Decoding the Language of Hotels: 200 Terms Every Meeting Planner Should Know

Planning a successful event involves navigating a complex world of hotel terminology that can sometimes feel like learning a foreign language. Whether you’re a seasoned meeting planner or new to the industry, understanding hotel jargon is crucial for effective communication with venues and ensuring your events run smoothly.

At Groups360, we’ve compiled this comprehensive glossary of hotel industry terms to help you speak the language of hospitality with confidence. From contract clauses to room configurations, this guide covers the essential terminology you’ll encounter when planning your next meeting or event.

 A

Acceleration Clause

Contract provision that accelerates deposit payment or increases prepayment in case of default or lack of credit.

Accommodation

A place to stay, typically a room in a hotel.

Act of God or Force Majeure

Natural disaster that could not have been predicted at the time of the contract signing. Parties have no control over an Act of God, thus they’re not legally bound to fulfill contract responsibilities.

ADA or Americans with Disabilities Act

A description for legislation that prohibits public spaces or businesses from discriminating against persons with disabilities. For an ADA-compliant hotel bathroom, expect features like grab bars near the toilet and shower/tub, a roll-in shower or transfer-type tub, a toilet height between 17-19 inches, accessible sink height, and slip-resistant floors.

ADR or Average Daily Rate

A measure of the average rate paid for rooms sold, calculated by dividing room revenue by rooms sold. (ADR = room revenue/rooms sold).

Advance Rates

Discounted rates to entice early booking for guest rooms.

Affinity Group

A group formed around a common interest where members are usually of the same organization. A common aggregation of these affinity groups is referred to by the acronym SMERFE (Sports-Military-Educational-Religious-Fraternal-Ethnic).

AGR (Agreed)

The agreed number and type of guest rooms contracted for a group or event organizer.

Airport Property

Hotels in close proximity to an airport that primarily serve demand from airport traffic. Distance may vary.

All-Inclusive Property

A property with rooms sold only as a complete package, bundling overnight accommodations and value-added amenities and services such as food, beverage, activities, gratuities, etc.

Allotment

The number of hotel guest rooms available for sale by an agent, supplier, or event organizer.

All-Suite Property

A property with guestroom inventory that exclusively consists of rooms offering more space and furniture than a typical hotel room, including a designated living area or multiple rooms.

ALOS

An acronym for Average Length Of Stay.

Amenities (On-site)

Complimentary items or services provided by the hotel for guests or groups such as toiletries or turn-down service. Can also include things like free breakfast, on-site Golf, Valet Parking, Outdoor Pool, Fitness Center, On-Site Restaurant, Business Center, Indoor Pool & Spa/Salon, and/or shuttle service.

American Plan

The nightly rate by a hotel or resort which includes three meals a day, typically breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meals are served on the property and prepared by its kitchen. The plan is not comparable to an all-inclusive plan, which includes snacks and alcoholic beverages in addition to the three main meals.

Attrition Clause

The difference in the number of rooms or spaces reserved and the actual attendance or usage by the group. This usually involves contractual obligations agreed to by the event organizer or group to fulfill a minimum financial payment to the hotel.

Attrition Fees

A group or event organizer’s financial payment for unused hotel guest rooms or meeting space.

[READ MORE] 5 Tips to Avoid Room Block Attrition

 AV or Audiovisual

Audiovisual equipment or services used to add production value and enhance participant experience at an event.

B

B&B or Bed and Breakfast Inn

Independently owned and operated properties that typically include breakfast in the room rates, typically with 20 rooms or fewer and a resident/owner innkeeper.

Banquet Round

A round table used for meals that can seat up to 12 people, usually 60 or 72 inches in diameter.

Banquet Setup

The floor plan or seating arrangement created by the grouping of banquet rounds to help facilitate food service.

BAR

An acronym for Best Available Rate.

This is a pricing system used by hotels to define the price offered based on the property and market supply & demand and occupancy rates at a given time. 

BB

An acronym for Bed and Breakfast included in the room rate.

Bed Tax

The tax levied by local governments on guests and added to the price of the guest room.

Benchmarking

A method of comparing a hotel against competitors. Comparisons often include products and services, room rates, quality ratings, and more.

