Here’s a handy glossary of commonly used hotel industry terminology and technological terms.

A2A

A term used in e-commerce. Short for “anyone to anyone”

ABVPOR

Average Booking Value Per Available Room (ABVPOR), calculated by ADR minus your CPOR and multiplied by the number of rooms occupied.

Access code

Unique identifying code that is used to securely book a predefined rate. These codes are determined by the individual company advertising the special rate.

Add-on

A platform extension that adds extra features and is chosen by the end user. It may extend certain functions within the application, add new items to the application's interface, or give the program additional capabilities. It may or may not have a cost associated.

Advanced purchase

Refers to an offering in which a customer booking outside a specified time period receives a certain discount. Most often seen as 30-day advanced purchase specials.

Airport code

A three-letter identifier designating a specific airport. Properties are often referenced to airport codes in the global distribution system (GDS).

Allotments

Allotments are used to designate pre-negotiated blocks of travel inventory (such as airline seats and hotel rooms) which have been bought and held by travel organisers and platforms. These agencies have significant buying power and include wholesalers, bedbanks, tour operators, hotel consolidators and even retail travel agents.

Alt attribute (commonly known as alt tags)

Text descriptions for your images, used to describe them for accessibility reasons. This is useful for people who suffer from vision impairment. They also help search engines understand your content, which helps you rank higher by following search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices.

Amenities

Amenities refer to the additional services and features offered by a property to enhance the guest experience and attract customers for optimal profitability. These amenities can include in-room extras like air conditioning, entertainment options (TV/music), Wi-Fi, toiletries, robes, and more, as well as on-property premiums.

AMER

An abbreviation which can be used for all American markets (North, Central & South America, Canada and the Caribbean) but is sometimes used to relate to only North American/Canadian markets.

APAC

Acronym for Asia-Pacific markets, comprising of countries located in Asia and the pacific ocean, including but not limited to countries such as China, Japan, India, Australia and many more.

Analytical market segmentation

A rule-based process used to create optimal revenue management segmentation from reservation data to support both the best basis for forecast and optimisation and key organisational reporting and business intelligence requirements.

API key

An application programming interface (API) key is a code used to identify and authenticate an application or user.

ARPOR

Adjusted Revenue Per Occupied Room (ARPOR) which measures the average of daily revenue generated by each available room.

Availability

The number of vacancies possible for a specific type of accommodation for a specific set of dates.

ARI

Availability and Rates Interface. A system for transferring a property's room availability and pricing details between systems, such as a channel manager and booking channels.

Average daily rate (ADR)

Average daily rate (ADR) is derived from dividing actual accommodation revenue for a single day by the total number of rooms sold or occupied. Also see RevPAR.

Average length of stay (ALOS)

Average length of stay (ALOS) is derived from adding the total number of nights and dividing by the number of bookings for the same period. ALOS is most often calculated for a single day or for a particular month, and is also useful by room type such as apartments to formulate pricing and packages.

Average room rate (ARR)

Average room rate (ARR) is derived from dividing the total accommodation revenue by the total number of rooms sold or occupied for the same period. ARR is most commonly calculated and analysed on the basis of a single month or an entire year. Also see RevPAR.

Axess

A global distribution system owned by Japan Airlines and Sabre Inc. to serve primarily Japanese travel agents and Japan Airlines tickets offices. Hotel reservations are booked using the Sabre Hotels database.

B2B

A term used in e-commerce to describe business to business transactions.

B2C

A term used in e-commerce to describe business to consumer transactions.

Best Available Rate (BAR)

Best available rate. Best Available Rate in most instances equates to the lowest (cheapest) unqualified, publicly available room rate for a given day. Also referred to as the “daily rate” or “rate of the day”. This rate may also serve as the base rate, on which negotiated discounts will be based (and therefore change dynamically as well) and is room only. BAR usually changes with demand and is distributed to all public channels.

Best Flexible Rate

This refers to the lowest room rate (per room) available on a given date which has a flexible booking policy (allows cancellations).

BRG

Best Rate Guarantee. The promise that hotels or online travel agencies will display the best rates on their own site as compared to any other site for the same product.

Blocked space

Space that is reserved with a travel provider usually by a tour operator, consortia or wholesaler with the goal of reselling the space. The unsold space is usually returned to the travel provider within a specific period before arrival.

Blockout dates

A feature which will make the selected room unavailable, used for various reasons (such as renovations or cleaning).

Board plan / meal plan

A plan where a guest is provided with accommodation, as well as meals. “Half board” includes two meals (breakfast and dinner, or breakfast and lunch). “Full board” includes all three daily meals.

Booking / reservation

An arrangement when you book something such as a service (e.g room) in advance, for your use at a later time.

Booking channel

A method or system for distribution on which travellers can search for and book rooms at accommodation providers. Also referred to as channel, booking website, online travel agency (OTA), travel website and distribution channel.

Booking engine

A booking engine (also known as Online booking engine, Internet booking engine or direct booking engine) is an application that supports online reservations — most commonly through the hotel's own website.

Booking pace

Booking pace is the speed/rate at which bookings are made over a period of time from the booking date to the arrival date. Booking pace is expressed as a fraction of bookings received on certain days in advance. A pace calculation is a key component of a forecast. For example, a hotel manager knows that a normal booking pace out of peak season is receiving 20 reservations 30 days before the arrival date, however 40 bookings are received instead. That would indicate that a booking pace is 100 percent higher and adjustments should be made to maximise revenue. Revenue Management adjustments may include price increases, implementation of MLOS, and strict guarantee/cancel policies.

