Look-through-the text activity

Find all types of accommodation mentioned in the text. Which of them are not included in your lists?

Hotels and other accommodations are as diverse as the many family and business travellers they accommodate. Establishments vary greatly in size and in the services they provide. Hotels and motels make up the majority of establishments and tend to provide more services than other lodging places. Larger hotels and motels often have banquet rooms, exhibit halls, and spacious ballrooms to accommodate conventions, business meetings, wedding receptions, and other social gatherings which are major sources of revenue for these hotels and motels. Some commercial hotels are known as conference hotels—fully self-contained units specifically designed for meetings.

There are five basic types of hotels—commercial, resort, residential, extended-stay, and casino. Most hotels and motels are commercial properties that cater mainly to business people, tourists travelling on their cars, and other travellers who need accommodations for a brief stay. Commercial hotels and motels are usually located in cities or suburban areas and operate year round.

Resort hotels offer luxurious surroundings with a variety of recreational facilities, such as swimming pools, golf courses, tennis courts, game rooms, and health spas, as well as planned social activities and entertainment. Resorts typically are located in vacation destinations or near natural settings, such as mountains, seashores, theme parks, or other attractions. As a result, the business of many resorts varies with the season. Some resort hotels and motels provide additional convention and conference facilities to encourage customers to combine business with pleasure. During the off season, many of these establishments invite conventions, sales meetings, and incentive tours to fill their otherwise empty rooms; some resorts even close for the off-season.

Residential hotels provide living quarters for permanent and semi permanent residents. They combine the comfort of apartment living with the convenience of hotel services. Many have dining rooms and restaurants that also are open to residents and to the general public.

Extended-stay hotels combine features of a resort and a residential hotel. Typically, guests use these hotels for a minimum of 5 consecutive nights. These facilities usually provide rooms with fully equipped kitchens, entertainment systems, ironing boards and irons, office space with computer and telephone lines, fitness centers, and other amenities.

Casino hotels provide lodging in hotel facilities with a casino on the premises. The casino may include different gambling activities, such as slot machines and sports betting. Casino hotels generally offer a full range of services and amenities and also may contain conference and convention facilities.

In addition to hotels and motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, recreational vehicle (RV) parks, campgrounds, and rooming and boarding houses provide lodging for overnight guests. Bed-and-breakfast inns provide short-term lodging in private homes or small buildings converted for this purpose and are characterized by highly personalized service and inclusion of breakfast in the room rate.

RV parks and campgrounds cater to people who enjoy recreational camping at moderate prices. Some parks and campgrounds provide service stations, general stores, shower and toilet facilities, and coin-operated laundries. While some are designed for overnight travellers only, others are for vacationers who stay longer. Some camps provide accommodations, such as cabins and fixed campsites, and other amenities, such as food services, recreational facilities and equipment, and organized recreational activities. Examples of these overnight camps include children’s camps, family vacation camps, hunting and fishing camps etc. Other short-term lodging facilities in this industry include guesthouses, or small cottages located on the same property as a main residence, and youth hostels—dormitory-style hotels with few frills, occupied mainly by students travelling on limited budgets. In all these lodging places travellers can opt for self-catering accommodation.

After-reading

Categorize different types of accommodation as

1 urban or rural

2 static or mobile

3 luxury or budget

4 serviced or self-catering

Choose serviced or self- catering accommodation that would be suitable for

1 a retired couple who want to see the famous monuments in the area

2 a newly-wed couple on their honey moon

3 a family with children on their motorhome

4 a business traveller staying for a three day conference

5 a student like you.

Task 1. Vocabulary

1.1 Match the words given in the text with their definitions:

1.2 Match the words that are numbered with the words that are lettered to make up proper collocations:

1.3 Find words or expressions in the text which have the same meaning as the following:

events, holiday, short, washing machines, price, reasonable, vacant, occupy, extra, different, motorists, non-residents, transformed, holiday-makers.

Task 2. Comprehension.