Hotel words, plainly explained.
Plain-English definitions of the terms hoteliers use every day, from ADR to walk-in. Handy for training new staff.
A
ADR (average daily rate)
Room revenue divided by the number of room nights sold. It tells you the average price a sold room actually earned.
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How it is calculated
ADR = room revenue ÷ room nights sold
If you sold 40 room nights yesterday for BDT 200,000 of room revenue, your ADR was BDT 5,000.
Why it matters
ADR shows whether your pricing holds up. A rising occupancy with a falling ADR often means discounts are doing the work. Look at ADR next to occupancy and RevPAR rather than on its own.
Where you see it in RoomAnchor
The night audit stores ADR for every closed day, and it appears on the dashboard, the Manager's daily report and the Occupancy and revenue report.
ARI (availability, rates and inventory)
The bundle of information a channel manager sends to booking sites: how many rooms are free, what they cost and which restrictions apply.
B
BAR (best available rate)
The standard public price for a room on a given night, which other rates are often linked to with a discount or supplement.
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Using BAR as an anchor
Set BAR as your main room only plan and link other plans to it: bed and breakfast at a fixed supplement, a non-refundable saver at a percentage off, a corporate rate below that. When BAR changes for a season or a busy weekend, every linked plan follows.
In RoomAnchor, linked plans follow the parent's prices and closures with a percentage or fixed adjustment, up to three levels deep.
BEO (banquet event order)
The printed running sheet for an event, with sessions, rooms, food and beverage and dietary notes, shared with the kitchen and banquet team.
BIN (business identification number)
The VAT registration number issued to businesses in Bangladesh. When your organisation's country is Bangladesh, RoomAnchor labels the tax number BIN on invoices.
Booking engine
The part of a hotel website where guests check availability, choose rooms and rates and book, often paying a deposit online.
Business date
The trading day the property is working in. It moves on when the night audit closes the day, not at midnight.
C
Cancellation policy
The rules for when a guest can cancel without charge and what they pay after that. Guests see the wording at checkout.
Cashier shift
A cashier's session at the desk or till, opened with a float and closed with a counted cash total that is compared with the takings.
Channel manager
Software that keeps availability, rates and restrictions in step across booking sites and brings their bookings back into the PMS.
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What it does
A channel manager pushes availability, rates and inventory (ARI) out to many booking sites at once and pulls bookings, changes and cancellations back. When a room sells anywhere, every other site sees one less room.
In RoomAnchor
The channel manager is coming soon. iCal calendars for Airbnb and Vrbo will come first, then booking sites through a channel hub. A connection will only go live once every active room type and rate plan is mapped or marked as not sold there, and failed pushes will retry automatically and flag the connection.
Channel mapping
Linking each of your room types and rate plans to the matching room and rate codes on a booking site, so updates land in the right place.
City ledger
The accounts receivable ledger for companies and travel agents who are billed on account rather than paying at check-out.
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How it works
A company with an agreed account stays with you, and instead of the guest paying at check-out, the folio moves to the company's account. You send a statement and allocate payments against it when they arrive.
In RoomAnchor
Finance → Accounts receivable keeps company and travel agent accounts with payment terms, credit limits and linked guests, with balances aged into buckets so you can see who is overdue.
CTA and CTD (closed to arrival, closed to departure)
Restrictions that stop guests arriving, or leaving, on a particular date while still letting stays run through it.
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When to use them
- Closed to arrival on a busy Saturday stops one-night Saturday arrivals while still accepting guests who arrive on Thursday or Friday and stay through.
- Closed to departure on a Friday stops short stays that would leave a gap in the middle of a weekend.
In RoomAnchor
Revenue → Rates & availability. Click a cell on the rate calendar or use bulk updates to set closed, closed to arrival or closed to departure per date, rate plan and room type.
D
Departure clean
A full clean of a room after the guest checks out, preparing it for the next arrival.
Deposit
Money taken in advance to secure a booking. In RoomAnchor the deposit policy on a rate plan decides how much is asked for when a guest books online.
Direct booking
A booking made straight with the property, on its own website, by phone or at the desk, with no booking site commission to pay.
E
Early check-in and late check-out
Letting a guest into the room before the standard check-in time, or stay past the standard check-out time, sometimes for a fee.
F
Float
The cash placed in a drawer at the start of a shift so the cashier can give change. It is subtracted when the drawer is counted at the close.
