Band 8.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-01

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently organised an all-day meeting for your company, which took place in a local hotel. In their feedback, participants at the meeting said that they liked the hotel, but they were unhappy about the food that was served for lunch.

Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter

• say what the participants liked about the hotel
• explain why they were unhappy about the food
• suggest what the manager should do to improve the food in future

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 8.0)

Dear sir.

I am the human resources manager of XYZ company and I am writing this letter to give you some feedback on the recent experience we had during our all-day meeting that we organized at your hotel.

All the participants really appreciated how the staff of your hotel exhibited high level of professionalism at all times and provided us with great quality of service. The participants were also really impressed with the size and the unique architecture of the venue. Apart from that the other thing that the participants really admired was the cleanliness and the overall maintenance of the garden area of your hotel.

However the participants were disappointed with the quality of the food that was served during lunch as many people felt that the food that was served was cold and tasted very bland and dull. The soup had an excessively strong flavor of lemon in it and the bread had become soggy and hard to chew. The participants were also a bit unhappy about the limited options for the drinks that were offered in the lunch menu.

I would suggest your to have a meeting with the chefs in your hotel and make some adjustments to the current recipes of soups and starters that are a part of your lunch menu. I would also suggest checking the quality of ingredients that are being used for preparing the dishes and adding few more options to the drinks menu. I hope you would consider my suggestions to improve the quality of your food.

Yours sincerely.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.5

The response fully addresses all three bullet points of the task. You clearly identified the positive aspects of the hotel (staff professionalism, architecture, and garden maintenance), explained the specific issues with the lunch (cold, bland, soggy bread, and limited drink options), and provided constructive suggestions for improvement. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter of complaint, and the purpose is clear throughout. The ideas are well-developed and relevant, meeting all the requirements of the prompt effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 8.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect of the prompt, which helps the reader follow your argument easily. You use cohesive devices such as 'Apart from that', 'However', and 'I would also suggest' to link your sentences and paragraphs effectively. The paragraphing is appropriate for a formal letter. To reach a higher band, ensure that your transitions between sentences are slightly more varied to avoid a somewhat mechanical feel in the flow of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message with precision. Phrases like 'exhibited high level of professionalism', 'unique architecture', and 'excessively strong flavor' show good control. There are some minor collocations that could be improved, such as 'great quality of service' (better as 'high quality of service') and 'suggest your to have' (a grammatical error that also affects lexical accuracy). Overall, the vocabulary is natural and appropriate for the context of a formal business complaint.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures effectively. While the majority of your sentences are clear and error-free, there are a few slips, such as 'I would suggest your to have' (should be 'I would suggest that you have') and the missing comma after 'However'. Additionally, 'Dear sir.' should be followed by a comma, not a period. Despite these minor inaccuracies, your control over grammar is generally strong, and these errors do not impede communication or cause confusion for the reader.

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