Text9 Business Correspondence in Hospitality Industry

Letter writing is the essential part of business communication. A cheque, a contract or any other business paper sent by mail should always be accompanied by a letter. Nowadays more and more agreements are made in English, for English is a universal business language.

A well arranged letter will make a better impression on the reader, thus good letters make good business partners. A business letter is a letter written in a formal language, usually used between organisations and their customers, clients and other external parties.

In the latest and unprecedented growth of telecommunication especially the extensive use of the Internet a business letter is still the most reliable and the most respectful form of business communication and shall remain so in the foreseeable future. Letter writing is the most fundamental and basic skill of all forms of business writing. It is the most practical of all the divisions of composition, hence the most important. Every well-constructed business letter is made up of six essential parts, namely the heading, the inside address, salutation, the body of the letter, the complimentary close, and the signature. Every proper and attractive letter has to take a proper and an appropriate form. The form to be used in a given letter has to be consistent throughout the letter, i.e. one should not switch from one form to the other in the same letter. 　　Letter forms must conform to the preference of the organization, the industry and sometimes the country. The heading in a business letter refers to the address and the date of writing the letter on the part of the sender. As most business entities in the travel industry already have their addresses printed in the letterhead, the heading therefore contains the date only, which can appear on the date line or at the upper right corner. The inside address refers to the name and address of the person to whom the letter is written. It usually appears on the upper left corner of the first letter sheet. The salutation, which is the complimentary greeting right before the body of the letter, runs parallel to the letter body. Dear Mr. X (usually when the sender is familiar with the person, or in answer to a letter received) 　　Dear Sirs - is the most frequently used salutation in business letters, while Dear Sir is usually used to address the executive officer of an institution, and Sir is used to address a high ranking government official. 　　Dear Madam or Madam - used to address a female business person. 　　"Dear Sir", "Dear Madam" are commonly used salutations to uninitiated addressees, showing respect rather than affection. "Madam" can be used for either the married or the unmarried woman, whereas "Madame" is a French word, and is applied only to a married woman. 　　"Dear Sirs", "Sirs", and "Gentlemen" can be used to address a business firm or an organization, when you have no idea whether the executives of the unit are made up of males or females. If you are aware that the executives are females, the corresponding salutation is "Ladies". 　　Do not use the adjective "dearest" in the salutation even if the person addressed is a near relative or a very intimate friend. "Dearest" belongs to personal letters. 　　Mr. and Esq. should not be used to a person at the same time. And Dr. should not proceed a person's name if the name is followed by the title; e. g., the following are bad forms: 　　　　Mr. George N. Bales, Esq. 　　　　Dr. Myron E. Joseph, M. D. 　　Salutations are in most cases followed by a comma (,) but colon (:) is quite commonly used in North America. Sometimes no punctuation is used at all. Never use semicolon (;)after the salutation. The body of the letter, which is the subject and the message, constitutes the substance and essence of the business communication. 　　A business letter is always written for a specific purpose. Before you start writing the body of the letter, ask yourself: "What is my objective?" And then keep the purpose clearly in mind from A to Z and avoid anything that may obscure this basic objective. 　　Plan your letter properly so that it flows from the first paragraph to the last logically as in a speech. Keep unrelated or personal matters out of the letter because they will only clutter up your letter and make the main purpose of the letter less understandable to the reader. 　　Bear in mind that business letters are often read by assistants or a replacement, and are read under pressure, when people are busy or overloaded with other interests which compete for their attention. So streamline your letters to make them more effective. 　　Success or failure in good business letter writing depends upon one's linguistic ability as well as on sustained development and practice. 1. Business letters are often made more formal by using big words instead of small words, e.g.

particulars	instead of	details
acknowledge receipt of	to receive
prior to	before
at the present time	now
according to	as per
furnish information	give information
We shall	We`ll
We have	We`ve

Try not to use too many big words, which may clutter up the letter and make it very dull and unreadable.
　 Be consistent in the style of the letter rather than wander between one style to the other in the same letter, otherwise the letter may sound most messy. See the example below:

We acknowledge receipt of your kind letter of February 10th and wish to say hello to the people we met in NYC. As a sign of appreciation, we shall host a banquet in your honour upon arrival of your delegation in Prague. Let's swap ideas when we come across with each other. Your reply at your earliest convenience would be appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Business letters (business correspondence) that are commonly used for hotel and travel industries: sending contract rates, request for contract rates, offering special rates, introduction letter, touch base, Confirming Dinner Booking, hotel reservation, invitation, booklets, etc.

1. How many parts is business letter is made up of?

2. What is the main aspect in writing business letters?

3. What is the heading of the letter?

4. What greetings can be used in the letter?

5. What greetings cannot be used in the letter?

6. What are salutations followed by?

7. What is necessary to remember before writing the body of the letter?

8. Why is it necessary to streamline your letters?

9. What words should be used in business letters?

10. What are common letters mostly used in hotel and travel industries?