Booking policy

Most hotels create and manage multiple booking policies. They can include general policies, cancellation policies, and payment policies, and can be implemented per season, day of week, room rate, and especially per promotion and rate plan.

Booking summary (also known as Reservation summary)

A summary of the guest’s reservation details provided by the accommodation to the guest. It may include the accommodation's contact details, amount of guests under the reservation, check-in and check-out dates, room type, amounts charged, owed and paid, etc.

Bounce / Bounce rate

A bounce is calculated specifically as a session that triggers only a single request to the analytics server, such as when a visitor opens a single page on a website and exits without performing a specific action.

Budget

The financial plan or allocation of resources set by a hotel to achieve its revenue and profit goals within a specific period. This involves estimating income, expenses, and overall financial performance based on anticipated occupancy rates, room rates, and other revenue streams. Budgeting in hotel revenue management is crucial for guiding decision-making processes related to pricing strategies, marketing efforts, operational expenditures, and investment priorities to optimise revenue and profitability.

Bulk update

A tool which allows multiple inventory updates to be made at the same time.

Business mix

The blend of different market segments that occupy a hotel, measured as a value or percent of overall occupancy.

BUR

Best Unrestricted Rate (for example: utilised on Accorhotels.com).

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language describing how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, such as design, colour, layout for different devices and screen sizes, etc.

CTA

Call to action. A piece of content, generally in the form of a button, intended to induce a viewer, reader, or listener to perform a specific act, typically taking the form of an instruction or directive (such as, “book now” or “click here”).

Campaign

A strategic sequence of steps and activities that promote a company's product or service, with a specific goal in mind.

Cancellation policy

The set of rules that the hotel applies in case of cancellation of a reservation. Cancellation policies are set at the level of the entire property, or on certain days of the week, seasons, and by rate plan or promotional rate.

Canonical name record (also known as Cname record)

A canonical name record maps one domain name to another.

Ceiling Rate

The highest acceptable daily or per-night price that an individual reservation will be charged regardless of conditions, demand or yield. A ceiling rate setting can prevent perceived price gouging during extreme market conditions. The property's operating cost and revenue budget are factors in setting the ceiling rate.

Central Commission Processing

Centralised commission payments to travel agents worldwide, in local currency.

Central Reservation Office (CRO)

Operated by hotel companies to process toll-free telephone reservations and electronic reservations as well as to perform other marketing and service functions.

Central reservation system (CRS)

A CRS is the technology that hotel companies typically use to connect to and sell rooms via GDS, Contact Centres, OTAs, Internet, as well as technology used by onsite hotel reservations sales agents and PMS interfaces. Predominately used by hotel groups and chains.

Chain Code / GDS chain code

The two letter code used in GDS to identify hotel chains. HEDNA administers the list of available chain codes. For example:

Channel management

The controlling of the allocation of hotel inventory and rates across all distribution channels including website, third parties and the global distribution system. Effective channel management solutions should reduce labour costs and improve efficiency by providing a centralised way to control multiple channels.

Channel manager

Software utilised in the planning and distribution of room availability and room rates across multiple channels of sale. To ensure maximum potential exposure and to avoid overbookings, a property’s accommodation inventory needs to be continually updated across all of the distribution channels they may use including direct online bookings, travel wholesalers, contact centres, and OTAs to name a few.

Churn/Churn rate

The churn rate, also known as the rate of attrition or customer churn, is the rate at which customers stop doing business with an entity.

CTA (Closed to arrival)

Closed To Arrival. A reservation restriction applied to disallow arrivals on a particular day.

CTD (Closed to departure)

Closed to Departure. A reservation restriction applied to disallow departures/check-outs on a particular day.

Commission

The payment which a travel agent receives from a supplier for selling transportation, accommodations, or other services.

Competitive set (also known as comp set)

A group of a hotel’s direct competitors.

Confirmation Number

An alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric code used to identify and document the booking of reservations, for example for hotel, air transportations, or car reservations.

Consortia

In general, a group of organisations, companies, and/or people forming a group to achieve common interests and buying power. Consortia are sometimes referred to as “TMCs” or travel management companies. Viewership of contracted Consortia rates in GDS is restricted to travel agencies using authorisation codes.

Conversion rate

The ratio of website visitors converted into paying customers.

Concierge

A hotel employee whose job is to assist guests, including booking tours, making restaurant reservations, etc.

Corporate ID

Unique identifying code that is used to securely book a pre-negotiated rate. These codes are determined and requested by the individual company, and sometimes unavailable due to duplication within some GDS systems.

Corporate Rate

This is generally a discounted room rate, often offered for specific 'business-days' e.g only valid Sunday to Thursday and is agreed between the hotel and specific businesses and organisations that frequently book accommodation. These can be beneficial for businesses as they save money for staff and guests stays while hotels benefit from guaranteed bookings. Sometimes an annual quota must be maintained to retain levels of discount.

Cost per click (CPC) (also called pay per click)

An Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked on.

