--- title: "Multilingual guest messaging for hosts: which languages Booking.com, Airbnb and WhatsApp translate" description: "Which languages your overseas guests write in according to ONS, NTTO and GUS data, which of them Booking.com, Airbnb and WhatsApp translate, what DeepL and Google Translate allow, and a check-in message in four languages." url: https://supalobby.com/en/blog/multilingual-guest-messaging-for-hosts language: en published: 2026-10-22 updated: 2026-10-22 author: Bartosz Wilczyński translation: https://supalobby.com/blog/goscie-pisza-po-niemiecku-ukrainsku-czesku-obsluga-wielojezyczna --- # Multilingual guest messaging for hosts: which languages Booking.com, Airbnb and WhatsApp translate Which languages your overseas guests write in according to ONS, NTTO and GUS data, which of them Booking.com, Airbnb and WhatsApp translate, what DeepL and Google Translate allow, and a check-in message in four languages. Airbnb translates messages between host and guest automatically in over 60 languages. Booking.com translates on request in only **nine**: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese. That covers the three largest overseas markets for UK hosts, the US, France and Germany, but not Korean, Italian, Czech or Ukrainian. WhatsApp on Android translates six languages. Below: which languages your guests are likely to write in, from official visitor statistics; which platform or app translates what; what DeepL and Google Translate allow for free; how to set up templates so each guest reads their own language; and one arrival message in English, German, French and Spanish. ## Which languages will your overseas guests write in? For UK hosts, mostly English, French and German; for US hosts, English, German, Korean, French and Portuguese; for hosts in central Europe the mix changes again. The table shows the largest source markets from each country's official statistics and whether Booking.com's translator covers their language. | Where you host | Largest source markets | Period and source | Languages to expect | Covered by Booking.com's translator | |---|---|---|---|---| | Great Britain | United States 5.5 million visits, France 3.5 million, Germany 3.2 million | 2024, ONS Travel trends, released 26 August 2025 | English, French, German | all three | | United States, overseas arrivals | United Kingdom 371,093, Germany 163,294, South Korea 155,147, France 147,404, Brazil 145,331 | October 2025, NTTO; Canada and Mexico counted separately | English, German, Korean, French, Portuguese | all but Korean | | Poland | Germany 1.96 million, Ukraine 936,000, United Kingdom 806,000, United States 624,000, Czechia 482,000 | 2025, GUS, establishments with 10 or more bed places | German, Ukrainian, English, Czech | German and English only | The UK received an estimated 42.6 million overseas visits in 2024, worth £31.6 billion, according to ONS. For the US, NTTO forecast 77.1 million international visitors for 2025, up from 72.4 million in 2024, but its own October 2025 count was 5.7 percent below October 2024, so treat the forecast with care. In Poland, foreign guests were 8.86 million of the 42.7 million tourists in registered accommodation in 2025, a fifth of the total. Two caveats. These figures count visitors by country of residence, not by language: a French or Dutch guest may well write to you in English. And the Polish data covers only establishments with ten or more bed places, so a single apartment's guest mix can differ. What the data tells you is which languages are worth a template, not which ones you must speak. ## Which platforms and apps translate which languages? Airbnb translates on its own, Booking.com only when you ask and only nine languages, WhatsApp on Android six. Standalone translators cover everything on this page but cost you copy and paste. | Tool | How it translates | Languages | German | French | Italian | Korean | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Booking.com, Extranet and Pulse | on request: three dots next to the message, „Show translation”; in Pulse tap and hold, „Translate” | English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese | yes | yes | no | no | | Airbnb | automatically, into each user's preferred language | over 60; we could not find a published list | no list | no list | no list | no list | | WhatsApp on Android | on the phone, optionally for a whole chat | English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic | no | no | no | no | | WhatsApp on iPhone | on the phone | „19+ languages”, not listed in the announcement | no list | no list | no list | no list | | Google Translate | paste text, up to 5,000 characters at a time | listed among others: German, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese | yes | yes | yes | yes | | DeepL | paste text | listed among others: German, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese | yes | yes | yes | yes | For a UK host the practical result is good news: Booking.com translates the three