Hotel terms glossary
Plain-English definitions of the hotel, revenue and OTA terms you’ll meet in Roomsy and across the industry, each linked to the guide that puts it to work.
Hotels run on shorthand: ADR, CTA, VCC, OOO. This glossary explains the terms you’ll meet in Roomsy, on OTA extranets and in industry reports. Each entry links to the guide that shows how it works in Roomsy. Press / to search the docs for anything that isn’t here.
A
ADR (average daily rate)
The average price paid per room sold: room revenue ÷ rooms sold. If 30 rooms earned $4,500, ADR is $150. It measures price, not how full you are.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
Allotment
A fixed number of rooms set aside for one channel or partner, such as a tour operator or your booking engine. Once the allotment is sold, that channel shows no availability even if other rooms are free.
In Roomsy: Set up the online booking engine
ARI (availability, rates and inventory)
The data a channel manager keeps in sync across your OTAs: how many rooms are free, what they cost and the restrictions on each date.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
Authorisation
Also called: pre-authorisation, card hold
A hold placed on a guest’s card for an amount, without taking the money yet. It is captured later, for example at checkout, or voided if it isn’t needed. Commonly used to cover incidentals.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
B
BAR (best available rate)
The standard, flexible rate a property offers on a given date, and the base most other rates are worked out from. It usually changes with demand.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
Booking engine
Also called: internet booking engine, IBE
The booking page on a property’s own website, where guests check availability and book directly, with no OTA commission.
In Roomsy: Set up the online booking engine
Booking source
Also called: channel, market source
Where a booking came from: walk-in, phone, your booking engine or a specific OTA. Tracking it shows what each channel is worth to you.
In Roomsy: Reports
Business date
Also called: selling date, audit date
The day a property is operating on for accounting. It changes when the night audit runs, not at midnight, so a guest arriving at 1 a.m. still belongs to the previous night.
In Roomsy: Night audit and the daily routine
C
Cancellation policy
The terms for cancelling a booking: the deadline for cancelling free of charge and any fee after it. Show it to guests before they book.
In Roomsy: Set up your property
Channel manager
Software that connects a PMS to OTAs such as Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb. It pushes availability and rates out and pulls bookings in, so every channel stays in sync and rooms aren’t double-booked.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
Charge type
The category of an invoice line, such as Room Charge, Food & Beverage or Parking. It decides which taxes apply and how revenue is grouped in reports.
In Roomsy: Set up your property
Commission
The share of a booking’s value an OTA keeps for selling the room. Direct bookings through your own booking engine carry no commission.
In Roomsy: Set up the online booking engine
Connectivity provider
The channel manager an OTA account is linked to. Each OTA account can have only one, which is why switching channel managers needs a little planning.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
CTA (closed to arrival)
A restriction that stops guests checking in on a date. They can still stay through it. Often used to protect longer stays over busy periods.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
CTD (closed to departure)
A restriction that stops guests checking out on a date. They can still stay through it.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
D
Day use
Also called: hourly booking, day room
A room sold for a few hours during the day rather than overnight, for example to travellers between flights.
In Roomsy: Features, emails and extensions
Derived rate
Also called: linked rate
A rate plan worked out from another by a percentage or a fixed amount, for example Bed & Breakfast = BAR + $35. Change the base rate and the derived rate follows.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
Direct booking
A booking made straight with the property, on its website, by phone or in person, rather than through an OTA, so no commission is paid.
In Roomsy: Set up the online booking engine
Double booking
Two guests booked into the same room for the same night, usually because two channels sold the last room at the same time. A PMS with a channel manager prevents it by taking a room off sale everywhere the moment it is booked.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
Dynamic pricing
Changing room rates as demand changes, rather than keeping one price per season: rates rise as dates fill up and fall to fill soft dates.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
E
Extranet
The website an OTA gives properties to manage their listing, rates and bookings. Once a channel manager is connected, change rates and availability in the PMS, not the extranet.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
F
Folio
Also called: guest folio, guest ledger
The running account of a guest’s stay: every charge, every payment and the balance owed. One stay can have several folios when more than one party pays.
In Roomsy: Invoices and payments
G
Group booking
Also called: room block, group block
Several rooms booked together for one party or event, such as a wedding or a tour, usually billed on one master folio.
In Roomsy: Create a booking
Guest profile
A guest’s record: contact details, stay history, invoices and balance. Keeping one profile per guest builds a picture of your repeat guests.
