You recently booked a hotel room for a business trip, but upon arrival, you discovered that the room did not meet the advertised standards. Write a letter of complaint to the hotel manager. In your letter: - Describe the issue with the room. - Explain how it affected your stay. - Request appropriate action from the hotel.
Sample Response
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to express my disappointment with the room I was assigned during my recent business trip at your hotel. I had a reservation from the 1st to the 5th of October in the name of George Butlerunder the name George Butler. However, upon arrival, I found that the room did not meet the advertised standards.
The main issue was cleanliness. The bathroom had an unpleasant odor, and the bed sheets and pillowcases had visible stains. These conditions affected my stayThis affected my stay and raised concerns about hygiene and comfort. As a business traveler, a clean and well-maintained room is crucial for working effectivelyfor effective work and proper rest. Unfortunately, the room fell far below my expectations, causing me considerable inconveniencecausing inconvenience and frustration.
I kindly request appropriate action to address these issues. Thorough cleaning and fresh bedding would be greatly appreciated. Ensuring that rooms meet advertised standards will enhance the overall guest experience.
I trust you will take my concerns seriously and promptly rectify the situation. I look forward to a satisfactory resolution.
Yours faithfullysincerely,
George Butler.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The complaint is clear, formally presented, and supported by specific details about cleanliness and its effect on comfort and work. The main limitation is that the requested cleaning and fresh bedding do not provide a convincing remedy for a stay that has already ended; the highest-priority improvement is to request a concrete retrospective resolution, such as compensation or a partial refund.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly covers the room defects and their impact, but the requested action is not fully appropriate for a completed stay.
Ask for a specific remedy such as a partial refund, compensation, or written confirmation of corrective action.
Coherence and Cohesion
The complaint progresses logically from booking context to defects, consequences, requested action, and a courteous conclusion.
Link the requested resolution more directly to the inconvenience already described to sharpen the progression.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise, formal, and flexible, with effective choices such as “advertised standards,” “rectify,” and “satisfactory resolution.”
Replace the slightly awkward phrase “business trip at your hotel” with “stay at your hotel during my business trip.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex sentences is used accurately, with strong control of agreement, clauses, and punctuation.
Preserve this accuracy while making the requested-action sentences more syntactically direct and specific.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently booked a hotel room for a business trip, but upon arrival, you discovered that the room did not meet the advertised standards. Write a letter of complaint to the hotel manager. In your letter:
- Describe the issue with the room.
- Explain how it affected your stay.
- Request appropriate action from the hotel.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.