Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 382, Types of Hotels and Accommodations.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 382.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
Everything We Say, you can find on the Learning Guide.
This episode is called Types of Hotels and Accommodations.
It's a dialogue between Jamal and Aaron talking about the different places you can stay and how we describe those hotels and other places in English.
Let's get started.
Have you found a place for us to stay in Chicago?
I'm still exploring the options.
Instead of a run-of-the-mill chain hotel, I thought we could do something different.
How different?
I thought we might stay in a cabin near the lake.
A cabin?
That sounds a little too rustic for me.
My days of roughing it in hostels or fleabag motels are over.
A cabin sounds like it would be in the same league.
Oh, I don't know.
There are some very nice cabins, and even if they're less than luxurious, I don't mind staying in a modest place.
We can't afford an expensive boutique hotel, you know.
I know that, but there are a lot of other options.
We could stay in a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental.
Remember the bed and breakfast we stayed in in Montreal?
Yeah, that was nice.
Okay, you win.
I was trying to appeal to your adventurous spirit.
My adventurous spirit is still here.
It just needs the right inducement.
Our dialogue begins with Jamal asking Aaron.
Aaron says To explore the options means to learn more about the choices that you have, to gather information about what is available.
This is not the sort of thing you want to hear from, for example, your girlfriend.
You say, honey, would you like to go to dinner with me?
And she says, I'm exploring the options.
But Erin is exploring the options for places to stay in Chicago.
She says, A couple of expressions there.
The first is run-of-the-mill.
All one long expression.
The phrase run of the mill means ordinary, typical, nothing special.
It's often used to describe things that are not very interesting, not very special.
A chain hotel is a hotel that is one part of a larger group of hotels owned by a large company.
For example, in the United States, you can find chain hotels such as the Hilton, the Sheraton, the Ramada Inn.
There are many different chain hotels in the U.S. and in other countries.
Jamal says, how different, meaning how different of a hotel are you looking for?
Aaron says, I thought we might stay in a cabin near the lake.
A cabin, C-A-B-I-N, is a small simple house usually made of wood.
It usually refers to a vacation home that is near a lake or in the mountains.
When I was growing up back in Minnesota, My parents had a small cabin in the northern part of the state near one of Minnesota's 10000-plus lakes.
Many of my brothers own small cabins near lakes that are an hour or two hours north of Minneapolis-St.
Paul, where they live.
And these are places they go with their families on the weekends to relax.
Cabin has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some more explanations.
Jamal says, A cabin?
That sounds a little too rustic for me.
Rustic, R-U-S-T-I-C, means simple but a little...
Too rough, a little too difficult to be in.
We often use this expression in talking about places outside of the city, rural areas.
For example, people who like to go camping in tents, that would be very rustic.
Jamal says To rough it means to live without the modern comforts or the modern things that we expect in a house, such as, for example, running water and indoor toilets.
These would be modern comforts, things that we enjoy.
To rough.
It would mean to go usually on a vacation and not have some of those things available to you.
Jamal says, My days of roughing it in hostels or fleabag motels are over.
A hostel... is a place where people can sleep when they are traveling.
You usually share a bedroom with other people.
You also usually share a bathroom.
These are cheaper places.
Hostels are popular with college students.
It was very popular when I was in college for students to travel to Europe and they would stay in youth hostels, hostels that were for men and women under the age of 25 or 26.
It was cheap and of course they could meet other 25 and 26 and under men and women when they were there.
Jamal does not want to stay in a hostel.
He doesn't want to stay in a fleabag motel either.
A motel is like a small hotel.
It comes from the idea of a motor hotel, meaning a small place usually located near a main freeway or highway.
Motels are smaller, cheaper a Fleabag.
Motels are cheap, but also dirty and unclean motels, not a very comfortable place.
The term fleabag motel is a very negative one.
Jamal says to Aaron that a cabin sounds like it would be in the same league as a hostel or fleabag motel.
The expression in the same league means of similar quality, approximately the same level or type.
Aaron says, oh, I don't know.
There are some very nice cabins, even if they're less than luxurious.
She starts by saying, oh, I don't know, which is a way of disagreeing, in this case, with Jamal.
She's not saying she doesn't know.
She's saying, I don't think you're correct.
She says there are some very nice cabins, even if they're less than luxurious.
Luxurious is very comfortable, often very expensive.
You go to some of the expensive hotels in Las Vegas, and they're very luxurious.
Well, that's what people tell me.
I've never been to one.
Aaron says, I don't mind staying in a modest place.
Modest here means simple and cheaper, not big and expensive.
Modest.
Modest has a couple of different meanings.
Again, take a look at the learning guide for this episode for some more explanations.
Aaron continues, we can't afford an expensive boutique hotel, you know.
A boutique hotel is a small, pleasant hotel.
It's usually not part of a chain.
It's nicer than a more common hotel and, of course, more expensive.
You can find boutique hotels in most big cities.
New York and Los Angeles have many different boutique hotels.
So does San Francisco.
Jamal says, I know that.
I know they can't afford an expensive hotel, he's saying.
But there are a lot of other options.
We could stay in a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental.
A bed and breakfast is usually a private home that has different rooms for people to stay in.
And in addition to getting a room and a bathroom, you usually get a simple or small breakfast.
Bed and breakfasts are usually not very big rooms, somewhere between one and perhaps five or six rooms for people to stay in.
So it's more like staying at someone's house.
A vacation rental is someone who has a home or an apartment or a condo that they rent on a weekly or monthly basis.
You can rent it for a week.
You can rent it for a month.
Vacation rentals have furniture, beds and chairs and so forth in them.
And you essentially rent somebody's condo or apartment for a week or however long your vacation is.
I've done this many times.
My wife and I have gone on vacation to many different cities and we usually look for a vacation rental because it's nice to have a kitchen and to be in a part of town that is not necessarily where there are a lot of tourists.
Jamal then says to Aaron, remember the bed and breakfast we stayed in in Montreal?
Aaron says, yeah, that was nice.
Okay, you win, meaning you're correct.
I agree with you.
I was trying to appeal to your adventurous spirit.
To appeal to something is to interest or to attract something.
I am not very appealing to most of the attractive women I see.
That's because I have a face that is made for radio or podcasting.
It's better if you don't see me.
Aaron was trying to appeal to Jamal's adventurous spirit, meaning his willingness to try new or difficult things.
Jamal says my adventurous spirit is still here.
It just needs the right inducement.
An inducement is an action that you take to persuade someone or convince someone to do something, to encourage them to do something.
In the US.
Sometimes airlines sell too many tickets for the plane and they need to find people who are willing to to give up their seats to take a different flight, a different plane, later in the day.
They usually offer you a free ticket or some money as an inducement, trying to get you to do what they want you to do, encourage you to do something.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Have you found a place for us to stay in Chicago?
I'm still exploring the options.
Instead of a run of the mill chain hotel, I thought we could do something different.
How different?
I thought we might stay in a cabin near the lake.
A cabin?
That sounds a little too rustic for me.
My days of roughing it in hostels or fleabag motels are over.
A cabin sounds like it would be in the same league.
Oh, I don't know.
There's some very nice cabins.
And even if they're less than luxurious, I don't mind staying in a modest place.
We can't afford an expensive boutique hotel, you know.
I know that, but there are a lot of other options.
We could stay in a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental.
Remember the bed and breakfast we stayed in in Montreal?
Yeah, that was nice.
Okay, you win.
I was trying to appeal to your adventurous spirit.
My adventurous spirit is still here.
It just needs the right inducement.
The script for this episode was written by the adventurous spirit, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
