Hotel Humor Glossary

Welcome to the World’s Most Overbooked Dictionary

If you’ve ever sat through a revenue meeting and thought, “Did I accidentally join a different language track?” — you’re not alone.
Hospitality has its own dialect: half business, half chaos, and 100 percent caffeine.

This page is your translation guide — equal parts dictionary, therapy session, and survival kit.

Whether you’re onboarding a new front-desk hero, explaining RevPAR to ownership, or just trying to survive budget season with your sanity intact, the Hotel Humor Glossary has your back.

So grab a coffee (or something stronger). Let’s decode the language of the lobby.

Hotelisms: Words That Deserve Overtime Pay

Real Jargon. Real Meaning. Real Hospitality Energy.

Short, sharp, and probably muttered under someone’s breath during a shift.

Heads in Beds
Occupancy. The goal, the metric, the religion.

Rack ’Em and Stack ’Em
Sell everything now, figure it out later.

Move the Needle
Corporate for “let’s hope something works.”

Rate Fence
Rules that keep discount chaos in check.

Bleisure
Business trip with bonus pool time.

ADR Envy
When your comp set charges more and you pretend you’re fine.

Put Them in the Dungeon
Assigning the room with the worst view.

Guest from Hell
Impossible guest, eternal legend.

Dress Rehearsal
Soft opening where nothing is ready.

Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Staff
When management outnumbers the actual team.

Nothing Good Happens After Night Audit
Night-shift truth. Chaos always finds a way.

Back When the Room Rack Was a Wall, Not a Widget

Old School Hotel Lingo

Before apps, dashboards, and digital keys, there were ledgers, call sheets, and real buckets. These classics remind us where hospitality started and why we’ll never take Wi-Fi for granted again.

Bucket Check – Nightly ritual comparing room cards to actual guests; part audit, part archaeology.
Sleeper – Room marked vacant but secretly occupied.
Skipper – Guest who left without paying; the original Houdini.
DNCO (Did Not Check Out) – Ghost folio haunting the night audit.
Scanty Baggage – Guest with minimal luggage, maximum suspicion (very old school).
House Count – Manual tally of arrivals, stayovers, due outs, and out of order rooms; pure stress math.
Night Audit – The caffeine Olympics of accounting.
Flash Report – Daily scorecard of glory or doom.
PBX – The switchboard command center before “Contact Center AI.”
OOS vs OOO – Out of Service means short break. Out of Order means emotional damage.
Folio Jacket – Paper folder that walked so your PMS could run.
Rack Rate – Literal rate card hung on the wall rack; the ancestor of “dynamic pricing.”
House Use – Internal room for staff, VIP storage, or creative accounting.
Bucket Drop – Hand off to accounting at shift end; basically clocking out with paperwork.

The Official Dictionary of Hotel Survival (A–Z)

Acronyms, Lingo & Terms You’ll Actually Use (and Maybe Pretend to Know)

Because even the pros double-check definitions sometimes.
Real meanings, quick reads, and a touch of honesty.

A

AA (Advance Authorization) – Pre-payment or pre-check approval before arrival.
ADR (Average Daily Rate) – Room revenue ÷ rooms sold.
ADR Index – ADR compared to comp set; a rate-performance benchmark.
AEO (AI Engine Optimization) – The new SEO, built for AI-driven search.
Amenity Creep – When “free coffee” becomes kombucha and chaos.
API (Application Programming Interface) – Connection letting systems share data.
ARR (Average Room Rate) – Regional cousin of ADR.
ARRR (Average Room Revenue per Reservation) – Total room revenue ÷ reservations.
Attrition – Group rooms that vanish before arrival; followed by awkward calls.

B

B&B (Bed and Breakfast) – Rate or property type including breakfast.
Banquet Check – Final invoice for group food & beverage.
BAR (Best Available Rate) – Lowest unrestricted public rate for a given date.
BEO (Banquet Event Order) – Event order detailing menus and setups.
Blackout Dates – When promo rates and points are off-limits.
Block (Group Block) – Allotment of rooms held for a group or event.
Bleisure – Business trip that ends at the pool bar.
BOG (Booked Out Group) – A group block that actually fills.
BOH (Back of House) – Behind-the-scenes areas guests never see.

C

CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) – Money for renovations or big-ticket items.
Channel Mix – Your distribution recipe: OTAs, brand.com, GDS, direct.
Comp Room – Freebie for goodwill, influencers, or group leaders.
Comp Set (Competitive Set) – Hotels used for performance comparison.
CPOR (Cost Per Occupied Room) – Operating cost ÷ rooms sold.
CRS (Central Reservation System) – Manages rates, inventory, and distribution.
CVB (Convention & Visitors Bureau) – Local org promoting tourism.
Cut-Off Date – When unsold group rooms return to general inventory.

D

Day Use – Room booked for the day only. No judgment.
DNCO (Did Not Check Out) – Guest vanished, folio didn’t.
DOS (Director of Sales) – Leads the revenue cavalry.
Dress Rehearsal – Soft opening where nothing is ready.
Dynamic Pricing – Adjusting rates based on demand and competition.

E

Early Departure Fee – Charge for leaving before the reserved checkout.
EBITDA – Profit before the boring stuff: interest, taxes, etc.

F

FAM Trip (Familiarization Trip) – Hosted visit for agents or media.
FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) – Everything you sit on or plug in.
Flash Report – Daily scorecard of glory or doom.
FOH (Front of House) – Guest-facing areas.
FOM (Front Office Manager) – Leader of check-ins, chaos, and charm.
Forecast – Best-guess of future performance. Often revised by noon.
Frictionless Check-In – No line, no paper, no problem.

