Read the passage taken from an American guidebook describing accommodation in Yosemite National Park in California. Complete the grid below.

Accommodation	Size	Room	Price	Facilities	Other information
Ahwahnee Hotel	123 rooms and 5 suites	single room cottage double room cottage suite	$ 196 $ 202 from $375
Yosemite Lodge				shops, lounge, 2 restaurants, coffee shop, cafeteria
Wawona Hotel					4 miles inside south gateway

 

Where to stay

From luxury hotel to simple tent, Yosemire offers a wide choice of accommodations. Reservations are advised at all times, and especially in summer. For stays during the summer season and holidays, make reservations as far as one year in advance to avoid being disappointed. Write to the Yosemite Park & Curry Co., Reservation Department, 54 10 E. Home Ave., Fresno, CA 93727 (tel. 209/252-4848). Yosemite Village. Tel 209/252-4848 123 rms. 5 suites. Rates: $ 196 single room or cottage, $202 double room or cottage, from $375 suite. Lower midweek winter rates are available.

The Ahwahnee Hotel

Luxurious and very centrally located, the Ahwahnee is the park’s premiere hostelry. A short, signposted walk from Yosemite Village, this lovely hotel was built in 1927 from local rock. Rooms are both comfortable and elegant, with full baths, and sturdy, rustic wooden furniture. Suites include an additional sitting-room. The hotel’s celebrated dining and entertainment facilities include the Indian Bar Room for drinks and the splendid Dining Room, where dinner reservations are required year round.

Yosemite Lodge

Near the foot of Yosemite Falls. Tel. 209/252-4848. 600 rms and cabins (150 with bath). Rates: $43 single or double without bath, $40 cabin without bath; $75 single or double with bath, $52 cabin with bath.

Yosemite Lodge is within easy walking distance of most of the valley’s attractions. It offers attractive but simple hotel rooms and small redwood cabins. Because it’s priced so well, this place is popular, and reservations should be made as far in advance as possible. Facilities include a coffee shop, lounge two restaurants and a cafeteria as well as several shops.

Wawona Hotel

You won’t be roughing it at the Wawona, near the southern end of Yosemite. This is the oldest hotel in continuous service in the national park system, dating from 1879. The pretty wooden structures offer comfortable, if sparsely furnished, rooms; facilities include a swimming-pool, a tennis court, and a nine-hole golf-course, as well as nearby stables.

Camping

Yosemite’s 300-plus year-round campsites expand to a whopping 2,000 sites in summer. Campground fees range from $4 to $ 12 per day. Sites are scattered over 20 different campgrounds, and split into two categories. The $7 Type A sites are the most elaborate, with well-defined roads, parking, drinking water, flush toilets, and, generally, a fireplace, table/bench combination, and tent space. The $4 Type В sites may be accessible by road or trail, and conveniences are limited to basic sanitary facilities and a smattering of fireplaces and tables.

From June 1 to September 15 camping permits are limited to 7 days in the valley and 14 days in the rest of the park. The rest of the year campers can stay for as long as 30 days.

For more details on campgrounds, contact the Campground Office, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389 tel. 209/372-0265 or 372-0200.

Vocabulary Notes

roughing it = living without the usual comforts of life

whopping = huge, very big

a smattering of = a few

38. Listen to two telephone calls to the California Travel Bureau in London. Complete the information in the chart which follows. Leave blank the column headed ‘You’.

Name	Ms Wallace	Mr Curtis	You
Date of visit to Yosemite
Number of people
Accommodation requirements
Address

39. Look at the following expressions, most of which are used in the dialogues. Three of them are not used. Listen again to the cassette and identify the three expressions which are not used.

a. Can I help you?

b. Could you give me some information about accommodation?

c. I wonder if you could help me?

d. Could you give me your name and address?

e. I’m trying to find out about accommodation.

f. Is there anything else?

g. Certainly.

h. How may I help you?

i. What would you like to know?

j. I’d like some information, please.

k. Could you possibly send me details?

l. Would you like me to send you some information?

40. Work in pairs. Each partner should fill in the column in the table headed ‘You’, then act out similar conversations. Take it in turns to play the part of the customer.

Self-check

1. What is the definition of a hotel?

2. What are the three major types of classification of hotels?

3. What are the main groups of hotels according to the purpose of stay?

4. What are the main groups of hotels according to the length of stay?

5. What are the main groups of hotels by room rate?

6. Whom does the commercial hotel usually serve?

7. Where are they situated?

8. What is the main purpose of convention hotels?

9. What are the main facilities of convention hotels?

10. What customers do resort hotels serve?

11. What are the major facilities of resort hotels?

12. What is a residential hotel?

13. What is the typology of the star system based on?

14. What are the other grading systems?

15. What do superdeluxe hotels provide?

16. What is a budget hotel?