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I'm currently studying using Assimil's Spanish Without Toil and Spanish With Ease, and I noticed that the older course uses "haga el favor de" in phrases where "puede" is used in Ease. Is the former considered more formal and therefore odd in ordinary conversation? Or are they still used equally in daily conversation?

"Haga el favor" sounds slightly formal to me, whereas "puede" is rather neutral. However, I need some context to be sure.

Some examples of "haga el favor" from Without Toil:

Perdone señora, digo, haga el favor decirme donde...
¿Qué hora es, haga usted el favor?
Haga el favor, ¿está la estación lejos de aquí?
Haga el favor, y déme también otro plato.

Would they all be too formal for normal conversation?

Strictly speaking from a Mexican Spanish perspective, I would rephrase these sentences like this:

Perdone señora, me podría hacer el favor de decirme donde...
¿Podría decirme que hora es?
Disculpe, ¿está la estación lejos de aquí?
Hagame el favor, y déme también otro plato. (mejor: ¿Podría ser tan amable de darme otro plato?)

These are formal ways of expressing oneself. It could be that the examples from Assimil (isn't it a French company?) illustrate Spanish from Spain, but then a Spaniard would need to confirm this.

EDIT: Oh yes, these senteces' level of formality varies according to whom you're speaking to. You would use these with strangers, and even with acquaintances, especially if they somehow command respect (an old lady, in-laws, etc.). With close friends, or people who treat you like a close friend, these would be a bit too much. If that's the case, just simply say what you want and add "por favor" and it gets the job done.

caam_imt wrote:Strictly speaking from a Mexican Spanish perspective, I would rephrase these sentences like this:

Perdone señora, me podría hacer el favor de decirme donde...
¿Podría decirme que hora es?
Disculpe, ¿está la estación lejos de aquí?
Hagame el favor, y déme también otro plato. (mejor: ¿Podría ser tan amable de darme otro plato?)

These are formal ways of expressing oneself. It could be that the examples from Assimil (isn't it a French company?) illustrate Spanish from Spain, but then a Spaniard would need to confirm this.

EDIT: Oh yes, these senteces' level of formality varies according to whom you're speaking to. You would use these with strangers, and even with acquaintances, especially if they somehow command respect (an old lady, in-laws, etc.). With close friends, or people who treat you like a close friend, these would be a bit too much. If that's the case, just simply say what you want and add "por favor" and it gets the job done.

Thank you for the clarification. I've never seen the phrase used until this book (Which I think was originally written in the 1940s--more current textbooks I've seen would just replace it with "por favor"), so I was just wondering if it's now considered way too formal for everyday conversation.

I see, the book being that old might explain it. There are still other uses for the "hacer el favor"-construction, for example:

Haga el favor de retirarse - Politely, but firmly, asking someone to leave.
¡Hazme el favor! - Kind of a slangy phrase, roughly meaning "can you believe that?!"