New Zealand

New Zealand lies in the Pacific Ocean, 1.600 km to the east of Australia. It consists of two large islands and a number of smaller ones. It’s similar in size to the United Kingdom but it only has a population of about 3.8 million people. Most of them live in the North Island and over one million in Auckland, which is the country’s largest city. New Zealand’s capital is Wellington.

The South Island is a little larger than the North Island and is famous for its Southern Alps. You might think you were in Switzerland, not New Zealand. The eastern side of the Alps is dry but the west coast has a lot of rainfall and magnificent forests, lakes, mountains and glaciers. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island. It is smaller than Auckland but has good international travel links.

The main characteristic of the landscape is its diversity: mountains, lakes, rivers, beaches, hills, volcanoes, rainforests and fjords are all contained in quite a small area. From the volcanoes of Tongariro national Park to the cliffs of Fjordland, New Zealand’s thirteen national parks contain an amazing range of scenery, beautiful walking tracks and various plants and animals that are not found in other parts of the world.

4. A place to stay

All hotels, big or small, have a staff structure. In medium to large hotel, the staff are organized into departments. A simple structure might have only three departments:

• food and beverages (restaurants, bars, kitchens);

• housekeeping and maintenance;

• front office and administration.

In a big hotel the restaurant and the kitchen are separate departments. The same would happen with housekeeping and maintenance, and also with front office and administration.

The department in closest contact with a hotel’s guests is the front office, which is often called the reception. It is responsible for taking reservations, registering guests when they arrive (check-in), and preparing the bill for guests who are leaving and charging them (check-out). Hotel receptionists are in constant contact with the public and need very god customer skills.

The check-in and check-out procedures in all good hotels will be written down in the hotel manual. Front office staff follow these procedures exactly.

The check-in procedure involves filling in a registration card and getting the guest to sign it. Part of the card is kept in reception and part of it is given to the guest with the room key. Today many hotels use electronic key cards. Computers allow hotels to create a file called a guest history. This contains information about the guest’s previous stays and about any preferences – smoking or non-smoking, upper or lower floors, and so on.

The larger the hotel, the greater the number of services offered. The services directory is a document that tells the guest how to obtain different services. Usually a services directory is left in each room. Large hotels will also have a concierge, who has a desk in the hotel lobby near the reception. The concierge’s job is to help guests find the facilities and attractions that they want both inside and outside the hotel.