Hotel Classification and Directories

HOTEL & CATERING CLASSIFICATION

The hotel industry is considered to cover all establishments concerned with the provision of food, drink and accommodation away from home.

Accommodation units are of different types and standards. We can distinguish them into

1.Categories, that is, hotels, motels, boarding houses, guesthouses, B&Bs, resort hotels, holiday villages, holiday farmhouses, inns, self-catering flats.

2.Grading standards which refer to the quality of accommodation and catering and depend on such features as the number of rooms with private bath or shower, the number and quality of room services, the type of service provided at the restaurant, whether they offer an à la carte or table d'hôte menu or both, the crockery provided, the appearance of the building, lighting, heating, furnishing, floor coverings, personal attention, speed and efficiency of the staff.

National Tourist Boards and motoring organizations have approved classification and grading schemes which regard the quality of accommodation and catering establishments. Both the AA (Automobile Association) and RAC (Royal Automobile Club) provide a star rating. Thus a five-star hotel is a luxury hotel offering the highest international standards of comfort; whereas a one-star hotel is a cheap type of accommodation which provides merely a place to sleep. The most common high standard features include private bathrooms, room telephones and TV, 24-hour room service, restaurants, lounges, meting rooms, business centre, banking service, travel agency, beauty centre, sporting and recreational facilities.

RAC HOTEL CLASSIFICATION

Hotels are classified with from one to five stars, which indicate the facilities and service offered by the hotel. Hotels are checked rigorously by trained RAC inspectors and the rating system reflects the RAC's ever higher demands for comfort, service and style. The following are the requirements for one- to five-star hotels:

They are small hotels with a small number of private bathrooms. Simply but nicely furnished, they offer limited but good menus and a small range of services. They are often run by the owner who may be helped by few staff.

 In these hotels half the bedrooms have private bathrooms and TV sets. Some may have telephones. They have a reception area and a lounge for guests and may be opened to non residents for meals. They may be privately owned or part of a group.

Small well appointed hotels offering a high degree of comfort. Most bedrooms with private bathrooms and telephone intercoms. Meals available for both residents and non-residents all days of the week.

 Large hotels offering the full range of hotel services - reception, porters and room service available all day. They have bedrooms with private bathrooms and telephones, some suites, conference and banqueting facilities or leisure facilities.

 They are large luxury hotels which offer the highest standards of accommodation, service and comfort. They include all the facilities of the lower classifications.

There are also a number of guides on the market dealing with the subjective assessment of catering in hotels and other establishments, of which the best known are the Michelin Guide, Egon Roney's Guide and the Good Food Guide.

Answer these questions:

  1. What is RAC?
  2. What does RAC stand for?
  3. What services does RAC offer motorists?
  4. What is the purpose of the RAC Hotel Guide?
  5. How doe RAC classify hotels?
  6. How many categories of accommodation units do you know?
  7. What features determine hotel grading standards?
  8. Does a two-star hotel provide room service?
  9. What services does a three-star hotel provide?
  10. In addition to RAC what other guides assess hotel standards?


Reading Hotel Guides

FromBEST WESTERN INTERNATIONAL

HOTEL GUIDE

Practice

1. Match numbers with appropriate letters

a.address
b.location and access plan
c.location
d.major airlines booking codes
e.description / f.dates of opening
g.name of the manager
h.Best Western number property
i.hotel name and star rating
j.indicative prices inclusive of taxes and breakfast
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

2. Which facilities are represented by these symbols?

...... / ...... / ...... / ...... / ......
...... / ...... / ...... / ...... / ......

3. Identify the following symbols.

car rental, sauna, airport, hairdresser, playroom, historical place, wood, car park, squash, conference room, discothèque, jogging, bank, live entertainment, swimming pool

...... / ...... / ...... / ...... / ......
...... / ...... / ...... / ...... / ......
...... / ...... / ...... / ...... / ......

From SHERATON Worldwide Directory

United States

CaliforniaRiverside

1. Fill in the blanks using words from the above description

Sheraton Riverside Hotel is located at ...... in California. If you want to reach it by car, drive along ...... 91 and exit into ...... If you come by air, the plane will land at ...... which is ...... far from town. You can take a taxi to reach the hotel, but you can also avail yourself of the hotel ...... The hotel is situated ...... next to Riverside Convention Center. It is fairly large. It counts ...... rooms and suites. The symbol by the address means that all rooms are provided with ...... long distance service. The hotel offers numerous facilities among which are ...... restaurants and ...... meeting rooms ...... up to 763. Its sports facilities comprise a ...... and an ......

2. Write the synonyms you can use in the place of the following words

available (...... ), downtown (...... ), adjacent (...... ), exit (...... ), complimentary (...... ), convention (...... ), suite (...... ).

