Teaching Hospitality English: A Handbook for the ETAS PD Day 2017 in Biel

Patrick Huwyler

Copyright © Patrick Huwyler 2017

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Contents

What is hospitality English?

An example of Hospitality in Practice

Have a theme

Use industry-based examples and scenarios

What is Hospitality English?

Hospitality English is the professional language that you use to win customers. When I worked in the industry, I needed jargon such as a la carte, maître d’ and mise-en-place but it was the way I communicated with the customers and my colleagues that really made me successful.

As Keohane (2016) points out in Teaching Hospitality English, “It’s the specific English needed by staff in the hospitality industry. It comprises of certain vocabulary and technical jargon. It’s quite a broad term. English for hospitality is very functional which actually merges into Business English.” (p.144)

An example of Hospitality in Practice

Do you sometimes order the steak when you’re at a restaurant? What do you think a waiter would have to know?

I think he or she would have to ask about your preference for meat doneness. How would you like it done? How would you like your steak? Etc.

The levels of ‘meat doneness’ are:

1. Rare

2. Medium

3. Medium-well

4. Well done

At fine-dining restaurants the levels would translate into French terms (Hospitality English jargon):

1. Bleu

2. Saignant

3. à point

4. Bien cuit

Many European restaurants serve steaks ‘saignant’ by default if you don’t specify.

Have a theme

I think themes are very engaging, useful and memorable. They give you a lot of opportunity to bring realia into the classroom and to be creative. One of my most successful themes was Mc Donald’s and it enabled me to teach:

• Grammar: i’m lovin’ it. (The uses of present progressive)

• Vocabulary: tally, table d’hôte meal, markup, cherry-picking, matinee (‘Supersize Me’ by Greg Critser)

• Critical thinking: Class discussion about health and fast food after watching Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me.

Use industry-based examples and scenarios

I used TripAdvisor to give my students writing practice. They had to respond to bad reviews as the hotel manager (offline). Here is one example:

The set up: I showed this review to my hotel school students and told them that this could be the kind of review that they would have to respond to – a review that is harsh and not well written.

Step 1: Students wrote a polite and professional response as duty managers.

Step 2: I showed them the actual response from the hotel manager and elicited all the reasons why this answer is unprofessional and inappropriate (does not apologize or show understanding, defensive and rude etc.).

Step 3: I elicited the following procedure to follow when responding to a bad review on a site like TripAdvisor:

• Address the customer by name

• Thank the reviewer

• Apologize and show understanding

• State the standards of your establishment (tell the reviewer how you strive to ensure quality)

• Explain what action you have taken

• Ask the reviewer to contact you privately (not all reviews on Tripadvisor are genuine)

Step 4: The students re-wrote or edited their responses

Step 5: I provided them with a model answer (see below) and we discussed the response together.

Dear Mr Achieng,

Thank you for taking the time to review our hotel.

I am very sorry that you did not receive a confirmation and for the poor communication that you have experienced. It is part of our vision to respond immediately to our emails, and I will therefore look into this matter. Please contact me at my email address below and I will also be happy to discuss this further with you.

Your feedback has been helpful in maintaining and improving the value that we create for our customers.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick HuwylerGeneral Manager

Generalmanager@hotel.com

Step 6: The students compared their written responses with the model answer and we discussed certain areas such as brevity, register and tone.

References

Huwyler, P. (2016). Teaching Hospitality English. Bern, Switzerland: ReNovium.

Huwyler, P. (2017). Telephoning: Communication in The Hospitality Industry. [e-book].

Smashwords.

Tripadvisor Reviews (2016, November 14). Epic Fail. Retrieved from www.tripadvisor.com.