"Anyone to Anyone" A term used in e-commerce.

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

A three-letter identifier designating a specific airport. Hotels are often referenced to airport codes in the GDS.

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

Average Booking Value Per Available Room. Calculated by ADR minus your CPOR and multiply it by the number of rooms occupied.

Figure derived by dividing actual accommodation revenue (daily/monthly/weekly/annual/defined period of time) by the total number of rooms sold. Also see RevPAR.

Adjusted Revenue Per Occupied Room.

Figure derived by dividing actual accommodation revenue for a single day into the total number of rooms sold. Also see RevPAR.

Average Length of Stay Figure derived by adding the total number of nights and dividing by the number of bookings.

Average Lead Time; The average days between booking/reservation date and arrival date. This is most commonly measured and monitored at house/hotel level. It is also useful in analysing ALT per product, per room type, and by channel for optimization.

Available Passenger Cruise Days The Cruise Industry’s measurement of capacity and represent double occupancy per cabin multiplied by the number of cruise days for the period.

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.

"Business to Business" A term used in e-commerce. Describes business to business transactions.

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

Best Available Rate 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 flexes with demand and is distributed to all public channels.

The speed at which bookings materialize 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.

Best Unrestricted Rate For example: utilized on Accorhotels.com

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

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.

The behind-the-scenes system that provides reservations functionality on an Internet site. This functionality may be provided by a GDS or other reservation software provider such as a switch company. Some GDS examples include: Sabre is the booking engine for Travelocity.com; Worldspan is the booking engine for Priceline.com; Amadeus is the booking engine for onetravel.com; and Galileo is the booking engine for Cheaptickets.com.

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

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

Central Reservations System / Services. Originally, the term used for a Global Distribution System. Now used in the hotel industry to refer to a hotel company’s central reservation system or its central services department which typically operates from a single platform performing multiple functions across multiple hotels/properties.

The two letter code used in the GDSs to identify hotel chains. HEDNA administers the list of available chain codes. For example: Accor Hotels: RT Hilton Hotels: HH Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites: MC Renaissance Hotels and Resorts: BR Courtyard by Marriott: CY Radisson Hotels: RD Full List of Global Chain Codes

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.

Closed to Arrival A room inventory control function. Indicates that a reservation for arrival on this date can not be confirmed.

Cost Per Occupied Room

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

An alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric code used to identify and document the reservation of air transportation, hotel or car reservations.

In general, a group of organizations, companies, and/or people forming a grouping to achieve common interests and buying power. While maintaining their individual activities which may in some cases be in direct competition to other consortium members. A consortium is defined as a coalition of incorporated companies formed for marketing and service purposes. While the term is commonly used in the travel industry it is not specific to the travel business. Airline alliances are one well known type of travel consortium. Examples of these are many national and international travel agency consortia such as Flight Centre Management (FCM) and Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT). Hotels which have preferred status with agencies such as American Express and Carlson Wagonlit travel get access to their consultants, preferred ranking in their systems, and pay significant fees for the privilege – therefore they need to ensure their Sales and Revenue Managers maximize these partners and channels.

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.

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

Closed User Group A CUG is defined as a specific group of people whom, 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 maybe required upon check-in. Offers to CUGs can never be advertised in general publications that have visibility outside of the CUG.

Days Before Arrival

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 a 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.

A demand forecast can exceed 100% occupancy.

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.

The term which 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.

Hotel room with a double bed that may be occupied by one or two people.

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.

Also known as “fluid pricing”, Market-driven, demand-based pricing, dynamic 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 CM from a PMS.

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.

Europe, the Middle East and Asia

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.

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

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 nonrefundable and non-cancelable reservations, advanced purchase reservations, and staying over a weekend.

Using restrictions (minimum length of stay, pre-payment requirements, etc) to filter out reservations on dates and/or room types which have excess demand.

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

The practice of selling rooms at a negotiated/confidential/contracted rate with no set allotment or number of rooms, until such time as the rate code is closed. 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. Utilize an “elastic” group block code in Opera PMS.

