Translation assistants in hotels soon?

For many people the language barrier remains a real problem when traveling and we are sometimes surprised by the difficulties of understanding even between two people expressing themselves in a supposedly shared language like English.

These difficulties can be found in hotels. Moderately at check-in because it is such a standardized process that the risks of misunderstanding are limited, more often with the concierge with whom the range of topics discussed is infinitely more varied.

Language: a real barrier when traveling

In short, even if everyone is supposed to speak at least English, we realize that it is sometimes difficult to get into the details of things or to be subtle in our requests.

At first I was surprised by the enthusiasm of customers for the “let’s chat” service formerly offered by Starwood on WhatsApp and now fully integrated into Marriott and SPG applications. The staff of a hotel gave me an explanation: for some customers picking up the phone and calling the reception is something very uncomfortable, whereas in writing, on a chat, they have time to prepare their sentences, they eliminate the errors of oral comprehension or even use an online translator to reassure themselves.

Translation robots in hotels

It is in a similar logic that Google is testing translator assistants at the concierge of several properties in the United States: the Dream in New York, the Hyatt Regency at the San Francisco airport and the Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

The customer will be able to speak in his native language to the assistant who will translate to the agent and in the other direction the assistant will translate the words of the agent to the customer

Pilots that could lead to massive deployments if successful. At TravelGuys we don’t believe that the intensive use of technology is the best systematic answer to customer experience problems…but here the relevance of the approach seems pretty obvious. It remains to be seen how well this system works.

Photo : concierge by Dutourdumonde Photography via Shutterstock.