UNIT 8

 RESORT VACATION (part 2)

Pre-readinq

 1. Read and translate the following international words:

 

recreation	training	calorie
climate	transient	popular
relax	competent	specialty
buffet	period	cyclical
option	distance	meeting
unique	present	associate
seasonality	cholesterol	prevalent

 

   2. Read and translate the following groups of words derived from a common root:

1)  tour — tourist — touristy — tourer — tourism — ecotoitrism;

2)      manage — manager — managerial — management — misman­agement—manageable;

3)      create — creative — creation — recreation — recreational — rec­reative — procreative;

4)      season — seasonal — seasonality — seasoning — seasoned;

5)      operate — operator — operative — operation — operating;

6)      differ — different — indifferent — differentiate — differential — difference — indifference;

7)      compare — comparison — comparative — comparatively — comparable — incomparable;

8)      vary — varied — variety — variable — variability — various — variant.

 

Reading

 

3. Read the text and translate it. While reading try to find answers to these questions:

1.      What presents resort managers with operating challenges?

2.      What can resorts do to increase occupancies?

3.      What benefits are there in operating resorts?

 

RESORT VACATION (Part 2)

(continued)

Guests go to resorts for leisure and recreation. They want a good climate — summer or winter — in which they can relax or engage in recreational activities. Due to the remoteness of many resorts, guests are a kind of 'captured clientele', who may be on the property for days at a
time. This presents resort managers with some unique operating challenges. Another operating challenge concerns seasonality — some resorts either do riot operate year-round or have periods of very low occupancy. Both present challenges in attracting, training, and retaining competent
staff.

Many guests travel considerable distances to resorts. Consequently, they tend to stay longer than at transient hotels. This presents a challenge to the food and beverage manager to proyide quality menus that are var­ied and are presented and served in an attractive, attentive manner. To achieve this, resorts often use a cyclical menu that repeats itself every four­teen to twenty-one days. Also, they provide a wide variety and number of dishes to stimulate interest. Menus are now more health-conscious - lighter and low in saturated fats, cholesterol, salt, and calories.

The food needs to be presented in a variety of different ways. Buffets are popular because they give guests the opportunity to make choices from a display of foods. Barbecues, display cooking, poolside, specialty restaurants, and reciprocal dining arrangements with near-by hotels give guests more options.

With increased global competition, not only from other resorts but also from cruise lines, resort managers are challenged to both attract guests and to turn those guests into repeat business, which traditionally has been the foundation of the resorts viability.

In order to increase occupancies, resorts have diversified their marketing mix to include conventions, business meetings, sales meetings, incentive groups, sporting events, additional sporting and recreational facilities, spas, adventure tourism, eeotourism, etc.

Because guests, are cocooned in the resort — they expect to be pampered. This requires an attentive, well-trained staff and that is a challenge in some remote areas and in developing countries.

There are a number of benefits in operating resorts. The guests are much more relaxed in comparison to those at transient hotels, and the resorts are located in scenically beautiful areas. This frequently enables staff to enjoy a better quality of life than do their transient hotel counterparts. Returning guests tend to treat associates like friends. This adds to the overall party-like atmosphere, which is prevalent at many of the established resorts.

 

Vocabulary notes

 

 

recreation	відпочинок; відновлення здоров’я, розвага
attentive	уважний
challenge	проблема, вирішення якої потребує зусиль; виклик
to be challenged	зіткнутися з такою проблемою
buffet	«швецький» стіл
barbecue	барбекю
opportunity	можливість, шанс
repeat business	систематична підприємницька діяльність
convention	нарада, з’їзд, конференція  в США — з’їзд демократичної чи республіканської партій
saturated fats	насичені жири
cholesterol	холестерин
viability	життєздатність
incentive group	ініціативна група
cocooned	той, ким опікуються
marketing mix	перелік різних послуг на ринку
to pamper	дуже піклуватись (пор. «памперси»)
benefits (pl.)	льготи, привілеї
transient hotel	транзитний  готель
seasonality	сезонність
year-round	цілий рік
counterpart	людина, що займає аналогічну посаду в ін. фірмі, готелі тощо
to enable (smb.) to do(smth.)	надавати можливість робити щось
to add (to smth.)	додатково сприяти
prevalent established	росповсюджений, загальноприйнятий, встановлений

  

Vocabulary focus

 

4. Match the equivalents:

 

1)	staff	a)	розташований неподалік
2)	beverage	b)	персонал
3)	occupancy	c)	клієнтура
4)	achieve	d)	додатковий
5)	variety	e)	наповненість (готельних номерів)
6)	additional	f)	добиватись
7)	dish	g)	різномаїття
8)	clientele	h)	блюдо
9)	near-by	i)	напій

 

5. Match each word on the left with the correct definition on the right:

 

