Learn how to use verbal confirmation to understand what the customer is saying, from a conversation between a hotel staff member and a guest
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everybody! Eric here! |
| Becky: Hello everyone! Becky here. Using Verbal Confirmation with Guests. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use verbal confirmation to show that you understand what the guest is saying. |
| Becky: This conversation takes place in the lobby at night. |
| Eric: It’s between a hotel staff member and a customer. |
| Becky: The speakers are in a professional relationship, so they’ll be using formal English. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Customer: Hello, I'm looking for somewhere I can buy some ice cream. |
| Staff: Hello. Okay. You should be able to buy some ice cream at the supermarket next door. |
| Customer: I was actually looking more for somewhere I could go to eat ice cream. |
| Staff: Oh, so you are looking for an ice cream shop? |
| Customer: Yes. |
| Staff: Okay. The nearest one is about two blocks away. If you go out and take a right on Anderson Road, which is to the left of the hotel, and then keep walking on Anderson Road, you should see it on your left. There is a bank kitty-corner from it. |
| Customer: Great, thank you! |
| Staff: You're welcome! Is there anything else I can help you with? |
| Customer: No, that's all. |
| Becky: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Customer: Hello, I'm looking for somewhere I can buy some ice cream. |
| Staff: Hello, I understand. You should be able to buy some ice cream at the supermarket next door. |
| Customer: I was actually looking more for somewhere I could go to eat ice cream. |
| Staff: Oh, so you are looking more for an ice cream shop? |
| Customer: Yes. |
| Staff: Okay. The nearest one is about two blocks away. If you go out and take a right on Anderson Road, which is to the left of the hotel, and then keep walking on Anderson Road, you should see it on your left. There is a bank kitty-corner from it. |
| Customer: Great, thank you! |
| Staff: You are welcome! Is there anything else I can help you with? |
| Customer: No that is all. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Sometimes a guest just wants to get out of the hotel for a while. Even though you may want to upsell and get them to use the hotel’s facilities, when the guest wants to leave, you should let them! |
| Eric: Try to find out what would make the guest happy. If they want to go find an ice cream shop, and there are several ice cream shops around, tell them which one you think is best. |
| Becky: And pay attention to what the guest actually wants, not just your own personal preference. Maybe the guest wants a cheap ice cream shop, or maybe they want an expensive one, or maybe something completely different. |
| Eric: You’ll have to ask them to know! |
| Becky: Definitely! Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is... |
| Eric: next door [natural native speed] |
| Becky: beside, next |
| Eric: next door [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: next door [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: looking more for [natural native speed] |
| Becky: wanting something similar to |
| Eric: looking more for [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: looking more for [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: shop [natural native speed] |
| Becky: small specialty store |
| Eric: shop [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: shop [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: block [natural native speed] |
| Becky: distance between two roads |
| Eric: block [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: block [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Eric: Anderson Road [natural native speed] |
| Becky: a road named Anderson |
| Eric: Anderson Road [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: Anderson Road [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last we have... |
| Eric: kitty-corner [natural native speed] |
| Becky: on the opposite corner |
| Eric: kitty-corner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eric: kitty-corner [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First up, we’ll look at the phrase "kitty-corner from." |
| Eric: "Kitty-corner from" is a colloquial phrase that means "on the opposite corner from." |
| Becky: That’s right. In other words, when you get to an intersection, you have four different corners for each of the different sides of the streets. Two of those corners will always be ‘kitty-corner from’ the other two. |
| Eric: So, for example "the drugstore is kitty-corner from the Internet café." “Kitty-corner” is kind of like saying ‘diagonal’. |
| Becky: The next phrase we’re going to look at is "looking more for." |
| Eric: "Looking more for" is a very useful phrase. It’s actually kind of a short form of "looking for something more like." |
| Becky: That’s right. For example, we had "I was actually looking more for somewhere I could go to eat ice cream." Here, the hotel staff made a suggestion that wasn’t quite what the guest wanted. So the guest used the phrase "looking more for" to give more information as to what they wanted, enabling the staff member to make a more helpful suggestion. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use verbal confirmation to show that you understand what the guest is saying. |
| Becky: In the dialogue we had the phrase "Oh, so you are looking more for an ice cream shop?" |
| Eric: Verbal confirmation is when you repeat something that someone has said to show that you understand it. Understanding is the key to interacting with guests. So to avoid confusion and show that you understand, you should restructure the phrase and put it in your own words, not just repeat it exactly. |
| Becky: That’s right. For example, in the dialogue the guest said "I was actually looking more for somewhere I could go to eat ice cream." |
| Eric: From that, the staff member understood that the guest was looking for something a little different than what had been suggested, so she gave another suggestion and asked for verbal confirmation. |
| Becky: That’s why she said "Oh, so you are looking more for an ice cream shop?" Notice that the staff member did not simply repeat what the guest said. |
| Eric: It's important to confirm what the guest said. Some easy ways to confirm without always asking questions include saying things like... |
| Becky: "Yes, sir," "Okay, ma’am," or "I see." |
| Eric: With these words, you don’t actually repeat what was said. Instead, you simply confirm that you understand what the guest is saying. |
| Becky: To keep confusion to a minimum, you should repeat what the customer wants in your own words when the conversation becomes long or convoluted, and try to simplify it if you need to. That way, the guest knows that you’ve understood and what kind of services you are going to provide. |
| Eric: To sum up, sometimes, you can use simple verbal confirmations like "Yes, sir," or "I see." But other times, particularly when the requests are more complex, you should rephrase things in your own words to give the guest verbal confirmation and check with them to make sure you understand. |
Outro |
| Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Becky: See ya next time! |
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