Hotel English – Using Travel English at Hotels

Hi, my name is Olivier.

Welcome to Oxford Online English.

Do you travel abroad, for work or for pleasure? If so, do you normally stay in hotels? Are you comfortable using English to reservea room, check in or out, and deal with any problems you have during your stay? In this lesson, you can learn how to use Englishin common hotel situations.

It can also help you if you work in a hotel.

Imagine you're traveling abroad and you needto arrange a hotel.

What's the first thing you need to do? Nowadays, you’ll often reserve your hotelroom online, but sometimes you might need to make a reservation by phone, or even inperson.

Let’s see how you can do this: Hi, I’d like to make a reservation.

Yes, of course.

When would you like to check in? On the 3rd of November.

And how many nights would that be for? For three nights.

And what kind of room were you looking for? A double room.

It’s for my husband and me.

Ok.

We do have one double room available for thosedates.

It’s $80 a night, so that comes to $240for the three nights.

Yes, that’s fine.

Great.

Can I take your name? Yes, it’s Sarah Banks Thank you, Ms.

Banks.

Can I just take a credit card from you tomake the booking? Yes of course, here you are.

Okay Ms.

Banks, that’s all finished.

Is there anything else I can help you with? Yes, could I have a confirmation emailed tome? Yes of course, what’s the email? It’s s dot banks at gmail dot com.

Okay, I’ll send that over to you now.

Excellent, thank you very much.

You’re welcome.

We look forward to seeing you.

Thank you, goodbye Goodbye.

Let’s look at some key phrases and usefulvocabulary from this section.

You can start the conversation by saying somethinglike: I’d like to make a reservation for the 3rdof November, for three nights, please.

Of course, you can change this to suit yoursituation, like this: I’d like to make a reservation for the 20thof May for one night, please.

The receptionist might ask you: What kind of room are you looking for? What could you say here? You could ask for a single or a double room.

If you’re travelling with a friend, youmight ask for a twin room, with two separate beds.

You could also ask for a triple room for threepeople, or maybe a family room, which might have four or even more beds.

Finally, if you need a lot of space, you canask for a suite.

A suite is like an apartment, with a livingroom, possibly a kitchen, and one or more bedrooms.

The dialogue you just heard was easy—therewere no problems or surprises—but what if the hotel is full on the dates you want? I’d like to make a reservation forthe 20th of May for one night, please.

Very well, sir, and what kind of room do youneed? I’d like a triple room, please.

I’m sorry sir, but don’t have any triplerooms available on that date.

It’s a holiday period and we’re almostfully booked.

I could offer you a family room, which hasfour beds.

Would that work for you? That could work… How much is it? It’s $195.

Ah, I see.

That’s more expensive than the triple.

Is there any way you could offer a discount? I’m sorry sir, as I said before, it’sa holiday period and we expect to be very busy at that time.

I see… Alright, then.

I’ll take it.

That’s fine.

Can I take your name for the reservation? This time, the conversation didn’t go sosmoothly.

The receptionist said: We don’t have any triple rooms availableon that date.

The receptionist also gave a reason.

Do you remember what it was? She said: It’s a holiday period and we’re almostfully booked.

Fully booked means that every room has alreadybeen reserved.

You might also hear something like: I’m afraid we don’t have anything freeon those dates.

Luckily, this time you were able to get aroom, even if it was more expensive than you were hoping for.

What’s the next step? You arrive at your hotel and go to receptionto check in.

Do you know what you should say here? Let’s look together! Hello, welcome to The Palm Hotel Hello, I have a reservation; the name’sSarah Banks Yes, I see that here.

I have you in a double room for three nights;is that correct? Yes, that’s right.

How many keys would you like? Two, please.

Okay, here you are.

Enjoy your stay, Ms.

Banks.

Thank you.

OK.

That seemed easy.

And usually, it should be.

But perhaps there’s a problem.

Let’s look at an example that doesn’tgo so well.

Hello, welcome to The Palm HotelHello, I have a reservation.

What name was it under? Sarah Banks.

I’m sorry, I don’t have a reservationunder that name.

How did you make the booking? I did it on the phone.

I actually have a confirmation here with me, would that help? Yes, please.

OK, yes, now I see the reservation.

I think there was a problem with the spelling.

I do apologize.

It’s no problem.

Now, you’ve checked in and you’re readyto enjoy your stay.

What next? You might need to go back to reception toarrange extra services, or to ask about the hotel’s facilities.

Let’s look at our first dialogue: Is there anything else I can help you with, Ms.

Banks? Yes, I would like a wake-up call tomorrow, if possible.

Yes of course; what time would you like thecall? 7.

30 please, actually… better make it 7.

Okay, no problem.

I’ll make a note of that.

Also I need to go to the airport on Wednesdaymorning.

Do you offer a shuttle service? Yes, we do.

What time's your flight? It’s at 10.

30am.

Okay, we have shuttles to the airport everyhour, so I think you could take the 8am shuttle.

Perfect, thank you.

The guest asked for two different things.

Do you remember what they were? She asked for a wake-up call, and she askedabout the airport shuttle.

A shuttle is a bus which drives between twoplaces.

Many hotels offer airport shuttles, whichdrive between the airport and the hotel.

