Scenario Description: You and a friend have just arrived at a plush hotel. You will be staying in town for vacation for one week.
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| Role | Dialog |
| Narrator | You and a friend have just arrived at a plush hotel. You will be staying in town for vacation for one week. |
| You | Well, we’ve arrived! I’m really looking forward to this vacation! I’ve been so stressed out at work lately. |
| Friend | You and me both! Let’s check in and get this dreadful part over with. |
| Desk | Good morning! How may I help you? |
| You | We have reservations for two for one week in the name of Wright. |
| Desk | Very well, sir. Please wait a moment while I pull up your reservation. Yes, here it is – two double beds, 10th floor, non-smoking room. |
| You | And an ocean view, right? |
| Desk | Um, let me check… No, this room has a view of the parking lot. |
| You | Wait a minute! I specified a room with an ocean view. I don’t want to walk out onto my balcony to the sight of concrete and asphalt and the smell of car exhaust fumes! That’s unacceptable. |
| Desk | I’m sorry, sir, but we are fully booked. There are no other rooms available. It’s that room or nothing. |
| You | Let me speak to the manager! |
| Desk | Yes, sir. I’ll go get him, and I’ll be right back. |
| You | This is preposterous! Can you believe this? |
| Friend | It does seem to be the usual snafu I’ve come to expect whenever I travel. |
| Mgr | (comes to the front desk from a back room) Yes, Mr. Wright, what seems to be the problem? |
| You | Well, as I was telling your front desk attendant here, I specifically reserved an ocean-front room, and I’m being told that I have to accept a parking-lot view! |
| Mgr | I apologize for this situation, sir, but when you booked your room from our hotel website, I’m sure you read the fine print that said we would try to accommodate your desires as best we can but that your reservation is subject to change at any time. We had a sudden influx of convention attendees that filled up all our available rooms, and they also requested ocean views. Due to the large volume of business they represented, we gave them priority. I apologize again, sir, but there’s nothing I can do to change your room. As I’m sure my front desk attendant told you, we are fully booked and have no other rooms available at the moment. |
| You | Well, that’s not good enough! |
| Mgr | Sir, I’m sorry but it’ll have to do. As I said, I have no other rooms. You are welcome to book at another hotel, but they are most likely all fully booked as well due to this convention in town. |
| You | Why I…that’s just…this is…oh, all right! We’ll take the room but I think we deserve a discounted rate because that is NOT what we asked for. |
| Mgr | I can accommodate you on that, sir. The room already has a cheaper rate because it’s a parking-lot view instead of an ocean view, but we can give you an additional 10% off the room rate. |
| You | 10%? That’s all? I think we should get at least 25% off for our disappointment. This is our only vacation for the whole year, for Christ’s sake! |
| Mgr | Sir, I can offer you up to a 20% discount, but that’s the best I can do. |
| Friend | (to the manager) That’s good! We’ll take it. (to you) That’s okay. The manager’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’s trying to compensate us as much as he can. We haven’t got a lot of choice in the matter unless you want to cancel our vacation and try again later. |
| You | You know we can’t do that at this late stage of the game. Oh, all right. We’ll take the room, but I’m not going to forget this. This hotel has lost my business in the future. I won’t be coming back to this hotel again. |
| Mgr | That is, of course, your prerogative, sir. We do hope you’ll reconsider your future accommodations. (manager leaves) |
| Friend | (to the front desk attendant) Please check us in and give us our room keys, please. |
| Desk | Yes, sir. You’ll be in Room 1020. (motions to the bellhop) Please take these gentlemen’s bags up to Room 1020. |
| Bellhop | Right away, sir! |
| Narrator | You go up to your room and get settled in. You tip the bellboy and he leaves. You walk out onto the balcony. |
| You | Look at that ugly sight. I can’t believe this is just the first day of our vacation and something has already gone wrong! |
| Friend | You have to look for the silver lining. We got a cheaper room plus a 20% discount. We can take advantage of that cash savings to live it up a little more by being able to afford more gifts or more tours. |
| You | Well, yes, there is that. Okay, I’ll try to chill out and enjoy the rest of our vacation. Perhaps a half hour in the hotel’s hot tub will soothe my nerves and calm me down. |
| Friend | That’s the spirit! Let’s change into our bathing suits and bathrobes, grab some towels, and head down. |
| Narrator | Things go well at the poolside hot tub. You and your friend chat and enjoy a relaxing massage from the whirlpool’s pulsating water jets. You both dry off, go back up to the room, and get dressed in comfortable travel clothes. |
| Friend | Okay, I just came back from the concierge’s desk. I’ve booked us a city bus tour that starts in about 15 minutes. We’d better head down if we’re going to make it. Grab your camera! |
| Narrator | You board the tour bus and are driven around town at a leisurely pace with a pretty tour guide providing historical highlights on points of interest. She seemed to be Spanish but spoke English fluently and without an accent. Her long, black, straight hair blowing in the wind from all the open bus windows further relaxes you and puts you in a good mood. |
| Friend | What do you want to do after the tour is over? |
| You | I’m famished! Let’s find a nice dinner theater somewhere. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. |
| Narrator | Later at the hotel. |
| Friend | That was a nice dinner and a really great show! We’ll have to do that again sometime! |
| You | I agree. I can almost forget about all the unpleasantness of our check-in process. |
