Glossary
Glossary of hotel and back office terms.
Plain-English definitions of the words used at the front desk, in the stores and in hotel accounts, with links to guides that go deeper.
About this glossary
This glossary defines 41 hotel and back office terms, from ADR and RevPAR to folio, night audit, meal plans, par stock and three-way matching.
- ADR (average daily rate)
- Room revenue divided by rooms sold for a night or period: the average price you got per sold room. Read more →
- Aged receivables
- A report of what companies, agents and guests owe, grouped by how long it has been outstanding (current, 30, 60, 90+ days). Read more →
- Allotment
- A block of rooms a hotel holds for a tour operator or agent for a period, released if not used by an agreed date. Read more →
- Analytic account
- A tag on revenue and costs that lets you report by department (rooms, food, bar) or by property without separate ledgers. Read more →
- Bed and breakfast (B&B)
- A meal plan where the rate includes the room and breakfast. Read more →
- Business date
- The hotel's accounting day. It changes when the night audit is run, not at midnight. Read more →
- Charge to room
- A payment method at the restaurant or bar that puts the bill on an in-house guest's folio, to be paid at check-out. Read more →
- City ledger
- Accounts receivable for companies, agents and departed guests with an amount on account, as opposed to in-house folios. Read more →
- Cost per occupied room (CPOR)
- Rooms department costs divided by rooms sold: what it costs to service each sold night. Read more →
- Day use
- A room sold for part of a day without an overnight stay, usually at a reduced rate.
- Deposit
- Money taken against a booking before arrival, shown on the folio and deducted from the final balance. Read more →
- Folio
- The running bill for a stay: every charge, deposit and payment from check-in to check-out. Read more →
- Food cost percentage
- Cost of food used divided by food revenue × 100. Read more →
- Full board (FB)
- A meal plan where the rate includes the room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Read more →
- GOPPAR
- Gross operating profit per available room: gross operating profit divided by rooms available. Read more →
- GRN (goods received note)
- The record of what a supplier actually delivered and you accepted, made at receiving. Read more →
- Guest ledger
- The total of in-house guests' folio balances: what guests currently staying owe. Read more →
- Half board (HB)
- A meal plan where the rate includes the room, breakfast and one other meal, usually dinner. Read more →
- Housekeeping status
- The condition of a room: dirty, clean, inspected or out of order, shared between housekeeping and reception. Read more →
- Lead time
- The number of days between placing an order and the stock being ready to use. Read more →
- Meal plan
- What meals a rate includes: room only, bed and breakfast, half board or full board. Read more →
- Night audit
- The daily close of the front office: posting room charges, handling no-shows, balancing the day and rolling the date. Read more →
- No-show
- A guest with a confirmed booking who neither arrives nor cancels. Read more →
- Occupancy rate
- Rooms sold divided by rooms available × 100. Read more →
- OTA (online travel agency)
- A website that sells hotel rooms for a commission, such as Booking.com or Expedia. Read more →
- Out of order (OOO)
- A room that can't be sold because of repairs or deep cleaning, removed from availability. Read more →
- Par stock
- The standard quantity a department store should hold, topped up to that level on each issue. Read more →
- PMS (property management system)
- Software that runs reservations, rooms, the front desk and guest billing. Read more →
- Pour cost
- Cost of drinks used divided by bar revenue × 100. Read more →
- Purchase order (PO)
- A document sent to a supplier listing what you are ordering, at what price and for when. Read more →
- Rack rate
- A room's standard published rate before discounts or agreed rates. Read more →
- Rate plan
- A set of prices for room types, often with seasons, such as a standard rate or a corporate rate. Read more →
- Requisition
- A department's written request to the stores for items it needs. Read more →
- RevPAR
- Revenue per available room: room revenue divided by rooms available, or occupancy × ADR. Read more →
- Room only (RO)
- A rate with no meals included. Read more →
- Room planner
- A chart of rooms by night showing every booking, used to assign and move stays. Read more →
- Three-way matching
- Checking a supplier's invoice against the purchase order and the goods received before paying. Read more →
- TRevPAR
- Total revenue (rooms, food and beverage, other) per available room. Read more →
- USALI
- The Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry: a standard layout for hotel financial statements by department. Read more →
- Variance (stock)
- The difference between the stock you counted and the stock the records say you should have. Read more →
- Walk-in
- A guest who arrives without a booking.
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Last updated by the Tivuzo team.