In Roomsy: Manage bookings and guests
I
Inclusive tax
A tax already contained in the price shown, which is common for VAT. An exclusive tax is added on top of the price.
In Roomsy: Set up your property
M
Master folio
Also called: master invoice, master account
One folio that collects the charges for a whole group, so the organiser can settle a single bill.
In Roomsy: Invoices and payments
Minimum stay
Also called: min stay, minimum length of stay, MinLOS
The fewest nights a guest must book for arrivals on a date, often used on weekends and holidays. A maximum stay caps it the other way.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
N
Night audit
The end-of-day close: it posts the night’s room charges, closes the day’s figures and rolls the business date forward.
In Roomsy: Night audit and the daily routine
No-show
A guest with a booking who neither arrives nor cancels. Many properties charge a no-show fee under their cancellation policy.
In Roomsy: Manage bookings and guests
O
Occupancy rate
The share of available rooms that were sold: rooms sold ÷ rooms available. Selling 30 of 40 rooms is 75% occupancy.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
OTA (online travel agency)
A website that sells rooms for many properties in return for a commission, such as Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb or Agoda.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
Out of order
Also called: OOO
A room that can’t be sold because of repairs or maintenance, so it is taken out of availability. Some properties also use out of service for a room that is briefly unavailable but still counted in inventory.
In Roomsy: Housekeeping and room status
Overbooking
Selling more rooms than you have, either on purpose to offset expected no-shows or by accident through channels that aren’t in sync. Accidental overbooking is what a channel manager prevents.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
P
Pace
Also called: booking pace, pickup
How fast bookings for a future period are coming in, compared with the same point last month or last year. A slow pace is an early sign to adjust rates.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
Payment gateway
The service that processes card payments between the property, the guest’s bank and the property’s bank account, such as Stripe or Square.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
Payment link
A secure web page sent to a guest so they can pay a deposit or balance online with their card.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
The security rules for any business that stores, processes or transmits card data. A payment gateway with tokenization keeps card numbers off your own systems.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
PMS (property management system)
The core software a hotel runs on: reservations, the front desk, guest folios, housekeeping, rates and reports.
In Roomsy: Getting started with Roomsy
R
Rack rate
The full, undiscounted published price of a room, before any deals or negotiated rates.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
Rate parity
Offering the same price for the same room and conditions on every channel. Setting rates once in the PMS and letting the channel manager push them everywhere keeps them consistent.
In Roomsy: Connect OTAs with the channel manager
Rate plan
A price and its conditions for a room type, such as Non-Refundable or Bed & Breakfast. One room type usually has several.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
Registration card
Also called: reg card
The form a guest signs at check-in, confirming their details, dates, rate and the property’s policies.
In Roomsy: Manage bookings and guests
Revenue management
Also called: yield management
Setting prices and restrictions from demand to earn the most from a fixed number of rooms: higher rates when demand is strong, offers to fill soft dates.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
RevPAR (revenue per available room)
Room revenue ÷ rooms available, or occupancy × ADR. It rewards price and occupancy together, which makes it the headline measure of how well rooms are priced.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
Room status
Also called: housekeeping status
A room’s housekeeping state, such as clean, dirty, inspected or out of order. It tells the front desk which rooms are ready for the next guest.
In Roomsy: Housekeeping and room status
Room type
A category of rooms sold at the same price, such as Deluxe King. Rates and availability are set per room type, and each booking is assigned to a specific room.
In Roomsy: Set up your property
S
SPLY (same period last year)
This period’s figures compared with the same dates a year earlier, which takes seasonality out of the comparison.
In Roomsy: Revenue management
Stayover
A guest who is staying another night, neither arriving nor leaving today. Housekeeping usually services stayover rooms differently from departures.
In Roomsy: Night audit and the daily routine
Stop sell
Closing a date to sales on your online channels while the front desk can still book it.
In Roomsy: Rate plans and pricing
T
Tokenization
Replacing a card number with a meaningless token. The payment gateway keeps the real number, and the PMS stores only the token it uses to charge the card later.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
Two-factor authentication
Also called: 2FA
A second sign-in step, usually a 6-digit code from an authenticator app, so a stolen password alone can’t open the account.
In Roomsy: Team, roles and security
V
VCC (virtual credit card)
A card number an OTA such as Booking.com or Expedia issues to pay the property for a booking the guest paid the OTA for. It is charged through a card vault.
In Roomsy: Connect a payment gateway
W
Walk-in
A guest who arrives without a reservation and books at the front desk.
In Roomsy: Create a booking
Still stuck?
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