Describe a hotel or guest house you stayed in.
A strong long turn names the subject in the first sentence, spends most of the two minutes on the last bullet — the why — and arrives at a prepared final line rather than trailing off.
The question, as the examiner gives it
Describe a hotel or guest house you stayed in.
You should say
- where it was
- why you were there
- what it was like
- and explain whether you would stay there again
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 191 words at a natural pace — roughly what 120 seconds holds.
Answer it yourself first
Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.Last year I stayed four nights in a guest house in a hill town, in a building that had clearly been somebody's family home before it was anything else. I was there for a cousin's wedding, and it had been booked by an aunt on the basis that it was close to the venue, which turned out to be the only good thing about the location. The building itself was lovely and completely impractical. Enormous rooms with high ceilings, wooden floors that announced every movement, and a bathroom that had been fitted into what was obviously a cupboard. The hot water worked between six and eight in the morning and at no other time, which everybody accepted as normal. Breakfast was whatever the family was eating. Would I stay again? Genuinely yes, and not because it was comfortable, because it was not. It was the only place I have stayed where I met the other guests, largely because there was one table and we all had to sit at it. Two of those guests I am still in contact with, which has never once happened to me in a proper hotel.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- venue
the precise noun for an event location
- impractical
four syllables with the stress on the second
- ceilings
concrete noun with a long first vowel
- announced
used figuratively about a creaking floor
- fitted
the right verb for squeezing something in
- accepted
past participle with an audible ending
- guests
a demanding final cluster worth keeping clean
How a strong answer is built
- 1Say where, how long and why you were there.
- 2Describe the building with its contradiction.
- 3Give two or three concrete, imperfect details.
- 4Answer the last bullet directly, with a reason.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a hotel or guest house you stayed in.” be?
You get 60 seconds to make notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. Aim to still be talking at ninety seconds: finishing at forty is the commonest way to lose marks on this part.
Should I memorise the model answer?
No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.
Does sayit score this answer?
It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
What the band on your result means
An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.One question a day until your test
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