How to answer calls from Russian-speaking tourists and hotel guests
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
Tourists from Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries call hotels and travel agencies in Russian, often in the evening or at night Tashkent time. Answer them in Russian straight away; don’t ask them to switch to Uzbek. Prices, address, transfers and registration should be written the same way in both languages, and give the address with a landmark. Set a separate rule for guests who speak English. An AI voice operator answers in Uzbek and Russian day and night.
Who calls and what they ask
Russian-speaking callers aren’t only from Russia: guests from Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, Russian-speaking families in Tashkent and Uzbeks living abroad call in Russian too. The questions are usually these:
- Do you pick up from the airport or the station, and how much is it?
- Is early check-in or late checkout possible?
- Which cards do you accept, and where can we change money?
- Do you register foreign guests, and which documents are needed?
- Can you help with a Samarkand or Bukhara tour, train tickets or a guide?
- Is breakfast included, and where can we eat nearby?
Each answer is your company’s own rule. Check the answer about registration and documents with your management and write it down; don’t guess.
Five rules for a call in Russian
- Answer in the guest’s language. “Please speak Uzbek” or “nobody here speaks Russian, call back later” sends the guest to another hotel.
- Write the facts the same way in both languages: prices, check-in and checkout times, transfers, payment methods. The Uzbek and Russian answers must not differ.
- Give the address with a landmark. A guest may not know a street’s new name; the old name or a well-known place nearby helps them find you fast.
- Quote prices in one currency, and make sure all staff do. If one says so‘m and another says dollars, the guest gets confused.
- Mind the time difference: Moscow is two hours behind Tashkent. At ten in the evening in Moscow it’s midnight in Tashkent, and that’s exactly when guests call.
A sample: an evening call from Moscow
The call was in Russian; this is the translation.
Caller: Good evening. I’m calling from Moscow, we want to come to Samarkand in December. Do you have a room from the 10th to the 14th?
Sado: Good evening! Bogsaroy guest house, this is Malika. How many of you will there be?
Caller: Two. And one more thing: do you pick up from the airport?
Sado: Yes, we do. Do you know your flight number?
Caller: Not yet, we haven’t bought tickets.
Sado: No problem, send it later. I’ve noted two guests, 10 to 14 December, with a transfer. In the morning the manager will confirm and message you on Telegram. What’s your name?
Caller: Olga.
Sado: Thank you, Olga! See you in Samarkand.
Had this call gone unanswered, by morning the guest would have booked somewhere else.
If the guest speaks English
Sado’s operator speaks only Uzbek and Russian, not English. So set a rule in advance: such a call is transferred to a staff member who speaks English, or that person calls back. On your website and booking-site pages, give a Telegram account or email for messages in English.
An AI operator that answers in both languages
An AI operator for incoming calls answers every call at once, at night and on holidays too. A guest who speaks Russian gets Russian; one who speaks Uzbek gets Uzbek. The answers come from your facts: prices, transfers, check-in times. When it doesn’t know, it says the manager will call back and creates a task.
The booking request, with the guest’s name, dates and number, lands in the portal’s Requests section, together with each call’s recording and transcript. How it sounds in both languages: Uzbek voice AI. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
Does the operator recognise the guest’s language itself?
Yes, it answers in the language the guest speaks. Mixed Uzbek-Russian speech stays in Uzbek, and it switches language when the guest asks.
What if a guest asks, “Are you a robot?”
Sado’s operator never claims to be human when asked. It speaks in your company’s name and carries on answering the guest’s question.
Do we need AI if a manager already speaks Russian?
A manager can’t answer at night or take a second call at the same moment. The AI operator covers that gap, and complex questions stay with the manager.