Cue Card Sample
IELTS Cue Card Sample 23 - Describe a hotel you have stayed in
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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.
Describe a hotel you have stayed in.
You should say:
- where the hotel was
- why you stayed at that particular hotel
- give details of the hotel and the view from it
and explain what makes the hotel special.
Follow-up Questions:
- What are some good hotels in your city?
- What are the differences between staying in a hotel and staying in a relative's house?
- What qualities make a hotel a good one?
Model Answer 1:
Travelling to interesting places during the holidays certainly is good. But getting to spend a night at a luxury hotel after enjoying a great outdoor during the holidays is even better, and today I would like to talk about the experience of enjoying a few nights at one such hotel.
The hotel, I am talking about, was located in the district of “Langkawi” which was 30 kilometre off the mainland coast of northwestern Malaysia. I stayed at the hotel about a few years ago when I was visiting to see the beautiful islands in the Andaman Sea mainly because the hotel provided us with complimentary transportation to visit the adjacent areas. It was a luxury hotel of Marriot family, and it had luxury rooms with contemporary and fine dark wood details which were artfully juxtaposed against locally painted images of beautiful nature on the walls. The rooms also included ample seating areas to enjoy the 32” LCD flat-panel televisions, attached with DVD players along with a fully stocked mini-bar and a coffee pot.
And as for the views from the hotel, it was simply outstanding as I could overview the beautiful and ancient rainforest, the Mat Chincang Mountains and the beaches of the Andaman Sea just like they were painted in the picture. Not to also mention, of course, the abundant wildlife in the rainforest to play “hide and seek” with us for our amusement.
The hotel was certainly special because of its unique location from where it was just so easy to view the encore and beautiful nature without actually ever stepping out of it. Another great thing about this hotel was that I didn’t exactly pay a “truckload” of money to stay there. Besides, I don’t think that many hotels in this world provide free transportation every day to take its valuable guests to let them visit interesting places around them. Finally, it would be a great injustice if I don’t mention about the exceptional customer service of the hotel staffs who treated us like their own family.
Sample Answer 2:
Is it cheating if I tell you about a Bed and Breakfast I stayed in rather than a hotel? I’m going to risk it, and tell you all about a place I stayed on holiday, what it was like and why it was so special to me.
Many years ago I lost my job. I’d been covering a post while someone was on maternity leave, but then they came back and I found I didn’t have a job. Anymore! To cheer me up, two good friends of mine suggested we went away for a weekend break. One of them had found a really nice Bed and Breakfast in Anglesey, which is an island off the coast of Wales. Nowadays it doesn’t feel so much like an island anymore because it is permanently attached to the mainland by the very famous ‘Menai Bridge’. She chose the place partly because of its spectacular location – it is surrounded by sea - but also because it was vegetarian (we all were too) and offered horse riding, which was a hobby we had in common.
The B&B as we call them in the UK, was, well, pretty eccentric. It was a lovely old house, with quirky rooms, dubious cleanliness and an assortment of dogs, cats, hens, ducks, ponies, people – pretty chaotic. From the house, you could see across the Menai Straits, the stretch of sea between Anglesey and the mainland, to the snow-topped mountains of Snowdonia. It was glorious. The proprietor was one of those people who very much spoke her mind but took you as you were, she quickly involved us in life on her smallholding, feeding animals, heading off to the beach and drunkenly putting the world to rights in front of an open fire in the evening. We walked the dogs, fed the hens and galloped the horses along deserted beaches.
When the woman who owned the B&B found I didn’t have a job, she said quite simply ‘well, why don’t you come and work for me?’ I was flabbergasted, I’d never really considered that sort of a job, and I’d come on holiday not looking for employment. I hesitated, but she persisted. ‘If you like it you can stay, if you don’t you can leave – where is the risk in that?’ To cut a long story short, with unusual spontaneity and recklessness I agreed. For the next two years, I worked at the B&B looking after the horses and guests, taking out rides along the beautiful Welsh beaches and enjoying a rural lifestyle. It was brilliant, I learned a lot about animals, people and myself, and had many adventures along the way. I didn’t earn much, but I lived well in a caravan in the middle of a field with hens clucking around outside and ponies scratching their bottoms on the door of my accommodation in the mornings!
