Hotel reviews are now not included as an option in the current FCE Cambridge exam. I have kept these exercises here for students interested in studying language associated with hotel facility descriptions.
When writing reviews about hotels, it's important to remember the following points. These reviews are not attempting to sell the product but offer an honest opinion of it.
Use a conversational style in your writing, especially when giving your own opinion, e.g.
"I found the hotel extremely comfortable; the lounge area was quiet and peaceful with large plush sofas and armchairs."
However, avoid very informal expressions and adjectives which may sound too emotive or have little clear meaning, e.g.
"It was a great hotel - the lounge was fantastic and had really comfy places to sit."
The aim of a review is so that people reading it can decide whether that hotel, restaurant, film etc. would be suitable for them. For that reason, your review should be descriptive using adjectives that are mostly non-emotive and as precise as possible. Remember that what you like may not be appealing to someone else.
"The hotel is located at a 5-minute walk from a very clean beach of white sand and crystal clear water. Access to the beach, however, means walking down some rather precarious and dangerous steps. ..."
Once you have offered a clear description, you can add your own opinions, which could be positive or negative. Your opinions should be supported with why you liked or didn't like a particular thing.
"... Although I thought the beach was quite idyllic and uncrowded for the time of year, you need to be fairly agile and daring to get to it. I had to make my way down those steps very carefully!"
If you remember that a review is intended to be read by people of all tastes, income brackets and ages, you will write a text that will be more useful to everyone.
Try the exercises and get some practice writing hotel reviews.
Go to exercise 1 on hotel review expressions...
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