Folio
A guest's running bill: every charge, payment and the balance still owed. A booking can have more than one folio.
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What goes on a folio
Room charges, taxes and fees, extras added at the desk, and anything charged to the room from the restaurant, spa or activities. Payments and refunds sit on the same folio, and the balance is charges minus payments.
In RoomAnchor
Every booking gets a primary guest folio. Room charges follow the booking automatically, so changing the dates changes the folio. Open a second folio for split billing, and use folios without a booking as house accounts. Items closed by the night audit are locked, and corrections become adjustments.
G
GST (goods and services tax)
The name used in several countries, such as Australia and India, for a broad consumption tax similar to VAT.
H
House account
A folio that is not tied to a booking. Hotels use house accounts for outlet takings, the spa, activities or internal charges.
I
iCal calendar sync
Exchanging calendar files (.ics) with sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo to block booked dates. iCal carries dates only, with no prices or guest details, and updates on a delay.
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How it works
Each room gets a calendar link. The booking site reads your link to block dates you have sold, and RoomAnchor reads the site's link to import its bookings.
Limits to know
- Dates only. Prices, restrictions and guest details do not travel over iCal.
- Delays. Sites refresh your feed on their own schedule (Airbnb says about every three hours). Two guests can book the same dates in that gap.
RoomAnchor's iCal sync is coming soon with the channel manager. It will import calendars every 15 minutes, and its export feed will never contain guest details.
K
KOT (kitchen order ticket)
The order lines sent from the register to the kitchen. In RoomAnchor they appear on the kitchen screen with how long each table has waited.
L
Lead time
The number of days between the date a booking is made and the arrival date.
Length of stay
The number of nights in a booking. Average length of stay helps plan housekeeping and set minimum stay rules.
Linked rate
A rate plan that follows another plan's prices and closures, plus or minus a percentage or fixed amount.
M
Market segment
A way of grouping bookings by where they came from, such as direct, corporate, travel agent or OTA, to see which sources earn the most.
Meal plan
What food is included with the room: room only, bed and breakfast, half board (breakfast and dinner), full board (three meals) or all inclusive.
Minimum and maximum stay
The shortest and longest stay allowed for a guest arriving on a given date. Seasons can also set a minimum stay.
N
Night audit
The end-of-day close: checking arrivals and departures, posting the night's charges, locking the day and recording the day's figures.
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What happens during the audit
- Bookings that never arrived are reviewed, and can be marked as no-shows.
- Guests who were due to leave but are still in house are flagged before the day can close.
- Room charges for the night are posted.
- The day is locked so its figures cannot change.
- The day's numbers are stored: occupancy, room and other revenue, tax, ADR, RevPAR, payments by method, arrivals, departures, no-shows, cancellations and new bookings.
In RoomAnchor
Finance → Night audit. The audit time is set under Settings → Front office, and Settings → Billing & night audit can run it automatically at that time.
Non-refundable rate
A cheaper rate paid in full at booking that is not refunded if the guest cancels. It trades flexibility for a lower price.
No-show
A confirmed booking whose guest did not arrive on the arrival day and did not cancel.
O
Occupancy
Room nights sold as a share of the rooms available to sell. Rooms that are out of order are not counted as available.
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How it is calculated
Occupancy = room nights sold ÷ rooms available × 100
Thirty rooms sold in a 40 room hotel with no rooms out of order is 75% occupancy.
Things to watch
- Out of order rooms reduce what is available, so taking rooms out for repairs raises occupancy on paper. Read occupancy next to the out-of-order rooms report.
- Complimentary rooms and house use count as sold nights in most hotels. Agree a rule and keep it.
On the books and pickup
On the books is the business already confirmed for a future date. Pickup is how much was added over a recent period, such as the last seven days.
OTA commission
The share of a booking's value that a booking site keeps. In RoomAnchor, commission statements are tracked with supplier bills under Finance → Payables.
OTA (online travel agency)
A booking site that sells rooms for hotels in return for a commission, such as Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia or Airbnb.
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How OTAs work with your property
You load rooms, rates and availability onto the OTA, guests book there, and the OTA charges you a commission on each stay. OTAs bring reach, especially with international travellers, but every booking costs a share of its value.
Keeping OTAs in step
Without a channel manager, availability has to be changed by hand on each site, which is where overbookings come from. RoomAnchor's channel manager is coming soon. It will connect to booking sites through a channel hub and, for Airbnb and Vrbo style calendars, through iCal. Today, OTA bookings are entered with the source OTA, and commission can be tracked under Finance → Payables.
