Terminology & Definitions

Advance Purchase Rate

A rate, often discounted, for purchasing a room a certain period in advance

Also known as early bird rate

APAC

Asia Pacific (including Australia)

API

Application Programming Interface

A set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications

ARI

Availability and Rates Interface

A system for transferring a property's room availability and pricing details between systems, such as Channel Manager and Booking Channels.

Availability

The amount of rooms a property has for sale on any given day

Availability Linking

Setting up a new room rate and linking that room rate to the room it should take availability from. When a booking is made, for either room rate, both will reduce in availability.

 BAR

Best Available Rate

May also be called the "Sell Rate" or "Standard Rate" - Usually, the lowest flexible price that a hotel is offering for a room.

 BE / IBE

Booking Engine or Internet Booking Engine

A booking engine is an application that supports reservations through the internet - most commonly the hotel's own website. It can also refer to booking channels such as Agoda or Expedia.

BFR

Best Flexible Rate

See BAR

Booking Channel

Websites on which travellers can search for and book rooms at hotels

Also referred to as Channel, Booking Website, OTA, Travel Website, Distribution Channel

BRG

Best Rate Guarantee

The promise that hotels or OTAs will advertise the best rates on their own website as compared to any other site for the same product

Bulk Update

A tool within the Channel Manager Hotel Extranet which allows multiples updates to be made to a room rate. 

For example, a user can update a room rates min stay, stop sell, and CTA on one screen and then Save.

Commission

Payment that a booking channel (such as Agoda) receives from a supplier (hotel) for selling accommodation or other services

Conversion Rate

The ratio of website visitors converted into paying customers

Cost Per Click (CPC)

An internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked. Advertisers compete by bidding to be ranked higher in the list displayed to the user in search results.

 Also called pay per click.

CRS

Central Reservation System / Computer Reservations System

Stores, distributes, and disburses hotel information across an online network. CRSs act as a tool to connect to global distribution systems such as travel web pages and websites from a single location.

CTA

Closed to Arrival

The hotel does not allow guests to check-in on this date. Guests can still stay through this period

CTD

Closed to Departure

The hotel does not allow guests to check-out on this date. Guests can still stay through this period

Channel

see Booking Channel

Currency Conversion

Allows the hotel to send rates to a booking channel in a currency different to the base currency they use in the Channel Manager

CVV / CVC / CCV

Credit-card Verification Value / Card Verification Code

A security code typically located on the back of credit cards (front for AMEX) which is used by many payment systems as a security validation

Demand Based Pricing

Applying revenue management principles to move rate based upon demand within the marketplace and what the market will bear

Disable Reason

When a booking channel is disabled in the Channel Manager a Channel Manager Support team member must enter the reason. This is then displayed to the hotel and should assist them with resolving the issue that had led to disabling the channel.

The disable reason is compulsory for support teams (including partners) when disabling a channel. The reason should also give the hotelier clear instructions on what they need to do to remedy the issue.

Distribution Channel

see Booking Channel

Distribution Strategy

A plan created by a hotel's management, specifying how/where they will sell their hotel rooms to maximise profitability.

Dorm Room

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

Not all channels support per-bed sales

Dynamic Room Mapping (DRM)

When connection information is present for a channel, it is possible to automatically connect a channel manager room rate to a booking channels room rate

EMEA

Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa

End of Day (EOD) 

A procedure usually performed on PMS software to mark the end of the financial business day of the hotel

Extended Stay

When a guest stays at a hotel for more than five consecutive days

These hotels quote weekly rates

FIT

Flexible Independent Traveller

An individual traveller is not part of a tour group or package stay

FPLOS

Full Pattern Length-Of-Stay. A pattern indicating whether a rate is available for the arrival date and length of stay. FPLOS allows a hotel to control if a date is available based on the length of stay required.

GDS

Global Distribution Systems

The network of electronic reservations systems by which travel agents all over the world make bookings with airlines and hotels such as Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, and WorldSpan

GOPPAR

Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room

Calculated Room revenue less expenses, divided by the total rooms available

Group Booking

A booking made for multiple rooms/people travelling together

May require group billing

Guest

A hotel customer

Hotel

Also referred to as a property

IBE

Internet Booking Engine

see BE

IDS

Internet Distribution System

see Booking Channel

Included Occupancy

The number of guests that are part of the pricing of a room. Additional guests would be charged extra

Inclusions

Inclusions is a list of items that are included in the nightly price of a room. The Channel Manager can send this information to some booking channels.

PMS providers are able to set inclusions 'per day'.

Inventory

The number of rooms or beds a hotel has available to sell (also known as availability)

Can occasionally be used with reference to availability and rates, for example in the case of the Inventory Grid, which includes both availability and rates.

