Why not include hotel address in local language (esp. in Asia)?
 

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I searched and did not find anything.

As a suggestion to Marriott corporate, why don't the website or individual hotel fact sheets include the address of the hotel shown in the local language? We recently had 2 stays in China, and neither hotel displayed their address in Chinese characters. While I was able to send an email requesting this information, it would have made things a lot simpler if it had just been posted on the hotel website or fact sheet.

When I arrive in a country that does not use the same alphabet/characters/etc, and I need to take a taxi cab to reach the hotel, I find it tremendously reassuring to have the address in the local language to give to the taxi driver. It makes the airport-to-hotel trip much easier.

Of course, once I've gotten to the hotel, I've always gotten a card from the front desk that contains this information, but I'm talking about trying to get to the hotel in the first place.

Excellent suggestion, I think. ^

If you haven't already, I would send the suggestion to Marriott as well. I know there are folks that read here on FT, but best to give it right to the source. There is a CONTACT US page on the website.

Thanks for your agreement. I've sent the suggestion to Marriott. Perhaps they'll consider doing this for improved customer service.

Great suggestion Idranant
Of course it would be better if Marriott ever actually listened to their customers :rolleyes:

Totally concur.
Both the hotel name and address should be shown in local language. Hope the MR lurker is "lurking".

Great idea. Last year, I could not find the Courtyard in Beijing. No one knew where it was looking at the English address (and I speak fluent Chinese) until by luck I ran across a guy who worked there.

There is a method--if you have a Chinese keyboard
 

I just went to Marriott.com and clicked on International Sites in the top left corner. I chose China, and by trial and error (since my keyboard is not Chinese enabled) found the listing for the Beijing Courtyard. If you have access to a Chinese keyboard computer, it's possible to print out the page to give to the taxi driver.

I see. Thanks. I arrived there not even knowing what the hotel's name was in Chinese. I don't see a direction link though - but it helps having the address and name in Chinese.

By the way, you don't need a Chinese keyboard - just need to install the fonts to display it.

Perhaps asking the property to fax/email you the info would be helpful.
But then you are relying on someone else for information-and if that info was wrong :mad:

I tried using the International Site link. However, if you input "China" it changes all of the information into Chinese characters. That doesn't allow me to identify the city/hotel/etc that I'm trying to locate.

It seems that the website is set up as all-or-nothing as far as the languages are concerned. If I input English, I can't get the hotel information in the local language. If I input Chinese, I can't figure out how to select the hotel I want because everything is in Chinese characters. It doesn't simply switch the page from English to Chinese, it returns you to a starting point where you have to select a city, etc. which I'm unable to do because I cannot read Chinese characters.

Some combination to allow the address in the local language would be a great enhancement.

I did (successfully) use the "contact us" option to obtain the information for my stay, and that is what prompted me to propose this as an enhancement to the site.

If I had not thought to do this and print it out prior to my actual trip, though, it would not have helped. In one case, the information was needed upon my arrival at the airport and I had no access to a printer. In the second stay, it was late in the evening when my plane arrived, and again, there was no printer access prior to my arrival and there was no one at the Marriott desk at that hour of the evening.

Marriott's English hotel addresses look like this:
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/CODE-hotel-name/

And those in Chinese and Japanese look like this:
http://www.marriott.com.cn/Channels/...age/CHINA/CODE
http://www.marriott.co.jp/Channels/g...age/JAPAN/CODE

So just browse to the English site, copy down the code (eg. "BJSCY" for Beijing Courtyard), plug it into the Chinese/Japanese address (use all caps), and Mao's your uncle.

The OP has perhaps now, in part, discovered an answer to his own rhetorical question: because Windows is going to ask to download a new font language pack every time it comes across a new language.

Still, were this easy, it would prove helpful to me.

Instead they could put a printable JPG or PDF with the address. That's all anyone really needs - something they can hand to a taxi driver so they know where they are going.

Man, me is so smart. Marriott should hire me.

Still pathetic that Marriott can not put this on each page. I had to go to the Hilton website to find the proper address of the Ren. in Beijing last yr.

Dave

This link should lead you to all MR properties in China with names shown in English and Chinese.
http://www.marriott.com.cn/Channels/...untry=CHINA#CN