Resiada Term Glossary

A

Access code: A set of characters used to restrict access to a specific group.

Acknowledgement: Confirmation provided to the Attendees after completion of a housing reservation online. Acknowledgement will provide all basic information of the reservation.

Act of God: An extraordinary natural event such as extreme weather, flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquake or similar natural disaster that cannot be reasonably foreseen or prevented. Over which a contracting party has no reasonable control, making performance of the contract illegal, impracticable or impossible, thus the parties have no legal responsibility to continue performance of the contract.

ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. legislation passed in 1992 requiring public buildings (offices, hotels, restaurants, etc.) to make adjustments meeting minimum standards to make their facilities accessible to individuals with physical disabilities.

Addendum: A legal document to increase the room block, clarify or modify the information in the original contract.

Adjacent: Hotel room that is across from each other without a common door

Adjoining: Hotel room that is next to each other without a common door

Allotment: A block of negotiated rooms which are reserved and held by a third party or Sub Block.

API: API or Application Programming Interface, provides a set of fixed rules and specifications that define interactions between software components.

App stores: An app store is a digital distribution platform for the distribution and downloading of mobile apps.

App submission: app must be submitted for approval to the app stores in order to be publicly available for download in app stores. Apple and Google Play both require that an app is submitted for approval via a company’s branded developer account.

Arrears: Reservations which have a balance owing and have been placed on hold with admin approval.

Attendee/Registrant/Participant: A person attending a meeting or convention requiring housing and/or registration

Attrition: A clause in a hotel contract referring to the percentage of rooms that must be filled in order to avoid paying a penalty. The difference between the actual number of sleeping rooms picked-up (or food-and beverage covers or revenue projections) and the number or formulas agreed to in the terms of the facility’s contract. Usually there is an allowable shortfall before damages are assessed.

Attrition Clause: Contract wording that outlines potential damages or fees that a party may be required to pay in the event that it does not fulfill minimum commitments in the contract.

Attrition Fees: Fees associated with unused rooms in a contracted room block.

Audit: A methodical examination and review of records pertaining to an event. For instance, an independent verification of attendance figures submitted by an exhibition’s producers.

Availability: The number of vacancies possible for a specific type of accommodation for a certain set of dates.

Average Daily Rate (ADR): A system used to measure the average rate paid over multiple room nights. It is calculated by dividing the total room cost by the number of nights.

Average length of stay: The total room nights in your block divided by the number of reservations. It’s used to keep track of block performance in attracting and keeping guests in house. Formula: Total occupied room nights / Total bookings.

Average room rate: Commonly known as the average daily rate, the rate that represents the block’s average rate per occupied room.

B

Banquet Event Order (BEO): A form most often used by hotels to provide details to personnel concerned with a specific food and beverage function or event room set-up.

Best Available Rate (BAR): The lowest available rate across platforms at the time of booking.

Bill to Master: This tag indicates that the organizer will be paying room + tax for the guest's room. Resiada facilitates the application of this tag, the hotel will invoice the organizer for the sum of the rooms. An arrangement whereby guest’s charges are transferred by the hotel to an Accounts Receivable for payment by the association.

Block:

1. Total number of rooms reserved for an event.
2. A number of rooms, seats, or space reserved in advance for a group.
3. To assign space.

Block of rooms: The rooms contracted to the event at one hotel.

Booking Engine: The software used to process and secure online reservations made through a hotel's website.

Booking Window: Also referred to as lead time, is the period of time from when a reservation is made by and their check-in date.

Break-Out Rooms: Small function rooms set up for a group within an event as opposed to a plenary or general session.

Breakout Meeting: Breakout meetings are collaborative workshop style virtual meeting. These can either be moderated or used freely by attendees.

BRD: The BRD or Badge Requirement Document is a document that outlines the overall design of a badge. This includes the Font, image, logic for name, ribbon names, QR code or barcode, etc.

