Translation Engine provides accurate, high-quality translations across Messages in real-time, as Hosts and guests communicate with each other in over 60 languages.
In 2021 Winter Release last November, Airbnb announced the most advanced translation technology ever offered to our community – Translation Engine – providing a seamless experience for Hosts and guests in over 60 languages as they interact over Stays and Experiences around the world.
Translation Engine removed the need for click-to-translate buttons, leveraging millions of Airbnb data points to automatically translate listing descriptions, while growing smarter and more sophisticated each time. Hosts can count on high-quality translations that not only relieve the need of having to translate or quality-check listing descriptions themselves, but also allow them to reach more guests.
Today, Airbnb is expanding Translation Engine to include reviews, after successfully launching it across our messaging feature this summer.
Billions of messages a year, now translated in real-time
On the heels of last year’s launch, Translation Engine was expanded this summer to include messaging. This represents a significant feat given the sheer volume of messages across the platform each day – more than 1.3 billion in the 12 months leading to June 30, 2022, which roughly translates to over 3.5 million a day, and over 40 every second. Messages are automatically translated in the user’s preferred language, making it even easier for Hosts and guests to interact and ask questions, with both parties confident they can understand the exchanges accurately.
Since the implementation of this technology, these are the top 5 most used languages in the Guest to Host Message Translation Tool:
- English to Spanish
- English to Norwegian
- English to French
- English to German
Millions of reviews, today available in each user’s preferred language
Today, we are further expanding our innovative technology to include reviews. Now guests can easily scroll automatically translated reviews in their preferred language, without having to click on each individual one, not only saving time but also minimizing misinterpretations. Considering more than 550 million reviews across the entirety of the platform to date, and the complexity of providing accurate translations in the preferred languages of millions of Hosts and guests across more than 100,000 cities and more than 220 countries and regions, Translation Engine is a first-in-class service.
Top 5 most used languages in the Translation Tool for user comments on their previous stays:
- English to French
- English to Spanish
- English to German
- English to Dutch
- English to Portuguese
With the opening of international borders, the Translation Tool is a key tool to enable more Hosts to welcome foreign Guests without facing language barriers. The platform released that during the first half of 2022, The United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and France were the top 5 non-Spanish speaking countries of origin of Guests with the most bookings on the platform in the country. In terms of the origin of Guests from the United States, those from the states of California, Florida, Texas, Nueva York, and Colorado are in the Top 5 of visitors in the country.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
