Bad Translations Can Ruin a Business - Part 1

Today we’ll take a look at the hospitality business, in particular hotels, and see how poor-quality and/or inaccurate translations can damage a business. With globalization and the amazing advances in travel technology over recent years, service providers and the hospitality industry have become the big winners, with millions of potential customers from foreign countries pretty much arriving on their doorstep. Hospitality, and in particular the hotel business, has always been a very competitive market, where businesses are constantly competing for customers.

Adding Value Attracts Customers

The easiest way for hotels to attract foreign guests is to offer added value, and this may be in the form of information contained on web pages, hotel restaurant menus, guest check-in forms and services, billboards and signs, brochures on recreational activities, or even just their terms and conditions; but it’s always advantageous when hotels offer their guests and potential guests information and services in their own language. However, an inaccurate or poor quality translation can do a lot of harm to a business, so it’s vitally important that hotels spend that little bit extra and utilize the services of experienced and professional translation services - and here are the reasons why:

Bad Translations Work Really Well – for the Competition!

That’s something to consider! An inaccurate or poor quality translation provided by a hotel for their foreign customers is simply a form of advertising – but in this case, unfortunately, this type of advertising works well for the competition. Therefore, there are two negative sides to having poor quality translations – the first is that potential customers are typically driven to other hotels, and the second negative is that the time and money spent having a translation completed just became a futile waste of time. Translating is not an area where hotels can afford to be cheap, or try to save money because the poor quality translation of any hotel document can severely damage a hotel's position in the hospitality market.

Poor Quality Translations Create Bad Feelings and Cause Customer Confusion

Anyone who’s traveled abroad and noticed (and often laughed at) ridiculous translations understand only too well the confusion that an inaccurate translation can cause. Some of these translations can be hilarious (just have a look on Facebook for a good laugh at some really funny ones) but the truth is, that when your safety and comfort are at risk, these inaccurate translations can cause guests to rethink their agenda, and move to another hotel.

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