essentially the process of translating words from one language directly into another. However, languages are born from different cultures which gives rise to a number of complications.
In order to overcome these challenges, we need localisation. Read on to learn more about why we need this strategy and the best practices to follow when localising content for your business.
Translation and culture
Idioms are a great example of how culture poses a challenge when it comes to translation. An example would be the French idiom, ‘Il me court sur le haricot’. If we were to use a machine translation tool, the result would likely be a literal translation of, ‘he is running on my bean’.
However, the English equivalent would actually be more along the lines of, ‘he is getting on my nerves’. From this example, we can see that a literal translation alone does not always translate the true meaning of words or phrases. This is where localisation comes into play.
Localisation, hospitality and tourism
The hospitality and tourism industries benefit from localisation strategies more than any other sector. With travel becoming more widely accessible, more people than ever can now visit new places abroad and experience a variety of cultures and languages. This means that when dealing with tourism, we are constantly engaging with different audiences and cultures from around the world.
In order to benefit from the booming tourism industry, businesses operating within this sector must be able to communicate clearly with multiple audiences. This means creating content that is relatable, engaging and culturally aware.
Now we know why localisation is important for the hospitality sector, here are some of the best practices to follow when handling different types of documents.
•Market research
Nowadays, bookings are usually made through apps and websites while the majority of marketing uses a variety of materials across various social media platforms. In order to localise all of these, you first need to understand your target audience.
The best way to do this is by carrying out a market analysis. If this shows that most of your sales come from people in Paris, then you should focus on learning more about those customers. This will allow you to choose which languages to prioritise, as well as offering insights into how to create content that engages your ideal customer.
•Website localisation
When looking into localisation strategies, website translation is one of the most rewarding practices and offers the best ROI. One way you can localise your website is by offering the preferred payment method of your target audience. For example, Alipay is very popular in China and so would be more effective for a Chinese website than PayPal, which is more widely used in the UK.
Other localisation changes include changing currencies, measurements and the date and time format. These small practices can save your customers a lot of trouble. For example, when targeting British customers, the format for dates should be the day then the month, while for the US, this changes to month then day.
Such a small difference can have huge consequences for the hospitality industry when dealing with reservations and flight information. By localising this information, you can make sure your customers have the correct information and avoid any misunderstandings.
When translating a website, it is important to note that not all content needs translating. This is because most of the buttons on a website are globally understood.
•Collect user feedback
Once you have localised your website, make sure it works for your audience by asking them directly. You can create questionnaires to collect feedback from users about their experience, giving you valuable insights to help improve the translation of your website. While most people will not comment if the content reads well, the majority will let you know if there is an issue.
• Implement multilingual SEO
Your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is an essential cornerstone of any website, especially multilingual ones. The important thing to understand when using SEO is that a user’s geographical location is a determining factor in your ranking, not language. For example, both Canada and France use the French language, but a website that ranks first for a search query made in France will not rank first in Quebec.
By implementing multilingual SEO that targets specific locations, you can help boost your visibility for relevant searches.
•Choose your languages
When localising your website, it is beneficial to look at the most widely spoken languages worldwide, which are Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, English and Arabic. To miss out on any of these would be a great loss for your business.
Once you have the languages you want to target, there are many ways to implement localisation within the hospitality sector. However, the most fundamental part is market research. At the end of the day, localisation is a marketing strategy. By studying different audiences and gathering databases, you can create an effective localisation strategy that engages your international audience and boosts your conversions.
Work with a professional translation agency
Ready to localise? Make sure you choose a company like Intertranslations that employs liguists who are experts in translation and localisation. With professional linguists specialising in tourism and hospitality, we will help you reach a global audience through quality translations tailored to your localisation strategy.
When people take a trip, there are a lot of deciding factors that come into play which range from distance and price to attractions and hotels. Choosing a destination requires a lot of research, especially for those who are unsure of where to go, and localisation is just one of the many ways that you can help customers decide.
Any business expanding into the global market must adopt a marketing strategy centred around localisation. This is the process of adapting content to make it more appealing and familiar to a specific audience. Since language and culture play a central role in the tourism industry, localising your website is a must in order to engage customers worldwide.
Read on to find out exactly why localisation is important, how the process works, and ultimately how it can help increase your bookings.
Reaching international travellers with translation
Every country has its own cuisine, traditions and attractions, and some travellers will be looking to experience this local culture to the full. These travellers will most likely opt for a hotel that can demonstrate both its local knowledge and ability to provide an authentic cultural experience.
Multilingual websites and social media accounts are great ways of reaching these types of travellers. The content written in your own language gives local colour, while the translated content allows them to understand it in their own native language. This gives them confidence in not only your hotel and services but also in the local expertise you can offer.
Going above and beyond with localisation
However, a great website will also adapt its translated content to suit specific target audiences. This is the localisation process, which makes the user feel as though the website content was created specifically for them. This goes beyond translating the individual words, taking into account the type of content that would appeal most to your audience.
The localisation process
Website localisation begins with content adaptation. This involves adjusting the translation to account for your target audience’s customs and culture. The translation becomes an adaptation that considers the target country’s language habits, level of education, traditions, values, beliefs, and all other idiosyncrasies.
How far the content must be adapted is determined by the language pair. For example, there are more differences between Chinese and British cultures than between French and British.
Regardless of how large or small this cultural gap might be, adapting content is an important step in building trust with your target audience. The goal of any marketing material is to appeal to your audience, and this is what localisation helps you achieve.
Additional content for your multilingual website
Once your basic content has been localised, your website will need to guide them towards a conversion by providing as much information as possible. This is the heart of your marketing strategy, and so you need it to work hard and sell your local area. With this in mind, guides and recommendations are great types of content that you should consider including on your website.
Localised guides with suggested itineraries and travel information will make it easier for guests to access local attractions, restaurants and entertainment. Meanwhile, recommendations also demonstrate your knowledge of all the best local spots and hidden gems. This will reassure your guests, inspiring confidence in your ability to deliver excellent customer service for a great experience.
You can also repurpose these guides by turning them into printed brochures. Offering this information at your hotel will ensure your guests still have access, even while offline and relaxing on holiday.
Other areas to localise
Aside from the content, you should also consider adding the preferred local payment choice of your target market. For example, if you target Chinese customers then you might want to add AliPay to your options. This choice lets travellers pay using the method they are most comfortable with for a seamless and user-friendly experience.
Quality localisation strategies from professionals
All of the above requires experience and expertise in localisation strategies. By hiring a translation company with the relevant know-how, you can make sure that your localised content will appeal to your target audience.
The translation and localisation process must also be carried out by a native speaker of the target language. They will be able to understand the culture better than anyone else, creating engaging content that appeals to your customers on a personal level.
Helping you engage international customers
When looking to enter new markets and attract a broader audience, it is important to keep in mind cultural differences and local customs while translating. Potential customers from abroad should receive the same level of quality as those local to you. This will lead to a better customer experience during their stay, resulting in positive reviews, return customers and recommendations.
When done correctly, localisation holds the power to boost your bookings and income. If you want to unlock this potential, then reach out to our translation and localisation specialists today for your free quote.