Out of order and out of service
Out of order removes a room from sale for a date range. Out of service keeps it sellable, but it cannot be assigned to a guest.
Overbooking
Selling more rooms than are available, either on purpose to cover expected cancellations or by accident when channels are out of step.
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Deliberate and accidental overbooking
Some hotels sell a room or two beyond capacity on nights with a history of late cancellations and no-shows. Most overbookings, though, are accidents: the same room sells on two sites before anyone updates availability.
In RoomAnchor
Two staff members can never sell the last room twice. The overbooking allowance under Settings → Front office sets how many rooms beyond availability staff with override rights may sell. When the channel manager launches, a channel booking that arrives with no free room will still be accepted, flagged as overbooked and staff will be alerted so they can rearrange or relocate.
P
Par level and reorder level
Par level is the stock you want on hand. Reorder level is the point at which you order more to top back up to par.
Payment gateway
The service that takes an online payment and confirms it to the property. RoomAnchor supports Stripe, SSLCommerz and bKash, with SSLCommerz and bKash for BDT only.
Payment link
A link sent to a guest so they can pay an amount online through the property's payment gateway, for example a deposit for a phone booking.
PMS (property management system)
The central system a hotel runs on: reservations, the front desk, rooms, billing, housekeeping and reports.
POS (point of sale)
The system restaurants and bars use to take orders, send them to the kitchen and settle bills, including charging them to a guest's room.
Promotion and promo code
A discount that applies automatically to eligible stays, or only when the guest enters a code. When several apply, the best eligible discount wins.
R
Rack rate
The full published price of a room before any discount, package or negotiated rate. Many hotels now use BAR instead.
Rate plan
A way of selling a room type at a price with its own rules: meal plan, cancellation and deposit policy, minimum stay and whether it is public or private.
RevPAR (revenue per available room)
Room revenue divided by the rooms available to sell, or ADR multiplied by occupancy. It combines price and occupancy in one number.
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How it is calculated
RevPAR = room revenue ÷ rooms available, which is the same as ADR × occupancy.
A 50 room hotel that earns BDT 150,000 of room revenue in a night has a RevPAR of BDT 3,000.
Why it matters
RevPAR rewards the balance between filling rooms and holding price. Selling every room at a deep discount and holding a high price with half the hotel empty can both produce a weak RevPAR.
Where you see it in RoomAnchor
RevPAR is stored with every night audit and shown on the Manager's daily report and the Occupancy and revenue report. Out of order rooms are removed from the rooms available.
Room inspection
A supervisor's check of a room after cleaning. The room is only ready for the next guest once it passes.
S
Season
A date range that raises or lowers prices across your rate plans, optionally only on certain weekdays and with a minimum stay.
Service charge
A percentage added to the bill by the property, often shared with staff. In RoomAnchor you set it up with your taxes and fees, as a percentage that is included in the price or added on top.
Split billing
Dividing one stay's charges across two or more folios, for example the company pays the room while the guest pays for meals and extras.
Stayover service
A service clean of an occupied room during a guest's stay. RoomAnchor plans stayovers at the frequency set in the housekeeping settings.
Stop sell
Closing a room type for sale on a date even though rooms are still free, for example to hold rooms for a group or a renovation.
T
Tax invoice
A numbered invoice that shows the seller's tax registration number (such as a BIN in Bangladesh) and a breakdown of the tax charged.
TRevPAR (total revenue per available room)
All revenue, including food, beverage, spa, events and other income, divided by the rooms available. Useful for resorts and hotels with busy outlets.
Turndown service
An evening visit to an occupied room to tidy, close curtains and prepare the bed.
V
VAT (value added tax)
A tax charged on the sale of goods and services. Hotels apply it to rooms, food and other charges at the rate set by law.
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Inclusive or added
A tax can be included in the price shown to the guest or added on top. RoomAnchor supports both: inclusive taxes are recorded on each line, and added taxes are posted as their own folio lines.
Set your taxes under the property's taxes and fees, and check the rates and rules that apply to your business with your accountant.
W
Walk-in
A guest who arrives at the property without a booking and is checked in on the spot.
Work order
A maintenance job tracked from the moment a fault is reported until it is fixed, with priority, assignment, photos and updates.
See it working with your own rooms.
A 30 minute call with someone who has run a front desk. Bring your questions and your room list.