Full/Fixed Pattern Length of Stay 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)

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

The lowest acceptable amount that an individual or group can be charged, regardless of conditions, demand, or yield. The property’s operating cost and revenue budget are factors in setting the floor rate.

General Data Protection Regulation

General Sales Agent 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.

The process of indexing locations using degrees longitude and latitude.

Global Hotel Alliance www.globalhotelalliance.com

Global Distribution System These are computerized reservation networks through which users – primarily travel agents and also airline employees and travellers – view content and inventory. They search and reserve wide range of travel elements including air, hotel, auto rental and travel insurance services. There are four "native" GDSs that provide their services to users worldwide: Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan.

Guest Name Record

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

Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room Figure derived from taking the revenue minus expenses divided by the number of available rooms.

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

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. http://www.hedna.org/

See 'Opaque'

The code assigned to each property by each GDS.

A package offered by a hotel, 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.

Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International Founded in 1927 to support the Hospitality industry through training and events. https://hsmaiasia.org/

Internet Booking Engine

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

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

RMS A hurdle rate sets the minimum value of a reservation that can be booked on a given day. If the hurdle rate is $200 and the room rate is $150 a guest will be prevented from making a one-night reservation on that date. This is because the total value of their room rates ($150) is less than the total hurdle rates ($200). Hurdle rates are most often present in hotels using an RMS (automated revenue management system) such as IDeaS, a preferred vendor of SKNapp Consulting.

A large hotel room with a partition separating the bed and sitting areas.

A hotel room with a king-sized bed.

Last Room Availability An Agent’s ability to book the last available room in a hotel.

Length of Stay The number of nights that a guest stays at a your property. This value is also the difference between the departure date and the arrival date.

A portion of the customers who possess a common set of reasons for travel motivations a combination of unique purchasing (i.e advance purchase vs. walk-in) & usage patterns (i.e. single night vs. weekly)

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

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.

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

Minimum/Maximum Length of Stay A room inventory filter function. Indicates that a reservation for arrival on this date must be for a minimum or maximum number of nights (two or more). Reservations which arrive on a date where this restriction is in place must meet or exceed the defined value. MLOS restrictions are a filter not a force! They filter out shorter stays in favour of longer high-revenue yielding reservations during periods/days of excess demand.

Market Penetration Index Primarily sourced from a subscription to STR Global CoStar Group. MPI is calculated by: Hotel Occupancy / (divided into) Comp Set Occupancy. MPI compares your hotel’s occupancy to the average occupancy of your defined market competitors. It is used to determine if a hotel is gaining a fair share of revenue compared to its competitor set of properties.

Any part of a reservation which falls (stays) on restriction dates must not be less than the set value (two or more), regardless of arrival date.

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.

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 authorization code.

Occupancy-Based Pricing A useful revenue management practice is called in hotel lingo “pricing by occupancy”. Pricing by occupancy is a revenue management technique used by accommodation providers to maximize room revenue in leisure destinations in particular.

On-Board Revenues Cruise itineraries are structured to allow enough time at sea, so that the cruise line can maximise the on-board revenues from all ships’ facilities (e.g. bar, casino, duty-free shopping - shops can only be open when the ship is sailing)

Online Booking Tool An OBT is the graphic user interface (GUI) which sits atop a GDS that travel consultants use for corporate/business travellers

The “fill” measure of an accommodation property. Occupancy = total number of rooms occupied / total number of rooms available x 100 (i.e. 75 occupied rooms in a 100 room hotel = 75% occupancy).

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.

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%.

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

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.

Online Travel Agent The artist formerly known as "TPIs" (Third Party Internet sites) in the olden days. These include Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda.com; OTAs are online companies which allow consumers to book various travel related services via the Web. They are 3rd party agents reselling trips, hotels, cars, flights, vacation packages etc. provided organised by others. The most prominent two in Australia are Booking.com & Expedia.com

Open Travel Alliance Another definition of OTA.

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 utilized in measured forecasted capacity.

Opera Exchange Interface, (pronouced 'oxee') Oracle OXI reference

The speed at which bookings materialize 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. Also referred to as Booking Pace. A pace calculation is a key component of a forecast.