ISO Code

International Standard for Organisation Codes

ISO codes are typically used for country and currency codes (for example AUS / AUD for Australia and the Australian Dollar)

LATAM

Latin America

Lead Time

Often used to refer to the time frame between a reservation being made and the date of the stay

Look-to-Book Ratio

see Conversion Rate

LOS

Length Of Stay

Number of nights booked on a reservation

(Channel) Market Manager

The main point of contact for hotels, when they wish make changes to their setup

Master Rates

A method of linking rates from different channels to one 'master rate' which will allow the user to change only one rate and have multiple rate updates occur automatically

Maximum Occupancy

The highest number of guests allowed per room

Metasearch Engine

Enables users to enter search criteria once and see results from multiple search engines simultaneously

Examples include TripAdvisor, Trivago, Hotels Combined and Google Hotel Ads

Minimum Occupancy

The lowest number of guests allowed per room

Minimum Stay

A restriction that will ensure a booking must be made for at least this number of nights

A hotel may require a minimum number of nights during peak periods, during long weekends, or in order to receive a discount

NAM

North America

Net Rate

Room pricing that excludes commission/taxes.

No Show

A guest that, having made a reservation, does not turn up and does not cancel

Occupancy / Occupancy Rate

A measurement used by hotels to determine occupied capacity (Occupied Rooms divided by total rooms)

Oceania

Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands

OTA

see Booking Channel

Overbooking

When more rooms are booked by guests than the hotel has available for sale.

This can occur due to a number of factors including user error or a system malfunction

Package

A room rate that is offered with extra items included in the price, like breakfast or champagne on arrival.

PMS

Property Management System

The application used by a hotel to control onsite property activities such as check in/out, folios, guest profiles, room status, requests, etc. PMSs can have interfaces between other applications

POS

Point of Sale

The place where a retail transaction is completed (Reception, Restaurant, Spa, Gift Shop etc.)

Pricing

The value a hotel wishes to sell their rooms

The Cost, Value, Tariff or Room charge

Rack Rate

Also known as walk in rate or default rate. Typically the maximum seasonal charge the property uses for the room.

Rate Conversion Multiplier

A decimal number entered in the Channel Manager for a booking channel, which is most often used to add or remove commission and/or tax and service charges from rates. Channel Manager rates are multiplied by this number before being sent to the booking channel.

For example, if a booking channel requires the hotel to remove 20% commission from their rates, the hotel would need to enter a Rate Conversion Multiplier of 0.8 in the Channel Manager.

Rate Parity

The strategy that all distribution channels of a hotel should reflect the same pricing for the same conditions for a particular room rate

Rate Plan / Package

A room rate that is offered with extra items included in the price, like breakfast or champagne on arrival.

Rates

The value a hotel wishes to sell their rooms

Also called the Cost, Value, Tariff or Room charge

Release Period

Refers to the number of days in advance a reservation must be made for a Room Rate. 

For example, if this is set to 3, guests must book a minimum of 3 days prior to their date of arrival.

Reservation

A booking made for a hotel stay.

REVPAR

Revenue Per Available Room

Calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate (ADR) by its occupancy percentage

Room Mapping

The process of connecting a channel manager room rate to a booking channels rate plan

Room Rate

The common description given to a number of rooms with the same features. For example, a hotel may have 50 'Standard' rooms and 20 'Deluxe' rooms.

Setup

A term used to refer to a hotel that is in configuration and not yet 'live'

Sell Rate/Gross Rate

Refers to a rate that includes commission/taxes.

Single Guest Discount

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

Stop Sell

A restriction 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

Also known as a close-out or block

Note: Not supported by all channel connections.

Sync (synchronisation)

When the inventory of a hotel has been successfully passed to the connected channels and no updates are outstanding

Tariffs

see Rates

Ticket

Support requests, which may be known as incidents, tickets, requests, or cases

Travel Agent

An individual or company arranging travel for individuals or groups

Walk In

A guest without a reservation who turns up at a hotel and requests a reservation

Web Service

A connection type which utilises XML or smart API technology to interface with Channel Manager and other systems

This is used to send messages between our applications and external applications such as Booking Channels and PMSs

Wholesaler

A wholesaler in the travel industry deals with travel agencies. They can either be online or offline. Travel agents deal with the wholesaler to sell their hotel rooms. A wholesaler earns its revenue from travel agents and it does not deal with either the hotel or the guest staying in a hotel. When a room is booked on a wholesaler’s website, the wholesaler does not charge the guest - payment is processed via the travel agent.

XML

Extensible Markup Language

see Web Service

Yield

Revenue received by the hotel