Which words in the box would you associate with Victorian museums and which with modern-day ones? Make two lists. Which words give a negative impression and which a positive one?

academic	dingy	realistic
accessible	dull	silent
attractive	exciting	sombre
authentic	free	subsidised
bright	hands-on	unattractive
cold	interactive	unfriendly
commercial	lively	uninteresting
dark	musty	user-friendly
dirty	real	welcoming

 

 

UNIT 10. BUSINESS TRAVEL

 

1. Complete these sentences using the following words:

will, won't, must, can't, might, could, should.

1. We … have full occupancy on 15th June.

2. The conference organizer promised to ring us around 2 p.m. this afternoon. That … be him now.

3. Where's Pierre? He … have returned from the station by now! It's only a five-minute walk and he left at three!

4. I'm afraid that Mr. Dupres, the manager, … be back on duty till 8 p.m.

5. The delegates only left an hour ago. I suppose they … have arrived by now.

6. The delegates only left an hour ago. Surely, they … have arrived by now.

7. If the weather holds, they … decide to host the presentation on the terrace. It all depends on which general manager is on duty.

8. The guest speaker … bring his wife to the conference.

9. We … break even by the end of the year.

10. The hotel … re-open till the New Year.

 

Rewrite these sentences using the words in brackets.

1. The price of business hotel accommodation is sure to rise. (definitely)

2. I doubt if they will hold the convention in Alaska. (likelihood)

3. It's a safe bet they'll ask for a gala dinner on the last night. (probability)

4. The chances are the businesswomen will require rooms near to the lifts. (certain)

5. There's little likelihood of finding a guest speaker at such short notice. (hardly)

6. It is impossible to provide a full table d'hote dinner at that price. (no way)

7. If we're lucky we'll make a profit on our catering this week. (possible)

8. I'm sure there'll be 300 delegates at the convention. (bound)

3. Where are these people going? Match the sentences with the words:

lecture, congress, workshop, trade fair, board meeting.

1. A group of hoteliers who want to listen to a formal talk on management techniques from a specialist speaker.

2. Travel agents going to see promotions from tour operators and tourist boards in order to find new packages and venues for their clients.

3. An international group of tour operators meeting to discuss global problems.

4. Hotel staff needing practical know-how to improve their work techniques.

5. The directors of a company going to their monthly decision making meeting.

 

Use the words in the box to complete the gaps in this brochure extract.

sound-proofed	audio-visual	closed-circuit
acoustics	exhibition	delegates
auditorium	syndicate

The Regent Conference Centre can accommodate 700 (a) … . The main (b) … has seating for 500, although it can be divided into smaller areas by using specially designed (c) … partitions. There is a 100-seat lecture theatre, which has excellent (d) …. It can be linked via (e) … televisions to the ten (f) … rooms (ideal for smaller meetings), all of which have high-quality (g) … equipment. Finally, there is an (h) … hall to display advertising material, products, plans and models.

Unfortunately, not all business travelers are satisfied with the services they receive. Read the article below about women business travelers. Sentences A-E have been removed from the text. Match them to the correct boxes.

A Yet, while security is considered important by women business travelers, few actually appear to be so concerned as to do anything about it.

B Vanessa Cotton, another frequent business traveler who is managing director of the Event Organization conference company, says the secret is to take control, especially when entertaining business guests.

C Probably the biggest irritation women executives find when traveling on business is the hotel restaurant.

D The Forte Crest chain has for some years adopted a high-profile approach, with a proportion of each hotel's rooms fitted out as Lady Crest rooms.

E Every time business traveler Fiona Driscoll stays in a hotel from now on, she will have the opportunity to get her own back for any lapses of service and, especially, any bias against her as a woman guest, as she is one of the first to sign up for a new scheme aimed at giving a better deal for women business travelers.

Box 1

Woman Aware has been launched by hotel reservations agency Expotel to find out which are the best and worst hotels for women travelers. Expotel claims that women executives already account for some 35 per cent of all business travelers, and believes that by the turn of the century this figure will rise to about 50 per cent. In America, some estimates suggest that this level has already been reached. British airlines, however, put the figure much lower - about one in every five business-class passengers is a woman traveler, they report.

The Woman Aware scheme – which involves filling out an appraisal form of each hotel – grew out of a survey of 600 frequent women travelers, aiming to discover how they felt they were treated in hotels. It concluded that about three-quarters were unhappy with the security awareness of hotel staff, and, in particular, thought more could be done to conceal room numbers when checking in. About 57 per cent preferred to have room service delivered by a woman, especially late at night.

Box 2

A recent Hyatt International hotels survey of about 300 women business guests found that few requested a room near a lift or enquired whether the rooms had a chain or spyhole. None saw the need for women-only parking areas, and few apparently noticed if their room key had the number on it.

Hotels, in fact, have a rather ambivalent attitude towards women executives and how they should be treated. Some, such as the Hilton National and Sheraton chains, believe there is no need for positive discrimination in favor of women other than ensuring that staff are trained to take security precautions. Their policy is to treat all guests – men and women – the same: to do otherwise, they argue, would be patronizing. "The key issue is security rather than pink frills and gimmicks," says Hilton.

Box 3

These typically have an iron and ironing board, spyhole and deadlock on the door, special clothes hangers, women's magazines and a basket of fresh fruit. Decor is lighter than that found in a standard room. Men are not excluded from booking these rooms and, in fact, often request them because of their additional facilities and lighter atmosphere.

Holiday Inn is somewhere between the two extremes: it does not have special room facilities for women, but has developed its Ten Absolute Standards aimed at making women more welcome. These include always offering assistance with luggage, serving women promptly in bars and restaurants, providing a choice of tables, and offering a choice of room location.

Box 4

A survey by Ramada hotels found that about 60 per cent of solo women travelers prefer to call room service rather than eat alone in a restaurant. Hyatt acknowledges this by trying to provide more imaginative and lighter meals on its room service menus. "We also recognize the need for two tables in the room – one for eating and one for working, as businesswomen spend more time in the room," says John Wallis, Hyatt's vice-president for marketing.

However, not all women find restaurants intimidating. Pamela Carvell, a former director of the Periquito hotels group and now a hotel consultant, says that "the more experienced you are with staying in hotels, the easier it becomes knowing how to deal with hotel restaurants". She says that gradually she has learned to spend more time eating in hotel restaurants rather than in her room.

Box 5

"I plan my campaign in advance," she says. "I get to the restaurant early to check out the table and set up a tab from the bar and make sure the maitre d' and staff know that I am the host and not hostess. Then I make sure I'm sitting comfortably, with a drink, before my guests arrive."

Some hotels have tried introducing the American concept of a "captain's table", where single women guests (and men, too) dine together, although there seems little enthusiasm for this. Similarly, women-only hotels in London aimed at the woman business traveler have failed to make much impression.

Part of the problem women executives find in hotels may be owing to the relatively few women general managers.

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