ANGELA: Hello, Flanders conference hotel.

MAN: Oh, hi. I wanted to ask about conference facilities at the hotel. Have I come through to the right person?

ANGELA: You have. I’m the customer services manager. My name’s Angela. So how can I help you?

MAN: Well, I’m calling from Barrett and Stansons, we’re a medical company based in Perth.

ANGELA: Oh yes.

MAN: And we’re organising a conference for our clients to be held in Sydney. It’ll be held over two days and we’re expecting about fifty or sixty people.

ANGELA: When were you thinking of having it?

MAN: Some time early next year, like the end of January? It’d have to be a weekend.

ANGELA: Let me see … our conference facilities are already booked for the weekend beginning January 28th. We could do the first weekend in February?

MAN: How about January 21st?

ANGELA: I’m afraid that’s booked too.

MAN: Well, let’s go for the February date then.

ANGELA: So that’s the weekend beginning the 4th.

MAN: OK. Now can you tell me a bit about what conference facilities you have?

ANGELA: Sure. So for talks and presentations we have the Tesla room.

MAN: Sorry?

ANGELA: Tesla – that’s spelled T-E-S-L-A. it holds up to a hundred people, and it’s fully equipped with a projector and so on.

MAN: How about a microphone?

ANGELA: Yes, that’ll be all set up ready for you, and there’ll be one that members of the audience can use too, for questions, if necessary.

MAN: Fine. And we’ll also need some sort of open area where people can sit and have a cup of coffee, and we’d like to have an exhibition of our products and services there as well, so that’ll need to be quite a big space.

ANGELA: That’s fine, there’s a central atrium with all those facilities, and you can come before the conference starts if you want to set everything up.

MAN: Great. And I presume there’s wifi?

ANGELA: Oh yes, that’s free and available throughout the hotel.

MAN: OK.

ANGELA: Would you also like us to provide a buffet lunch? We can do a two-course meal with a number of different options.

MAN: What sort of price are we looking at for that?

ANGELA: Well, I can send you a copy of the standard menu. That’s $45 per person. Or you can have the special for $25 more.

MAN: I think the standard should be OK, but yes, send me the menu.

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MAN: Now we’re also going to need accommodation on the Saturday night for some of the participants … I’m not sure how many, but probably about 25. So what do you change for a room?

ANGELA: Well, for conference attendees we have a 25% reduction, so we can offer you rooms at $135. Normally a standard room’s $180.

MAN: And does that include breakfast?

ANGELA: Sure. And of course, guests can also make use of all the other facilities at the hotel. So we’ve got a spa where you can get massages and facials and so on, and there’s a pool up on the roof for the use of guests.

MAN: Great. Now what about transport links? The hotel’s downtown, isn’t it?

ANGELA: Yes, it’s about 12 kilometres from the airport, but there’s a complimentary shuttle bus for guests. And it’s only about ten minutes’ walk from the central railway station.

MAN: OK. Now, I don’t know Sydney very well, can you just give me an idea of the location of the hotel?

ANGELA: Well, it’s downtown on Wilby Street, that’s quite a small street, and it’s not very far from the sea. And of course if the conference attendees want to go out on the Saturday evening there’s a huge choice of places to eat. Then if they want to make a night of it, they can go on to one of the clubs in the area – there are a great many to choose from.

MAN: OK. So if we go ahead with this, can you give me some information about how much …