CPOR

Cost Per Occupied Room, or "CPOR”. It is used to analyse if the operating cost for each room is profitable.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management — the name given to increasingly sophisticated programs to maintain close, lasting relationships between a company and its customers, for example, between a hotel and its guests.

CTR

Click-through rate is a metric used to measure the effectiveness of online advertising campaigns by calculating the ratio of clicks on an ad to the number of times the ad is shown or viewed. It is expressed as a percentage and is a key indicator of how well an ad captures users' attention and generates interest .

CUG (Closed User Group)

A CUG is defined as a specific group of people who, through their own actions, have enrolled or qualified for membership. Communications are restricted to this group whereby a login and password and/or special access code is required so that the general public cannot view or book the promotional offer. Proof of membership may be required upon check-in. Offers to CUGs can never be advertised in general publications that have visibility outside of the CUG. See also: Rate Parity.

Currency conversion

The process of converting one form of currency into another country's usable currency. It is based on the country's current exchange rates.

Days Before Arrival (DBA)

Days Before Arrival, which is the number of calendar days remaining before an expected confirmed reservation checks in. DBA is often utilised in rate plans with specified cancellation and prepayment requirements to identify at which point the rule will apply. For instance: Full Payment required 30 days before arrival.

DBP (Demand-Based Pricing)

In the Hospitality Industry, prices for services do not have to be permanently set. They can be adjusted, depending upon how many rooms, meals, etc. are needed by customers at any particular time. This is what Demand-Based Pricing is all about – the price of something changes depending upon how much demand there is at a given time.

Deal

An advantageous purchase, especially one acquired at less than the usual cost. A marketing tool used to draw attention to a specific rate plan that offers discounted rooms and specials.

Demand Curve

A demand curve is a negative slope to reflect the inverse relationship between ADR and rooms sold. The slope of the demand curve represents the price elasticity of hotel occupancy demand. Price elasticity is quantitatively defined as the percent change in quantity demanded divided by the percent change in price.

Demand Forecast

Predicting how much demand there will be in future, to help profitability..

Demographic

Demographics relates to a form of guest-profiling that hotel marketing and revenue managers use to segment and understand customers. Demographic factors may include age, gender, income-level, occupation, marital status, education-level, household size, travelling and retail preferences. This information should be anonymised and hotels use it to tailor their marketing strategies, amenities and services to meet the needs of their customer segments, or to see where they are falling short to attract new segments.

Denials

A denial is a response that occurs when a hotel is not able to accommodate a guest due to unavailability of the product or service at the price. Capturing and analysing "denial data" is a key component of forecasting and pricing as part of an overall effective revenue management discipline.

Deposit

A specified amount or percentage of the total bill due to a hotel on a specified date prior to arrival or a certain number of days prior to arrival.

Derived rates

Derived rates are an efficient way of adjusting the price of rates. A derived rate can be designed to add or subtract (can also keep the same), a total sum or percentage from the base rate. Only the base rate needs to be updated, and all rates derived from it will be adjusted according to the rules you applied.

Discounted rate plan

Discounted rate plans are generally permanently available rates that carry a set discount (amount/percentage) if certain conditions are met. For example: advance purchase or non-refundable room rates may be created for guests who are willing to pay in advance, improving the efficiency of check-in at the hotel and reducing the risk of no-shows.

Displacement

Displacement cost refers to the revenue potential lost, or displaced, to the enterprise incurred by accepting one piece of business over a competing opportunity. When a hotel accepts a group, it may have to refuse some volume of non-group business as a result.

Distressed inventory

The term refers to the (historical) practice of discounting hotel rooms or airline seats at the last minute to ensure that the property or aeroplane will fill to capacity on a given night/flight.

Distribution channel

See Booking channel.

Distribution strategy

Determines when and through which channels to sell rooms based upon the cost of acquisition of the individual channel. By driving business to lower cost acquisition channels during high demand periods, properties can maximise their profitability.

Divergence

In relation to hotel revenue management, a divergence relates to a trend of bookings that is atypically out of alignment, out of step, or behaving in an opposite direction when normally along the same direction. For instance, if the pace of revenue for bookings on a date in future is sharply decreasing and for the same date the room nights are trending significantly upwards, this would represent a divergence. In this case where room nights are atypically high and the corresponding revenue is atypically low, it likely means that rates/rate plans/promotional pricing is too low.

Dormitory room

A shared room with multiple beds. Shared rooms are sold "per bed" as opposed to “per room”.

Dynamic packaging

An online reservations booking process including demand-based hotel rooms pricing and flights and other non-hotel package components such as car hire, tours, etcetera. It is the term used to describe the ability for consumers to create their own packages by choosing the components of the package as they shop, where the individual component prices are not shown to the consumer.

Dynamic pricing

Also known as fluid pricing, market-driven pricing and demand-based pricing because rates change with forecasted demand rather than being static. Automated pricing strategy whereby prices are derived from a base rate and altered based on strategic configured settings. Dynamically based prices are distributed through a channel manager from a property management system.

Early bird

A promotion only available for advanced bookings where a minimum number of days are left between the reservation and the date of check in, often a discounted rate with fencing.

EDM

Electronic Data Marketing/Email marketing occurs when a company uses e-mail to promote the sale of their products or services or to build customer relations with past guests/customers.

EMEA

An acronym for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

ETA

Estimated time of arrival. The guest’s estimated time of arrival for check-in.

