Getting a Hotel Room (Novice-Intermediate)

Practice on Your Own

Imagine that you and your family are traveling in a country where the language is spoken. You decide to stay in a city where you have not reserved a hotel room. Now you go to a hotel in person to get (a) room(s) for your family.

• Make a list of the vocabulary that you will need (both words that you will use as a guest and words that the receptionist might use), such as receptionist, welcome, room…
• Figure out how long you want to stay, how much you want to pay, how many people are in your group, how many rooms you need, etc.
• Prepare the questions and answers on the part of both the receptionist and the guest.
  • Receptionist: Welcome. How can I help you? How many nights? How many people? ...
  • Guest: We are here for X nights. We are five people. How much is this room? Are there other rooms? …
• If you are unsure how to form certain questions, prepare to ask your conversation partner about them.

Practice in Conversation Session

• First you play the role of a guest and your conversation partner plays the receptionist.
  • Formally respond to the receptionist’s greeting. Perhaps you can use some simple expressions to smooth the conversation; for instance, “such a nice hotel,” or “beautiful hotel”…
  • Answer the questions completely. For instance, in answering “How long will you stay?” you should not respond with just a number but with a full sentence.
• Switching roles, you play the role of the receptionist and your conversation partner plays a guest. Make sure that your questions are being corrected by your conversation partner. Asking question is usually harder than answering them; therefore, pay close attention to this part of the exercise.
• Now imagine that you are reserving a room over the phone. Again alternate the roles between you and your conversation partner. How is it different to reserve a room in person than to do it on phone?