BEO

An acronym for Banquet Event Order. These are the contracted specifications for a banquet or meal service.

BEO Guarantees

A finalized headcount for a Banquet Event Order that allows the hotel to assign staffing levels and food production quantities, and determines event revenue (or cost).

Bleisure

Bleisure travel refers to the phenomenon of business travelers combining their business trips with leisure outings, often extending their duration of travel.

[READ MORE] Bleisure Travel: How to Turn Business Trips into Mini-Vacations

Blocked

A block of hotel guest rooms reserved without a deposit.

Boardroom Setup

A room set (or set-up) that seats executives along a long table with the chief executive at the head.

Booking Pace

The average speed of individual bookings during the interval of time between the group’s booking date and its arrival date.

Booking Patterns

Patterns of confirmed sales in a hotel that correspond to calendar dates or seasons.

Boutique Property

A property that appeals to guests because of its atypical amenities and room configurations. Boutiques are normally independent (with fewer than 200 rooms), have a high average rate, and offer high levels of service. Boutique hotels often provide authentic cultural and historic experiences and interesting guest services.

Breakout Rooms

Smaller ancillary rooms to a ballroom that can be used by smaller groups for one reason or another.

Butler Service

Butler service is a personalized concierge service that anticipates and meets the needs of guests. In a banquet setting, this can also mean that guests are served hors d’oeuvres on platters by servers.

C

C&I

Shorthand for Conference and Incentive bookings.

Cabaret Setup

A room set (or set-up) with cocktail tables, chairs, and a performance stage. Generally, no seats will have backs to the stage.

Cabaret Table

Small tables used for cocktail parties or happy hours that are generally only 15-30 inches in diameter.

Commission

Payment made to a party for bringing business to a hotel.

Commissionable Rate Commitment

A contract provision where a portion of the room rate is to be paid to a sponsoring group or third party such as an intermediary planner.

Competitive Set

A competitive set consists of a group of hotels by which a property can compare itself to the group’s aggregate performance. There must be a minimum of four hotels in any competitive set, excluding the subject hotel.

Complimentary Ratio

Ratio of rooms provided at no cost to the number of purchased guest rooms. This is a common incentive offered when negotiating room blocks.

Condo Property

A Property with individually and wholly-owned condominium units. Inventory is included in a rental pool operated and serviced by a management company.

Conference Center

A property with a major focus on conference facilities. This type of establishment must adhere to the guidelines of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC). This can be separate or attached to the hotel.

[READ MORE] 25 U.S. Convention Centers for Your Next Event

 Conference Property

Hotels that specialize in larger events that tend to have large numbers of rooms and specialized facilities.

Confidential Tariff

This is a confidential price solely quoted to wholesalers, tour operators, and travel agents and unavailable to the general public.

Continental Plan

The nightly guest room rate includes breakfast, usually buffet-style, on the property for each guest who occupies a room overnight.

Contract rooms

Rooms that are booked by a special contract for an extended period. This type of arrangement tends to be the domain of permanent guests, airline staff, and others.

Corporate Rate

A special reduced guest room rate for business travelers associated with a specific company or organization with a contract in place with a property, chain, or brand.

CPOR

An acronym for Cost Per Occupied Room. This formula calculates the average cost of occupied rooms and is used as a key performance indicator (KPI) to monitor hotel operating costs.

Crescent-Round Set

A room set (or set-up) where seats occupy only about two-thirds of each table so that no attendees would have their back to the speaker. Generally used to quickly transform a meeting setup into a banquet setup.

CSM

An acronym for Convention Services Manager. This is the individual at a hotel who oversees event operations.

Cut-Off Date

The date at which all unused guest rooms in a room block are released to the transient (public) market.

D

Daily Delegate Rate

A per-person rate for conference room rental, refreshments, catering, and any other services that a conference/meeting might require. This usually is applied to non-overnight guests.

Day Guests

Hotel visitors who arrive and leave the property on the same day. Usually, these guests use meeting spaces, the spa, or restaurant facilities but not sleeping rooms.

Direct Booking

The practice of guest booking, whether online, via phone reservations, or other channels, that deals directly with a hotel company or property and not a third party like a Global Distribution System (GDS) including GroupSync™ or Online Travel Agency (OTA) like Expedia.

