U.S. hotels start providing services in Chinese to appeal to Chinese customers

With China becoming one of the most important tourism source markets of the United States, hotels in the U.S. have started taking measures to attract these new customers, such as providing services in Chinese language and electric kettles in the hotel rooms.

In March 2015, Hilton Hotels launched a new campaign to meet the needs of Chinese tourists, including providing Chinese customers with slippers and Chinese television programs. Meanwhile, they have also prepared electric kettles for Chinese customers who enjoy making some hot tea while staying in their hotel rooms.

On the other hand, the InterContinental Hotels Group introduced the China Ready plan, which focused on recruiting staff who can speak Chinese and allowing Chinese customers to pay with UnionPay. Furthermore, IHG opened the the Hualuxe Hotels in China, which feature on their Chinese characteristics.

The Marriott Hotels started a cooperation with Alipay in 2015, enabling customers in China to pay with Alipay. In the future, more Marriott Hotels in other countries will accept Alipay.

Hotels in the U.S. have been paying longtime attention to attracting more Chinese tourists. In 2014, the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City have trained their staff to understand Chinese etiquette and culture, so that the employee would be better prepared to provide satisfactory services to Chinese customers. When arranging rooms, the hotel also avoided giving Chinese customers rooms with the number “4” or “13”, as these numbers have an ominous meaning in Chinese culture.

With the new visa policy and the China-U.S. Tourism Year of 2016, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the U.S. is expected to grow rapidly. And many of them are no longer merely content with shopping and taking pictures. For Chinese tourists, it is becoming more important to experience the local culture and receive satisfactory services. This shows great opportunities for the hotels in the U.S., which would pay more attention to diversifying their services and improving their service quality.

Source: Sohu

Photo: flickr