G

GDS (Global Distribution System) – Travel-agent booking networks.
GM (General Manager) – The hotel’s CEO, therapist, and firefighter.
GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) – Profit ÷ available rooms.
Group Wash – Difference between blocked and actual pickup.
Guest Folio – Itemized list of charges you hope are all correct.
Guest from Hell – Impossible guest; eternal legend.
GSS (Guest Satisfaction Survey) – How corporate measures feelings.

H

Heads in Beds – Occupancy. The goal, the metric, the religion.
HK (Housekeeping) – Department that makes everyone look good.
Hold Time – How long before a caller loses faith.
House Count – Daily tally of arrivals, stayovers, due-outs, and chaos.
House Use – Room reserved for staff or storage.
Hurdle Rate – Minimum rate accepted before closing lower ones.

I

IDS (Internet Distribution System) – Feeds rates to OTAs.
In-House Guest – Currently checked-in human.
Inventory – Rooms available for sale.

J

Junior Suite – Almost a suite. Almost.

K

Key Drop – Old-school checkout: drop the key, trust the process.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) – Your boss’s favorite acronym.

L

Lead Time – Days between booking and arrival.
Local Negotiated Rate (LNR) – Discount for nearby corporate clients.
LOS (Length of Stay) – Nights per reservation.
Lost Business Report – Tracks the groups you didn’t book.
LTV (Lifetime Value) – Total revenue one guest could bring you.

M

Market Segment – Traveler type: corporate, leisure, group, etc.
MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) – Group business in bulk.
Move the Needle – Corporate for “please make something happen.”
MLOS (Minimum Length of Stay) – Booking must span X nights or try elsewhere.

N

Night Audit – Overnight reconciliation; caffeine optional, chaos guaranteed.
No-Show – Reservation that never arrived.
Non-Refundable Rate – Cheaper because you’re committed.
NPS (Net Promoter Score) – How likely guests are to recommend you (or not).

O

OCC % (Occupancy Percentage) – Rooms sold ÷ rooms available × 100.
OOS / OOO (Out of Service / Out of Order) – Temporary or tragic maintenance.
Overbooking – Mathematical optimism.
Overstay / Understay – Guests who ignore checkout or leave early.
OTA (Online Travel Agency) – Booking.com, Expedia, your love-hate relationship.

P

P&L (Profit & Loss) – Where dreams meet accounting.
PAR (Per Available Room) – Common performance denominator.
PBX – Old-school phone command center.
Pickup – New bookings over a set period.
Pipeline – Future confirmed and tentative group business.
PMS (Property Management System) – The hotel’s brain (and occasional migraine).
POS (Point of Sale) – Handles restaurant or spa transactions.
PPC (Pay Per Click) – Online ad cost per click.

R

Rack Rate – Highest published room rate pre-discount.
Rack ’Em and Stack ’Em – Sell first, panic later.
Rate Fence – Rules that keep discount chaos in check.
Rate Parity – Consistent pricing across all channels.
RFP (Request for Proposal) – Formal group bid process.
RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) – Room revenue ÷ rooms available.
RGI (Revenue Generation Index) – Your RevPAR ÷ comp set RevPAR.
Room Night – One room sold for one night.
Run of House (ROH) – Booking without guaranteed room type.

S

Scanty Baggage – Guest with light luggage and heavy suspicion.
Segmentation – Breaking business into traveler types or sources.
Shoulder Night – Low-demand night between peaks.
Shoulder Season – Between high and low season; everyone exhales.
SKIPPER – Guest who left without paying.
Sleeper – Room marked vacant but still occupied.
SMERF – Social, Military, Educational, Religious, Fraternal groups.
Soft Hold – Tentative booking; commitment issues in spreadsheet form.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) – How to do it the same way every time.
Stay Pattern Management – Balancing rate and length-of-stay strategy.
STR Report – Industry report comparing performance to comp set.

T

TRevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room) – Total hotel revenue ÷ rooms available.
Transient Guest – Independent traveler, not in a group.
Turn – Clean and prep a room for the next guest.
Turn the House – Reset every room before check-in; the ultimate sprint.
Turnaway – Potential guest declined due to rate or availability.

U

Upsell / Upgrade – Encourage or move guest to higher category.
Upsell Conversion Rate – Percent of upsell offers accepted.

V

VCC (Virtual Credit Card) – Single-use OTA payment method.
VIP Arrival – Full-team panic disguised as hospitality.

W

Walk / Walked Guest – Relocating a guest to another property.
Walkie Etiquette – Sounding calm while everything’s on fire.
Wash Factor – Adjustment for expected group pickup shortfall.
Wholesaler – Buys inventory at net rates for resale.

Y

Yield Management – Adjusting price & inventory to maximize revenue.

Z

Zero Balance – Folio with no remaining charges.
Zero Out – Close the day clean; the dream.

Why This Exists 

Hospitality isn’t just an industry it’s a full-contact sport with a secret code.
This glossary was built for hotel people, by hotel people, who think acronyms are a love language.
It’s funny because it’s true and it’s keyword-rich because, well, SEO is the new OTA.

Bookmark it. Share it with your team.
And next time someone drops “our OCC is down but GOPPAR is up” in a meeting, just nod knowingly.
You’re fluent now.