DBB

An acronym for double occupancy Bed and Breakfast included.

DBL or Double Occupancy

The hotel guest room rate is charged for up to two people occupying the room.

Definite Booking

A contractual commitment to a block of rooms at a specific date and rate which is confirmed in writing between the parties.

Demand

The anticipated volume or revenue for a specific property, chain, or brand during a specific future time period.

Destination Resort

A property that appeals to leisure travelers, typically located in resort markets, and considered a destination in and of themselves with extensive amenity offerings. These properties are typically larger and full-service.

Displacement Analysis

A series of calculations used to analyze the total value lost by guaranteeing rooms to specific groups that might otherwise be booked by transient business.

Distressed Inventory

A hotel’s inventory of unsold guest rooms that is often discounted to ensure a property increases its occupancy intending to reach full capacity. These rooms are usually offered as “last-minute deals.”

Dual-Brand Hotels

A property that combines two hotels that operate separately but share economies of scale deriving from the sharing of resources such as back-of-house operations. Usually, such properties combine two brands from one hotel parent company, but there are examples of one building containing two flags from different hotel companies. There are also some cases of multibranded hotels with three or more brands represented.

Dynamic Pricing

A strategy of pricing goods or services, like hotel rooms, based on changing market conditions.

E

Early Arrival

An agreement with a hotel that allows confirmed guests to check in before the standard time.

English Service

A style of meal service where side dishes are served in bowls and placed on the table for guests to serve themselves. The main course is typically presented on a serving tray to the host at the table.

EP or European Plan

This quoted nightly rate does not include any meals, only lodging. Food provided by the hotel is billed separately as well as taxes and tips. The European Plan is not limited to hotels in Europe, as hotels across the globe offer it.

Extended Stay

A property that specializes in catering to longer-stay guests. These properties offer guest rooms with features such as kitchens and appliances and generally offer weekly rates.

Extranet

A private computer network available to registered authorized, external users to access and share digital information.

F

FB or Full Board

An accommodation rate that includes all three main meals, as well as a bed for the night.

F&B

An acronym for Food & Beverage services.

F&B Revenue

Revenues derived from the sale of food (including coffee, milk, tea, and soft drinks), beverages (including, beer, wine, and liquors), banquet beverages, and other F&B sources. Other F&B sources include meeting room rentals, audio-visual equipment rentals, cover or service charges, or other revenues within the food-and-beverage department including banquet services charges.

F&B Minimum

The agreed upon guaranteed minimum dollar amount that a group must commit to to secure their booking with a hotel or venue. 

[READ MORE] Food & Beverage Minimums: How to Maximize Your Event’s Food Budget

Fenced Rate

An offered rate that is contingent on certain requirements being fulfilled by the booking party. 

Folio

An overview of a guest’s hotel account including all totals and details of charges and payments made.

Full-Service Hotel

A property that is generally mid-price, upscale, or luxury hotel with a variety of onsite amenities such as restaurants, lounge facilities, and meeting spaces as well as minimum service levels often including bell service and room service. These hotels report food and beverage revenue.

G

Gaming or Casino Hotel

A property with a major focus on licensed casino operations.

GDS

An acronym for Global Distribution System. A computer software system that provides travel agencies with hardware for airplane, hotel, and car reservations.

GM

General manager, the most senior executive at that property.

Golf Property

A hotel property that includes a golf course amenity as part of its operations. A property does not qualify if it only has privileges on a nearby course.

Group Demand

The volume of group business predicted for a specific period or date.

Group Rate

The guest room rate is secured for all rooms in a reserved block for a specific event or date range.

Group Rooms

Group rooms are those sold simultaneously in blocks of a minimum of ten rooms or more. These are generally purchased by meeting planners, group tours, domestic and international groups, associations, conventions, corporate groups, wedding planners and other bulk buyers.

Guarantee

The contractual commitment agreed to that a group will meet certain minimum purchases such as room count or pay a penalty fee.

H

Half-Pension

A room rate that includes a bed, breakfast, and dinner. Could also be called Half-Board with a choice of lunch or dinner.

Heads in Beds

An idiom used to describe the method of increasing the occupancy of the hotel. 