Budget: Budget hotels and motels are reasonably priced accommodations and are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. lodging industry. In general, they provide a room with a bed, TV, telephone and shower as well as free parking. They often do not have room service or a restaurant.

Bulk Reservations: Tool to upload Rooming lists and create many reservations at once.

Bypass: In Resiada, Bypass indicates that the reservation fee will not be paid by the guest. Fee will be paid by the client.

C

Cancellation Policy: If a meeting is canceled after the contract is signed and after a designated date. The hotel has the right to charge a substantial penalty to recoup their loss of revenue.

Cancellation/ No-Show Percentage: A factor included in WASH. The number/percentage of rooms that did not materialize (either canceled or no-showed on the check-in date).

Central Reservation System: The hotel’s internal software used to manage distribution and hotel room bookings.

Chatbot: A Chatbot or Chat Robot is an AI designed program that simulates a conversation with human users by communication through text chats, voice, or both.

Check-In: Procedure for hotel guests arrival and registration.

Check-In Time: Time at which hotel guests may check in and occupy sleeping rooms.

Check-Out: Procedure for hotel guest departure from their sleeping room including account settlement.

Check-Out Time: Time set by facility when hotel guests are required to vacate sleeping rooms.

Citywide (Event or Meeting): A large convention or event, usually requires the use of multiple hotels in the host city. An event that requires the use of a convention center or event complex, as well as multiple hotels in the host city.

Commission: A payment made to an individual or organization for bringing business to the hotel. Typically a percentage of the room rate that is returned for housing services, often between 7%-10%.

Complimentary: (Comp) Service, space or item provided at no charge.

Comp Over/Above: A room or suite at no charge allocated to the convention block over & Above the contracted earn policy.

Complimentary Ratio: The number of rooms provided at no cost based on the number of occupied rooms.

Complimentary Room: A sleeping room or function room provided to an individual or organization at no cost.

Concessions: Value added perks, such as complimentary room upgrade, waived parking fees, complimentary WiFi, suite upgrades, food & beverage discounts, VIP amenities, etc. Or merchandise/refreshments sold on site, to individuals, in conjunction with an event.

Concierge: Facility staff which provides special services such as tickets to local events, transportation, and tour arrangements. Or a designated area in a facility providing special amenities and services to guests.

Conference: Participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact-finding, problem solving and consultation. An event used by any organization to meet and exchange views, convey a message, open a debate or give publicity to some area of opinion on a specific issue. No tradition, continuity or periodicity is required to convene a conference. Although not generally limited in time, conferences are usually of short duration with specific objectives. Conferences are generally on a smaller scale than congresses.

Conference Center: A facility that provides a dedicated environment for events, especially small events. May be certified by the International Association of Conference Centers.

Conference Service Coordinator: Primary contact person assigned to an event in a convention center

Conference Call: Telephone or video connection between three or more persons.

Confirmation: Oral or written agreement by a facility to accept a request for accommodation; to be binding the agreement must state the intent of the parties, the particular date, the rate, type of accommodations, and the number to be accommodated; oral agreement may require a credit card number. (**Confirmed Reservation)**

Confirmation Number: Number generated by a hotel to confirm and reference the reservation in their PMS/CRS. Proof of Reservation.

Confirmation Letter: Letter to speakers, acknowledging that a commitment has been made between the speaker and the organization, outlining information about the event.

Connecting Rooms: Two or more guest rooms with private connecting doors permitting access between rooms without having to go into the corridor .

Container App: A container app enables other applications to run smoothly within it without meddling with other applications or security settings of the mobile device.  Most event app platforms have a container app that houses all events built in their platform. This is an option for a native app that does not require a client to have their own developer accounts.

Contract: An agreement between two or more parties that creates in each party a duty to do or not do something and a right to performance of the other's duty or a remedy for the breach of the other's duty.

Contracted rate: The cost per room night that the hotel provides event attendees in exchange for the event planner’s bulk room purchase.

