General Training Writing Task 1 · formal · complaint

Letter to a Hotel Manager Regarding Room Temperature

You recently stayed in a hotel in a large city. The weather was very unusual for the time of year and the heating/cooling system in the hotel was quite inadequate.

Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter:

give details of what went wrong
explain what you had to do to overcome the problem at the time
say what action you would like the manager to take

Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter: Dear ...,

Band 8 sample letter

Dear Mr. Henderson,

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction regarding my recent stay at The Grand Plaza from 12th to 15th January. While I have enjoyed your hotel in the past, my experience during this visit was severely compromised by the ineffective climate control system.

During my stay, the city experienced an unseasonably severe cold snap, with temperatures dropping well below freezing. Unfortunately, the room’s heating system was completely inadequate, failing to maintain a habitable temperature. Despite setting the thermostat to its maximum level, the room remained bitterly cold throughout the night, making it impossible to sleep comfortably.

To manage the situation, I was forced to wear my winter coat while working at the desk and had to request three additional blankets from housekeeping. Even with these measures, the room remained unacceptably chilly, which significantly impacted my ability to prepare for my business meetings.

I believe that a hotel of your reputation should provide consistent comfort regardless of external weather conditions. I would appreciate it if you could investigate this technical failure and offer a partial refund for the inconvenience caused. I look forward to your prompt response regarding this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Sterling

196 words. Names and details are invented; write your own.

Why this scores well

This response reaches Band 8 by fully addressing all three bullet points with specific, coherent details and maintaining a strictly professional tone. A common Band 6 mistake is failing to explain the personal impact of the problem or using overly aggressive, informal language that undermines the complaint.

Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.
If you know the person's surname, use Dear Mr or Ms and close with Yours sincerely.
No contractions, no slang; polite indirect requests such as I would be grateful if you could.

Useful phrases from the letter

unseasonably: at a time that is not typical for weather
compromised: weakened or made less effective than it should be
inadequate: not good enough or not enough in quantity
bitterly cold: extremely cold and unpleasant to experience
technical failure: a problem with machinery or electrical equipment
reputation: the common belief about how good something is

Write your own and get a band

Answer this prompt in a timed General Training writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS General writing

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Frequently asked questions

Is this letter formal or informal?

Formal. Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.

How long should an IELTS General Training letter be?

At least 150 words, and 160 to 200 is the comfortable range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.