Multilingual property management software, now also in French
Picture a 120-room coliving in Lisbon where a quarter of the tenants come from France, Belgium and Switzerland, a colleague handles bookings from Lyon and two owners live in Brussels. Until now VIVIN spoke English, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, so all of them worked in a second language: tenants asking how to sign the contract, the colleague reading alerts in English, the owners waiting for a report someone had to translate. Multilingual property management software only works if it covers everyone who touches the stay.
With French Language Support, French joins the other four languages across the product: the management app, the tenant portal, the booking engine, notification emails, tenant push notifications, Genius and owner reports. Each person sees VIVIN in their own language, and nobody has to pick one language for everyone.
Why an English-only tenant portal costs you time with French-speaking tenants
- Move-in questions - "where do I sign?", "which IBAN do I pay?": answers the portal already gives, just not in the tenant's language
- Mistakes in forms - billing details, ID numbers and contract fields filled in wrongly because a label was misread
- Reports translated by hand - a French-speaking owner still gets the monthly report, after someone rewrites it
- A team working in a second language - alerts, emails and screens a colleague reads more slowly and misreads more often
How multilingual property management software works in VIVIN
1. The management app, per user
Every screen of the management app is available in French. Each person picks their language in Settings > Personal Settings > Language (English, Português, Español, Italiano or Français), or from the language menu at the bottom of the sidebar. The choice belongs to the user, not the account, and dates follow the French format.
2. Notification emails in each person's language
The emails VIVIN sends your team follow each user's language: support replies, maintenance and payment alerts, service orders, mentions, the login code and the password reset. Your colleague in Lyon gets them in French while the Lisbon team gets them in Portuguese.
3. The tenant portal, in the tenant's language
Set the language the whole portal opens in under Settings > Portal settings > Default language. Override it for one tenant with Portal language in the tenant sidebar, or leave it on "Account default". Tenants can also switch language themselves from the portal, and their choice sticks. The order is simple: the tenant's own choice, then the account default, then English. Push notifications to tenants follow the same language.
4. The booking engine in French
Public booking pages now have a French version at a /fr/ address, with French city names in the friendly URLs, such as /fr/lisbonne/louer. Listing titles and descriptions can be generated in French or written by you; where a listing has no French text yet, the French page shows the English one instead of an empty space.
5. Genius and the AI features
Write to Genius in French and it answers in French. The booking communication summary is written in the reader's language, and Airbnb and Booking.com guest chats are translated into French for anyone who works in French.
6. Owner reports in French
With Owner Reports switched on, the Owner report document card in Settings > Owners has a Document language that now includes French: French document labels, French number formats and amounts written out in words, the documents you send with the monthly owner settlements included.
Multilingual property management software vs English-only: the numbers
Estimates for a 120-room coliving with around 30 French-speaking tenants and 5 French-speaking owners:
| What changes | English-only | With French |
|---|---|---|
| Move-in questions from French-speaking tenants | 30-60 messages per intake | Far fewer, the portal explains itself |
| Translating owner reports | 2-3 hours a month | None, generated in French |
| Booking pages for French-speaking searchers | English only | French pages and URLs |
| Notification emails for a French-speaking colleague | In English | In French |
| Monthly time spent translating and explaining | 4-8 hours | Under 1 hour |
At €20 an hour, that is €80-160 a month back, before counting the bookings a French page can win.
Three French-speaking scenarios in coliving and student housing
A September intake from France
Set Portal language to French for the new arrivals, or let them pick it themselves. They sign, pay and order services in French, and the move-in questions drop.
A colleague in Lyon
She switches her Personal Settings to Français. Screens, alerts and the login code arrive in French, while the rest of the team keeps Portuguese.
An owner in Brussels
Set the owner report document language to French. The monthly report goes out in French, amounts in words included, with no rewriting.
Switching your team and tenants to French
- Each team member opens Settings > Personal Settings > Language and picks Français if they prefer it.
- Set the account default in Settings > Portal settings > Default language.
- Override it per tenant with Portal language in the tenant sidebar where needed.
- Add French titles and descriptions to your booking engine listings, or let VIVIN generate them.
- For French-speaking owners, set Document language to French in Settings > Owners.
Frequently asked questions
Which languages does VIVIN support?
Five: English, Portuguese as written in Portugal, Spanish, Italian and French. They cover the management app, the tenant portal, the booking engine, notification emails, tenant push notifications, Genius and owner reports, so every person who touches a stay can work in one of them.
Can each team member use VIVIN in a different language?
Yes. The language is a personal setting in Settings > Personal Settings > Language, so one colleague can work in French while another works in Portuguese. Notification emails, including support replies, alerts and the login code, follow each user's own language rather than a single language for the account.
How do I set the language of the tenant portal?
Choose the default for the whole account in Settings > Portal settings > Default language, and override it for a single tenant with Portal language in the tenant sidebar. Tenants can also change it themselves in the portal. Their own choice wins, then the account default, then English.
What happens if a listing has no French description?
The French booking page shows the English title and description for that listing instead of leaving a gap, so nothing breaks while you translate. You can let VIVIN generate French titles and descriptions or write your own, listing by listing, whenever you are ready.
One platform, five languages, everyone in their own. Tenants, colleagues and owners each read VIVIN the way they think, and nobody has to translate for anybody. Book a demo to see VIVIN in your team's languages.
