Simplified vs Traditional Chinese: when to use which
Mandarin-language guests fall into two written-script camps that must not be mixed in a single message. Mixing scripts within one reply reads as obviously machine-translated and erodes trust immediately.
The split
- Simplified Chinese (简体中文, jiǎntǐ zhōngwén) — used in mainland China and Singapore. The vast majority of Chinese inbound guests to Thailand are mainland.
- Traditional Chinese (繁體中文, fántǐ zhōngwén) — used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese diaspora communities of older generations.
Even guests fully comfortable reading both scripts will prefer the script of their home market. A Hong Kong guest receiving simplified-Chinese replies feels addressed as if they were mainland; a mainland guest receiving traditional-Chinese replies sees stiff "old-style" characters that suggest the hotel doesn't understand its market.
Signals for guest origin (and therefore script choice)
In rough order of reliability:
- Phone number country code — strongest signal.
- +86 → mainland China → Simplified
- +852 → Hong Kong → Traditional
- +853 → Macau → Traditional
- +886 → Taiwan → Traditional
- +65 → Singapore → Simplified (Singapore standard)
- Guest-supplied script in the inbound message — if the guest writes in simplified, reply in simplified. If they write in traditional, reply in traditional. Match what they used.
- Booking source / OTA:
- Trip.com, Ctrip, Fliggy, Meituan, WeChat Mini Programs → mainland → Simplified
- Booking.com from a Taiwan/HK billing address → Traditional
- Klook from Taiwan → Traditional; Klook from mainland → Simplified
- Name romanization — weaker but useful.
- Pinyin spellings (Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu) → mainland.
- Wade-Giles or HK-style (Wong, Lee, Cheung, Lau) → Traditional region.
- Note: Singapore Chinese names also use pinyin → still Simplified.
Default when uncertain
If no signal is available, default to Simplified Chinese — it is the script of approximately 90%+ of Chinese inbound to Thailand. But escalate the message for human review before sending if the guest's market origin would materially change the response (e.g., specific local payment-method recommendations, regional Mandarin terms for transfer/airport).
What never to do
- Never produce a reply that mixes simplified and traditional characters in the same message. This is the single most visible "machine translation" tell to a native reader.
- Never use a Cantonese romanization or Cantonese-specific phrasing in a written reply. Written Chinese is standard Mandarin in both scripts; written Cantonese (粵語白話) is informal and inappropriate for hotel-to-guest communication even with a Hong Kong guest.
- Never use Japanese kanji that look similar to Chinese — they are not interchangeable.