Convention and Visitors Bureau (**CVB**): Convention and visitor bureaus are not-for-profit organizations charged with representing a specific destination and helping the long-term development of communities through a travel and tourism strategy. Convention and visitor bureaus are usually membership organizations bringing together businesses that rely on tourism and events for revenue. For visitors, CVBs are like a key to the city. As an unbiased resource, CVBs can serve as a broker or an official point of contact for convention and event planners, tour operators and visitors. They assist planners with event preparation and encourage business travelers and visitors alike to visit local historic, cultural and recreational sites.

Convention: An event where the primary activity of the attendees is to attend educational sessions, participate in meetings/discussions, socialize, or attend other organized events. There is a secondary exhibit component.

Convention Center: Facility that combines an exhibition space with a substantial number of smaller event spaces. The purpose of these buildings is to host trade shows, public shows, conventions, large food functions and other functions related to the convention industry. They May be purpose built or converted and municipally or privately owned.

Convention Rate: Rates assigned for a particular group. This is usually a discounted rate.

Convention Services Manager (CSM): Professional at a hotel, convention center or convention bureau who is responsible for event operations management on all levels.

Corporate Rate: Special rate for sleeping rooms or other goods and services that is made available to business travelers. These rates may vary by corporation, depending on the negotiated agreement.

Credit Card Authorization (CCA) Form: Also known as a Third party billing form, is a form that must be completed by the card holder to authorize use of their credit card, when the credit card cannot be presented at check-in.

Credit Card Guarantee: A hotel booking method of payment which collects but does not immediately charge a credit card for deposit purposes.

Cut-Off Date: Designated date when the facility will release a block of sleeping rooms to the general public. The date is typically three to four weeks before the event. The date the association must stop accepting reservations and forward the last rooming list to the hotel. Any unused rooms are released back into the hotel’s inventory.

D

Dark Channel: Hotel Branding channel found on Televisions in the guest’s rooms.

Delegates: More commonly referred to as your attendees, people attending your event.

Deluxe: A top-grade hotel, all rooms have a private bath; all the usual public rooms and services are provided, a high standard of decor and services are maintained.

Deposit: An amount of money used to guarantee or show “promise” to a hotel reservation

Direct Billing: Accounts receivable made available to individuals or firms with established credit.

Discount Code: A code applied to a reservation to award a credit to a guest's room. Resiada communicates this to the hotel using the rooming list who will then apply the comped fees to the Bill to Master account.

Double: A guest room assigned to two people.

Double Room: A sleeping room occupied by two people. The room may have one or more beds of any type in it.

Double-Double Room: A sleeping room with two beds that is occupied by two persons.

Double Bed: Bed measuring 53-by-75 inches (135-by-191 centimeters).

Double Room Rate: The price per person for a sleeping room to be shared with another person.

Duplicate Guest: A reservation in Resiada which has an identical reservation (first name, last name and email)

E

Early Arrival: When a hotel guest with a confirmed reservation requests to check in to his/her room prior to the scheduled date and/or check-in time.

Earned Comp: A hotel room or suite that is awarded through the selling of other inventory. Typical ratio is 1/50

Exhibit: Individual display area constructed to showcase products, services or convey a message.

Exhibitor: Person or firm that displays its products or services at an event. Event attendee whose primary purpose for attending the event is to staff a booth/stand.

Exhibition Center: Venue at which exhibitions are held.

Exhibit Hall: Area within the facility/venue where the exhibition is located.

Exhibit Booth/Stand: Individual display area constructed to showcase products or convey a message.

Exhibit Directory: Program or catalog for attendees listing exhibitors and exhibit booth/stand location.

F

Final Hotel Pickup: The number of rooms a registrant actually stayed in per night per hotel.

Final Report: Conclusive summary of conference events.

First Class and Luxury: Many luxury hotels in the U.S. exist in large cities, offering a number of special services to the business and leisure traveler. A U.S. first class hotel offers, for example, first rate restaurants, banquet and conference rooms, valet service, room service, cable TV and complimentary morning newspapers.