From INTER-CONTINENTAL Global Directory

CARACAS, VENEZUELA( I )

TAMANACO INTER-CONTINENTAL CARACAS
Avenida Principal de las Mercedes
Apartado Postal 467 Caracas, 1060 Venezuela
Tel: 58 (2) 92 45 22
Telx: 23260
Fax: 58 (2) 208 7116
Location
In the residential section, surrounded by tropical gardens with spectacular view of city. Minutes from business area and shops.
Rates
US$185. Rates are per room, per night - single or double occupancy. Price includes:  Luxurious Guest Room for Two  Special Rates valid 27th May 1994 to 5th September 1994  Complimentary Amenity Option of Your Choice.
Facilities
578 air-conditioned rooms.
Local Time: GMT -4
Panoramic Le Gourmet restaurant, 3 cocktail lounges, Coffee Shop, the informal La Cabana restaurant and Pizzeria La Cabana.
Room Service - 24 hours, laundry & valet, TV with satellite channels, direct-dial telephone, travel agency, airline offices, car rental and tour desks, shopping arcade, complete business services and telex facilities.
Swimming pool, 3 floodlit tennis courts, jogging path, Complete Health Club with sauna and massage. /

Meeting Facilities
8 function rooms for a maximum of:
500 Theatre Style
350 Classroom
1000 Reception
600 Banquet

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions:

1.Where is Hotel Tamanaco?

2.What hotel chain does it belong to?

3.What kind of sporting activities can you perform at the hotel?

4.How many rooms does it have?

5.What's the price of a room in June?

6.Would you define this hotel as being a ‘luxury hotel’?

7.How many people could take part to a reception party?

8.What facilities is a guest room provided with?

9.Does the hotel provide meals?

10.The hotel provides a Coffee Shop: What is it?

2. Form compound words by matching the expressions in the box with the appropriate items in the list.

direct-dial, air-conditioned, 24-hour, twenty-storey, 18-hole golf, in-house, safe deposit, glass-backed, free-form, guest relations, tree-lined, a 100-page, all-weather, car.

service / ......
movies / ......
avenue / ......
box / ......
squash courts / ......
activities / ......
building / ......
room / ......
activities / ......
hotel directory / ......
rental / ......
telephone / ......
manager / ......
swimming pool / ......

From FORTE HOTELS Worldwide Directory

/ GROSVENOR HOUSE
Park Lane, London W1A 3AA
Tel: 071 499 6363 Fax: 071 493 3341
Features
Built on Park Lane with wonderful views over Hyde Park, Grosvenor House is one of London’s most prestigious deluxe hotels, recently refurbished on the ground floor.
Theatres, cinemas and West End shopping are all within easy walking distance. 384 individually furnished rooms and 70 suites. French, English or Italian cuisine in some of London’s finest restaurants, two bars, lounge, health club/pool, hair/beauty salon, parking, Satellite TV, private bar, 24 hour room service.
Underground: Marble Arch.
Rail: Paddington 2 miles, Victoria 2 miles
Airport: Heathrow 16 miles, Gatwick 29 miles.

Exercises

1. Draw information from the text above and complete these sentences

  1. Grosvenor House looks over ......
  1. It belongs to ......
  2. It is provided with 384 ...... and 70 ......
  3. There is also a ...... support service for businessmen
  4. Theatres, cinemas and shops are ......
  5. Marble Arch is ......
  6. Heathrow airport is ...... far from hotel
  7. The nearest railway stations are ...... and ......
  8. If you want to book accommodation, dial ......
  9. Room service lasts ......

2. Answer the following questions

  1. Is the hotel provided with a parking area?
  1. Are there any facilities for disabled persons?
  2. Do you know the category of this hotel?
  3. What does ‘individually furnished’ mean?
  4. What attractions are in the nearby area of the hotel?
  5. What facilities are inside guest rooms?

3. Refer to the previous hotel descriptions and check which of the items in the first column are included in the corresponding hotel directory? Put a cross (x) in the relative hotel chain columns.

BEST WESTERN / RAMADA / SHERATON / INTER-CONTINENTAL / FORTE HOTELS
Hotel name & address
Location map
Room
rate
Hotel
symbols
Hotel
picture

4. Answer these questions according to the hotels individual data

  1. Which hotel is the largest one?
  1. Are all hotels open all year round?
  2. Which of them are provided with parking facilities?
  3. Which of them is the most expensive?
  4. Which hotels offer packages for families?
  5. Do you know the difference between a spa centre and a health club?
  6. Which hotel offers a major number of facilities and services?
  7. Where is Riverside?
  8. What’s the name of the hotel in West Springfield?
  9. What category is Hotel Due Torri? Where is it?