Extended stay

When a guest stays at a hotel for more than five consecutive days. These hotels quote weekly rates.

Extra guests rate / extra person charge

If there are extra guests above the included occupancy, an extra fee is added to the rate.

Extranet

The secured connection of two or more Intranets, generally between companies. Extranets are often used by online agencies to allow hotels to maintain their rates and availability.

F&B

F&B is the abbreviated term for Food & Beverage in properties with some type of dining outlet.

Familiarisation Tour (Fam)

A free or reduced rate, or free-of-charge travel program for travel agents, contact centre sales agents and/or airline employees that is designed to acquaint them with specific hotels or destinations to stimulate their sale.

F.I.T

Acronym for a segment of travellers labelled as “Free Independent Travellers” or also “Foreign Individual Traveler” and "Fully Independent Traveller"

Feature

Distinguishing characteristics of a product, solution or service that help boost its appeal to potential buyers, and might be used to formulate a product marketing strategy that highlights the usefulness of the product to targeted potential consumers.

Feedback

Information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.

Fenced

Rates that a property uses to provide a series of options to guests. The rate is determined by which fences a guest accepts, which might include non-refundable and non-cancelable reservations, advanced purchase reservations, and staying over a weekend.

Fencing

Using restrictions (for example minimum length of stay, prepayment requirements) to filter out reservations on dates and/or room types which have excess demand. The terms "filters" and "fences" are often used interchangeably in hotel revenue management.

Flash sales

A promotional sale by an accommodation that is available for purchase by the customers for a limited time only.

Floor rate

The lowest acceptable daily or per-night price that an individual reservation will be charged regardless of conditions, demand or yield. The property's operating cost and revenue budget are factors in setting the floor rate.

Folio

A folio is a collection of charges and payments incurred or made by a guest or corporate account, or in-house account, etc.

Forecasting model

The statistical patterns used for predicting demand, occupancy and revenue.

​Freesale

Freesale basis is an excellent option to sell negotiated (discounted) rates in a “yieldable” fashion, as the contract rate may be opened and closed based on forecasted demand. Rooms sold under freesale basis still comply with all rate conditions and applicable contract terms. They utilise an “elastic” group block code in Opera PMS.

Full rate (may also be referred to as Rack rate)

The full published price of a room. The Full Rate may also be referred to as Rack Rate for wholesale and OTA contracting purposes. The Full or Rack rate is most often the price point from which a discount is negotiated. It is typically the maximum charge the property charges for the room.

Full/Fixed pattern length of stay (FPLOS)

A pricing pattern indicating whether a rate is open (available) for the arrival date and length of stay. Calculated and deployed by automated revenue management systems (IDeaS, Duetto, EzRMS, etc.).

Function room occupancy

The measure of how efficiently hotels are utilising their function room space. It is recorded as an occupancy percentage. Formula: Total occupied function room space divided by total square footage/meterage of function room space available.

Funnel

A model of the customer journey. It represents the buying stages people go through after becoming aware of a business, service, or product.

General data protection regulation (GDPR)

A binding regulation that is applicable to all accommodation providers, regardless of location if they offer services to European customers.

General sales agent (GSA)

A person or company contracted by a hotel chain to promote that chain in a city or country where the hotel chain does not have offices. In some cases, general sales agents accept hotel reservations.

Geo coding

The process of indexing locations using degrees longitude and latitude.

GHA

Global Hotel Alliance.

Global distribution system (GDS)

These are computerised reservation networks through which users – travel agents, airline employees or travellers – view data on a wide range of travel services, including air, hotel, auto rental and like services. Several GDSs provide their services to users worldwide (for example Amadeus,Galileo International, Sabre,) while others provide regional or national coverage. Online services and the Internet are increasingly regarded as GDS systems as well.

GNR

Guest Name Record.

Google Analytics

A service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about a website's traffic and traffic sources and measures conversions and sales.

Gross margins

The figure you arrive at after dividing your gross profits by net sales.

GOP

Gross Operating Profit. Basically, bottom line in financials – operating revenues minus costs of goods sold.

GOPPAR

Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room. Calculated by room revenue minus expenses, divided by the total rooms available.

Group booking

A booking made for multiple rooms/people travelling together. It may require group billing.

Group rate

A discounted rate given to large groups of guests.

Guaranteed reservations

Room reservations booked with a guarantee of payment. They normally require a credit card at the time of booking or deposit within a specified period. The property guarantees availability and if it does not have a room available must arrange alternate comparable accommodation.

Guest

A person staying at an accommodation (client, paying guest, person staying, hotel customer, patron, etc.).

Guest behaviour

Guest behaviour refers to the booking actions and preferences of guests and can be monitored before, during and after a stay. It can include how guests decide what and where to book, how they interact with hotel staff, their use of facilities, spending habits, feedback and reviews. Understanding guest behaviour is essential for hotel revenue and marketing managers to develop strategies, tailor their services, and improve the guest experience which leads to improved profitability.

HEDNA

Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association. International not-for-profit trade association formed by hoteliers to promote the booking of hotel rooms through the use of Global Distribution Systems. Also known as the “GDS police”, it is a governing body of rules and policies that relate to native global distribution systems.

Holdings

Bookings on the books (or currently held for future dates) also sometimes referred to as “B.O.B.”.

Hosted payment system

The system that presents a web page where payment information is securely collected.

