First international guest!

[Chris-and-Christy0]

We just got our first international booking! It is a guest coming from Chile in November (We are in the USA.) The messages says it was translated to English so I am expecting a language barrier.  Does anyone have any tips for clarity and meeting expectations of international guests?  Anything out of the ordinary to be aware of? 

[Denis-Mark0]

Hi @Chris-and-Christy0 ,

congrats to your guest from Chile! Did You check on his profile, if he added language skills to know if really doesn't speak english at all? 

If he doesn't speak english very well, it might be useful to make a note of some translations from words that you use to explain your property, the interiour of your property, the amenities.

Are your house rules only in english? Might be a help to translate into others languages, too, to make sure that they will be understood precisely. I have my house rules being translated into the most common languages to make sure that in those things no misunderstandings occur.

[Sarah977]

@Chris-and-Christy0  Good to be prepared, for sure. And Denis-Mark gave some good ideas.

Don't necessarily assume that just because the guest wrote in a language which was translated, that they don't understand at least basic English. I speak passable Spanish, but when it comes to writing, I can express myself much more fluidly and easily in English. I've had many Mexican guests who first wrote to me in Spanish, and when I answered them in Spanish, apologizing for my less-than-fluent Spanish, they replied in pretty fluent English, saying they spoke both, and that my Spanish was perfect (they were just trying to be nice, it isn't).

[Kevin1322]

we just had some Russian guests. 😕    Turned out their English was impeccable, and one was fluent in Spanish as well.

Long before Airbnb, and even the internet existed, we hosted foreign exchange students from all over the world, and I can reassure you that we got on fine even without google translate.

We are still friends with some of then-young guests from 30 years ago, language barrier never got in the way then,  just laugh and enjoy together the randomness of Googgle translate (espescially russian).

[Sarah977]

It's much more common for guests who come from non-English speaking countries to be at least passably fluent in English than it is for guests from English-speaking countries to be passably fluent in other languages 🙂  

The European and Mexican guests I've had can communicate in at least 2 languages, if not more. The Americans and Canadians, seldom.