Smartling SVP of Operations Kevin Cohn discusses the growing impact of translation on the Travel & Hospitality customer journey.

1. Global Travel in the Age of
Uber and Airbnb
Phocuswright Conference
November 15, 2016

2. More nightly guests
than Hilton Worldwide
More dollars expensed
than on rental cars

4. 34,000 cities
190 countries
27 languages
493 cities
70 countries
46 languages

6. When faced with the choice of buying two similar
products, I am more likely to purchase the one that
has product information in my own language.
75% agree or strongly agree
Source: Common Sense Advisory

7. Uber
Top 5 OTAs
Airbnb
Top 3 Car Rental Cos.
Top 5 Hotel Chains
Top 5 Airlines
Top 3 Cruise Lines
Top 5 DMOs 5
6
12
14
17
27
29
46

10. $0.25 – $0.46
Per Word Per Language, Including Internal Costs

11. Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically

12. Where do we have hotels? Where do we fly?
Where do emerging travelers live?
How much disposable income do they have?
What are our competitors doing?
Should we spend $250,000 to add a language?

13. Not all channels are created equal
Not all pages/screens are created equal
Largely precludes A/B testing
Surrenders the long tail to disruptive competitors
Should we spend $25,000 to test a language?

14. Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically
Translation + editing + proofreading Vary workflow as appropriate

15. Whatever device you’re on or wherever you are,
we’re making flying a breeze. Visit Qantas on your
smartphone or download the Qantas app on your
tablet, your iPhone or Android phone. Book flights
and hotels, check in^ and get useful travel information
on your smartphone or tablet.
It costs $94 to translate 47 words into 10 languages…

16. $70 + $24
Translation + Editing

17. Whatever device you’re on or wherever you are,
we’re making flying a breeze. Visit Qantas on your
smartphone or download the Qantas app on your
tablet, your iPhone or Android phone. Book flights
and hotels, check in^ and get useful travel information
on your smartphone or tablet. Also compatible with
Apple Watch.
…and another $38 to translate 5 added words!

18. $12 + $26
Translation + Editing

19. Translated 65,000 strings (500,000 words)
Convinced that translation quality was “bad”
In-region marketers proofread every string
At a cost of $25,000…

20. 95.6% not changed at all
1.5% changed by less than 5%
Only 1.8% changed by at least 15%
…that’s $9 per change!

21. Visual context available
Linguist rating
Edit distance
Translation re-use
Time spent
String length
Spellcheck
Grammar checkPlaceholder use
Project type
Target locale
Inline markup use
Glossary adherence
75+ data points

22. Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically
Translation + editing + proofreading Vary workflow as appropriate
Translation is a cost center Translation is often a net positive

23. 20% – 35%
Direct Channel Revenue from Call Centers

24. $50,000
Bilingual Agent (Beijing, Shanghai, etc.)

25. $20,000
Monolingual Agent (Hangzhou, Chongqing, etc.)

26. Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically
Translation + editing + proofreading Vary workflow as appropriate
Translation is a cost center Translation is often a net positive

27. $0.12 – $0.28
50–60% Reduced & Avoided Cost

29. How Travel Brands Are Facing Global
Translation Challenges
Get the trends report:
Smartling.com/Phocuswright