Luxury Accommodations for Longer Stays

Bristol Plaza, a luxury residential hotel, was conceived of and developed by Howard Milstein to meet the needs of those planning long-term stays in Manhattan. Its 152 suites feature fully equipped kitchens for home dining, and the property boasts a health club, swimming pool, and sun deck. We are already booking well into 2006. All indications point toward another splendid year. We are fortunate because currently there are probably no more than three properties such as ours in Manhattan with a minimum 30-day stay and full hotel services. Furthermore, our location is excellent and I think our swimming pool and health club are among the best in the city. We enjoy a great deal of repeat business from both corporations and individuals for whom staying at Bristol Plaza has, I am delighted to report, become a matter of course. Our health club is an important amenity for our guests. It is an absolute prerequisite for them. Certainly, there are some merits and dismerits in our hotel. We don't have a restaurant, for example. Our neighbourhood is full of wonderful restaurants that deliver. All of our suites have fully equipped kitchens so our guests can enjoy the occasional 'at home' at their leisure.

We have one- and two-bedroom suites as well as several junior suites and two penthouses to accommodate the larger families, many of whom travel with a nanny, we have connected a two-bedroom and one-bedroom suite. These three-bedroom units have proven to be very much in demand and are constantly occupied. People usually stay with us for not less than a month. Quite often a booking will be made for a month even when the requirement is for less, simply because it is more financially advantageous when compared with the cost of one of the better transient hotels. Besides, we have total flexibility provided that we have due notice, so our guests can extend their stays. We never rebook a suite until the guest confirms his or her departure date. Many of our guests stay with us while their homes are being renovated and, despite time estimates being given by their contractors, rarely are they met. If we didn't allow for flexibility in extending our lease terms, total chaos would ensue: both for them and us.

Our individual guests are typically those who are in the process of finding permanent housing or those who are undergoing renovations. We have quite a number of guests who are being relocated to New York by their various corporations or who are establishing new offices in the city. People come from all over the world to receive medical treatment. Lawyers hearing briefs in town, film companies on location, ambassadors and their support staff attending the U.N. General Assembly, are all comfortable knowing that they can stay at Bristol Plaza for as long as they wish. A great deal of our business comes from the multinational corporations and banks that have been placing their colleagues and business partners with us for years. Everybody wants to be connected to the Internet. Our newly installed telkonet system allows our guests to plug into any electrical socket in their suite.

Although none of our suites look as if they need remodeling, we nevertheless like to change the decor from time to time. Our guest roster is truly international. And I derive great pleasure knowing our reputation is worldwide. I think our concept is ideal for other markets. The cost of a hotel room, even for one night, in the major capitals of Europe make our kind of long-term operating a very appealing option. Personal attention is extremely important and our staff never fail to greet our guests warmly and are always willing to go that extra yard to make their stay a very pleasant one.

Answer the following questions:

1. Did Bristol have a strong year in 2005?

2. Is there much competition in New York's long-term-

stay hotel market?

3. Is their health club an important amenity for their

guests?

4. Do you think of Bristol Plaza's lack of a restaurant

as a drawback?

5. What kinds of suites do they offer?

6. Can people stay with them for less than one

month?

7. Can guests extend their stays for as long as they

like?

8. Are technological amenities very important for

corporate guests?

9. Is their business truly global?

10. Do you think the Bristol Plaza concept could work

in other markets?

Use active vocabulary to express these sentences

more briefly, as in the example:

e.g. It was a regular flight which the airline runs every day.

It was a scheduled flight.

1. I hate those special flights where everyone is

booked to the same holiday destination.

2. It was a ticket you had to book 30 days in advance

to get the cheaper fare.

3. The ticket allowed us to spend up to three nights in

Singapore on the journey from London to Sydney.

4. You can get a bed on the ferry in a little room with

three other beds.

5. We hired a car, with as many miles as we wanted

free.

6. When you get there, the bus or taxi to your hotel is

included in the cost of the holiday.

7. It was a special cheap fare, but there were some

things you were not allowed to do.