Hollow Circle Setup

A room set or setup in which tables/chairs all face one another circular arrangement.

Hollow Square Setup

A room set or setup in which tables/chairs face one another in a rectangular arrangement.

HOT

An acronym for Hotel Occupancy Taxes. These are levied on overnight guest room stays and are set by states/provinces and local governments.

Hotel

Hotels differ from Motels since they can contain hundreds or thousands of guest rooms and occupy several floors. These properties generally have staircases, elevators, and internal corridors that lead to the rooms.

House Count

The total guest occupancy of a hotel at any given moment.

House Manager

The manager underneath the General Manager in ranking that is responsible for an individual hotel, unlike the General Manager–whose responsibility may extend to more than one property.

I

Incentive Travel

A trip provided as a reward to participants, often used to stimulate the productivity of employees or sales representatives.

Incidental Charges

Additional charges for goods and services beyond the basic guest room accommodation such as parking, mini-bar, in-room movies, internet connection, etc.

Indy or Independent Hotel

A property not associated with a hotel brand, franchise, or chain.

Instant Booking

Refers to a system, like Groups360’s GroupSync, that allows event planners to instantly book group rooms and meeting space online, with real-time rates and availability, eliminating the need for traditional Request for Proposal (RFP) processes.

[READ MORE] Myth vs. Fact: The Truth About Instant Booking

Interstate or Motorway Hotel

A property in close proximity to major highways, motorways, or other major roads whose primary source of business is through passerby travel. Hotels located in suburban areas have the suburban classification.

Inventory

The guest rooms and meeting space available for a hotel to sell across all channels.

IPO or EPO

An acronym for the Individual Pays their Own bill, or Each Pays their Own share of one bill.

Island Booth/Stand/Exhibit

An exhibition space surrounded by aisles on all four sides.

L

Lanai

A guest room that has a balcony or patio overlooking a water or garden feature.

Late charges

Hotel charges billed to the guest room that were not settled (paid) on departure by a hotel guest.

Late check out

A guest departing at a later than usual time. Sometimes hotels will allow later departure with certain dates or deals, or offer this option for an extra fee.

Lifestyle Brand

A group of hotels operating under the same brand that is adapted to reflect current trends. 

Limited-Service Hotel

The same as Select-Service Hotel. A property that offers limited facilities and amenities, typically without a full-service restaurant. These hotels are often in the Economy, Midscale, or Upper Midscale class.

Lodging Tax

The same as Hotel Occupancy Taxes. These are levied on overnight guest room stays and are set by states/provinces and local governments.

LOS or Length of Stay

The duration or total number of nights that a guest spends with a hotel.

Lose-It Rate

The rate at which a hotel would be better off leaving a room unsold than selling at that particular rate. For transient individual reservations, it is usually called a “hurdle” rate in an automated revenue management system. In non-automated revenue management, it is usually termed the “Group lose-it rate” because the complex calculation is only done for groups where the revenue result can have a major impact on the hotel revenue.

LRA or Last Room Availability

A combination of negotiated and group rates that allow agents to book a hotel’s last available room at a contracted rate.

Luxury Hotel

A type of hotel characterized by luxurious decor, architecture, and extensive amenities.

M

MAR

An acronym for Minimum Acceptable Rate. This is the lowest rate that a hotel will accept from a group as determined by displacement analysis.

Market

In the U.S., a Market is defined as a geographic area composed of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (i.e. Atlanta), a group of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (i.e. South Central Pennsylvania), or a group of counties (i.e. Texas North).

Outside the U.S., a market can be defined as a city, region, or country with at least 30 participating hotels. A market must contain a sufficient number of hotels to permit further subdivision into submarkets and price segments.

Mattress Run

An idiom to describe a traveler who is staying several nights to rack up points for their frequent stay program specific to that hotel chain.

Merchant Model

A payment structure seen with online travel agencies that requires the hotel to pay for the OTA service at the time of booking.

Merchant Rate

A business model used by OTAs to markup net hotel rates to sell to the public at a profit margin.

MICE

An acronym for Meetings, Incentives, Conference, & Exhibitions (or Events) which is a segment within the group travel marketplace.

