Hotels & restaurants

Hotels and restaurants have a particular place in the hearts of everyone, relating as they do to vacations, special occasions and new experiences.

The global hotels and motels industry grew by 6.4% in 2006 to reach a value of $488.6 billion. By 2011, the global hotels and motels industry is forecast to have a value of $640.9 billion, an increase of 31.2% since 2006. In this sector, with so many of its clientele being foreign visitors from a wide range of home locations, it is more important than usual to be able to communicate with customers in a wide range of first languages. These situations include communicating with customers:

• By telephone to confirm a booking – often from abroad,
• At the front desk to book in and check out,
• By internal phone to order room service, and
• In the restaurant to examine the menu and make an order.

A multilingual facility, both at reception desks and on the telephone, can add sustainable competitive advantage to a company’s strategy of engaging with customer diversity, and can improve significantly the customer’s overall experience through personalization of services. Lattice Voice applications can assist hotel and restaurant staff to engage with customers in their first language, in all of these situations. For example, when non-English speaking customers are telephoning to confirm a booking, the Lattice Voice Server will identify their language and assist them to confirm their details with the minimum of effort. Should it be necessary, a receptionist can be conferenced into the call, and can add further relevant assistance and information for the customer. The multilingual scripted dialogues that are designed and agreed with the hotel headquarter staff, and used by the Lattice Voice Server, also ensure that the highest levels of best practice are maintained throughout these innovative customer-facing programmes. In the competitive world of hospitality and leisure, and with the extraordinary growth in international tourism, especially to and from the Far East, such multilingual services are set to be a critical aspect of future competitive benefit.