Folio: A collection of charges and payments incurred or made by a guest or corporate account.

Force Majeure: An extraordinary natural event such as extreme weather, flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquake or similar natural disaster that cannot be reasonably foreseen or prevented over which a contracting party has no reasonable control, making performance of the contract illegal, impracticable or impossible, thus the parties have no legal responsibility to continue performance of the contract. See Act of God

G

Global Distribution System (GDS): Web based reservation tool used globally by travel agents for making reservations for air, hotel, car and other travel service bookings. Common GDS’s include Sabre, Galileo, Apollo and Amadeus.

Group Booking: Reservation for a block of sleeping rooms specifically for a group.

Group Rate: Confirmed rate extended to attendees booking their sleeping room accommodations as part of a group room block

Group Resume: Hotel Bible, General summary of everything that is important to the incoming group that each department in the hotel receives and brings to the Pre-con.

Guarantee: A promise of commitment to provide a minimum amount of sleeping rooms, F&B, or other revenues. Usually there is financial liability if the commitment is not met. The final number of persons to be served is usually required at least 48 hours in advance of a food & beverage event.

Guaranteed Late Arrival: Sleeping room that is guaranteed by credit card or advance payment in the event a guest's arrival is later than a hotel's pre-determined arrival time.

Guaranteed Payment: A hotel reservation secured by the guests' agreement to pay for his room whether he uses it or not.

Guaranteed Reservation: Prepaid reservation held until agreed arrival time, or check-out time the next day, whichever occurs first. Guests are responsible for payment if the reservation is not canceled.

H

Headquarters: Facility, as the center of operations, where registration, general sessions, and conference staff office are located.

Headquarter Hotel (HQ): Host or main hotel where the main group of attendees stay and official functions are held.

Hold: Also referred to as a courtesy hold, is the act of taking a block of rooms or a meeting space from inventory, for a designated amount of time, to allow a client to reach a final booking decision, without a financial obligation.

Hospitality Suite/Event: Room or suite of rooms used to entertain guests. An event in the US usually separate from the exhibit, in which refreshments are served and exhibitor personnel and visitors socialize.

Hosted Payment System: The system that presents a web page where payment information is securely collected.

Hotel Accommodation: Sleeping Room(s) at a hotel and rooming arrangements; usually specifying the hotel classification in terms of its amenities, facilities, level of service and cost.

Hotel Classifications: There is no official classification or accepted rating system for U.S. hotels, but the following definitions are generally understood:

• Budget: Budget hotels and motels are reasonably priced accommodations and are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. lodging industry. In general, they provide a room with a bed, TV, telephone and shower as well as free parking. They often do not have room service or a restaurant.
• Deluxe: A top-grade hotel, all rooms have a private bath; all the usual public rooms and services are provided a high standard of decor and services are maintained.
• First-class/Luxury: Many luxury hotels in the U.S. exist in large cities, offering a number of special services to the business and leisure traveler. A U.S. first class hotel offers, for example, first rate restaurants, banquet and conference rooms, valet service, room service, cable TV and complimentary morning newspapers.
• Moderate: These hotels account for nearly 75% of available U.S. hotel rooms. They have on-site restaurants, bars and perhaps conference rooms, as well as the basic services.
• Tourist Economy or Second-class: Budget operations; most have private baths; services may be very limited.

Hotel Reservation: A contract between the hotel to provide a guest room on certain dates at a certain rate and the guest who agrees to use the hotel on the specified dates and at the agreed upon rate (and any other terms). If the guest breaches the reservation contract by being a no-show or failing to cancel on time, the hotel is owed damages. The usual term is the payment of one-night's room rate (they shouldn't charge you if they sell out. They also shouldn't charge tax unless required by state or local law).

Housing Management: Every organization has a unique set of housing management needs. Resiada provides housing management on a case by case basis after review of needs.

Housing Manager Commission: The housing management company receives a percent of the room rate. In lieu of charging a service fee.