Passenger Cruise Days represent the number of passengers carried for the period multiplied by the number of days of their respective cruises.

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.

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

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

Property Management System RMS, GuestCentrix, NewBook, Opera, Opera Cloud

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

Pay Per Click Advertising

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.

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.

Rate parity is the term related to a hotel's accommodation prices that are displayed and bookable exactly the same accross all public channels. Whether a consumer/guest bookes 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.

An organization 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.

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

Also referred to as 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.

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

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.

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

Revenue Per Available Room Expressed on a currency/dollar amount, calculated by either: Average Rate x Occupancy %, or Total Rooms Revenue / total rooms available. Example: average rate of $325 at an occupancy of 80% = RevPAR of $260

Revenue Per Available Square Metre This efficiency score is not unique to hotels; it is also used in retail shopping spaces and centers. It is particularly useful in hotels which utilize space for conferences, events, and when "selling spaces differently". It is calculated by: Total Revenue / Available square meter of (event, whole hotel, function, etc) space. Total revenue / divided by total available square metres of the space (m2). For example: •$60,000 / 2000m2 = $30 per square metre. •It is a KPI relevant for hotels with C&E (conference and events) potential. The utilisation efficiency sales is calculated on the revenue per available square metre of the available space.

Revenue Per Available Seat Hour Particularly useful in hotel dining outlets. RevPASH = Sales per operating hour divided by the number of seats by the hours. Calculation: Total outlet (restaurant for instance) revenue divided by the available seats, multiplied by opening hours. For example: $15,000/(50 seats x 8 hours) = RevPASH of $37.50

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.

Revenue Generation Index 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 set RGI > 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 Growth Index Primarily sourced from a subscription to STR Global CoStar Group. RGI is calculated by: Hotel RevPAR / (divided into) Comp Set RevPAR 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 set RGI > 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

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

A series of alphanumeric characters used in a 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).

One accommodation room occupied for one night.

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

Run of House Rate 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.

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

Online marketing activity whereby using paid advertising gets your hotel to rank higher in search engine results. Considering that Google averages 85 billion visits per month (*as at January 2024) having your property rank/listed at the top of search results can enable significant visibility and traffic to your website. Independent hoteliers in Australia and New Zealand can benefit from engaging experts such as RevenYou to get you started.

SEO is 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. Some elements of SEO can be considered free, apart from your time spent on doing the work that is! Activities such as posting articles on your website, posting about local events, attractions, and your restaurant and other nearby experiences. All of this will help increase traffic to your hotel web pages. Independent hoteliers in Australia and New Zealand can benefit from engaging experts such as RevenYou to get you started.

Nights of less occupancy on either side of peak nights.

Any reservation, facility or service to be used by one person.

An organization which provides communication connections, data communication and data reformatting services to link global distribution systems and hotel central reservation systems. The two principal switch companies are Pegasus Electronic Distribution and WizCom International, owned by Cendant.

An organization which provides private label services – processing of voice reservation requests, GDS connectivity or data processing services for hotel companies which prefer not to operate these services and systems themselves.

See Pegasus Electronic Distribution

Third Party Intermediary Another term used for OTAs (Online Travel Agents such as Expedia, LastMinute.com, CTrip etc)

Travel Management Company Examples include Carlson Wagonlit, American Express, Flight Centre (FCM) which make reservations for business travellers through GDS, often on consortia programs.

Total Revenue Per Available Room 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.

Hotel room suitable for occupancy by three persons.

Hotel room with two single beds.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Revenue Per Occupied Room RevPOR is the measurement of total revenue generated by occupied rooms as a performance metric. It differs from ADR (average daily rate) because it includes ancillary revenue sourced from services such as dining, spa services, room service, and other charged experiences beyond the accommodation. It also differs from RevPAR (revenue per available room) which factors in all available rooms within the property, whereas RevPOR factors only occupied rooms for any given day, month, or year. RevPOR = Total Revenue Generated In Occupied Rooms / (divided by) Number of Occupied Rooms for the same period.