Professional Communication and English for Hospitality
Professional Communication and English for Hospitality tests whether you can use clear, polite and accurate English with guests and colleagues, face to face, on the phone and in writing.
Register and courtesy
Use modal forms: Would you like...? Could I have your passport, please? May I put you on hold? Avoid slang and direct commands, and use titles and surnames until the guest invites otherwise. Keep your tone calm even when the guest is not calm.
Telephone English
Answer within three rings with the hotel name, your name and an offer of help. Take a reservation by confirming every element back: guest name (spell it), arrival and departure dates, room type and rate, number of guests, contact number and special requests. Use the 24-hour clock to remove ambiguity: 14:00, never a bare two o'clock.
Worked example
Guest: I need a room for Tuesday, two nights. Reply: Certainly. So that is arrival Tuesday the 14th, departing Thursday the 16th, two nights. A double room is 85 JOD per night including breakfast. May I take your name and a mobile number, please? Then repeat the whole booking before closing. Notice that Tuesday plus two nights was converted into an arrival and a departure date; that single step prevents the most common reservation error.
Menu and service vocabulary
Be ready to explain cooking terms: grilled, roasted, poached, sauteed, steamed, braised, deep-fried. Keep dish (the food) separate from menu (the list), and price separate from cost.
Traps
I am agree instead of I agree; Please wait me instead of Please wait for me; answering the phone with just hello; failing to repeat numbers, dates and names; writing a guest email with no subject line or greeting; translating word for word from Arabic instead of using the standard phrase.