When hotels are trying to attract guests from all over the world to their hotel, they understand that they must be competitive, and probably, more importantly, their important documents such as Tourist Brochures, Terms and Conditions, Hotel Restaurant Menus, Webpages, and so on, must be translated into languages that their foreign guests can understand. Not only must the advertising be appealing to international visitors, but their guests won’t even consider staying at these hotels unless they feel welcome, safe, catered for, and they’re assured of having a comfortable stay. Hotel brochures and signage are vitally important when it comes to making people feel welcome, meaning that their guests fully understand the signs and brochures etc., and of course, all guests need to feel safe in their surroundings.
There are three basic types of signage that hotels use, and these are –
Signs that protect the interests of the hotel;
Signs that are created to increase the satisfaction of hotel guests; and
Signs that are designed to do both.
All of these play an important role in not only protecting the hotel’s position in the market but increasing their market position.
Signs Designed to Protect the Interests of the Hotel
These are signs that don’t necessarily generate any additional revenue for the hotel; however, they are crucial for the protection of the hotel’s financial well-being should something go wrong or unexpectedly occur.
Signs that protect the hotel from liability include signs such as ‘Park at your own risk’. When guests see a sign that says ‘This hotel is not responsible for any damage or theft that may occur’, we, as hotel guests, generally don’t take much notice of it; but this sign has been entirely designed to provide the hotel with a certain level of legal protection should things go wrong. Of course, it’s more useful to clients if they actually understand this type of signage!
Then there’s the signage that prohibits guests from doing certain things whilst staying within the hotel’s property. Hotels understand that it’s not enough to simply write their Rules for Guests, including their Terms and Conditions, and hang them on their hotel walls, because, obviously, most people are not going to read these signs. It’s for this reason that most hotels signage is very visible to guests, such as No Entrance, No Smoking, Don’t Walk on the Grass, No Pets Allowed, and these very visible signs clarify the guests’ position in the hotel and go a long way towards decreasing the possibility of customers causing either damage or trouble for the hotel.
When hotels fail to have these signs translated by professionals they run the risk of having problems with their foreign guests; and these issues can certainly cost the hotel a lot in terms of time, money, but most of all with customer dissatisfaction.
