English for Business 2 Task 2

Guest complaining about the room

Receptionist    : Good evening, Ma’am. Is there anything I can do to help you?

Guest               : Yes, I want to complain about my room.

Receptionist    : What is it, Ma’am?

Guest               : I just checked in earlier and when I came into the room, the smell suddenly struck me. It’s cigarette smoke. The room smells like cigarette smoke. My room number is 505.

Receptionist    : I’m sorry, Ma’am, but I’m sure we have cleaned it very thoroughly. Moreover, there are rules to not smoking inside the room.

Guest               : If you don’t believe me you can check it by yourself. Why would I have to lie? I can’t believe this hotel doesn’t treat their guests right. You can’t even air out a room properly!

Receptionist    : I’m very sorry, Ma’am. I believe you. I’ll see what we can do for you.

Guest               : I want another room! I want a deluxe room with a bathtub. Or else I’m going to give this hotel a bad  review.

Receptionist    : Of course, Ma’am. I will see what I can do about that. Please wait, I will talk to my supervisor.

Guest               : Please do it quickly. I want to take a rest.

Receptionist talk to Front Office Supervisor

Receptionist    : Sir, there’s a guest who complaint that the room 505 smells like cigarette smoke. And she wants another room.

FO Supervisor : Did you already call the housekeeping team to check?

Receptionist    : No I haven’t.

FO Supervisor : Please call them to check the room first, if it’s really smells like cigarette smoke, we need to give her another room as soon as possible.

Receptionist    : Ok sir.

Receptionist    : Sir, I already call the housekeeping team. It’s true the room smells like cigarette smoke. They think there is a mistake in giving room to the guest. The room 505  is supposedly not available because the housekeeping supervisor haven’t check it again.

FO Supervisor : All right please tell the guest that we’ll give her another room and the bellboy will come to escort her to the new room.

Receptionist    : Yes sir.

Giving the solution

Receptionist    : Ma’am, we have found a room for you. It is a deluxe room with a bathtub just like you asked. Here is the key for the room. It is on the 6th floor. The bellboy will escort you to your room and help you to bring your luggage.

Guest               : And what about the expenses?

Receptionist    : Because of this incident, your stay here is complimentary and we will reimburse your money when you checkout tomorrow.

Guest               : Now this is what I call quality service.

Receptionist    : I’m sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience, Ma’am. I hope you enjoy your stay. Please let me know if there’s anything else we can do to help you.

Commonly Misused Words

·         Lie/Lay

Lay means "to place something down flat," while lie means "to be in a flat position on a surface." The key difference is that lay is transitive and requires an object to act upon, and lie is intransitive, describing something moving on its own or already in position.

·         Complimentary/Complementary

Complimentary means praising, admiring or approving, and to be given free of charge. Complementary means combining to form a complete whole or to improve, and to contribute extra features to. Also mutually supplying what each other lacks.

Confusingly Related Words

·         Bring/Take

You bring something to where you are now, take something to a place other than where you are now. Use take when the object is not coming to you where you now are.

·         Fast/Quick

Fast and quick mean moving with great speed. Fast is both an adjective and an adverb. Quick is an adjective and the adverb form is quickly.

Preposition

·         Preposition of Place

“It is on the 6th floor”

·         Preposition of Movement

“I came into the room”

“The bellboy will escort you to your room..”