Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 97, Checking into a Hotel.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 97.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's episode is about checking into a hotel.
Let's get started.
I flew into Atlanta the afternoon before a big meeting.
I hailed a taxi at the airport and told the driver the name of the hotel.
I asked him how long it would take to get there He said it would only be 20 minutes.
I sat back and relaxed.
We got to the hotel and the doorman helped me take my luggage to the check-in desk where I spoke with the front desk clerk.
Hi, I'm checking in.
The last name is Rama?
Yes.
Here is your reservation.
You have a standard room reserved for two nights.
Is that right?
Actually, no.
It should be a suite.
I had booked a non-smoking king.
Oh, my mistake.
The reservation is for a suite, and it is a non-smoking room with a king bed.
I'm sorry for the error.
That's okay.
I'm here a little early.
Is it possible to check in right now?
Sure.
That's no problem.
May I have your credit card?
We need a credit card on file for your room charges and incidentals.
Here it is.
Okay.
Now, if you could please verify the room rate here, initial next to the X, and sign right here.
How many keys will you need?
Oh, just one.
Okay, you're all set.
You're in room 1201.
Take the elevators to the 12th floor, and it will be on your left.
Do you need any help with your bags?
No, I'm fine, thanks.
Enjoy your stay.
Our story begins with me saying, I flew into Atlanta the afternoon before a big meeting.
To fly into somewhere means to take an airplane to that place.
I flew into New York.
I flew into Paris.
I flew into Heathrow in London.
That means I've taken a plane to those places.
A big meeting can mean one of two things.
It can mean a very important meeting.
You might say this is a big meeting for me, meaning it's very important for me, important for my career.
Or it can just mean a large meeting with lots of people.
That would also be a big meeting.
I hailed a taxi at the airport.
To hail H-A-I-L a taxi T-A-X-I means to put your arm out in order to get a taxi cab to stop and pick you up.
So if you're in a big city like New York City, for example, you have to stand out in the road and put your hand up and wave to hail a taxi.
I asked the taxi driver how long it would take to get there.
How long means how much time.
And the taxi driver said that it would take Only be 20 minutes.
After arriving at the hotel, the doorman helped me take my luggage to the check-in desk.
A doorman D-O-O-R-M-A-N all one word is usually a man though it doesn't necessarily have to be who greets you at a nice hotel and offers to help you with your luggage.
Luggage, L-U-G-G-A-G-E, is what we call the bags where you keep the clothes for your trip.
So the doorman helped me take my luggage to the check-in desk.
The check-in, C-H-E-C-K hyphen I-N desk, is the same as the front desk.
It's the place where you go to register or to check in to a hotel.
I say to the woman at the check-in desk Hi, I'm checking in, meaning I just arrived and I want to register and go to my room.
So the woman says yes, here is your reservation, meaning she sees either on the computer or on a piece of paper the information about my reservation.
She tells me that I have a standard room.
A standard room is the regular or most basic kind of room in a hotel.
There are different types of room.
There's the standard room, and then there are, in many hotels, rooms called suites.
A suite, S-U-I-T-E, is a bigger room, usually a nicer room, and...
I tell the woman that I should have a suite reserved for me, and then I say I booked a non-smoking king.
To book, B-O-O-K, means to reserve a room or to make a reservation.
Non-smoking means you can't smoke in the room.
Most public places in the United States do not allow smoking, although most hotels still have smoking sections or smoking rooms.
I asked for a non-smoking king.
The word king here refers to the size of the bed.
A king bed, also called a king-size bed, is the biggest bed.
Actually, there is a bed bigger than a regular king bed.
It's called a California king, and it's longer than the regular king bed.
But a king-size is the biggest bed you will normally find.
It sleeps two people very comfortably.
A smaller bed that is also good for two people is a queen bed.
The queen is smaller than the king, and smaller than the queen bed is the double bed.
Two people can sleep in a double bed if they are very friendly or know each other really really well.
The clerk then says, oh, my mistake, meaning I was wrong.
I made a mistake.
She then asks me for a credit card.
She says they need a credit card on file for your room charges and incidentals.
To have something on file means to have a record of it.
In this case, they need to have your credit card on file so they know what the credit card number is in case, for example, you leave without paying your bill.
If you have your credit card on file, then they have the number and can still charge you.
She mentions room charges and incidentals.
Room charges are the amount that it costs you to rent the room, and incidentals are all the other things that you pay for to use in a hotel room.
So, for example, a call on the telephone in your hotel room is an incidental.
In many hotels each call on the telephone is fifty cents or a dollar.
They will charge you even when it's what we call a local call, which is a call within the same city.
Another incidental would be the room's minibar.
In some hotels they have what's called a minibar, which is a small refrigerator that has food and drinks in it.
Every day, the maid...
The person who comes to clean your room checks the minibar and if you've taken something out, she marks that down on a piece of paper.
And then when you check out, when you leave, you have to pay for whatever you took from the minibar.
That's another example of an incidental.
The woman then asks me to verify the room rate.
The room, r-o-o-m, rate, r-a-t-e, is the cost of the room, the price of the room.
She tells me to initial next to the x.
To initial I-N-I-T-I-A-L, something means to write down the first letter of your first and last names.
So, for Jeff McQuillan, I would initial J-M.
Often, on very long official forms...
Instead of writing your whole name, you will just write your initials.
Initial next to the X means write your initials on the line next to a little X that is printed on the form.
Then she asked me how many keys I will need.
Of course, in most modern hotels, they don't actually give you a key.
They give you a little card that looks like a credit card, and that is your electronic key.
The clerk asked me, do you need any help with your bags?
Meaning, did I want someone to carry my luggage to my room for me?
And I say, no, I'm fine.
No, I'm fine or no, I'm fine, thanks are polite ways of saying no.
I don't need any help, but thank you.
Finally, the woman says, enjoy your stay, meaning my stay at the hotel.
The time that you will be somewhere is your stay, S-T-A-Y.
If someone asks, how long is your stay?
And you answer three days, that means you will be there for three days.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.
I flew into Atlanta the afternoon before a big meeting.
I hailed a taxi at the airport and told the driver the name of the hotel.
I asked him how long it would take to get there.
He said it would only be 20 minutes.
I sat back and relaxed.
We got to the hotel and the doorman helped me take my luggage to the check-in desk, where I spoke with the front desk clerk.
Hi, I'm checking in.
The last name is Rama?
Yes, here is your reservation.
You have a standard room reserved for two nights, is that right?
Actually, no.
It should be a suite.
I had booked a non-smoking king.
Oh, my mistake.
The reservation is for a suite, and it is a non-smoking room with a king bed.
I'm sorry for the error.
That's okay.
I'm here a little early.
Is it possible to check in right now?
Sure, that's no problem.
May I have your credit card?
We need a credit card on file for your room charges and incidentals.
Here it is.
Okay, now if you could please verify the room rate here, initial next to the X, and sign right here.
How many keys will you need?
Oh, just one.
Okay, you're all set.
You're in room 1201.
Take the elevators to the 12th floor, and it'll be on your left.
Do you need any help with your bags?
No, I'm fine, thanks.
Enjoy your stay.
Thanks to our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, for her wonderful script.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here 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 2006.