Let’s look at some of the polite languagefrom this dialogue.

To ask for a wake-up call, I said: I would like a wake-up call tomorrow, if possible.

Adding if possible on the end of the sentenceis not necessary, but it makes it sound more respectful and polite.

To ask about the airport shuttle, I said: Do you offer a shuttle service? You could use this question to ask about otherhotel facilities.

For example: Do you offer 24-hour room service? Do you offer a dry-cleaning service? Do you offer conferencing facilities? Can you think of anything else you could askabout here? Let’s see some more ways to ask about hotelfacilities: Hello, how can I help you? Yes, hello.

I need some restaurant recommendations.

Okay, no problem.

Our concierge on the other side of the lobbycan recommend a good restaurant and help you to make reservations.

Thank you.

Also, I wanted to ask: what kind of gym facilitiesdo you have? We have a complete gym and small swimmingpool just down this corridor.

The swimming pool also has a sauna and a steamroom.

Wonderful! Thanks for your help.

Oh, actually, one last thing: what’s theWiFi password for the hotel? It’s Palmbeachhotel.

All one word, with a capital P at the start.

And that works everywhere in the hotel? Yes, it does.

Thank you very much.

You’re welcome.

Let’s look at some of the useful languagefrom this dialogue.

A concierge works in a hotel and can helpguests to arrange things in the local area.

For example, a good concierge can help youto book theatre tickets, find the best Thai restaurant in town, or organize a sightseeingtour of the city.

The phrase I wanted to ask is a good way tointroduce a question politely.

You can use it in many ways.

For example: I wanted to ask: is it possible to check outone hour late? I wanted to ask: what time is breakfast? Okay, at this point, you’ve checked in andyou’re getting comfortable.

But what if something goes wrong? Hello, do you need any help? Yes, I have a few problems with my room.

Okay, I’m sorry to hear that, what seemsto be the problem? Well, first of all there’s an issue withthe heating.

It’s very hot, and I can’t seem to turnit down.

Okay, I’ll send somebody to take a lookat that.

Was there anything else? Yes, actually.

I’m not sure if it’s normal, but my keydoesn’t always work in the door.

Sometimes I have to put it in five or sixtimes before it works.

Am I doing something wrong? I’m sure you aren’t, madam! Sometimes, older key cards don’t work sowell.

Let me make you a new key right now.

That’s great; thanks so much for your help.

You’re very welcome.

Here’s a good phrase to use if you havea problem during your hotel stay: There’s an issue with… For example: There’s an issue with the sink in the bathroom.

Can you think of any other ways you couldsay this? You could say something like: Something’s wrong with the sink in the bathroom.

I think there’s a problem with the sink.

Next, let’s look at one more example wherethings don’t go so well.

Yes, can I help you with something? I’d like to make a complaint.

My room hasn’t been cleaned properly.

I’m very sorry about that, sir.

What exactly is wrong? There’s dust everywhere and I found a hairon the pillow which definitely isn’t mine.

I have to say this is unacceptable.

If I’m paying this much money, the leastI should be able to expect is clean bedding.

I completely agree sir, and once again, I’mvery sorry.

Here’s what I can do for you: I can offeryou a complimentary upgrade to a deluxe room.

I’ll also make sure that housekeeping double-checkthe room before you use it, so that we can be sure it’s perfectly clean.

Well, that’s fine, but still, this sortof thing shouldn’t happen.

You’re right, of course.

I’ll communicate this issue to our managementso we can investigate and find out exactly why this happened.

When can I move rooms? As soon as you’re ready.

Just call reception and we’ll send someoneto help you with your bags.

This time, the situation was a little tenser.

However, you can see some good phrases hereto express anger without being rude.

For example: I have to say this is unacceptable.

This sort of thing shouldn't happen.

The least I should be able to expect is… These phrases are interesting, because they’requite formal, but they also express quite strong emotion.

Normally, formal language is cold-soundingand emotionless, but using phrases like these shows that you’re really unhappy with thesituation.

Now, your problems have all been solved andit’s time to go home again.

What’s the last thing you have to do? Hi, I’d like to check out please.

Yes of course; how was your stay? Very nice, thank you.

Here is a copy of your bill.

The room and tax are already paid, so theseare just the extras.

That seems fine, can you put it on my creditcard? Yes of course, I’ll just do that now… What extras might you have to pay? You might have to pay for any drinks or snacksyou take from the minibar.

You might also be charged for phone calls, room service, or movies.

In the dialogue above, everything was fine.

What if there are things on your bill whichyou don’t agree with? Hello, can I help you? Hi, I’d like to check out please.

Certainly… Here’s your bill.

The total seems higher than I expected; whatexactly are these additional charges? Let me have a look.

OK, this payment is for the water and snacks you had from the minibar, and it looks likethis is a phone call that was made to the United States.

Right, I see now.

Yes, that’s fine.

I’d like to pay cash, if that’s OK? Yes, no problem.

Thank you for staying with us.

Now, the next time you stay in a hotel andneed to use English, you should know what to say in any situation! You can find more free English lessons onmany different topics on our website.

Check it out: Oxford Online English.

com.

Thanks for watching!.