Episode 32: Hotel Check-In & Meeting the Johnsons — 5,000 Core English Words

📖 This lesson is part of the comprehensive series 5,000 Common English Words Through 46 Real-Life Conversations by Echo Stories English.

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Chapter thirty-two. Checking in.

At six fifteen in the evening, a dusty car stops in front of the Silver Falls Lodge. The route took eight hours, with the waterfall. Ryan and Emma are tired, and they have a hunger that only a hotel dinner can fix. They walk into a warm lobby, with a curved wooden desk and a fire.

Listen to the language of arriving at a hotel: the reservation, the form, the keys, and all the small questions a guest should ask.

Receptionist: Good evening, and welcome to Silver Falls Lodge. How can I help you?

Ryan: Hi. We have a reservation under Johnson. Ryan Johnson.

Receptionist: Let me pull that up. Yes, here you are. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, a queen room for ten nights, with the spa package. Is that correct?

Ryan: That's right.

Receptionist: Wonderful. May I see a photo ID and the credit card you used for the booking?

Ryan: Here's my driver's license, and here's the card.

Receptionist: Thank you. Could you fill out this form for me? Just your home address, your license plate number, and a signature at the bottom.

Ryan: Sure. Emma, do you remember our plate number?

Emma: It's already on the parking ticket. Here.

Receptionist: Perfect. I've put you on the fourth floor, as you requested, on the side that's against the hill. It's shady in the afternoon. You're in room four twelve.

Emma: Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted.

Receptionist: Here are two key cards. Just hold the card to the door until the light turns green. The lift is behind you, on the right.

Ryan: What time is breakfast?

Receptionist: Breakfast is served from seven until ten thirty, in the dining room on the ground floor. It's a continental breakfast, with a hot dish if you ask. The baking is done here every morning.

Emma: And the hot springs?

Receptionist: The pools are open from six in the morning until eleven at night. You'll find robes and towels in your room. The spa is on the lower level. Your first massage is booked for tomorrow at four.

Ryan: Is there Wi-Fi?

Receptionist: Yes. The network is "Silver Falls Guest," and the password is on this card. I should tell you, it's slow. Some guests say they feel disconnected. Most of them thank us by the third day.

Ryan: That's the idea. Is the restaurant still open? We're starving.

Receptionist: The kitchen is open until nine. Your package includes dinner tonight. Shall I book a table for seven thirty?

Emma: Yes, please.

Receptionist: Done. Additionally, if you need anything, dial zero from your room. Would you like some help with your bags?

Ryan: That would be great. They're in the car. It's the grey one right outside.

Receptionist: I'll send someone straight away. One last thing. Would you like a wake-up call?

Ryan: No. Absolutely not. For ten days, nobody wakes me up.

Emma: Excuse me, before we go up. What's that in the glass case? It looks like a diary.

Receptionist: It is. That's part of our small exhibit. This building has a peculiar history. Are you interested?

Emma: Very.

Receptionist: A hundred and fifty years ago, this valley was a secret. Then a dozen men found silver, and within a year there were three thousand residents. This was the state capital for a short period. Hardly anyone knows that.

Ryan: Here? The capital?

Receptionist: For eleven months. There was a tiny parliament in what is now the bakery. Then the silver ran out, and the government moved. During the war, the army used this building to recruit soldiers, and later it was a prison for a few years.

Emma: A prison! Which rooms?

Receptionist: The lower level. Where the spa is now.

Ryan: So I'm having a massage in a prison.

Receptionist: A very comfortable one, though some guests say they feel a presence. That diary belonged to an inspector who worked here. He writes about a mayor who refused to leave, a visitor, a foreigner who claimed to be a queen, and a balloon that landed in the lake.

Emma: Is any of it true?

Receptionist: There's no proof. But a president did stay here once, during a presidential campaign. There's a newspaper article and a photograph of the scene by the lift. And there's a legend that a famous designer shaped the garden. We capitalize on that one, I'm afraid. It's on all our brochures.

Emma: I'm going to read every page. Thank you.

Receptionist: My pleasure. On behalf of the lodge, welcome. I hope the stay helps you both recover from the drive.

Ryan: Four ten, four eleven, four twelve. Hold the card to the door. Green. We're in.

Emma: Oh, Ryan. Look at this.

Ryan: It's big. Look at the size of that bed.

Emma: Look at the view! The whole countryside. The lake, the ancient trees, the mountain with snow on top. It's still visible in this light.

Ryan: There's a balcony. And a bathtub you could swim in. And a packet of chocolates on each pillow.

Emma: I'm never leaving. Let them send my stuff.

Ryan: Did you hear that? A knock.

Emma: It's the bags. Come in!

A young man brings in the suitcases, shows them the heating and the boiler switch for the bath, and politely refuses a second tip.

Ryan: He was nice. Everyone here is so chatty.

Emma: It's not a weakness. It's the mountains. People have time. In comparison, we speak like telegrams at home.

Ryan: I'm turning on the television for one minute. Just to see if the world still exists.

Emma: Ryan.

Ryan: One minute. Look. News. A political debate about gun licenses. A committee on internal affairs. An opponent demanding a penalty. A terrorist captured somewhere. A fool with a microphone.

Emma: Turn it off. None of that has power over us this week. Neither the president, nor the parliament, nor the evidence of anything.

Ryan: Off. You're right. Its existence is temporarily cancelled.

Emma: Effectively, we're civilians on an imaginary island. No negotiation. Nothing to implement. Nobody to govern.

Ryan: I feel a little guilt, I admit. A married man with no email.

Emma: Take no offence, but your guilt is a recording. It plays the same song everywhere. Leave it by the door.

Ryan: Done. I'm testing the bed. Oh. Oh, this is dangerously good.

Emma: Don't fall asleep. We have dinner in forty minutes, and I want to explore. There's a monument in the garden, and an exotic tree that the brochure calls a creation of the old designer.

Ryan: Besides food, I have no suspicion that anything matters tonight.

Emma: Then preserve your energy. I'll go and appear in the garden alone, significantly more awake than you.

Ryan: Five minutes. Then I'm yours. I promise the war against the pillow will not destroy me.

That is the end of chapter thirty-two. They gave their name, signed the form, and opened the door of room four twelve.

Keep these with you: "We have a reservation under Johnson." "What time is breakfast?" "Is there Wi-Fi?" "Would you like some help with your bags?" "Could we book a table for seven thirty?"

In the next chapter, they wake up without an alarm, and try to decide what to do with a whole free day.

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