Guest Service

Hotels offer a variety of services to their guests. The most traditional are laundry service (clothes washing) and valet service (shoe shining and clothes dry-cleaning and pressing), although some hotels run them on the do-it-yourself basis. A big hotel will also have a restaurant, a bar and a coffee shop, a bookstore or a newsstand, a gift shop selling a variety of souvenirs, and a drugstore providing the guests with medicine and cosmetics. At a luxury hotel one can often find a barber's shop and a beauty salon. The guests might also need the services of a car rental agency, to be able to rent a car through the hotel. Many hotels provide a free morning paper and free drinks ("cocktails") in the afternoon.

Local phone calls are usually free, long distance calls are added to the room bills, and are 2 to 3 times more expensive than from a pay-phone down in the lobby. You can also order various services from the front desk by dialing "0".

A number of hotel staff relies on tips to raise their wages. The bellman expects up to $1 per bag for taking your baggage to your room. The hotel doorman gets at least 50 cents if he summons a taxi (and of course your taxi driver should be given 15 per cent of fare!). Chambermaids usually receive a few dollars if you stay at a hotel for several days, or else you may leave a dollar note under an ash-tray as you leave the room every morning. In restaurants and nightclubs you are expected to tip 15 to 20 per cent of the bill (before taxes are added). No tipping is required for elevator operators or hotel desk clerks.

Tipping allows you to reward good service. On the other hand, if the service has been bad n у tip need be left. It is a good idea to consider all these expenses when you are anticipating the cost of your stay at a hotel.

2. Answer the following questions to the text

1. What kind of services can hotels offer to their guests?

2. What is valet service?

3. What can a person find at a luxury hotel?

4. What is the difference between local and long distance calls?

5. How can you order various services?

6. Why does a number of hotel staff rely on tip?

7. What is the purpose tipping?

8. Does a tip given to a bellman, a doorman and a chambermaid differ?

9. Is tipping required everywhere at a hotel?

3. Find equivalents in the text

Прання та прасування одягу, газетний кіоск, аптека, агентство з прокату автомобілів, міжміський дзвінок, телефон-автомат, набирати номер, чайові, викликати таксі.

ІІ. Робота над текстом за професійним спрямуванням.

1. Прочитайте та перекладіть текст.

An administrative court is a court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are found in some European countries with civil law and are considered separate from general courts.

The administrative acts are recognized from the hallmark that they become binding without the consent of the other involved parties. The contracts between authorities and private persons fall usually to the jurisdiction of the general court system. Official decisions contested in administrative courts include:

• taxation

• dispensation of monetary benefits

• environmental licenses

• building inspection

• child custody

• involuntary commitment

• immigration decisions

• summary public payments (other than fines imposed by general courts)

In several countries, in addition to general courts, there is a separate system of administrative courts, where the general and administrative systems do not have jurisdiction over each other. Accordingly, there is a local administrative court of first instance, possibly an appeals court and a Supreme Administrative Court separate from the general Supreme Court.

The parallel system is found in countries like Egypt, Greece, Germany, France, the Nordic Countries, and others. In France, Greece and Sweden, the system has three levels like the general system, with local courts, appeals courts and a Supreme Administrative Court. In Finland and Poland, the system has two levels, where the court of first instance is a regional court. In Germany, the system is more complicated, and courts are more specialized.

In Finland, legality of decisions of both state agencies and municipal authorities can be appealed to the administrative courts. In accordance with the principle of the legal autonomy of municipalities, administrative courts can only review and rule on the formal legality of the decision, not its content. In the case of state agencies, administrative courts may rule on the actual content of the decision.

In the United States, administrative courts are tribunals within administrative agencies, and are distinct from judicial courts. Decisions of administrative courts can be appealed to a judicial court.

Notably, in 1952, the Communist East German government abolished the administrative courts as "bourgeoise". This limited the citizens' ability to contest official decisions. In 1989, re-establishment of the system began in DDR, but the German reunification made this initiative obsolete.