Putting a package together

Package holidays, which are also known as package tours, include all of the components necessary for a complete vacation:

• transport to and from the destination

• transfers between the airport / station / port and hotel

• food and accommodation at the destination

• other services such as a guide or holiday ‘rep’.

The professionals who bring these elements together to create a holiday are called tour operators. They buy in advance and in bulk from the principles: airlines, shipping lines, hoteliers, and so on. Because they buy hundreds of seats or rooms from the principle, they pay a much lower price from them than an ordinary member of the public. The tour operator then converts this bulk into individual packages known technically as inclusive tours (ITs). These are marketed to the customer through travel agents or by other systems.

In the past tour operators sold almost entirely through travel agents, but today they also use direct selling. This strategy eliminates the travel agents from the chain of distribution, and this reduces the final cost of the holiday package because direct sell operators do not have to pay commission to a travel agent. Many smaller our operators, for example, prefer to deal with their clients.

Not all tour operators sell the same type of holiday. The really bid operators, the mass market operators, produce low-cost holidays to traditional sea, sun, and sand destinations like Spain, Greece, or Turkey. Other operators limit their product to customers who want a very specific type of holiday. These special operators sell adventure holidays, holidays for single people, holidays for motor-racing fans, and so on. Domestic operators specialize in tours for people who want to holiday in their own country, whilst incoming tour operators are specialists in providing holiday package to visitors coming from abroad. For example, “Vastravel”, an Italian incoming tour operator, sells tours of Italy to people from the rest of the world.

Principles Transportation + Transfers + Accommodation + Other services

Direct selling

Tour operator

Clients

Travel agent

2. Answer the questions.

1. Who are the biggest tour operators in your country or your region?

2. Which are the most popular destinations they offer?

3. Which are the new destinations this year?

4. Do tour operators in your country only sell through travel agents or do they sell direct?

5. Are there any specialist tour operators in your country?

6. What type of specialist holiday do they market?

Assignment 6

1. Read and translate the text. People in hospitality

“Hospitality” involves hotel and restaurant services. It may involve all kinds of businesses which provide accommodation and catering for customers. The range of hospitality employees is great. The first person you see when you enter a hotel is the doorman. He helps the hotel guests in and out of cars and cabs. He opens and holds the door for them. The doorman wears a distinctive uniform. He shows the hotel guests to the reception desk. He gives directions and calls for cabs. As for luggage, the doorman may assist the guests with the luggage. However, this is not his function. The hotel has porters to do this job. They either carry luggage or move it on carts.

Another person providing services in a hotel is a bellboy. The bellboy gets the guest’s room key from the receptionist and escorts the guest to his room. He will show the guest how to unlock and lock the door and how to use the room appliances such as the air-conditioning, the hair-dryer, the tea- and coffee-making facilities. The bellboy may assist the guest with his luggage. He must run errands for the guest.

Employees working in the restaurant are a waiter or waitress, a barman, a cook. The main person in the dining-hall is a maitre d’hôtel. He sits and greets the guests. Then the waiters and waitresses serve dishes while wine stewards recommend and serve beverages.

The receptionist works in the front office of a hotel.

The receptionist is in charge of the check-in. She meets and greets guests, registers guests and assigns rooms to them.

The receptionist must ensure that the check-in procedure is brief and convenient.

The receptionist must help guests do the hotel formalities. She takes the guest’s name. If the guest is a foreign visitor, the receptionist must take the guest’s passport number.

The concierge works at a hotel’s information desk. The concierge must speak a few languages because she has to help guests from other countries.

The concierge must help guests in all ways. She can give orienta­tions in the city, arrange taxis and sightseeing tours. She can offer entertainment. She can make theatre bookings. She can recommend shops, restaurants or nightclubs.

Actually the concierge in a hotel can act as a travel agent: book flights, tours, visits. She may find a guide or a guide-interpreter for the guest.

The hotel manager is the head of a hotel. He may have the name of the general manager or the managing director.

The hotel manager may hold a management position in an indi­vidual hotel or he may work in a hotel chain. In a small hotel the manager may be the owner of the hotel. But in a large hotel he is just a professional hotelier.

For the hotel guests the hotel manager is the host who must offer hospitality to his guests. For the hotel staff the hotel manager is the person who must es­tablish the policy of the hotel and its operations. The hotel manager has to plan and control the hotel business. He has to check up how different hotel departments carry out their functions. Often he has to deal with the hotel guests in person. He has to handle their problems and complaints.

There may be different management positions in a hotel: the as­sistant manager, the resident manager, the night manager.

The assistant manager helps the manager and manages the hotel when the manager is not present.

The resident manager is the manager who permanently lives in the hotel.

The night manager is on duty during the night.

The chef works in a restaurant or in the food and beverage de­partment of a hotel.

A restaurant may have different chefs. At the head of them is the head chef.

The head chef is the kitchen supervisor. He manages the kitchen of a restaurant. He has to select menus and to plan the meals. He has to taste the dishes. He also manages the kitchen staff: the chefs, the cooks and the helpers.

The good name of a restaurant or a hotel’s kitchen may depend on its chef. The reputation of the chef may increase its business.

The restaurant manager is in charge of the restaurant policy and operations. He has to decide on the image of his restaurant. He has to plan its business. He has to decide on purchases and sales. He hires the restaurant staff and provides their training.

The restaurant manager has to meet the guests. He must see to it that the guests are happy with the service and have no complaints. The guests may often see the restaurant manager in the dining-hall.

In a large restaurant there are other management positions: the purchase manager, the sales manager, the production manager, the personnel manager and others. All these managers report to the gen­eral manager.

Notes on the text

to assign assistant manager	закреплять, выделять, отводить заместитель директора, управляющего
bellboy	посыльный
to be in charge of	отвечать за, нести ответственность за
check-in	регистрация
to complain	жаловаться
complaint concierge	жалоба консьерж, портье
doorman to escort	швейцар сопровождать
to do formalities	выполнять формальности
front office	отделы бронирования, приёма и размещения и расчётов с гостями отеля
hotelier	хозяин или управляющий гостиницы
managing director	директор-распорядитель
maitre d’hôtel, maitre d’	метрдотель
night manager	ночной управляющий
personnel manager	управляющий персоналом
production manager	управляющий производством, заведующий производством
purchase manager	управляющий по снабжению
reception desk receptionist	стойка службы приёма и размещения гостиницы работник, администратор службы приёма и размещения
resident manager to run errands	управляющий, проживающий в отеле выполнять поручения
sales manager	управляющий по сбыту, коммерческий директор
wine steward	сомелье, официант по винам