Global Travel in the Age of Uber and AirbnbPhocuswright Conference November 15, 2016
More nightly guests than Hilton Worldwide
More dollars expensed than on rental cars
34,000 cities190 countries27 languages
493 cities70 countries
46 languages
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
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
$0.25 – $0.46 Per Word Per Language, Including Internal Costs
Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically
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?
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?
Conventional Wisdom Data-Driven Approach
All or nothing Support languages opportunistically
Translation + editing + proofreading Vary workflow as appropriate
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…
$70 + $24 Translation + Editing
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!
$12 + $26 Translation + Editing
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…
95.6% not changed at all1.5% changed by less than 5%Only 1.8% changed by at least 15%
…that’s $9 per change!
Visual context availableLinguist rating
Edit distanceTranslation re-use
Time spent
String length
Spellcheck
Grammar checkPlaceholder use
Project type
Target locale Inline markup use
Glossary adherence
75+ data points
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
20% – 35% Direct Channel Revenue from Call Centers
$50,000 Bilingual Agent (Beijing, Shanghai, etc.)
$20,000 Monolingual Agent (Hangzhou, Chongqing, etc.)
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
$0.12 – $0.28 50–60% Reduced & Avoided Cost
How Travel Brands Are Facing Global Translation ChallengesGet the trends report: Smartling.com/Phocuswright