5 Tips for Embracing Cultural Diversity at Your Hotel

Accommodating all cultures is key to offering a better guest experience.

Hotels are melting pots of cultural diversity. Guests visit from all over the world. Front desk, housekeeping and maintenance staff may also hail from other countries.

But cultural diversity doesn’t stop with etiquette, language and customs practiced in other countries. Diversity also extends to race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and religious beliefs, among other differences.

“Wherever your hotel is situated, you must consider that the culture of visitors may be very different to yours, and it’s also likely you will hire staff from diverse backgrounds too,” says hospitality software provider SiteMinder.

Blending cultural differences can add an international or cosmopolitan vibe to your hotel. At the same time, failing to embrace those differences can lead to misunderstandings, along with guest and staff dissatisfaction.

Read on for five tips for embracing cultural diversity at your hotel.

Establish inclusive policies

Inclusivity begins with your staff feeling welcome and understood despite cultural differences. Offer training on embracing cultural differences. This may include sensitivity training among staff that includes information about specific cultures, etiquettes and customs.

Part of managing a diverse workforce is playing an active role in making sure that not only your staff but also your leadership is aware of the importance of diversity in your organization, knowing that if anyone is disrespected, they have a place to go or someone they can talk to and there is a protocol in place to handle such a situation,” says hotel software provider Mews.

“Because the hotel industry is by nature multicultural, it’s key to have staff that’s trained in how to best manage these differences and to promote an environment that nurtures this multiculturalism.”

Offer self-service kiosks

Self-serve kiosks for guests give them the option of using technology to check in and request other services to avoid struggling with language barriers.

“If you have a lot of guests from a tech-savvy culture like Japan who are used to using technology in their everyday lives, you can use a self-service kiosk and a virtual assistant who will make them feel more at home and avoid the language barrier of your front desk staff not speaking Japanese,” says Mews.

Offer a culturally diverse menu

If your hotel attracts Asian or Middle Eastern guests, offer authentic food items from their countries in hotel restaurants. “Other cultures, such as Greek, typically eat at unconventional hours,” says Siteminder. “Some Greek travelers probably won’t want their main meal of the day before 10pm so navigating situations like this is something else you will have to juggle.”

Accommodate religious beliefs

Offer rooms or other spaces for contemplation and prayer to accommodate guests from various religions. “Also note the time of year that guests are visiting and see if anything of religious significance is happening,” says SiteMinder.

“For example, pay attention to the dates for when Muslims practice Ramadan as they change every year. You should consider removing alcohol from their rooms and be flexible around meal times.”

Design rooms with culture in mind

“If you are building a hotel in Italy, include a bidet in the bathroom as Italians have the custom of using the bidet on a daily basis, sometimes even in place of a shower,” says Mews. “In Japan, it is customary to take your shoes off when you go into a room, so if you’re building a hotel in Japan, you might consider incorporating a shoes-off policy inside the rooms. “