Glossary

A

adr
Total room revenue divided by the number of rooms sold on a given day, measuring the average price achieved per occupied room.
ancillary-revenue
All hotel revenue generated outside of the base room rate, including F&B, spa, parking, and service fees.
ari
A benchmarking ratio that compares a hotel's ADR to the average ADR of its competitive set; a value above 1.0 means the hotel commands a rate premium relative to competitors.

B

bar
The lowest publicly available, non-restricted room rate at any given moment.
best-rate-guarantee
A hotel's commitment to offer the lowest available rate on its direct booking channel, typically backed by a price-match or compensation policy.
booking-engine
Software embedded in a hotel's website that allows guests to check availability and complete reservations directly.
booking-window
The number of days between when a reservation is made and the actual arrival date.

C

channel-manager
A channel manager is software that synchronizes a hotel's room availability and rates across all online distribution channels (OTAs, GDS, direct booking) in real time.
check-in
Check-in is the process of registering a guest upon arrival — verifying identity, assigning a room, opening a folio, and handing over the room key.
check-out
Check-out is the process of closing a guest's stay — reviewing and settling the folio, collecting payment, and releasing the room back to inventory.
comp-set
A defined group of competitor hotels used as a benchmark for performance and pricing comparisons.
cost-per-acquisition
The total cost incurred to acquire one confirmed booking through a specific channel, expressed as an absolute amount or percentage of the booking's gross revenue.
cpc
An advertising billing model where the advertiser pays a fixed or auction-determined amount each time a user clicks their ad or rate link.

D

decoy-effect
A pricing strategy where a third, asymmetrically dominated option is added to make one of the other options appear more attractive.
demand-forecasting
The process of estimating future guest demand to inform pricing and inventory decisions.
direct-booking
A reservation made directly through the hotel's own channels, without an OTA or third-party intermediary.
displacement-cost
The total financial cost incurred by a hotel when relocating a guest with a confirmed reservation to another property due to overbooking.
dynamic-pricing
A pricing approach where room rates adjust automatically or manually based on real-time demand signals.

F

folio
A folio is the financial record of a guest's stay — an itemized list of all charges posted during the reservation, settled at check-out.

G

gds
A centralized network (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) that connects hotels with travel agencies and corporate booking tools worldwide, primarily used for business travel.
goppar
Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room — operating profit (after departmental costs) divided by available rooms, the profitability complement to TRevPAR.
group-block
A group block is a named inventory hold in the PMS that reserves a set of rooms outside general availability for a specific group, for a defined period and at a negotiated rate.

H

housekeeping
The hotel department responsible for cleaning, maintaining, and preparing guest rooms and public areas.

I

inventory-allocation
Inventory allocation is the process of determining how many rooms of each type are made available for sale on each distribution channel at any given time.

L

length-of-stay
The number of consecutive nights a guest occupies a room in a single booking.

M

market-segmentation
The practice of grouping hotel guests by booking behavior, price sensitivity, and distribution channel to apply distinct pricing and availability strategies to each group.
master-folio
A master folio is a billing account opened under a group or company name that collects shared charges for a group stay, separate from individual guest folios.
metasearch
A price-comparison engine that aggregates real-time hotel rates from multiple sources and displays them side by side.
minlos
A restriction requiring guests to book a minimum number of consecutive nights to access a rate or room on a given arrival date.
mpi
A benchmarking ratio that compares a hotel's occupancy to the average occupancy of its competitive set; a value above 1.0 means the hotel captures more than its fair share of available demand.

N

net-revpar
RevPAR calculated after deducting all distribution costs (OTA commissions, transaction fees, marketing spend), revealing actual economic yield per available room.
night-audit
The night audit is the end-of-day procedure in hotel operations that closes the business date, posts room charges to all in-house folios, and advances the PMS to the next day.
no-show
A confirmed reservation for which the guest neither arrives nor cancels.
nps
A metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely guests are to recommend the hotel, scored 0–10.

O

occupancy
The percentage of available rooms sold during a given period, calculated as rooms sold divided by rooms available.
ota
An OTA (Online Travel Agency) is a web-based marketplace where travelers search, compare, and book accommodation, flights, and travel services from multiple providers.
ota-commission
OTA commission is the percentage of the booking value retained by an Online Travel Agency before remitting the remainder to the hotel, typically ranging from 15% to 25%.
overbooking
The deliberate practice of accepting more reservations than a hotel has available rooms, to compensate for expected no-shows and cancellations.

P

pace-report
A report comparing current booking pace to the same period in a prior year or reference period, used to identify whether a future date is tracking ahead or behind expectations.
pick-up
The number of new reservations added for a specific arrival date within a defined time window.
pms
A Property Management System (PMS) is the core software hotels use to manage reservations, check-ins, check-outs, and daily operations. It serves as the central hub connecting all hotel departments.
price-anchoring
A cognitive bias where the first price seen acts as a reference point that shapes the perception of subsequent prices.

R

rack-rate
The published maximum room rate, before any discount, used as the pricing ceiling from which all other rates are derived.
rate-fence
A condition or restriction that separates one hotel rate from another, justifying a price difference.
rate-parity
Rate parity is the practice of offering the same room rate for the same room type across all distribution channels, required by most OTA contracts.
rate-plan
A rate plan is a pricing configuration attached to a room type that defines the price, conditions, cancellation policy, and inclusions (e.g., breakfast, refundability) for a specific booking scenario.
rate-shopping
The practice of monitoring and comparing competitor hotel rates across distribution channels to inform pricing decisions.
repeat-guest
A guest who has stayed at the same hotel at least once before and returns for a subsequent booking.
reservation
A reservation is a confirmed booking for a hotel room or service for a specific guest, dates, and room type, stored and managed within the hotel's PMS.
revpag
Revenue Per Available Guest — total hotel revenue divided by number of guests, capturing ancillary spend beyond room rate.
revpar
Total room revenue divided by the total number of rooms available, combining occupancy and rate into a single yield metric.
revpar-index
A metric that measures a hotel's RevPAR performance relative to its competitive set, expressed as an index where 100 means equal market share.
rgi
A benchmarking ratio that compares a hotel's RevPAR to the average RevPAR of its competitive set; the product of MPI and ARI, it measures overall revenue performance relative to the market.
rms
Software that uses demand data and algorithms to recommend or automate hotel pricing decisions.
roas
A metric that measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
room-rate
A room rate is the price charged per night for a hotel room, which can vary based on room type, season, demand, booking channel, and length of stay.
room-status
A real-time indicator in the PMS showing whether a hotel room is dirty, clean, inspected, occupied, or out of order.
room-type
A room type is the smallest sellable unit of accommodation, defined by a fixed combination of attributes including bed configuration, occupancy, surface area, view, and amenities.
rooming-list
A rooming list is the document or data import that assigns individual guest names, room types, and arrival/departure dates to each room in a group block, converting a generic hold into individual reservations.

S

stly
A benchmarking metric comparing current booking or revenue figures to the same point in time one year prior, used to assess year-over-year performance.

T

trevpar
Total Revenue Per Available Room — total hotel revenue divided by available rooms, capturing all revenue streams beyond just rooms.

U

upselling
Persuading a guest to purchase a higher-value version of what they have already chosen, such as a room upgrade.

W

walk-in
A walk-in is a guest who arrives at the hotel without a prior reservation and requests a room on the spot.
walked-guest
A hotel guest with a confirmed reservation who cannot be accommodated and is relocated to another property at the hotel's expense.

Y

yield-management
A pricing strategy that adjusts rates dynamically based on demand, timing, and inventory availability to maximize revenue from perishable capacity.