So for me, that remote Anglesey B&B will always be very special, because it introduced me to a different way of living and working, and gave me an appreciation of the countryside that I hadn’t really been able to experience before. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much doing a job as I did staying there!
[ Written by - Lucy Marris | Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]
Sample Answer 3:
The hotel that I stayed in 2 years back while my visit to India is Westin. I had an official tour to Pune, India and my office arranged the stay in Westin. The primary reason I stayed in this particular hotel is that my office arranged our stay there. But that was a really great experience. Since Westin is a renowned hotel chain and I have experienced their superb service in our country, I was excited to be in Westin in Pune as well.
The hotel has been placed in a distinctive location in the beautiful Koregaon Park along the Mula Mutha River and is just five kilometres from the airport. Westin is also in the vicinity is Magarpatta and Hadapsar, an information technology hotspot. Industrial parks lie within a 25-kilometre radius of this hotel. The staying rooms are subtly designed and give comfort to be there. The hotel includes club rooms, attractive and heavenly spa and workout gym, meeting room and exclusive restaurant. The rooms feature a soft and comfortable bed and an eye-catching view overlooking green surroundings Mula Mutha River.
The Westin is a renowned hotel chain that offers exclusive customer experience. The view, the stay, the foods and facilities make the hotel a different experience.
Model Answer 4:
I have visited many tourist spots and stayed in a number of hotels both of professional and personal needs but to you, I would like to talk about a hotel which is the best hotel I have ever stayed in my life. The name of the hotel is Western Hotel, which is situated in the tourism city in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
I went there to attend a seminar which was jointly organized by my university alongside a few non-governmental organisations. The Western Hotel is one of the most luxurious hotels with all modern facilities including a swimming pool, tennis court, gym etc. Most of the modern amenities were accumulated at the hotel for its clients. The services were up to the mark while the accommodations system appeared to be one of the greatest. The hotel is always crowded with visitors and most of them are tourists from different countries.
I went there with my university mates to participate in a seminar which was mainly based on “Tourism Business of Bangladesh”. Students had been invited from all over Bangladesh as part of this program. The seminar was held in the hotel hall room. And the ambience of the hall room was quite outstanding. To be honest they have decorated this room very tastefully. Especially I admired their large and gorgeous paintings which were hanging on the walls.
I stayed for about a week in this hotel. I liked the outstanding facilities they offered. The first thing was that the entire building is connected with Wi-Fi and I used the internet for free of costs. Besides, the food in the hotel’s was yummy. They offered varieties of traditional and other continental foods. But most often I ate our local food because I found it very interesting for me. The services I received from the professional staffs were remarkable. In fact, it is a three-star quality hotel so at first, I was a bit nervous about the cost but when I arrived, all of my worries were gone. I, in fact, liked staying at this hotel and wish to return again.
[Authored by Ratan Ostrovsky]
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
You need to describe a hotel where you have stayed. If you pick a famous hotel, your description should be close to the original facts regarding this hotel. But you are free to pick a hotel and give a superficial description as well. Mention the name of the hotel first and then tell your reason for staying there. People usually stay at hotels when they visit a place where they have no relatives. Sometimes they go to a foreign country or a distant city of the same country and stay at a hotel. The stay usually lasts for a few days and then people take their departure after the intended task is done. You can mention a trip you took and stayed in a hotel or maybe you can state that your office arranged a business trip and picked the hotel for you.
Describe the following information to answer this cue card correctly:
1. Name and location of the hotel. If this is a 4-star/5-star hotel, mention that as well.
2. Specify the reason you stayed there.
3. How long you stayed there.
4. What type of room you stayed in and the facilities you got from the hotel.
5. Mention if this was the first time you stayed there or went there before.
6. Say if you have stayed there on your own choice or because the trip planner, office authority arranged that.
7. Give some interior and exterior description as well as the surrounding of the hotel.
8. There must be some distinctive points and things about the hotel; mention those. For instance: the food was delicious, the cost was very reasonable, they offered some free services, the location was excellent, the staffs were very cordial etc.
If you can answer this cue card topic, you should also be able to answer the following topics:
1. Describe a building that attracted you.
2. Describe a tour you have taken.
3. Describe a hotel which you like.
4. Talk about a hotel in your city that you would recommend to others.
5. Describe a hotel you often go to.
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