General Training Writing Task 1 · formal · making arrangements

Letter to hotel manager regarding business training accommodation

You are planning a 2-day work training outside your city next month.

Write a letter to the manager of the hotel regarding accommodation arrangements for your visit. In your letter:

introduce yourself and your company
ask availability of their rooms
tell him/her about arrangements and needs

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 the Training Coordinator at Apex Logistics, and I am currently finalising preparations for a two-day staff development workshop scheduled to take place in your city next month.

Could you please confirm if you have availability for fifteen single rooms for the nights of the 14th and 15th of November? As we are expecting a large group, it is essential that we secure accommodation within the same wing of your hotel to facilitate ease of coordination for our team.

Regarding our specific requirements, we will need access to a quiet conference room on both days, equipped with a high-speed projector and reliable Wi-Fi for our presentations. Additionally, we would appreciate it if you could provide a breakfast buffet for the group each morning and ensure that the hotel restaurant can accommodate us for a private dinner on the first evening. Please let me know if these arrangements are feasible and provide a quote for the total cost of the stay and the conference facilities.

I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding these details.

Yours sincerely,

Eleanor Rigby

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

Why this scores well

This response earns a Band 8 by addressing all three bullet points with specific, relevant details while maintaining a consistently professional and formal tone throughout. A common mistake for Band 6 candidates is failing to link the specific needs, such as the conference room, back to the purpose of the business trip, or using overly casual language.

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

finalising: completing the last steps of a plan
facilitate: to make an action or process easier
essential: absolutely necessary or extremely important
equipped: supplied with the necessary items for tasks
feasible: possible to do easily or conveniently
accommodation: a room or building to stay in

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.