Book your accomodation

Lesson Overview: Booking Your Accommodation in Spanish

This lesson focuses on essential vocabulary and practical expressions related to booking accommodation while traveling in Spanish-speaking countries. You will learn how to inquire about room types, availability, and extra services such as breakfast, as well as how to make reservations by phone, email, or online. Additionally, this lesson introduces irregular comparative adjectives like Mejor (better), Peor (worse), Mayor (larger/older), and Menor (smaller/younger), which are useful for comparing options.

Key Vocabulary and Phrases

• Habitación doble – double room
• Habitación individual – single room
• Suite – suite
• Reserva – reservation
• Disponibilidad – availability
• Desayuno incluido – breakfast included
• Más espacio – more space
• Servicios – services

Irregular Comparatives

These comparatives do not follow the regular pattern and are important when comparing room qualities or services:

• Mejor (better) – used to indicate superior quality (e.g., La suite es mejor.)
• Peor (worse) – indicates inferior quality (e.g., La habitación estándar es peor.)
• Mayor (larger/older) – often refers to size or age (e.g., Habitación mayor para más comodidad.)
• Menor (smaller/younger) – indicates smaller size or younger age (e.g., Habitación menor que la doble.)

Practical Application

The lesson includes dialogues simulating real-life situations such as:

• Making a phone reservation, asking about room types and availability.
• Writing an email to inquire about breakfast options and room features.
• Booking accommodation online and comparing different options based on price and amenities.

Verb Practice

You will practice regular and irregular verb conjugations in the pretérito perfecto (present perfect) tense, such as:

• He buscado – I have searched
• Has confirmado – You have confirmed
• Ha ofrecido – He/She/It has offered
• Hemos reservado – We have booked

This is essential for discussing past actions connected to the present moment, especially in the context of reservations.

Short Story for Contextual Learning

A short passage tells the story of friends booking accommodation for their vacation, featuring key verbs and vocabulary to consolidate learning with contextual meaning and verb conjugations.

Differences between English and Spanish Booking Expressions

While English often uses modal verbs like can or would like to express requests, Spanish tends to use the simple present or conditional forms directly, for example, Quisiera reservar (I would like to reserve). Also, room types and their comparisons are often expressed with specific adjectives including irregular comparatives, which do not exist in English with the same forms. For instance, mayor and menor can refer to size or age, both having different words in English (bigger/smaller or older/younger) depending on context.

Useful Phrases

• ¿Hay disponibilidad para...? – Is there availability for...?
• Me gustaría reservar una habitación doble – I would like to book a double room
• ¿Está incluido el desayuno? – Is breakfast included?
• Prefiero una suite porque es mejor. – I prefer a suite because it is better.
• La habitación individual es menor que la doble. – The single room is smaller than the double.