Hybrid Meeting: Hybrid meetings are meetings or events that feature at least one group of in person/face-to-face attendees connecting virtually with other meeting attendees. Hybrid Meetings combine the benefits of live and virtual interaction between presenters, in-person attendees, and virtual attendees.

I

Incidentals: Incidental charges are any purchases or costs of items and or services that are made while at the hotel, such as room service, phone calls, and valet parking. Expenses other than room and tax, billed to a guest’s account.

Integration: Integration is the process of connecting a third-party app to a website to share data from one system to the next.

Inventory: The number of available rooms for sale.

IPO: Individual Pays Own.

L

Loyalty program: A hotel’s marketing program that offers rewards to guests for frequent bookings within the hotel’s suite of venues.

M

Master Account: A record of transactions during an event where the resulting balance is paid directly by the group. May Include room, tax, incidentals, food and beverage, audiovisual equipment, decor, etc. Also Called master bill.

Merchant Provider: A company which allows the movement of money.

N

No-Show: A person who fails to appear to claim a confirmed reservation and makes no explanatory contact to advise the hotel they will not arrive. Depending on the hotel policy, the guest may be subject to a fee or full stay charge.

O

Occupancy: Number of people staying in a room

Occupancy rate: The percentage of how many rooms from the hotel’s total number of rooms are currently occupied.

On Peak: The number of rooms available on the night with the highest availability. (This number is a good measure of total reservations expected)

Opt-In: An email marketing campaign that only sends messages to users who have requested (or opted-in) to receive specific types of information. Email conference reminders and newsletters are examples of opt-in email marketing campaigns based upon permission marketing.

Overbooked: When the total number of rooms reserved exceeds the number of rooms available. Or oversold airline flights.

Overbooking: The practice of confirming more seats or rooms than are actually available. Suppliers state they must overbook to compensate for the high rate of no-show passengers.

Overflow: Attendees booked into other facilities after headquarters facilities are full.

Overflow Housing Link: A link to publicly sourced rooms after your contracted rooms are fulfilled.

P

Peak nights: The nights during the event when the most rooms are occupied.

Per Diem: Some event attendees, such as government employees, have a limited amount of money they can spend per day on food and other expenses. Daily allowance for items like food, lodging, etc.

Per Diem Room: Government rate room.

Per Person: Daily allowance for things like food, lodging, etc. Goods or services priced and/or purchased according to the number of guests expected to attend the event.

Performance: An agreement that the hotel block must meet particular expectation (numbers) to determine fees for other services/accommodations

Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Information, like name, address, social security number, etc., that can be used to identify a specific, individual person. There are sensitive and non sensitive forms of PII.

Pick-Up: Number of facility guest rooms actually used out of a room block. Inventory that has been booked and confirmed into reservations.

Post Conference: Any event which is arranged for the period immediately following the conference proper.

Post-Con Meeting: A meeting at the primary facility at which an event occurred just after it has ended. Attendees generally include the primary event organizer, representatives of the event organizer/host organization, department heads at the facility, other facility staff as appropriate, and contractors. The agenda focuses on evaluating the implementation of the event; It often includes a final review of bills with accounts payable.

Pre-Con Meeting: A meeting at the primary facility where an event will take place, just prior to the event beginning. Attendees generally include the primary event organizer, representatives of the event organizer/host organization, department heads at the facility, other facility staff as appropriate, and contractors. The agenda focuses on reviewing the purpose and details of the event and making final adjustments as needed.

Processing Fee: Resiada’s fee which can have a markup added and be paid by the guest.

Property Management System (PMS): An administrative system used for reservation, availability and occupancy management.

R

Rack Rate: Keys held on rack in little boxes, concierge can see how many rooms are available pre technology, rate is based on what is currently available

Rate: Cost of room/suite (room rate is based on occupancy, suite rate is based on the number of units)

Rate Parity: Rate parity is the practice of providing and maintaining the same rates for the same room on all distribution channels.

