英語で仕事の来客をどうもてなしますか？B1中級：呼び方と肩書き、送迎・案内の句動詞、来客の日程表

Two conference speakers arrive on Wednesday and need different schedules. Maya will pick up Dr Rahman at the airport, help her check in and show her around the exhibition centre before her auditorium talk. Owen will meet Mr Novak at his stand, arrange a short sightseeing excursion and book a restaurant known for local specialities. Both schedules include facilities checks and named hosts.

VISITOR ITINERARY — WEDNESDAY

09:15 Maya picks up Dr Rahman at the airport

10:00 Hotel check-in at the Central Hotel

11:00 Maya shows Dr Rahman around the exhibition centre

12:00 Auditorium and facilities check

13:00 Owen meets Mr Novak at Stand B14

14:30 Dr Rahman’s talk in the auditorium

15:30 Mr Novak’s historic-centre excursion with Owen

19:00 Both guests eat out with their hosts at a restaurant known for local specialities

Contingency: Owen texts both guests if transport changes.

Too much welcome?

When a group of engineers from a supplier in Japan visited a small manufacturing company near Glasgow last autumn, the sales director, Callum Fraser, wanted everything to be perfect. He booked a hotel near the exhibition centre, arranged a driver to pick the visitors up at the airport and planned every hour of their three-day trip. There was a factory tour on the first morning, a trade fair in the afternoon, an excursion to a castle and a dinner at a restaurant famous for its local speciality.

The visitors were polite and grateful. But on the last evening, the leader of the group, an engineer called Aiko Tanaka, asked a surprising question: “Is it possible to have one free evening next time?” The group had travelled for fourteen hours to get there. They hadn’t had a chance to freshen up, call their families or simply look around the city on their own.

Callum’s experience is common. Many hosts believe that a full programme shows respect, and an empty evening can feel like a failure, as if the host doesn’t care. But many business travellers say the thing they want most on a trip is time: time to rest, to prepare for meetings and to see a place without a guide.

Not everyone agrees. Neha Kapoor, who organizes visits for an international hotel group, says that hospitality means different things in different places. “In some cultures, leaving a guest alone for an evening is rude,” she says. “The guest may be too polite to ask for anything, so the host must offer everything.” A visitor who is left alone in a strange city may feel forgotten, not free.

So what should a good host do? Neha’s answer is simple: ask. Before a visit, she sends each guest a short message with a few options, such as a sightseeing tour, a meal with the team or a free evening, and lets them choose. She also gives every visitor a card with the hotel address, a good place to eat out and a phone number to call at any time.

Callum has learned the lesson. When the engineers came back in the spring, the programme had the same factory tour and the same castle, but there was also an evening with nothing in it. “They found a small restaurant on their own and came back very happy,” he says. “It was the best part of the visit, and I didn’t plan it.”