Learning French Hotel and Rooms Vocab

Many people who visit the Learn French Blog here are just looking to learn French well enough to get the most from a holiday to a French speaking country.

If you are one of these people, you will probably not need to learn some of the more advanced parts of learning a language.

With this in mind, we’ve prepared for you some of the important words you’ll need for when you’re in a French country and you need accommodation.

These words will come in handy when you are booking a hotel room, or if you have any problems and need to refer to certain things in French.

Okay, here are the words you need to learn.

We recommend the Rocket French online course for beginners who are looking to learn to speak French confidently and naturally, in a very short period of time. To find out more, click here.

We will start off with some amenities that you may want to ask for:

air conditioning = la climatisation
a bellhop = un bagagiste
a concierge = un/une concierge
a doorman = un portier
an elevator = un ascenseur
a fitness center = une salle de gym, un club santé
a gift shop = une boutique
maid service = la gouvernante
parking = un parking
a restaurant = un restaurant
room service = le service aux chambres
rooms for the disabled = des chambres accessibles aux handicap
a safe = un coffre-fort
a television = une television
tennis courts = des courts (m.) de tennis
If you have a preference for any particular view or location in your hotel, you can specify what you would like using this:

Je voudrais avoir une chambre avec... = I would like to have a room with…

And here are some words that you may use to ask for things after using the above phrase:

a balcony = un balcon
a garden = un jardin
a terrace = une terrasse
on the courtyard = cote cour
on the garden = cote jardin
on the sea = cote mer

Okay, that should be enough to cover most of the common situations. Another thing you’ll need to know is how to ask for something that is missing, as mistakes do happen… and you may have left something behind, or something may have been left out of your room.

Here is the vocab you’ll need to deal with this kind of problem:
I would like ... = Je voudrais …
I need ... = Il me faut ... /J’ai besoin de (d’) ...
I am missing ... = Il me manque ...
a bar of soap = une savonette
a blanket = une couverture
a hair dryer = un seche-cheveux
a pillow = un oreiller
a towel = une serviette
a transformer = un transformateur
hangers = des cintres (m.)
toilet paper = un rouleau de papier hygienique

That should help you out in most situations when it comes to booking a hotel. This isn’t fully comprehensive though, so if you’re not fully confident in your abilities we suggest you take a more comprehensive course.