1)   hotel		a meal at which all the food is put on a table and
		people go and choose what they want
2)   resort		a)  a building where people pay to stay in a room and have meals
3)	ecotourism	b) a list of the foods available in a restaurant, cafii, etc the business
		of creating and selling holidays that give people the chance to learn
		about a natural environment and cause as little damage to the
		environment as possible
4)	buffet	c)  a type of organized holiday in which people do new and exciting things,
		for example, a trek, or a safari
5)	cruise	d) a place to which a lot of people go on holiday
6)	menu	e)  a journey on a ship for pleasure, especially one
		that involves visiting a series of places
7)	adventure	f)   the business of creating and selling holidays that give people
tourism		the chance to learn about a natural environment and cause as little
		damage to thp environment as possible

 

6. Match the synonyms:

 

1) staff	a)	drink
2)  spa.	b)	beautiful
3)  attractive	c)	experienced
4)  option	d)	choice
5)  inn	e)	guest
6) well-trained	0	resort
7)  cocooned	g)	problem
8) team	h)	smbigasbord
9) basis	i)	foundation
10) challenge	J)	hotel
11) beverage	k)	far-away
12) visitor	1)	group
13) buffet	m) pampered
14) remote	n)	personnel

 

7. Match the antonyms:

 

1)	business	a)	narrow
2)	neglected	b)	leisure
3)	decrease	c)	guest
4)	wide	d)	various
5)	near-by	e)	relax
6)	the same	0	increase
7)	work	g)	remote
8)	take	h)	local
9)	global	i)	give
10)	more	J)	short
11)	long	k)	less
12)	host	1)	cocooned

 

Comprehension

 

8. Answer the questions on the text:

 

1. What distances do many guests have to travel in order to get resorts?

2.      How often should a typical cyclical menu repeat itself?

3.      What does the term seasonality mean in the hotel business?

4.      What is the difference between resort hotels and transient hotels?

5.      What unique challenges are resort managers often confronted with?

6. Why do many guests tend to stay longer at resort hotels than transient ones?

7.      What does a health-conscious menu mean?

8.      What has traditionally been the foundation of the resorts viability?

9.      What dpes resorts' diversified marketing mix include?

10.  What enables resort hotel staff to enjoy a better quality of life?

11. Why is it difficult to provide resort hotels in some remote areas and in developing countries, with well-trained staff?

 

9. Complete the sentences using proper words and phrases in the box.

 

 

1. Buffets give hotel guests the opportunity ______ from a display of various foods.

2. Practically, each resort has periods of ________.

3.       Tourists go to resorts for ________.

4.       Most ______ are located in scenically beautiful areas.

5.       An attentive and well-trained_______ is the foundation of a re­sort hotel's viability.

6.       It is the duty of ________ to provide quality menus that are served in an attractive, attentive manner.

 

10. Say whether the following statements are true or false. Comment on the true statements and correct the false ones.

 1. Transient hotel staff enjoy a better quality of life than do their resort hotel counterparts.

2.      The staff of resort hotels have a number of benefits.

3.      Adventure tourists like and expect to be pampered.

4.      Resorts have diversified their marketing mix in order to increase hotel occupancy.

5.      Health-conscious menus are usually high in saturated fats, cho­lesterol, salt, and calories.

6.      Resort managers are faced with increased global competition from other resorts and cruise lines.

7. At transient hotels guests tend to stay longer than at resort hotel!

 

Discussion

 

11. Try to identify the means of attracting guests and turning them into repeat business on the basis of the following information about these means. The following words and phrases will come in handy.

 

- foundation of the resorts viability	- competition from…
- not only... but also...	- cruise line
- to diversify the marketing mix	- sporting event
-additional sporting and recreational	- to pamper
facilities
- spas	- adventure tourism
- ecotourism	- staff.
- to require	- attentive
- well-trained	- to enable
- to enjoy	- a better quality of life
- counterpart	- party-like atmosphere
- to be prevalent	- established resorts

 

12. Work in pairs.

 

a)   Look at the following words and phrases and think of a story that might combine them all. You may reorder them in any way you like using any form of the verb:

•    were available;

•    different types of guests;

•    traveled considerable distances to the resort;

•    would become a good source of income;

•    would want to stay much longer than at transient hotels;

•    needed experienced chef, bar person and operators;

•    played a significant role;

•  . used a cyclical menu;

•     would repeat itself every fourteen to twenty-one days;

•     much lower in saturated fats and cholesterol;

•     found new opportunities;

•     too difficult;

•     buffet;

•     were popular with guests;

•     opportunity to make choices;

•     display of foods;

•     barbecue;

•     specialty restaurants;

•     gave the guests more options;

•     responded to the demands of the guests;

•     worked at a profit.

b) When you have decided upon the story, tell it to your partner. Then listen to that of your partner. Ask each other as many questions as you can to learn further details or clarify some points.

 

13. Entitle the paragraphs beginning with the words:

 

The food needs to be...

There are a number of...

 

14.  Divide the text into other logical parts and entitle each of them.

 

15.  Give a summary of the text.