Hotels are where a polite vocabulary pays for itself twice. Checking in without Spanish is possible almost everywhere — and it is also how you end up with a room facing the road, no breakfast and a key that only works sometimes.
The situations repeat exactly: booking, arriving, asking for something, reporting a problem, and leaving. Each has a small set of words that covers almost all of it, and each of those words is worth having ready before you are standing at the desk with your bags.
Around forty words and phrases will handle any stay, from a hostal to a five-star hotel. Here they are, grouped by the moment you will need them.
Booking and Reserving
Tengo una reserva a nombre de… is the sentence you will use most, and a nombre de — in the name of — is the phrase learners most often miss. Without it, the receptionist has to guess whose reservation you mean.
At Check-in
A useful pattern: ¿Me puede dar…? followed by anything. It is polite, it is easy to remember, and it works at a hotel desk, a bar and a shop with equal effect.
Describing What You Need
¿El desayuno está incluido? is the most financially useful question in this article. Breakfast is frequently included and rarely mentioned in English at check-in, and asking at the right moment can be worth a meal a day.
Reporting Problems
No funciona is the workhorse of the whole list. Attach it to anything — el aire, la ducha, la televisión, la tarjeta — and you have made a clear, complete complaint.
Facilities and Services
¿Cuál es la contraseña del wifi? is probably the single most-asked sentence in any modern hotel, in any language. Learn it first and you will use it within an hour of arriving.
Check-out and Paying
¿Pueden guardar el equipaje? is the sentence that improves a final day. Most hotels will hold bags for free after check-out, and asking turns a whole afternoon of dragging a suitcase into a normal day.
Ten Sentences That Handle Any Stay
Arrive able to ask, not just point
Hotel vocabulary is easy to read and hard to catch at reception speed. Our Spanish Course Pass adds guided listening so you recognise the words the moment they are spoken. Explore the Spanish Course Pass →
Start the Spanish course →Create a free accountLearning It Before You Travel
The numbers day matters more than it looks. Room numbers, dates, night counts and prices all appear at check-in, and mishearing a price is the most common avoidable problem in the whole interaction.
Six days to a smoother stay
From tengo una reserva to la cuenta, por favor, our Course Pass pairs you with a personal AI voice tutor that rehearses the exact conversations a hotel will hand you. Start your Spanish Course Pass →
Start the Spanish course →Create a free accountFrequently Asked Questions
How do I say I have a reservation in Spanish? Say Tengo una reserva a nombre de followed by your surname. Adding a nombre de is what lets the receptionist find the booking.
How do I ask if breakfast is included? Ask ¿El desayuno está incluido? It is a short, polite question and the answer can change the value of the room considerably.
What do I say if something in the room is broken? Name the object and add no funciona — for example, el aire acondicionado no funciona — then ask ¿puede arreglarlo? or request a room change.
Can I store my luggage after check-out? Usually yes, and often free. Ask ¿Pueden guardar el equipaje? at reception before you vacate the room.
References
- Instituto Cervantes — Spanish language resources
- Real Academia Española — dictionary and usage
- Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism — tourism information
- Turespaña — official Spanish tourism portal
- Instituto Cervantes — DELE examination levels