Look-through-the text activity. List all the hotel jobs mentioned in the text

List all the hotel jobs mentioned in the text.

What are the day-to-day duties of each position?

Hotels exist to provide a home away from home when travelling. Hotel employees want you to have a great time at their hotel so that you will come back and stay with them again. To that end, each hotel position acts to give you the best service.

Every job in the hotel industry demands a lot from its employees, including reservations, handling guest requests, catering weddings, outfitting rooms, fixing elevators or leaky showers, cooking for a company branch and reserving theater tickets and dinner dates. Like in any other business, there is a great number of different positions in any hotel, from the highest ranking CEO to the lowest ranking dishwasher or parking lot attendant. But no matter what the role, each person working in a hotel reflects on the hotel standards.

The front desk clerk is the person who will check you in and out. She finds your reservation, helps you fill out any necessary paperwork and provides directions to your room. She is usually the first hotel position employee you will encounter.

The housekeeper is responsible for cleaning the rooms on a daily basis. She will also fill requests for things such as extra towels. Usually the housekeepers are on duty from early morning until around 4 pm.

The general manager oversees day-to-day operations. He may assist with check in and check out during busy times. He is the person to go to with complaints or compliments about hotel staff, food or your room.

Many expensive hotels offer concierge services. These people perform extra services for the guests such as ordering transportation, arranging sightseeing tours or ordering massages. The concierge often helps with tasks a tourist may not know how to do.

Many hotels have their own restaurant on the premises. Most offer room service to their guests. Simply call the restaurant from your room and order your meal and the room service personnel will bring it to your room as quickly as possible.

Other hotel positions include bellhops, who carry your luggage to and from your room for you. Courtesy van drivers take you to nearby destinations such as the airport or attractions in the area. Pool attendants provide towels and keep the pool area clean. Lifeguards watch people swim in the pool and render assistance if and when necessary. Maintenance people keep the hotel in tiptop shape fixing everything from burnt out light bulbs to a stopped-up toilet in your room.

The door attendant is in permanent attendance at the door. Whenever a taxi or private car stops in front of the hotel, he opens the door and helps the visitor out. In case of rain he will shelter the guest under a huge umbrella as far as the hall.

The bell-boys, or page-boys, are the Jacks-of-all-trades of the hall. They run all sorts of errands for the visitors: deliver messages, buy newspapers, perfumes, medicines, or cigarettes, which they bring up to the rooms or to the lounge. Bell boys and page-boys are usually quite young people.

And everyone is fully conscious that hotel work is a team work and that he must play his part if the guests are to enjoy their stay and come again. Every job is important, whatever it is, and calls for responsible people to carry it out.

After-reading

Choose one of the hotel jobs, make a list of recommendations for a person who wants to take it. Describe the qualities he/she should aquire and the duties he /she will fulfill on daily basis.

Task 1 Vocabulary

1.1Find words and phrases in the text with the following meanings: Match the following words given in the text with their definitions:

Section, position, daily, help, work, to meet, booking, to be in charge of, presence, constant, praise,

broken, lodgement, record keeping.

Match collocations

Task 2 Comprehension

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give your reasons. Prove your opinion with the sentences from the text.

Use for agreement: -That’s right…; -Definitely…; -I agree…

Use for disagreement: -That’s not quite right…; -It’s quite opposite…; -It says in the text…

1. The bell-boys, or page-boys, are the Jacks-of-all-trades of the hall.

2. The front desk clerk is the person who will deal with maintainance problems.

3.The door attendant is in permanent attendance at the door.

4. Not all hotels have their own restaurant on the premises.

5. Courtesy van drivers take the guests to nearby destinations such as the airport or attractions in the area.

6. Usually the housekeepers are on duty from early morning until around 9 pm.

2.2 Complete the following passage with given words: consierge, hop,front desk clerk, porter, quick-witted, valeting, transporting, social skills, to escort, to tip, English-speaking.

The bellboy

The job's name is derived from the fact that the hotel's ....... rang a bell to summon an employee, who would "….." (jump) to attention at the desk to receive instructions. The term "…..." is used in the United Kingdom and much of the....... world. "Bellboy" or "bellhop" is an American English term.

This employee traditionally was a boy or adolescent male, hence the term bellboy. Today's bellhop must be........, good with people, and outgoing. Bellhops will meet a variety of different people each day and must have the...... to deal with them. Duties often include opening the front door, moving luggage,...... cars, calling cabs,...... guests, giving directions, performing basic ......work, and responding to the guest's needs. They must be able..... guests into their rooms while carrying luggage, or help move any baggage a customer needs.

In many countries, such as the United States, it is customary ..... such an employee for his service.

Viewpoint

Which profession do you think is the most appealing to you? Can you think of advantages and disadvantages?

Practice

IF/WHEN sentences