LAS VEGAS — Last year, Google Assistant unveiled its real-time translation technology, interpreter mode, helping hotel staff carry on conversations with guests speaking foreign languages. To extend this experience, Volara is partnering with Google Assistant to launch a new full-service solution so hotel staff can better serve and communicate with international guests.
Several hotels piloted the new solution, which runs on the Google Nest Hub, in 2019, including Dream Downtown New York City, Caesars Las Vegas, and Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport.
“Hoteliers can now roll out the technological red carpet for hotel guests speaking 29 different languages. With millions of travelers staying at hotels in locations where their native language is not widely spoken, hoteliers have long recognized they need to do more to serve these valuable customers,” said David Berger, CEO of Volara. “This new solution enables hotels to scale their unique brand of hospitality service to guests from many cultures, geographies, and language backgrounds.”
“Even those with the most unique accents and distinct colloquialisms are having more fulfilling conversations with staff about the property, our check-in and billing processes, services and amenities, and things to do around town.”
Dream Hotel Group CEO Jay Stein added, “At Dream Hotels, delivering a frictionless experience for all guests remains a top priority. Thanks to the voice assistant solution provided by Volara and the Google Assistant, we are successfully facilitating highly accurate, multilingual interactions with travelers from across the globe. Even those with the most unique accents and distinct colloquialisms are having more fulfilling conversations with staff about the property, our check-in and billing processes, services and amenities, and things to do around town. By offering real-time voice translation from Volara and the Google Assistant at the registration and concierge desks, Dream Downtown has significantly raised the bar on hospitality.”
Dream Downtown Hotel Manager Felipe Munoz said that the property has three Google Nest Hubs running the Google Assistant’s interpreter mode—two at registration and one at the concierge desk. “International guests are engaging with our voice translation service from Volara and the Google Assistant every day. Even those who speak some English are having deeper, more meaningful conversations because of this technology,” Munoz said. “When we see people having trouble communicating, we present the device and there is an immediate shift in the guest’s demeanor. Frustration is replaced with excitement! Anything a guest needs to know can instantly be communicated in their native language. They may ask for a restaurant recommendation, inquire about service hours, or request a detailed explanation of incidental charges. Regardless of what the question is, it’s rewarding to know we are improving customer service, reducing stress for staff, and greatly enhancing our guests’ experiences through real-time translation. It’s a great tool.”
The Google Assistant’s interpreter mode technology is now available to hotels worldwide. Guests and employees can use Google Assistant’s interpreter mode to translate any of the following 29 languages: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino (Tagalog), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
The solution from Volara and the Google Assistant includes: one live hotel-grade Google Nest Hub (with additional devices available for a fee); one spare Google Nest Hub; live translation into 29 languages; custom hotel image pre-set on the homescreen; devices pre-provisioned to the hotel’s WiFi; staff training and retraining on demand; device status monitoring; device and software updates; device loss mitigation protection; 24/7 support via email and phone; and no long-term commitments.