Hotel chain/group

The hotels that are part of a chain or group and trade under the same brand and management.

HSMAI

Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. Founded in 1927 to support the Hospitality industry through training and events.

Hurdles

Hurdle rates are most often present in hotels using an RMS (automated revenue management system). A hurdle rate is a threshold that will only allow a reservation if the total value of the reservation is greater than the total value of the hurdle rate for the same length of stay.

Hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS)

The encrypted communication protocol used to securely transfer information, such as websites’ information, between two systems over a computer (or Internet) network.

Included occupancy

The number of people that a room can be occupied for the price advertised.

Inclusions

Inclusions refer to the additional services, experiences, or amenities that are included in the room rate. These can vary from complimentary breakfast, Wi-Fi, parking, or access to facilities such as a gym or pool. Inclusions play a crucial role in attracting guests and influencing their booking decisions by providing added value to their stay.

Independent hotel

Every hotel that is not part of a hotel group or chain.

Info card

A type of digital identification that allows users to control the sharing of their personal information with third-party applications and services.

Integration

The synchronisation of data, with other software companies (e.g., PMSs, RMSs, hotel applications, etc.) in order to enhance the platform and provide a richer customer experience.

Interconnecting room

An interconnecting room refers to an adaptable room configuration where two or more separate rooms are connected by a door which can be locked or unlocked.

Inventory

The term used to describe the supply of guest rooms at a property and their status – available/sold, or open/closed.

Inventory grid

The grid where room availability is managed in the product’s extranet, displaying the availability, price, and inclusions of a rate plan/room rate.

Invoice

An invoice is a request for payment made by the property to a company with which it does business.

Kiosk

A device customers can use to self-check-in.

Landing page

A web page which serves as the entry point for a website or a particular section of a website.

Last room availability

A travel Agent or Corporate platform's ability to book the last available room in a hotel. LRA is only available to companies which contract it with hotels.

LATAM

Abbreviation for Latin America. It refers to the region comprising countries in Central and South America and often parts of the Caribbean. This region includes countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and many others

Lead time

The amount of time between a booking being made, and the intended arrival date of the guest.

Length of stay (LOS)

The number of nights that a guest stays/books at a property. It is generally preferable to encourage extended length of stay (more than one night), as this reduces operating and turnaround costs making the ultimate revenue earned for a stay more profitable.

Licence key

A licence key, also known as a product key, is a unique code that is used to activate a software program. It is a form of digital licence that verifies that the user of the software has purchased a legitimate copy and is entitled to use the program.

Listing

A listing is an advertisement to sell the rooms during a certain time period.

Lookers to bookers

Refers to the conversion of online shoppers to actual buyers; often communicated in a ratio.

Lose-it rate

Also commonly referred to as a walk-away rate. Refers to a rate where the hotel would be better off leaving the room unsold than sell at this rate. This could be because the hotel expects to find a better group at a rate high enough to take the chance of waiting for it to come along. It is often true if the dates requested are in a peak group season, and if there is significant time left in the group booking window for those dates.

Loyalty

A measure of a customer's likelihood to do repeat business with a company or brand.

Loyalty program

A marketing program that offers rewards to guests for regular or frequent business. A loyalty program may also be a partnership with loyalty programs of other businesses (e.g. airlines such as Qantas, and hotels such as Hilton Honors or Marriott Rewards). Loyalty may be tracked by points, revenue spend, number of stays, or other means.

Market segment

A portion of the customers who possess a common set of:

Mark-up

The difference between the supplier’s selling price and merchant’s price offered to the consumer.

Maximum length of stay (MaxLOS)

A room inventory control function. Indicates that a reservation for arrival on this date may not extend past a certain number of days.

Maximum occupancy

The maximum number of persons that can occupy a room.

Merchant model

The merchant model is a business model, usually used by online hotel distribution sites. This business model requires the hotel to offer net rates so that the merchant can mark up the rates for sale to the public. Normally, the consumer must prepay their entire stay at the hotel to the Web site, who is the merchant of record.

Metasearch engine

Metasearch engines allow a user to search for travel on multiple sites from one location and book the best available rate. Examples include TripAdvisor, Trivago, Google Hotel Finder, Kayak.com, Mobissimo.com and SideStep.com.

Minimum length of stay (MinLOS)

A room inventory control function. Indicates that a reservation for arrival on this date must be for a minimum number of nights (for example, two or more). Reservations which arrive on a date where this restriction is in place must meet or exceed the defined value. MLOS restrictions filter out shorter stays in favour of longer high-revenue yielding reservations during periods of high demand.

Minimum occupancy

The minimum number of persons to occupy the room.

Minimum rate

The lowest rate in which a room can be sold..

Minimum stay through (MST)

A restriction that limits availability by specifying a number of nights that must be booked for stays that include the restriction date in any part of the stay date range.

Multi-channel distribution

This is the concept of selling a product in many different channels. For hotels, it could mean via phone, mobile device, Internet, smart TV, webchat/online chatbot services, and even walk-in.

Negotiated rate

A term used in global distribution systems to describe rates negotiated by a hotel company with a specific client. Viewership of these rates in the GDS by a travel agent or other GDS user is restricted, and the rate may be booked only after entry of either the agent’s or client’s authorisation code.

Net rates / prices

The figure you arrive at after subtracting your costs from your total sales. It is usually used to sell rooms to third-party distribution channels.