MOD

An acronym for Manager on Duty. Usually referred to simply as duty manager.

Motel

Motels commonly have a one or two-floor layout and guests access their rooms directly from the parking lot. Motels typically have a more utilitarian construction than other lodging types.

N

Net Rate

A hotel rate given to travel agents and tour companies that can be marked up and sold at a higher rate to their end customers.

New Build Hotel

A property built from the ground up, not a conversion or building that was not previously a hotel.

No-Show

Term for reservations where the confirmed party does not show nor contact the hotel to cancel or change the reservation.

O

Occupancy

The measure of hotel fill or occupancy calculated by dividing the total number of rooms occupied by the total number of rooms available. For example, if a hotel is running at an average of 50% occupancy, half its rooms are typically booked.

Occupancy Forecast

A prediction of occupancy for a set period that helps hotels define their business goals. Usually communicated as a number of rooms or percentage of total rooms available.

OTA

An acronym for Online Travel Agents. These are Internet-based hotel and travel reservation systems. Hotels typically provide inventory to OTAs, which sell the rooms in exchange for a commission. Examples include Expedia, Booking.com, Trivago, etc. These organizations are typically limited to 1 to 9 rooms. Whereas, GroupSync operates in the 10+room block market.

Other Revenue

The term for group revenue that is not derived from room blocks or food and beverage. For example, spa services or parking fees.

Outside Vendor

The term to describe any supplier that is not in-house nor a preferred vendor of the hotel.

Overbooking

The circumstance when more rooms are sold than are physically available to sell.

P

Partition

A portable wall or barrier that is wheel-mounted and can be used to divide a large space into smaller spaces.

Pax

A term to describe the total number of people or passengers.

Peak Night

The term for the date of an event where the room block is at its largest size.

Peak Season

The season or set of dates where demand is greatest and occupancy for a hotel is at its highest level.

Pet-Friendly Hotel

A pet-friendly hotel allows guests to stay with their pets, such as dogs, cats, and sometimes other animals. Additional fees or deposits may apply.

Pipe & Drape

The term to describe tubing and drapery that separates individual booths or stations. Usually constructed of lightweight aluminum poles.

Plus Plus (++)

Tax and gratuities are identified as “++” when they are not included in the price.

PMS

An acronym for Property Management System. This is a software system meant to coordinate various functions at a hotel, including bookings, accounting, point of sale, payroll, and sales and marketing, among others.

Positive Space

The term used to describe a confirmed reservation.

PP

The abbreviation of Per Person.

PPPN

An acronym for Per Person, Per Night.

Preferred Rate

A negotiated rate between the hotel and a specific client.

Proposal

This is the response from a hotel brand or property to a buyer or meeting planner who has solicited a bid for a meeting or event.

Protected

A contractual guarantee from a supplier or wholesaler to reimburse an agent commission and client on prepaid confirmed bookings, regardless of cancellation.

Prototype

In a hotel context, prototype refers to a new set of design standards issued by a hotel brand for its properties.

PRPN

An acronym for Per Room Per Night

Q

Qualified Rate

A rate that is only offered based on qualifications such as a corporate rate or a promotional package.

Quick Set

A meeting room setup template that reduces turnover times and work between events and thus results in a price break for the group selecting this option.

Quad

Shorthand for quadruple. A type of hotel guest room that can accommodate four overnight guests.

Quin

Shorthand for quintuple. A type of hotel guest room that can accommodate five overnight guests.

R

Rack Parity

A pricing strategy in which a travel supplier, such as a hotel, maintains the same price across all its various distribution channels.

Rack rate

The normal price for a room, before any offers or discounts are applied.

RBO

An acronym for Rental By Owner. These are accommodations, which vary from beds in shared rooms to entire homes and buildings, that are owned by individuals and made available to travelers via marketplaces like Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway.

Receiving Fee

A fee charged by a hotel for handling packages that are delivered on behalf of guests or groups.

Repeat Booking

When repeat business is booked on behalf of the same client at the same hotel or venue.

Resort or Resort Property

A hotel property located in a destination where the primary source of business is from leisure travel. Examples are Orlando/Disney World, Lake Tahoe, California, and Maui, Hawaii. All-inclusive hotel are often Resort Properties.