biggest markets' languages with one click. For a US host, Korean guests, the third-largest overseas market in October 2025, need an outside translator on Booking.com. Italian guests need one everywhere except Airbnb. WhatsApp added translation on 23 September 2025. It runs on the phone, and WhatsApp says it cannot see the translations. The Android list skips every major European language except English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. The announcement does not mention the WhatsApp Business app or the desktop version. ## What do DeepL and Google Translate cost and allow? Nothing, as long as you stay within the limits: Google Translate takes up to 5,000 characters at a time and DeepL's free version 50,000 characters a month. To turn that into guests, assume a 400-character message and a conversation of six messages from the guest and six from you, inquiry to checkout. That is 4,800 characters to translate per guest. | Plan | Limit | Price, checked 26 September 2026 | Conversations of 4,800 characters | |---|---|---|---| | Google Translate, website | 5,000 characters at a time; no monthly limit stated on the help page | free | not limited by the stated cap | | DeepL Free | 50,000 characters a month, 1 file | free | about 10 | | DeepL Individual | 300,000 characters a month, 3 files | €7.49 a month, billed annually | about 60 | | DeepL Team | 1,000,000 characters per user a month | €24.99 per user a month, billed annually | about 200 | DeepL showed euro prices for Germany when we checked; the UK and US pages may show a different price. Among the features of its paid plans DeepL lists „No data training”. The real cost is the clipboard. Every message passes through it twice, from the platform to the translator and back. Ten conversations a month is about 240 copy-and-paste operations, each one a chance to paste into the wrong thread. ## How do you set up templates so each guest reads their own language? Set it once per channel; each one works differently. 1. **Booking.com: one name, several versions.** When you create a template you can pick an additional language. Save every language version under the same template name: Booking matches the version to the guest's language preference and falls back to the default when there is none. Booking recommends English as the default unless most of your guests speak something else. A UK host adds French and German; a US host adds Portuguese and Spanish. 2. **Airbnb: one version is enough.** Airbnb auto-translates your messages, quick replies included, into the guest's language when they view them. Short sentences come through more reliably than long ones. 3. **WhatsApp: ready versions as quick replies.** The WhatsApp Business app has quick replies for messages you send often. Save the arrival message, directions and door code in each language you need, each under its own shortcut. 4. **Reviews on Booking.com: the review's language or English.** Replies in any other language are not published. 5. **Back-translate before you save.** Paste the translation back into the translator and turn it into English. If the meaning shifted, simplify the sentence and try again. 6. **Write times twice.** Most of Europe reads a 24-hour clock. „Check-in from 3 pm (15:00)” avoids a guest arriving at 3 am, or waiting until 15:00 for a door that opened at 3 pm. ## A check-in message in English, German, French and Spanish The same arrival-day message in four languages. Placeholders stay in English because you fill them in. **English** ``` Hello {first name}, Thank you for your booking. Check-in from {time}, check-out by {time}. Door code: {code} Wi-Fi: {network}, password: {password} If you have any questions, please message us here. {your name} ``` **German** ``` Guten Tag, vielen Dank für Ihre Buchung. Anreise ab {time}, Abreise bis {time}. Türcode: {code} WLAN: {network}, Passwort: {password} Bei Fragen schreiben Sie uns bitte hier. {your name} ``` **French** ``` Bonjour, Merci pour votre réservation. Arrivée à partir de {time}, départ avant {time}. Code d'accès : {code} Wi-Fi : {network}, mot de passe : {password} Pour toute question, écrivez-nous ici. {your name} ``` **Spanish** ``` Hola: Gracias por su reserva. Entrada a partir de las {time}, salida antes de las {time}. Código de la puerta: {code} Wi-Fi: {network}, contraseña: {password} Para cualquier pregunta, escríbanos aquí. {your name} ``` ## Where Supalobby fits Supalobby's agent replies in the language the guest writes in, on every channel in the inbox: Booking.com, WhatsApp, Instagram, e-mail, the website chat, and for hosts in Poland also Slowhop and Aloha Camp. Polish, English, German and French are verified. Spanish, Korean and Italian are not on the verified list yet, so for those guests read the replies in Copilot mode before they go out. You write the property's knowledge base once and the agent answers from it in the guest's language, with no clipboard in between. On Airbnb it prepares a draft that you send with one click, and Airbnb translates it on its side anyway. ## Frequently asked questions **Does Booking.com translate guest messages?