Rebate: A return of the room rate by the hotel to cover other costs.

Registrant: Individual who has submitted a registration form and attends an event.

Registration: Process by which an individual indicates his intent to attend a conference or stay at a property. A method of booking and payment. The process of recording data about an attendee (or exhibitor), sending a confirmation and creating a badge to be used on-site.

Reversal: A refund issued before the credit card charge is processed.

Room block management: The process of securing and managing hotel room blocks for your event’s attendees.

Room Block: A group of rooms set aside by the hotel for your event. Total number of sleeping rooms that are utilized and attributable to one event.

Room Deposit: Money that must be paid in advance in order for a hotel to guarantee to hold a room.

Room Nights: Number of rooms blocked or occupied multiplied by number of nights each room is reserved or occupied.

Room Pick-Up: The number of sleeping rooms actually used by event attendees and exhibitors.

Room Rate: The amount charged for the occupancy of a room.

Room Type: A form of categorization to distinguish rooms set by the hotel.

Rooming List: A list, whether printed or electronic, by which an event organizer and/or their designates (e.g. a housing bureau) delivers multiple reservations to a hotel or other housing facility. Often the information contained in a rooming list is originally gathered through attendees’ completed Housing Forms. Or a list of guests and their accommodation needs, presented to a hotel by a group prior to a meeting/event.

Run of House (ROH): A category that describes a mixture of all categories (style, size, bedding) a hotel has to offer. Listing rooms without a specific room in mind. Room types can be requested, but the assigned room will be determined based on the hotel’s availability.Rooms given at random according to availability when the reservations are made. 2) Flat rate for which a hotel or motel agrees to offer any of its available rooms (with the exception of suites) to a group. Final assignment of rooms is at the discretion of the hotel.

S

Shoulder nights: Off-peak nights when attendees want to extend their stay beyond the days of your event.

Shuttle Service: Transportation for participants; usually by coach or van, provided on a continuous basis for a certain time period.

Site Inspection: In-person on-site review and evaluation of a venue or location for an event.

Site Selection: Other companies provide site selection which includes contract negotiation. We do not, though we do have preferred contacts if requested. Site Selection is always commission based on nightly rates sold.

Special Rate: An amount charged for the occupancy of a room, usually at a reduced rate and negotiated as a group rate by the conference organizers.

Spouse: Husband or Wife of an event attendee.

Sub Blocks: Sub groups of rooms. Generally divided by attendee type or payment preferences (Discount, Bill to Master) determined by the organizer. The segmenting of your room block inventory, generally to be accessed by different groups.

Surcharge: Charge over and above established rates, such as an energy surcharge.

SLA: Service level agreement

T

Timeline: A chronological schedule of pre-meeting planning activities

Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT): Tax placed on hotel/motel room rentals. Generally, All or part of revenues thus generated is used in financing the operation of convention facilities. Also called Bed Tax, Room Tax, Hotel Tax.

Transient: Any reservation that comes in that isn’t pre negotiated, reservations made by the general public

Transient Trends:

U

Upgrade: A higher room category charged at a lesser rate

User experience (UX): A term to describe all aspects of the end user’s interaction with an Application

W

Waitlist: A reservation request that is pending one or more nights before it can be confirmed. Waitlisted reservations do NOT have a confirmed reservation. A waitlist consists of reservation requests that your current inventory cannot fulfill. The report can be used to request additional rooms from the hotel.

Waitlisted Reservation: A reservation is waitlisted when the requested category of room is not available for the requested dates.

Walked: Term used when a guest has a reservation, yet the hotel is not able to honor the reservation due to being oversold. Guests are relocated by the hotel.

Wash: The difference between the number of reservations at cut-off date and the number of final reservations at the end of an event. Can be positive or negative and be expressed as a number or percentage. The difference between the number of rooms reserved at cut off and the number of reservations actualized. This may be a decrease or an increase depending on the habits of your group.