Does Your Hospitality Team Need a Push-to-Talk Translation Solution?

How Real-time Translation Helps You Navigate the Current Labor Crisis

A Push-to-Talk translation solution can help you combat the severe labor shortage currently challenging hospitality organizations. According to a survey conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, almost 97% of respondents are experiencing a staffing shortage, with 49% experiencing a severe shortage. This extreme staffing shortage is compounded by the post-pandemic rebound in demand for travel and entertainment.

Push-to-talk language translation can help by enabling you to hire non-native language speakers and make them effective day one. This is critical, since many hotels are hiring staff with little or no experienceKeeping hospitality employees can be as challenging as finding them. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average turnover rate in the leisure and hospitality industry is 84.9%.

Hospitality Communication Challenges

Orion Language Translation enables better communication in the hospitality industry

Even with increased wages, more flexible scheduling, and better benefits, 97% of hospitality managers surveyed have been unable to fill open positions. To fill these open slots, hospitality managers must be open to every possible candidate. Eliminating people just because they don’t speak the manager’s required language disregards too many strong applicants in a time when hospitality organizations desperately need to increase staff.

At the same time, hiring people who speak a different language presents some challenges.

  • Teaching new skills can be difficult if you don’t speak the same language.
    • If new hires don’t understand what you are saying, you have to repeat instructions or find other ways to clarify, making the training process slower and lowering team productivity.
    • You need to onboard staff as quickly as possible to minimize disruptions to guests, but you also need to onboard correctly to ensure the highest quality of service to guests. Your new hires need to understand and follow correct procedures and work well with the rest of your team.
  • Managing routine tasks is more difficult when your staff speak several languages. Some staff members may misunderstand instructions, creating delays and more work for the team. Some tasks require collaboration, which is difficult if team members can’t communicate with each other. According to a study by Urban bound, an estimated $37 billion dollars is spent annually managing employees who do not understand their jobs.
  • Emergencies and unexpected events can be impossible to manage. If an unusual event occurs, describing the event and coordinating the response and steps required to resolve it may cause confusion, resulting in delays and disrupting guests’ experiences.
  • Customer service will suffer. If staff members are confused, their frustration may become evident to your guests, impacting customer service.
  • Turnover will remain high. Keeping good staff members is difficult if you can’t communicate with them. Their confusion about job requirements or daily communication can make them feel isolated and frustrated, leading them to find new jobs that are less stressful.

The Communication Solution: Push-to-Talk 2.0

What Is Push-to-Talk (PTT) 2.0?

Push-to-talk is a voice-first communication solution. When you need to communicate, you push a button on a handheld device to instantly stream your message to one or many people at once. You let go to listen.

Unlike radios which have spotty coverage and limited range, PTT 2.0 has unlimited range. It works in basements, through concrete stairwells, and across large properties. It also enables more than just voice communication. Workers can share photos, videos, and documents – whatever they need to clearly communicate with their team.

Push-to-talk 2.0 is powered by Voice AI Bots and platform integrations, moving beyond simple communication to voice-activated automated workflows, real-time asset location services, bi-directional language translation and transcription, and more.

push-to-talk language translation for hospitality

Push-to-Talk Language Translation

Orion’s Language Translation instantly translates over 60 languages with the push of a button. Your team members simply push a button, speak in their language, and let Orion’s Voice AI bots translate their voice into the right language for other team members or managers.

Teams hear messages in their languages individually, and respond in their languages, and Orion translates it back to the original language for the original speaker. Orion’s Push-to-Talk Language Translation provides real-time, two-way, translate out and translate back communication to any location with any network connection using any communication device.

This is extremely powerful for onboarding new staff and ensuring guests receive the best possible experience. 

  • Teaching new skills is easier if staff can understand the instructions they are provided. New staff can ask questions with confidence and receive clear answers they understand. Without effective training, it takes about 8 months for a new employee to become productive.
  • Onboarding is faster, ensuring teams are more productive. Onboarding is more effective, because new staff understand directions and can follow correct procedures. Research on successful onboarding shows that when onboarding is done correctly, new employees have higher job satisfaction, stronger commitment to the organization, and increased performance levels.
  • Teams are more collaborative and effective. Everyone on the team can communicate clearly and effectively with the rest of the team. They work together better because they can communicate with each other without struggling to find a common language.
  • Managing tasks is easier because everyone receives instructions, and can ask questions, in their language. All procedures are understood and followed.
  • Emergencies and surprise events are handled efficiently and effectively. If an unusual event occurs, staff can describe the event clearly in their chosen language. Management can provide guidance and the team can collaborate to determine how best to resolve the issue. Everyone can ask questions in their language, ensuring complete understanding of the problem and the steps to resolve it.
  • Guest experience is improved.
    • Because the staff is onboarded faster and more completely, guests receive the best experience. New staff understand processes better, having received clear directions in their primary language.
    • Staff members are not confused or frustrated trying to figure out their jobs. They work with more confidence and ease, providing a more positive presence to guests.
    • Research by Cornell University shows a direct link between better guest experiences and employees who are motivated and engaged.
  • Staff are less likely to quit. In a recent survey, employees at organizations with little collaboration reported being 4.5 times more likely to quit their jobs. With Push-to-Talk Language Translation, staff members no longer feel isolated or confused. They can communicate easily with coworkers, ask questions in their primary language, and collaborate on projects without difficulty.
  • Onboarding is less expensive. Because it takes less time to onboard staff, you save money training them and they are productive more quickly.

Do Even More with Voice AI Bots and Automated Workflows

Orion’s PTT 2.0 provides hospitality organizations more than just translation services. Since workers always have their PTT-enabled device on hand for translation, they can use the device for additional services like emergency response.

With PTT Emergency Alerts, workers can use a predefined emergency word – “help-help-help” for example – to trigger automated workflows that implement the correct procedures with that one voice command. External resources like emergency response teams can be automatically contacted as part of the automatic workflow. Hotel managers, maintenance, and other members of the team may be contacted as well.

Push-to-Talk Translation Can Help

Hospitality organizations endured years of upheaval during the Covid-19 pandemic. As consumers venture out more, these organizations face new challenges finding enough workers to meet demand. Translation solutions enable hospitality organizations to widen their applicant pool without compromising customer service, efficiency, or company standards. Onboarding is faster and better, ensuring the best guest experience.

Watch a Quick Demonstration of Orion’s Translation App