Revenue Management

The ongoing process and analysis of property and market data to predict demand and adjust hotel rates up or down accordingly.

RevPAR or Revenue Per Available Room

A metric used to calculate the performance of a hotel in regard to guest room bookings. RevPAR is calculated by dividing total guest room revenue by the total number of available rooms. RevPAR differs from ADR because RevPAR is affected by the amount of unoccupied available rooms, while ADR shows only the average rate of rooms actually sold.

RevPAR Yield or Index

A RevPAR yield or index measures a hotel’s fair market share of their segment’s competitive set revenue per available room. If a hotel is capturing its fair market share, the index will be 100; if capturing less than its fair market share, a hotel’s index will be less than 100; and if capturing more than its fair market share, a hotel’s index will be greater than 100.

RevPOR or Revenue Per Occupied Room

A metric used to calculate the performance of a hotel in regard to occupied rooms. RevPOR is calculated by dividing total guest room revenue by the number of occupied rooms actually being sold. The total revenue includes all revenue generated by an occupied room, such as room service, dry cleaning, spa sales, and more. RevPOR differs from RevPAR because RevPAR takes unoccupied rooms into account by multiplying overall occupancy.

RFI or Request for Information

A solicitation for information sent to a hotel or venue to request further details. These are generally less complex than a Request for Proposals (RFP).

RFP

An acronym for Request For Proposal. Typically this is a request from a buyer or meeting planner to a hotel brand or property requesting rates, dates, and information when sourcing a destination or property.

RMS or Revenue Management System

A software system that allows hotels to effectively and efficiently make use of real-time property and market data to make more informed revenue management decisions such as calculating the ideal room rate based upon the interplay of supply and demand.

RO

An acronym for Room Only. This type of booking excludes meals or any extra services.

ROH or Run Of House

A description of a basic room type with no guaranteed specific amenities or location within the property.

Room Block

A set or count of guest rooms reserved to accommodate a single group such as attendees to a conference, wedding, or event. Room blocks are typically available at a set rate for a set period with only certain customers able to book them.

[READ MORE] The Ultimate Hotel Room Block Checklist

Room Class

A grouping of guest rooms based on similar physical or value characteristics. Examples might include: ocean view, ADA-compliant, suites, etc.

Room Nights

Total room nights are calculated by multiplying the total number of guest rooms blocked or occupied by the number of nights the rooms are reserved.

Room Rack or Rooms Management

A continually updated tracking system that indicates which guest rooms are occupied, vacant, or unavailable.

Rooms Available

This measure is used to estimate guest room supply. Rooms Available is calculated by multiplying the number of rooms in a hotel or set of hotels by the number of days in a specified time period.

Rooms Sold

This measure is used to estimate guest room demand. Rooms Sold is calculated by multiplying the number of rooms sold in a hotel or set of hotels by the number of days in a specified time period.

Rooms to Space Ratio

A metric used to calculate the performance of a hotel in regards to the amount of meeting space an event uses compared to the number of guest rooms they occupy. This ratio is calculated by dividing the total guest rooms booked by the total meeting space used.

Rooms Yield

A metric used to calculate the performance of a hotel in regard to guest room revenue per room. Rooms Yield is calculated by averaging revenue from all rooms, divided by the number of rooms in a hotel, and divided by 365 nights.

S

Select-Service Hotel

A type of hotel property also known as limited-service or focused-service which has room-only operations or offers limited services and amenities. These hotels do not generate significant food and beverage revenue.

Serviced Apartments

A type of extended-stay accommodation that typically includes a suite with a full kitchen. Unlike extended-stay hotels, many serviced-apartment properties don’t have amenities such as 24-hour front desks, free breakfasts, manager’s cocktail hour, etc. Serviced apartments are more common in Europe and Asia than in North America.

Shoulder Nights

A description of the nights preceding or following Peak Nights where occupancy is generally lower than the peak.

Shoulder Season

A description of the period adjacent to the peak season but with generally lower occupancy, but not the lowest occupancy period of the year.

[READ MORE] How to Plan a Great Trip with Budget in Mind 

Site Inspection

An in-person evaluation of the hotel and event space by a planner usually before booking the property.