** Yes, on request. In the Extranet you click the three dots next to a message and choose „Show translation”; in Pulse you tap and hold the message and choose „Translate”. It covers nine languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese. Italian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Czech and Ukrainian are not on the list. **Does Airbnb translate messages between host and guest automatically?** Yes. Airbnb's Translation Engine translates messages into each user's preferred language, across more than 60 languages; between July 2021 and June 2022 that was over 3.5 million messages a day. Write a quick reply once and the guest reads it in their own language. The template's language setting only changes how the inserted details are translated. **Can WhatsApp translate messages from guests?** Since 23 September 2025, yes, with limits. On Android it covers six languages: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic, so no German, French or Italian. On iPhone WhatsApp says 19+ languages but lists none in its announcement. Translation happens on the phone, Android can translate a whole chat automatically, and the feature is rolling out gradually. **How much does DeepL cost for translating guest messages?** The free version gives 50,000 characters a month, roughly ten guest conversations of twelve 400-character messages. DeepL Individual costs €7.49 a month billed annually for 300,000 characters, about 60 conversations (euro price shown for Germany, checked 26 September 2026). Google Translate takes up to 5,000 characters at a time when you paste text. **In which language should I reply to a Booking.com review?** In the language of the review or in English. Booking.com does not publish responses written in any other language, and every response is checked by its team before it goes live, which can take up to 72 hours. A review in German gets a reply in German or English; a reply in, say, Italian to a German review will not appear. ## Sources - [ONS, „Travel trends, 2024” (visits to the UK by country of residence), released 26 August 2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/articles/traveltrends/2024) (2025-08-26) - [NTTO (trade.gov), „October 2025 Total International Travel Volume”](https://www.trade.gov/feature-article/october-2025-total-international-travel-volume) (2026-09-26) - [NTTO (trade.gov), forecast of international visitation to the United States](https://www.trade.gov/feature-article/ntto-forecast-international-visitation-united-states) (2026-09-26) - [GUS (Statistics Poland), „Tourists in tourist accommodation, December 2025”, XLSX tables (year-to-date 2025)](https://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/kultura-turystyka-sport/turystyka/turysci-w-bazie-noclegowej-grudzien-2025-r-,5,161.html) (2026-02-26) - [Booking.com Partner Hub, „Contacting guests” (message translation in nine languages)](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/help/reservations/contact-extranet/contacting-guests) (2026-09-26) - [Booking.com Partner Hub, „Setting up templates, automatic replies, and message notifications” (template language versions)](https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/reservations/contact-extranet/setting-templates-automatic-replies-and-message-notifications) (2026-09-26) - [Booking.com Partner Hub, „Responding to guest reviews” (review language or English)](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/help/guest-reviews/general/responding-guest-reviews) (2026-09-26) - [Airbnb newsroom, „Translation Engine launches Reviews after expanding to Messages this summer”](https://news.airbnb.com/translation-engine-launches-reviews-after-expanding-to-messages-this-summer) (2022-09-08) - [Airbnb Resource Center, „Translating your listing into other languages” (over 60 languages)](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/communicate-easily-with-airbnbs-new-translation-engine-462) (2026-09-26) - [Airbnb Help Center, „Create and send quick replies to guests” (auto-translation note)](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2898) (2026-09-26) - [WhatsApp Blog, „Introducing Message Translations”](https://blog.whatsapp.com/introducing-message-translations) (2025-09-23) - [WhatsApp Business, app features (quick replies, greeting and away messages)](https://whatsappbusiness.com/products/business-app-features/) (2026-09-26) - [DeepL, plans and pricing (Free, Individual, Team, Business)](https://www.deepl.com/en/pro) (2026-09-26) - [DeepL Translator, language list](https://www.deepl.com/en/translator) (2026-09-26) - [Google Translate Help, „Translate written words” (5,000-character limit)](https://support.google.com/translate/answer/6142478?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop) (2026-09-26) - [Google Translate, supported languages](https://translate.google.com/about/languages/) (2026-09-26)