Net revenue per available room (NRevPAR)

Net RevPAR is room revenue minus cost of distribution, divided by the total units available for sale.

Night audit

A night audit in relation to revenue management is the daily capture of all activities that occurred within front-of-house reservations and finances in one single 24 hour period. Night Audit is most often conducted within the Property Management System after midnight and before 7 AM.

No-show

A "no-show" is when a guest with a confirmed reservation fails to arrive and doesn't cancel the booking in advance. This means the hotel has held a room for the guest, but the guest doesn't show up as expected. There may be a full or partial charge for this stay, depending on the hotel's booking policy.

OBP: Occupancy-based pricing

Also known as “pricing by occupancy”. Pricing by occupancy is a revenue management technique used by accommodation providers to maximise room revenue in leisure destinations and hostel type properties in particular.

Occupancy — hotels

The “fill” measure of an accommodation property. Occupancy is calculated by the total number of rooms occupied, divided by the total number of rooms available, multiplied by 100 (for example, 75 occupied rooms in a 100 room hotel = 75% occupancy).

Occupancy — cruises

Occupancy, in accordance with cruise vacation industry practice, is calculated by dividing Passenger Cruise Days by APCD. A percentage in excess of 100% indicates that three or more passengers occupied some cabins.

Occupancy forecast

The constrained operational occupancy that the property is expected to achieve for a specified period of time. This value may be expressed either as a specific number of rooms or as a percentage of available rooms. An occupancy forecast does not exceed 100%.

Opaque model

This refers to a business model where the consumer does not know what product/brand they are buying before they purchase it. They know the rate, but not the product. An example site that uses this is Wotif.com’s “Wot Hotel” programme.

Opaque pricing

This refers to prices that a retailer, or meta-search company don’t make available to the public to see. For example, a property might offer their Loyalty/Rewards club members a special price which is not available on public websites or other marketing channels.

Open rate

An email marketing metric that measures the percentage at which emails are opened.

Orders

Expressions of intentions to purchase products or services.

OTA

Online Travel Agent (such as Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda.com) OTAs are online companies which allow consumers to book various travel related services via the Web. They are third party agents reselling trips, hotels, cars, flights, vacation packages, and so on.

Overbooking

Practice by a supplier of confirming reservations beyond capacity, either in expectation of cancellations or no-shows, or in error. Overbooking is also an effective yield management tool when utilised in measured forecasted capacity.

OHIP

OHIP (Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform) is a cloud-native integration solution offered by Oracle.

Override

To overrule/modify what has been set previously, typically in the context of a hotel restriction or minimum length of stay, or allotment setting.

OXI

Opera Exchange Interface (pronounced oxee) Oracle OXI reference.

Pace

Also referred to as Booking Pace. The speed at which bookings materialise over a period of time from the booking date to the arrival date. Booking pace is expressed as a fraction of bookings received on certain days in advance. A pace calculation is a key component of a forecast.

PAX

“PAX” means people/persons/occupants. Pax is the international shorthand version of “passengers”, used almost exclusively by the travel industry.

Package

A package offered by a property, sometimes consisting of no more than a room and breakfast, and other times, especially at resort hotels, of transportation, room, meals, sports facilities and various other components.

Passive Segment

This is a term used by travel agents using the GDS. Bookings made by travel agents for purposes of itinerary printing and invoicing when an agent has called the hotel supplier to make the booking. Passive segments do not send or receive messages to/from the supplier. Sometimes called a ghost segment.

Payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS)

PCI DSS compliance is an information security standard for organisations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes.

PCC

Pseudo City Code, used as a measure of security within GDS systems for travel bookers to access confidential rates.

PNR

Travel Agent’s ‘Passenger Name Record’ which stores all traveller details including hotel, airline, car hire.

POS

Point of sale.

PPC

Pay Per Click advertising.

PMG

Price Match Guarantee. The promise that hotels or OTAs will offer the lowest rates or match the lowest rate available across any channel for the same product.

Promotion

A promotional rate plan for a defined set of specific booking and stay dates. Promotional rates are not always discounted and sometimes are premium rates with inclusions.

Property ID (also known as Hotel ID)

A unique code assigned to each property.

Property management system (PMS)

A PMS manages all aspects of the business operations including front office, reservations, guest check-in/checkout, room assignment, room rates, and billing. Some PMS technology has evolved to incorporate channel management and guest experiences. Examples include Mews, Preno, RMS, GuestCentrix, NewBook, Opera, and Opera Cloud.

Qualified Rate

A rate that the guest must qualify for: such a corporate rate for the guest’s company, a rate available due to an affiliation or membership such as NRMA, AAA, Big4, or a promotional package rate with specific booking conditions.

QR code

A quick response (QR) code is a type of barcode that stores information and can be read by a digital device, such as a mobile phone.

Radio buttons

Radio buttons are used for answers in multiple choice questions, where the user can choose one option out of a predefined set of options. All available options will display.

Rate linking

Setting room rate to become price dependent on another room rate. When you change the rate/price of the master room rate, then the dependent room rate will change as well.

Rate parity

Rate parity is the term related to a hotel's accommodation prices that are displayed and bookable exactly the same across all public channels. Whether a consumer/guest books a room via a hotel's direct website, OTA, or other booking platform, "parity" is when the consumer sees the same price for the same dates of stay, same room type, and same booking conditions across all channels. Hotels that are deemed "out of parity" can be at risk of being penalised by travel booking partners.