SMERFE

An acronym for affinity groups including Sports–Military–Educational–Religious–Fraternal–Ethnic organizations. This is a significant vertical market within group business.

Spa hotel

A hotel property with an onsite spa facility and full-time staff offering spa treatments.

Stay Pattern Management

A hotel revenue management process that seeks to make optimum use of the hotel’s inventory capacity. This is done by studying the stay patterns over a period of time and offering rate differentials, minimum and maximum length of stay, etc. to ensure optimal occupancy.

Stop Sell

The act of closing off access to room inventory within a distribution channel for a particular hotel to avoid being overbooked during a period when the property is sold out.

STR

An acronym for Smith Travel Research, a provider of data collection and informational insights relating to supply and demand metrics for the hospitality industry.

Suburban Hotel

A property located in the suburbs of a metropolitan market. Examples are Sag Harbor and White Plains, New York, near New York City, and Croydon and Wimbledon near London. Distance from the center city varies based on population and market orientation.

T

Timeshare

The description of a property that typically is a resort condominium unit, in which multiple parties hold property use rights, and each timeshare owner is allotted a period of time when the property may be used.

Total Revenue

Aggregate revenue from all hotel operations, including rooms sold, F&B, parking, laundry, phone, and other services.

Transient Business

The segment of hotel business comprised of individual bookings as opposed to bookings from a group.

Transient Rooms

The number of guest rooms occupied by those with reservations at rack, corporate, corporate negotiated, package, government, or foreign traveler rates. Also includes occupied rooms booked via OTAs or third-party websites This excludes groups of 10 or more rooms which are defined as Group Rooms.

TRevPAR or Total RevPAR

An acronym for Total Revenue Per Available Room. This is the sum of net revenues from all operating departments in addition to rentals and other income per available room for the time, divided by the total available rooms during a specified time period.

Turn

The process of completely changing a meeting room set-up from one event to the next. 

Two-Pack Hotels

The description of a conjoined property of two hotels that share resources, such as back-of-house operations or other infrastructure, but operate separately.

U

Unconstrained Demand

The total theoretical demand for a hotel property unconstrained by physical capacity limitations.

Unqualified Rate

Rates offered to hotel guests without restrictions or conditions for booking.

Urban Hotel

A hotel located in a densely populated area in a large metropolitan area. (e.g. Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, London, Tokyo).

U-Shape Set

Room set-up or arrangement arranged in the shape of the letter U, where chairs may be lined only around the outside perimeter of the tables.

V

VAT

An acronym for Value-Added Taxes. These are levies, similar to sales taxes, on goods and services, including hotel stays, seen in various countries and regions around the globe. These taxes are paid by consumers.

W

Walk

Used to describe moving guests to a nearby hotel when overbooking occurs and the guest cannot be accommodated at the initial property.

Walk-in

A guest who arrives at a hotel with no prearranged reservation or booking.

War Room

Another term for the office for meeting on-site staff.

Wash

A term to describe the discrepancy between the group room block and the total number of rooms in the block that are actually booked.

Wholesaler

A third-party organization that purchases guest room inventory and resells to website sites, distribution channels, extranets, or other merchants.

Y

Yield Management

The process of determining the right rate to price a hotel room for the right customer at the right time. Yield management differs from revenue management because it only encompasses the revenue generated through room charges or occupancy.

Streamline Your Meeting Planning with GroupSync

Now that you’re familiar with the essential hotel industry terminology, take your event planning to the next level with GroupSync, the revolutionary platform from Groups360 that simplifies the hotel booking process.

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• Search, source, and book group rooms and meeting spaces in one place
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• Manage all your events in a centralized dashboard

Ready to transform your hotel sourcing process? Visit Groups360.com today to learn more about how GroupSync can save you time, reduce costs, and revolutionize your approach to booking hotels for meetings and events.

GroupSync helps you navigate the complex world of hotel sourcing with ease, allowing you to focus more on creating exceptional experiences and less on administrative tasks. Whether you’re planning a small corporate meeting or a large wedding, GroupSync provides the tools and technology you need to succeed.

Don’t let hotel jargon and outdated booking processes slow you down. Join the thousands of meeting planners who have already discovered the power of GroupSync and take control of your hotel sourcing today.