Prepositions and phrases of place

Hotel Facilities

The ground floor plan of a standard hotel

Hotel facilities refer to a number of plants, installations, equipment and resources which make the guests' stay more comfortable and entertaining or more fitted for their purposes. New city hotels and especially those located in worldwide famous holiday resorts handle convention facilities. They can be divided by soundproof folding partitions into smaller rooms of different seating capacity. Another feature of many hotels are sporting and recreational facilities which include swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses, squash courts, jogging tracks, a gymnasium, a disco and a night club. Many resort hotels provide facilities for winter sports, others provide horseback riding or other outdoor activities. Other hotels, like motels, provide spacious parking areas for motorists and large commercial hotels provide special equipment and services for businessmen. A great many of these provide spacious business suites where fax machines, computers, VCRs and videotex are available. The suites can easily turn into show rooms for private sample presentations.

You see above the ground floor plan of a standard hotel. The large central area is the Lobby which is the large main hall around which a wide range of facilities are located. Proceeding clockwise from the main entrance, you can see a first group of facilities comprising a lounge, the health centre, the TV lounge, the cloakroom with the adjacent toilets for ladies and gentlemen and the newsstand. Close to the TV lounge is the snack bar and all along the front wall are situated the convention centre, the bar lounge, the breakfast room and the restaurant. These places, which are devided by folding partitions, may turn into a single very large meeting room to be used for annual conventions, banquets, wedding parties, etc. On the right of the main entrance there is the front desk area which includes the reception desk, the cashier's desk, the concierge's or hall porter's desk and the administrative offices where the advance reservations clerk, the night auditor and the switchboard operator work. Close to the front desk area there two lifts moving upwards to the upper floors and downwards to the hotel garage. The other facilities on this side of the lobby are an executive centre for businessmen, a gift shop, a travel agency, a branch of Nat West Bank, a beauty salon and a barber shop. Telephone booths are standing past the concierge's desk on the right of the main entrance. The sporting and recreational facilities include a gymnasium (or gym), a games room for children, a disco, a swimming pool and two tennis courts.

Language notes

Conference A meeting held by an association or organization where an expert formally discusses a topic exchanging views with the audience.

Convention a formal assembly or conference of members of a profession, political party, etc. for a common purpose.A teachers' convention, a dentists' convention

Seminar a small class for discussion and research on a particular topic with a teacher or an expert.

Workshop a meeting for concerted discussion and practical work on a particular subject.

Prepositions and phrases of place

in front of (davanti), behind (di dietro), opposite (di fronte), between (fra/tra due o due gruppi), near (vicino a), next to (accanto a), by (presso), beside (accanto a), close to (accanto a), on the left (a sinistra), on the right (a destra), in the middle (al centro), along (lungo), across (attraverso), inside (dentro), outside (fuori), round (intorno), over (sopra), under (sotto), above (sopra), below (sotto), at the end (alla fine), on the corner (all'angolo), on the top right corner (all'angolo destro in alto), on the left bottom corner (all'angolo sinistro in basso), on the left side (sul lato sinistro), along the right side (lungo il lato destro).

Practice

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1851