Hotel operations glossary.
Plain-English definitions for the finance, labor, and operations terms multi-property operators use every day.
The terms that matter
A
- ADRAverage Daily Rate
- Total rooms revenue divided by rooms sold. The headline rate metric every hotel P&L starts with.
- ARRAverage Room Rate
- Synonym for ADR — total rooms revenue divided by rooms sold over a given period.
- A/PAccounts Payable
- Money the hotel owes to vendors. Modern A/P workflows replace paper checks with Virtual Cards and ACH, with OCR-driven invoice capture.
- A/RAccounts Receivable
- Money owed to the hotel — group bills, direct bills, OTA settlements. A/R aging discipline is a leading indicator of cash health.
B
- BARBest Available Rate
- The lowest non-restricted public rate offered for a given date. The reference rate most rate-parity and OTA contracts pivot on.
C
- ChargebackDisputed Card Transaction
- A guest- or card-issuer-initiated reversal of a settled transaction. Catching and contesting chargebacks is core revenue protection.
- Comp SetCompetitive Set
- The group of properties you benchmark against in STR reports. Usually 4–6 hotels in the same market, segment, and price tier.
- CPORCost Per Occupied Room
- Departmental expense divided by occupied rooms. Used to control variable cost per stay — housekeeping CPOR is the most-watched flavor.
D
- Direct BillCorporate / Group Billing
- An arrangement where charges are billed to a company or group account instead of collected from the guest at checkout.
E
- EFTPOSTender Reconciliation
- The matching of card and cash settlement totals from the PMS to merchant batches and bank deposits — a core night-audit step.
F
- F&BFood and Beverage
- All food and beverage outlets — restaurant, bar, banquet, room service. F&B reconciliation matches POS to PMS folio postings nightly.
- FITFree Independent Traveler
- Individually booked transient guests (not group, not contract). Usually the highest-rate segment in the mix.
- FolioGuest Folio
- The guest's transaction record for a stay — room charges, incidentals, taxes, payments. The reconciliation unit for night audit.
G
- GLGeneral Ledger
- The master record of all financial transactions — QuickBooks, M3, Sage Intacct, or Profitvue in hotel contexts. Innrly pushes coded invoices into the GL of choice.
- GOPGross Operating Profit
- Revenue minus departmental and undistributed operating expenses. The line ownership and lenders watch most closely.
- GOPPARGross Operating Profit Per Available Room
- GOP divided by available rooms. Normalizes profitability for portfolio comparison across asset sizes.
H
- House ProfitHouse Profit
- Revenue minus departmental and undistributed expenses, before management fees, fixed charges, and ownership costs. Often used interchangeably with GOP.
L
- LOSLength of Stay
- Average number of nights per reservation. Long-LOS extended-stay economics differ materially from transient — tax treatment, housekeeping cadence, and rate logic all change.
M
- Manager's ReportDaily Flash Report
- The morning packet GMs and owners read first — yesterday's revenue, occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, and pace vs forecast and last year.
- MPORMinutes Per Occupied Room
- Total housekeeping minutes divided by occupied rooms cleaned. The labor productivity metric GMs should track daily.
N
- Night AuditEnd-of-Day Close
- The nightly process that closes the books on a hotel day — posts charges, reconciles tender, and produces the morning packet.
- No-ShowNo-Show Reservation
- A confirmed reservation that never arrived. Properly billed no-shows are often the highest-margin line on the property's books.
- NRevPARNet Revenue Per Available Room
- RevPAR adjusted for distribution costs like OTA commissions. A truer measure of revenue the property actually keeps.
O
- OTAOnline Travel Agency
- Third-party booking channels like Booking.com and Expedia. Commission and chargeback reconciliation is the single highest-ROI back-office task.
P
- PaceBooking Pace
- Cumulative reservations on the books for a future date vs the same point last year. The leading indicator revenue managers price against.
- PickupRooms Pickup
- Net new reservations added between two snapshots — a daily measure of demand momentum.
- PMSProperty Management System
- The system of record for reservations, folios, and night audit. Opera, choiceADVANTAGE, SynXis, OnQ, Cloudbeds, and Mews are the most common.
R
- REVPORRevenue Per Occupied Room
- Total revenue (rooms + F&B + ancillary) divided by occupied rooms. Captures the wallet share full-service hotels earn per stay.
- RevPARRevenue Per Available Room
- Rooms revenue divided by rooms available. Combines occupancy and ADR into one productivity number.
S
- STR ReportSmith Travel Research Report
- The industry benchmark report comparing your property's occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR against a defined competitive set.
T
- TRevPARTotal Revenue Per Available Room
- All revenue (rooms + F&B + ancillary) divided by available rooms. The best top-line measure for full-service hotels.
U
- USALIUniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry
- The standardized chart of accounts and reporting framework ownership groups, lenders, and buyers expect. Current edition: USALI 11.
W
- Walk-InWalk-In Reservation
- A guest who books at the front desk without a prior reservation. Walk-in ADR is typically higher than rate-shopped channels.
- WalkedWalked Guest
- A confirmed reservation relocated to another hotel because the property was oversold. Walked-guest cost (rebook + transport + comp) is a watched exception.