Rate plan

The definition and practical application of a rate plan varies per PMS, CRS, and channel manager. The most common definition is simply a room rate that is offered with additional value items included in the price, such as breakfast or wine on arrival. A rate plan is typically defined by season, day-of-week, demand period, etc. A rate plan may also be a “room only” price that is configured/assigned to a particular room type.

Rates

The value a hotel sells their rooms. Also called cost, value, price, tariff, room charge, etc.

Reconciliation

In the context of a hotel, revenue, and OTA management, reconciliation refers to the process of aligning and verifying data to ensure accuracy and consistency.

Release period

Also known as an “advance purchase” restriction or “minimum advance reservation” restriction. A release period is the minimum number of days before check-in that a booking needs to be made. Guests must book a certain number of days in advance, for example, at least seven days or one month in advance.

Representation company

An organisation providing reservation services, including voice reservation processing and/or GDS connectivity for hotels or small hotel companies that prefer not to operate these services and systems themselves.

Regrets

Regrets are recorded statistical information related to turned away business. Regrets are sometimes classified as either turnaways (for example, when the guest declines to place a reservation because of price, property features, or location) or as denials (for example, when the property cannot accept the reservation because inventory is sold out). Turnaway data is a key factor in demand forecasting for effective revenue management. Ideally, regrets should be logged, as they can help when setting pricing strategies.

Reputation pricing

Pricing science that integrates a hotel’s online reputation, guest reviews and ratings into its revenue management strategy.

Reservations on hand aka business on books (BOB)

The number of confirmed bookings in a hotel for a given date or series of dates. An accurate forecast results from ROH/BOB plus unconstrained demand.

Restrictions

Controls used as functionalities that can be applied to each room type/room rate to better control reservations and have a successful revenue management strategy.

Retail model

The retail model is similar to the traditional agency in terms of theory. The rates and inventory are “pulled” from one of the global distribution systems (GDSs), or wholesalers, and displayed directly to the consumer to book.

Revenue management

The practice of airlines, hotels and car rental and travel companies (any industry with perishable inventory and fluctuating demand for their product) of controlling the supply and price of their inventory to achieve maximum revenue or profit.

​Revenue generation index (RGI)

RGI compares your hotel’s RevPAR to the average RevPAR in the market. It is used to determine if a hotel is gaining a fair share of revenue compared to its competitor set of properties. RGI Formula: RGI = Your Hotel's RevPAR/Hotel Market RevPAR

​When:

RGI = 1 The hotel RevPar is equal to the average RevPar of their comp setRGI > 1 The hotel RevPar is higher than the average RevPar of their comp set

RGI < 1 The hotel RevPar is less than the average RevPar of their comp set

Revenue management system (RMS)

An RMS is a software solution that enables hoteliers to carry out forecasting, pricing, and revenue management tasks more efficiently and effectively than a person can ever do manually. It makes use of data from the hotel, from market intelligence, and integrated channels data. The most common RMSs are IDeaS, Duetto, and EZRms.

Revenue optimisation

A business discipline and culture that focuses on balancing supply and demand in a rational and systematic way to maximise revenue and profit and commercial terms while managing risk under current and anticipated market conditions.

RevPAC

Revenue Per Available Customer. This metric goes beyond the traditional RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) by considering the total spend of each guest across all hotel services.

RevPAR

Revenue Per Available Room. Expressed on a currency/dollar amount. Calculated by either average rate multiplied by occupancy rate, or by total rooms revenue divided by the total rooms available.

RevPASH

Revenue Per Available Seat Hour. Particularly useful in hotel dining outlets.

Revenue per occupied room (RevPOR)

Calculated by taking the total daily revenue (including ancillary revenues) and dividing it by the total number of occupied rooms at the hotel.

RFP

Request for Proposal. The term applies to a process where a buyer’s requirements for products or services are presented to potential vendors as an invitation to provide the specified products or services together with the pricing for them.

Room block

A group of rooms. Room blocks may be created to organise rooms in various configurations to aid in planning and sales or other management tasks. Examples of room blocks might include: associating rooms with a single fixed price, a single guest, a channel, or a single team of staff members that manage or maintain the rooms in the block.

Room closure

A functionality that closes a physical room for any reason that is not a reservation. A room closure will remove a room from availability.

Room code

A series of alphanumeric characters used in a global distribution system (GDS) to identify a particular room type in a hotel. For example, an A1K is commonly defined as a deluxe room with 1 king bed.

Room rate

A rate plan that is attached to a specific room type becomes a “room rate”.

Room night

One room, occupied for one night.

Room type

General room description by classification (for example, superior, or standard) and bedding (single, king, queen, double). Often associated with a rate code.

Run of the House (ROH)

A flat price at which a hotel agrees to offer any of its rooms regardless of room type. Guests are assigned to rooms at the hotel on an availability basis.

SEM

Search Engine Marketing. Online marketing activity whereby using paid advertising gets your hotel to rank higher in search engine results. Having your property rank at the top of search results can enable significant visibility and traffic to your website.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation. The process of continually improving the ranking of a hotel website on search engines (such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo) result pages. It expands online presence, boosts traffic to your website, and increases your hotel's reservations.

