Hotel Glossary
ROOM ENSUITE:A guest room with private bathroom.
PACKAGES:A special offering created by the hotel, deals hotel stay combined with tours, car rentals, meals etc.
ADR:Stands for Average daily rate, a statistic calculated by dividing actual daily revenue by the total number of room(s) sold.
WHAT IS A “NO SHOW” ? A guest for some reason does not show up for check-in leaving the room unoccupied but the hotel holding it for the guest. For No shows there is a penalty charge this should be clarified in the booking conditions read in the hotel confirmation.
CANCELLATION HOUR: A specific time the guest is able to cancel.
SINGLE ROOM: A single room can accommodate a maximum of 1 persons. Single rooms are small to medium sized rooms with 1 single bed. There are also properties using double rooms for single or double use instead.TWIN ROOM:A twin room is a room for 2 persons with 2 single beds.
DOUBLE ROOM: A guest room for 2 persons with 1 double bed.
TRIPLE ROOM: A guest room for 3 persons with 3 beds or 1 double and 1 single beds.
QUADRUPLE ROOM: Also know as quad room can accommodate up to 4 persons with a combination of 2 double beds or 4 single beds or 2 singles and 1 double beds.
SUITE: A series of multiple rooms usually a bedroom and a living or sitting room, hotels give additional titles such as junior suite or executive suite according to the amenities and luxury level. Suites are larger sized rooms than the standard rooms you find in hotels, some have kitchen space, sofa, fire place, bar and other appliances and services. A persidential or royal is the most luxurius of the suites.
STANDARD TYPE: A basic room with private bathroom and toiletries TV, heating, air conditioning, telephone. Sheets and towels are included and in most hotels you will find free wifi is available. Depending on the property you may also find tea coffee maker, hairdryer, safe box, fridge-minibar in room. Room size may vary from country but you will find standard rooms average sized from 12m2.
KEY CARD: A plastic card provided to the guest inserted to open a room door or to activate room electricity.CHECK-IN:The procedure for a guests arrival at the property.
CHECKOUT: The procedure for a guests departure. Payment is settled, key, tv and a/c controls are returned.LATE CHECK-IN:A guest who plans to arrive late.
PICKUP: Arrangement between hotel and guest to transfer from the airport or arrival point to the hotel.
GROUPS: A reservation for large number of guests usually more than 10 persons.AVAILABILITY:The amount of rooms open for sale for a specific set of dates.
REQUESTS IN BOOKINGS: A special remark the guest is asking in addition to the booking made i.e room with balcony, extra bed, quiet room, room on higher floor. Special requests are not confirmed only requested and paid attention to by the hotel.
REQUESTS: Inquiries questions sent to the hotel through email or contact form before the guest making the actual booking. These questions can be for prices, discounts for group bookings, package deals for room with transportation to the hotel etc.
AMENITIES: Service or product given to guests by the hotel. Room amenities are shampoo, hairdryer, TV, air condition unit etc.
HOTEL: Establishment offering lodging to travelers. In most countries hotels are rated fron 1 to 5 stars, 1 star properties provide a limited range of amenities and 5 star hotels offer most luxurious services at higher rates. Property owners and tour operators also give additional titles to hotels for better customer targeting like budget, cheap, luxury, boutique, design, art, business, eco.
REVENUE MANAGEMENT: Strategic control of inventory and prices manualy or automaticaly operated, setting restrictions for a hotel property.
OCCUPANCY RATE: An important statistic calculated by dividing the total number of rooms occupied by the total number of rooms the property has.
ROOM RATE: The rate charged daily for a room.
DORMITORY (KNOWN AS DORMS): A room shared for a number of persons containing several beds often bunks. Each person is charged for bed use only. Dormitories usually offer common bathrooms, kitchen and lounge for travellers. Dormitories are also know as dorms and found in hostels normally rented to travellers over 18 years of age. Further, there are mixed type dormitories for males and females staying together in same the room or single-sex types only for males or only for females clarified in each rooms policy.
6 BED DORM: 6 persons sharing a room and each paying only for 1 bed.MIXED DORM ROOMS:A shared room where each person is charged by bed instead of room. Mixed means males and females staying together.FEMALE DORM:Shared room only females are allowed to stay in.
POS – POINT ON SALE: A computerized terminal provided with a application software for businesses. Touchscreen displays, barcode scanners, receipt printers, credit card-depit card machines and more.
REVENUE MANAGEMENT: Strategic control of inventory and prices manualy or automaticaly operated, setting restrictions for a hotel property.
ACCOMMODATION TYPES: Hotels,bed and breakfasts (b&bs), motels, hostels, campings, bungalows, apartments, houses, lodges, resorts, villas,NO SHOW:A traveler who fails for some reason to check-in leaving the room unoccupied but the hotel has hold it for the guest.
PMS: Property management system (PMS) is a software application for automating hotels functions – all in one. A software for the hotels frontdesk, roomplanning reservations, charging telephone calls, door card opening, credit card payments, point on sale (POS), billing, invoicing, housekeeping, for backoffice use and statistics regarding roomsales, multiple users with full or limited access, interface with a hotel channel manager to send and receive changes (rooms availability,rates,bookings)to distribution channels.
CHANNEL MANAGER: A central reservation system which sends changes to hotel channels know as OTAs (online travel agencies), GDS (global distribution system), IDS (Internet Distribution Systems)sending information from one end to all channels at once instead of each channel seperately. These changes can be for prices, availability, stopsales, allocation, minimum stays etc. Channel managers also import booking information once a new booking is made, modified or cancelled. A 2-way channel manager will countdown allocation once a room is sold updating all channels avoiding overbookings. Strategy techniques with price differences and promotions to each channel can be set. Channel managers can connect to a PMS (property management system for hotels) the PMS receives new bookings, modifications and cancellations showing in a roomplanner calendar where the hotelier assigns which room the guest will stay in for the specific dates.
HOSTEL: Also called “youth hostel“, “backpackers place” is an inexpensive lodging place that offers shared rooms and facilities know as dormitories. Although hostels were first made as a cheap accommodation for students and backpackers travelling around the world, now you will find hostels upgraded services offering even rooms with private facilities. Hostels have a kitchen and lounge for travellers to meet, exchange stories and make new friends.
HOTEL XML CONNECTION: The intergration between channel manager and booking site (OTA)