Taufiq Kurniawan, Satria Agust, Valentina Dyah Arum Sari, Titi Lestari, Glenie Latuni
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) plays a vital role in global tourism, facilitating communication between international tourists and service providers, yet it often causes miscommunication due to differing proficiency levels, accents, and cultural norms. Such breakdowns can lead to service failures, underscoring the need for effective recovery. This qualitative case study explores ELF interactions in hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, and tour operations across three destinations in Lombok, Indonesia. Data from observations, recordings, interviews, and complaint documents were analyzed using discourse and thematic methods. Four main breakdowns emerged: lexical misunderstandings, pronunciation issues, pragmatic failures and cultural mismatches, where lexical and pragmatic misunderstandings were most frequent. Recovery strategies included clarification, apology, nonverbal support, compensation, and proactive adjustment, with cultural expectations mediating success. Relational and proactive approaches yielded the greatest satisfaction. The study integrates ELF service recovery theory and highlights practical training in cross-cultural pragmatics and flexible recovery to improve multilingual service quality. © the authors, 2026.
Manado State University, Indonesia; Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia; Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), Hungary; Mercu Buana University, Indonesia; Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa University, Indonesia
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