Secure sockets layer (SSL)

An encrypted protocol designed to ensure security over a computer (or Internet) network.

Segments

Segments represent a form of categorisation that targets different groups of customers. It is a part of marketing strategy.

Sell through

A hotel CRS (Computer reservations systems) room inventory control function. It indicates that arrivals or short multiple night reservations cannot be confirmed for this date, but reservations with arrival on a previous date and a long length of stay can be confirmed.

Sessions

App sessions are when a user interacts with an app following installation.

Shoulder Nights

In relation to forecasting hotel demand and occupancy, shoulder nights are lower occupancy on either side of peak nights.

Single guest discount

A discount that is applied to a room rate pricing when only one guest occupies it.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

A software delivery model in which the software is centrally hosted on the cloud.

Solution

The use of products and/or services and their features to solve a specific industry need or business problem.

Source of business

The marketing channel from which a guest finds the hotel. A source of business can also be a tourism body, airport kiosk, travel agent account, etc.

(Special) Event

A date or set of dates for which a property (hospitality venue or accommodation provider) must forecast and revenue manage specific to event-related market conditions. An event may be sports related, a cultural festival, concert, or company convention or association conference. A hotel’s booking pace and demand insights data may indicate when the occupancy and price sentiments will vary from what would be typically expected on the same or similar calendar days.

SPF

Sender policy framework (SPF) records are a necessary step required to be done to prevent emails being marked as spam.

SPID

A Service Profile Identifier (SPID) is a number assigned to an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line by the telephone company that indicates which services the ISDN device can access.

Stop sell (also known as a close-out or block-out)

A restriction feature that allows a hotel to put a “stop” on bookings for a specific rate/room and date on an individual channel, even if there are rooms available.

System of record

A system of record is the system that has the core responsibility for collecting and maintaining a specific type of data or information.

Third Party Intermediary (TPI)

Another term used for OTAs (Online Travel Agents).

TMC

Travel Management Company. Examples include Carlson Wagonlit, American Express, Flight Centre (FCM).

TrevPAR

Total Revenue Per Available Room. A performance metric in the accommodation industry. TRevPAR is calculated by dividing the total net revenues of a property by the total available rooms. Outlets such as restaurants, spa, and equipment hire also provide a source of revenue for these properties. TRevPAR is the preferred metric for accountants and hotel owners because it effectively determines the overall financial performance of a property, while RevPAR takes into account revenue from rooms. TRevPAR is useful for hotels where rooms are not necessarily the largest component of the business.

Travel agent

An individual arranging travel for individuals or groups on behalf of suppliers (e.g. hotels, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, package tours, railways, travel insurance, etc.).

Turnaways

Turnaways are recorded statistical information related to turned away business. Turnaways are sometimes classified as either “regrets”, or as “denials". Turnaway data is a key factor in demand forecasting for effective revenue management.

TXT record

A type of Domain Name System (DNS) record in text format, which contains information about a domain.

Unconstrained demand forecast

Defined as the number of customers/guests a hotel could accommodate if its capacity were unlimited. It is the total demand for what the hotel has to offer in the absence of all constraints. It is the sum of customers booked and the potential customers denied.

Unique clicks

The number of unique users that click on a tracking link of a campaign (e.g. a link in an email).

Unique opens

The number of unique users that open an email campaign.

Unqualified rates

Rates that are offered by the hotel to guests who do not have an agreed contract rate and that have no restrictions or booking conditions attached to them. Sometimes also referred to as “retail rates”.

Upsell

"Upsell" means persuading guests to purchase additional or upgraded services or amenities beyond what they originally intended or booked. This could include offering room upgrades, meal packages, spa treatments, or other add-ons to enhance the guest's experience and increase revenue for the hotel.

UTM parameters

Short text codes that you add to URLs (or links) to help you track the performance of webpages or campaigns.

Vacancy

One or more units of accommodation available to accommodate guests.

Valnes device

A door lock that links to software responsible for managing hotel doors online, also offering guests a contactless experience.

Value add

"Value add" means providing extra benefits or services to guests that enhance their experience without significantly increasing the price. This could include complimentary breakfast, free Wi-Fi, shuttle services, or access to amenities like a gym or swimming pool. Value adds aim to make the guest's stay more enjoyable and offer additional perks beyond just the basic room accommodation.

Voucher

A document, such as a coupon or ticket, that is redeemable for some good or service.

Walk

Hotel industry term for placing an arriving guest at a substitute hotel due to lack of available rooms at the initially reserved property.

Walk-in

Hotel industry term for customers who arrive at the front desk to make a booking, generally on the day of intended stay, rather than using online (direct or third party), telephone, email or other forms of booking.

Wholesale model

These sites contract directly with hotels, mark up the rates and sell the allotted inventory to the consumer at the new marked-up rate. Method of delivery is mostly via fax. It’s hard to find a pure wholesale model, as most of them are a combination with other models.

Wholesaler

A third-party company that buys rooms in bulk and markets them as inclusive tours and individual travel programmes to the customer through travel agents and OTAs.

Yield / Yield management

Yield can simply mean revenue made. Yield can also refer to the revenue generated from the sales of accommodation as well as from different outlets trading on the hotel's premises, and/or externally connected to the property. In some management infrastructures Yield also refers to the profitability of a hotel's departments, measured individually rather than only collectively.