Вариант 7

The Accomodations industry

A hotel is a temporary home for people who are travelling. In a hotel the traveller can rest and has access to food and drink. The hotel may also offer facilities for recreation, such as a swimming pool, a golf course or a beach.

Travel and hotels have always been closely related. In Europe and America, inns and taverns were spaced along the roads at the distance a horse could travel in a day. The inns were primitive by modern standards. The traveller usually had to share his bed with at least one other person, and as many as four other persons in some remote areas.

Modern mass transportation, that is, the movement of large numbers of people at relatively low prices, began with the development of the railroads in the 19^th century. The other means of transportation — the automobile and the airline — resulted in the growth of corresponding accommodations facilities.

The word motel was created by combining motor and hotel. When automobiles were first used, flimsy and inexpensive tourist cabins were built beside the highways. Motel or motor hotels providing parking facilities for cars were also constructed in many large cities, where they now compete with the other commercial hotels.

All hotels do not serve the same clientele, that is, the same kind of guests. In fact, it is possible to place hotels in four board categories: the commercial hotel, resort hotels, convention hotels and resident hotels.

Another way of categorising hotels by its quality of service they offer. At the top are the luxury hotels, which generally offer their guests the greatest comfort and convenience possible. At the bottom are those that provide merely a place to sleep.

The difference in quality between hotels is not entirely a matter of equipment or furnishings.

Generally, the problems and opportunities in all hotels are comparable, since all provide shelter, food and other services for the travelling public.

1. How do you understand the word ‘hotel’?

2. Describe the inns.

3. Why were motels constructed?

4. What categories of hotels can you name?

5. What do you think about the services in large and small hotels?

Вариант 8

Special services and hotel facilities

Nowadays large, modern hotels contain not only guest rooms, but many other facilities as well. They usually contain restaurants and cocktail lounges, shops and recreational facilities for social functions, conventions and conferences — ballrooms, auditoriums, meeting rooms of different sizes, exhibit areas and so forth.

Another trend in the hotel industry is the construction of the self-contained resort complex. Recreational facilities are another feature of many hotels and motels. A swimming pool is the most common of these, particularly in warmer climates and in resort areas. Many resorts are designed for winter sports such as skiing and ice skating; others provide horseback riding and other outdoor activities. Casinos, wherever they are legal, are another feature of some hotels.

A few hotels, most of them in resort areas or large cities, include nightclubs as a part of their operation. A nightclub offers entertainment, such as dancing, a singer, a band, or a floor show, in addition to food and drink.

All of the recreational facilities require the employment of additional personnel. Golf courses must be carefully tended by a special staff of groundskeepers. Horses require stables and grooming. Many resort hotels hire professional athletes to give lessons to the guests in tennis, golf and skiing. Other employees include riding instructors and guides for hikers and campers. Lifeguards are often necessary at swimming pools and beaches.

Catering, providing food and drink for transients, has always gone together with accommodations. Food services are a feature of hotels.

Large urban hotels also provide special services for businessmen. A commercial hotel, for example, can provide a stenographer to take dictation and do typing for the travelling businessman. Some luxury hotels also give the guests access to copying, internet, modem points, facsimile machines, computers with printer, scanner, word processor and other machines. Many large hotels also have a notary public on the staff to verify the signatures on documents.

The list of special services offered by hotels is long. These services differ according to the location and the clientele of the hotel; luxury hotels offer the greatest range of services.

1. What do hotel provide guests with?

2. What recreational facilities do hotels offer?

3. Why do hotels need additional personnel?

4. What services do large urban hotels provide?

5. What do you think about the role of hotels?