Key terms or jargon's used in hotel Front Office department

American Plan ( AP)  - A billing arrangement under which room charges include the guestroom and three meals, Also called as full board / full pension.

European Plan (EP) - A billing arrangement under which meals are priced separately or room only plan

Modified American Plan  (MAP) - A billing arrangement under which the daily rate is including room and two meals, generally Breakfast and dinner.

Continental Plan ( CP ) - One of the most common/preferred billing arrangement which includes room and continental breakfast.

All-Inclusive (AI) - AI normally stands for all-inclusive rates ie rates which are inclusive of all applicable taxes and service charge. Eg: CPAI, MAPAI, APAI etc.

Rack Rate - The published tariff for each room type/category in a hotel.

Log Book - Located at reception containing instructions/information/ happenings/handover of the day to know of.

Registration Card - A printed form for a registration record, In most countries, the guest's signature on a registration card is required by law.

Reservation Status - An indicator of a room's long-term availability for assignment.

Room Rate - The price of hotel charges for overnight accommodations.

Skipper - A guest who leaves with no intention of paying for the room.

Scanty Baggage - A guest who checks in to the hotel with very less or no luggage.

Walk-in - A guest who arrives at a hotel without a reservation.

Walking - Turning away a guest who has a reservation because of a lack of room availability.

Due outs - Guests expected to check out on a given day who have not yet done so.

Credit limit/house limit - A limit assigned by the hotel to guest or company accounts.

Upselling - A sales technique whereby a guest is offered a more expensive room than what he or she reserved or originally requested, and then persuaded to rent the room based on the room's features, benefits, and his or her needs.

Block - An agreed-upon number of rooms set aside for members of a group planning to stay in a hotel.

Book - To sell or reserve rooms ahead of time.

Confirmation Number - A code that provides a unique reference to a reservation record and assures the guest that the reservation record exists.

Confirmed Booking - When Reservation is guaranteed with a Credit card, Deposit, Company / TA voucher etc.

Tentative Booking - When the reservation is waiting for bookers confirmation.

Waitlisted Booking - Reservation kept on hold due to the hotel is overbooked.

Cut-off date - The date agreed upon between a group and a hotel after which all unreserved rooms in the group's block will be released back to the general availability.

Cancellation date - Indicates the date when the reservation was manually cancelled.

No-Show - A guest who made a room reservation but did not register or Check-in.

Long Stay - A Guest who stays more than a certain number of days, Eg: More than 7 days etc.

Overbooking - accepting more reservations than there are available rooms.

Wash down - Blocking fewer rooms than the number requested by a group, based on previous group history.

Guest Cycle - A division of the flow of business through a hotel that identifies the physical contacts and financial exchanges between the guests and the hotel.

Guest Folio - A form ( paper or electronic ) used to chart transactions on an account assigned to an individual person or guest room.

Late Charge -  A transaction requiring posting to a guest account that does not reach the front office for posting before the guest had checked out or done the final settlement.

No Post - Special functionality on Property management systems (PMS) to activate a 'NO post' on reservations this will stop any extra charges from other outlets or connected systems to be charged to the guest room. Example a No Post flag can be activated for interfaces like Telephone, Wi-Fi or Internet, Point of Sale (POS), SPA systems etc. 

Global Distribution System (GDS) - A distribution channel for reservations that provides worldwide distribution of hotel reservation information and allows selling of hotel reservations around the world, usually accomplished by connecting the hotel reservation system with an airline reservation system ( Eg - Amadeus, Saber, Galileo/Apollo or World span )

IDS - Internet Distribution System OR ADS - Alternate Distribution System - This refers to Online Travel Agents like Agoda, Booking . com, Expedia etc. Additionally, your own hotel's booking engine also comes under IDS. Any Channel Manager Like TravelClick, Synxis, STAAH, Siteminder etc. is a tool which can handle these IDS or ADS channels.

PMS - Property Management System

POS - Point of Sale Systems ( Used in Restaurants / Outlets)

TA - Travel Agent who receives the commission for the bookings.

OTA - Online Travel Agents

IDS - Internet Distribution System

Void - Reversal of Charges which was posted on the same day

Allowance - Reversal of charges which was posted before the current system / PMS date.

ACC - Accommodation Charges or Revenues related to Room.

F&B - Food and Beverage Charges or Revenues generated from Food and Beverage Outlets.

Misc. - Miscellaneous Charges, Like Paid out, Postage, Photo Copy, Medicine, Courier etc. come under Miscellaneous charges.

ARR - Average Rack Rate (Average Room Rate (ARR) = Total Room Revenue / Total Rooms Sold)

ADR - Average Daily Rate (Average Daily Rate (ADR) = Total Room Revenue / Total Rooms Sold)

AGR - The Average Rate Per Guest (Average Rate Per Guest= Total Room Revenue / Total Number of guests)

APR - Average Guest Per Room (Average Guest Per Room = Total Number of Guests / Number of Rooms Sold)

DBR - Daily Business Report or DRR - Daily Revenue Report

Occ. Percentage -  Hotel Occupancy Percentage or Occupancy Ratio Calculation 

Rev. Par -  Revenue Per Available Rooms ( RevPAR = Total Room Revenue / Total Number of Available Rooms for sale)

TRevPOR - Total Revenue per Occupied Room (TRevPOR = (Room + F&B + Other Revenue) / Total occupied rooms)

AF / RAF - Room Achivement Factor (Room Achievement Factor = Actual Average Rate / Potential Average Rate) 

RRS -  Room Rate Spread (Room Rate Spread = Potential Average Double Rate - Potential Average Single Rate)

HotRevPAR -  Hotel Revenue Per Available Room (HotRevPAR= (Room + F&B + Other Revenue) / Total Available Rooms)

TRevPAR - Total Revenue Per Available Room (TrevPAR = (Room + F&B + Other Revenue) / Total Available Rooms)

 

 

Hospitality Guide(For All Department information)
 www.hospitalityguidebd.blogspot.com