Hospitality is a global industry, and that fortunately brings in a diverse workforce. As part of this diversity, hotel teams will have employees that speak multiple languages. While a multilingual staff can add a huge benefit to your property and for travelers across the world, it can also open windows of miscommunication. With different staff speaking different languages, communication can be tough, even within your team. But it doesn’t have to be difficult if you implement the right tools for your staff. So, what are these challenges, and how do we overcome them?

Challenge 1: lost in translation

When you have different team members speaking in different languages, things can easily get lost in translation, meaning tasks get overlooked and rooms don’t get turned around as quickly. Miscommunication is inevitable, but trying to communicate in languages they aren’t fluent in can lead to more challenges throughout the property. Whether it be hotel logs, preventative maintenance, or purchase orders, some of these elements that get lost in translation can be costly. They are honest and human mistakes, but if you can mitigate those mistakes with translation features in your SaaS, your team will appreciate you eliminating a road block in their ability to collaborate. 

Challenge 2: efficiency drops

It is important to put in effort towards translating communication between staff, especially between managers and maintenance or housekeeping staff. However, translating can take time, which means daily tasks aren’t being completed as quickly, bringing your team efficiency down overall. The more languages your staff speaks, the more translation between staff will have to be implemented, which ultimately takes even more time to complete tasks. Oftentimes, staff that don’t speak the same language will rely on additional communication and translation via websites or separate apps - and if you need to run your conversations through a translation website every time you want to communicate with another staff member, you’re adding significant time to each task that needs completing. We want to keep efficiency high, but not at the expense of employees not understanding each other, as that will lead to more problems that you will have to fix in the future. 

Solution: translation automation

Save time and energy without isolating staff by leveraging software that offers automatic translation features. With a SaaS like Lodgistics, everyone uses the platform in their native language, and the platform is doing the translation for you. So now, all your housekeeping and maintenance checklists, hotel logs, purchase orders, etc. are all able to be understood by anyone at any time. Additionally, the chat feature enables you to communicate with team members at any time, in any language. You don’t have to spend a significant amount of time translating every message in every language, as staff will be able to read messages in their preferred language automatically. A simple yet effective solution like automatic translation helps eliminate avoidable mistakes and boosts your team’s efficiency. 

One of the greatest benefits of working in the hospitality industry are the diverse teams that make exceptional stays happen across the globe. By implementing software with translation features, you are making the team feel valued and understood while keeping a high-performing team at your hotel. Curious about Lodgistics? Learn more about the benefits of using ticketing systems at your hotel, or how Lodgistics can help with your preventative maintenance!