How IHG scaled website translation across 20 languages with Smartling

Overview

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), a global leader in hospitality, operates over 6,800 hotels across 100+ countries under 20 well-known brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, and Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. As part of their global expansion, IHG sought to scale the translation of their website across multiple languages to improve the guest experience, drive bookings, and attract new franchisees. 

IHG’s global homepage, fully localized in Spanish, delivers a consistent brand experience across thousands of properties while supporting real-time updates at scale.

Challenge

As a global brand, IHG faced several challenges in scaling their website translation to provide a seamless, localized experience for their diverse international audience. One of the key challenges was the need to minimize manual effort in the translation process. With frequent content updates and a large volume of pages to translate, manual intervention became too time-consuming and inefficient.

Another significant issue was the need to reduce reliance on technical resources. IHG's international sites required constant management, and technical teams were heavily involved in overseeing translation tasks. IHG needed a solution that allowed business teams to manage the translation process independently, freeing up technical resources for forward development.

The cost of translating the entire website was also a major concern. With such a large and dynamic site, traditional translation methods were unsustainable. IHG needed an updated translation mix that would allow them to translate at scale while keeping costs under control. In addition, ensuring real-time updates, maintaining brand consistency, and adhering to local compliance requirements across regions were essential for providing a high-quality, localized user experience worldwide.

Solution

To address IHG’s translation challenges, Smartling’s translation management platform was integrated with IHG’s existing content management system (CMS) and the Global Delivery Network (GDN), Smartling’s translation proxy. The GDN, being CMS-agnostic, worked well with IHG’s various content sources, allowing them to honor hotel-specific content while quickly identifying and correcting English bleed-through on the fly. The flexibility of the GDN enabled smooth implementation and ensured that real-time translations and updates were possible across all IHG properties, regardless of the content source.

A fully localized IHG webpage in Portuguese, showing how IHG supports tailored user experiences across markets.

Smartling developed custom machine translation engines specifically for IHG, trained on their glossary and hospitality-related materials. These engines were used for bulk content, such as hotel descriptions and non-critical pages, ensuring fast translations while maintaining quality. For high-visibility pages, IHG utilized Smartling’s AI Human Translation, combining the benefits of high-quality translations with reduced costs and quicker turnaround times.

To further streamline feedback and ensure quick updates, IHG utilized a ServiceNow ticket portal integrated with Smartling’s Managed Services team. Hotel owners could submit translation feedback directly through the portal, which was then reviewed and addressed by the Managed Services team. Updates were pushed live in real-time, with tickets resolved in as little as four hours. The low volume of tickets indicated the effectiveness of the trained engines and other translation methods in place, further minimizing the need for manual intervention.

Finally, IHG implemented job automation and workflows through Smartling’s platform. These automations saved significant time by allowing translations to be processed in bulk, while still retaining the flexibility to pivot to different translation methods at the content or language level. This granularity ensured that specific types of content could be treated differently based on their needs, whether it required machine translation, human validation, or a hybrid model. The result was a more efficient process that balanced cost, speed, and quality, without sacrificing flexibility.

Through Smartling’s platform, IHG successfully translated over 600 million words into 20 languages, which allowed them to scale their website translation efforts efficiently. This solution not only improved the global user experience but also reduced operational costs, increased bookings, and enhanced the localization process for IHG’s international guests.