Glossary

Hotel and aparthotel terms, defined

Hotel people speak in acronyms. ADR, RevPAR, OTA, CTA. Here's what each one means, in a sentence or two, and for the numbers, how to work them out yourself.

By Matthieu Ghins5 min readupdated 1 October 2026

At a glance

ADR is room revenue divided by rooms sold.
RevPAR is room revenue divided by rooms available, or ADR multiplied by occupancy.
Occupancy is rooms sold divided by rooms available.
A PMS runs reservations and the stay; a channel manager keeps OTAs in sync with it.

ADR (average daily rate)

The average price paid for a room on the nights it was sold. ADR = room revenue ÷ rooms sold. A hotel that earns €12,000 from 100 room-nights has an ADR of €120.

ALOS (average length of stay)

How many nights a booking lasts on average. ALOS = room-nights ÷ number of bookings. Aparthotels and serviced apartments usually run longer stays than hotels, which changes how often rooms turn over and how housekeeping is planned.

Aparthotel

A building of self-contained apartments, usually with a kitchen, let by the night with some hotel services such as cleaning and a reception or a digital check-in. It sits between a hotel and a serviced apartment.

BAR (best available rate)

The lowest unrestricted rate a guest can book for a given night, before discounts for loyalty, corporate contracts or packages. Other rates are often set as a percentage of it.

Booking engine

The part of a hotel's own website where a guest picks dates, sees prices and books and pays directly, without an OTA in between.

Channel manager

Software that sends a property's availability, rates and restrictions to OTAs and other sales channels, and brings their bookings back, so a room sold in one place closes everywhere else.

Comp set (competitive set)

The handful of nearby properties a hotel compares its prices and performance with. A good comp set is chosen for the same guests, not only the same street.

CTA and CTD (closed to arrival, closed to departure)

Restrictions that stop a stay from starting (CTA) or ending (CTD) on a given date, while the night itself stays bookable as part of a longer stay.

Direct booking

A booking made with the property itself, through its website, phone, email or messaging, rather than through an OTA. The property pays no OTA commission on it and keeps the relationship with the guest.

Dynamic pricing

Changing room prices by date as demand, pickup and the market move, instead of a fixed rate per season.

Extended stay

Stays of a week or more, often for work or relocation. Properties built for them offer kitchens, laundry and weekly rather than daily cleaning.

Folio

The running account of a stay: every night, extra and payment, and the balance the guest or a company still owes. A booking can have more than one folio, for example one for the company and one for the guest's extras.

GDS (global distribution system)

The networks travel agents and corporate booking tools use to book hotels, such as Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport.

GOPPAR (gross operating profit per available room)

Profit rather than revenue per room. GOPPAR = gross operating profit ÷ rooms available. It shows whether higher revenue cost more to win than it brought in.

Hotel operating system

One platform that runs the property management system together with the work around it, such as distribution, guest messaging, housekeeping, revenue and finance, on one set of data instead of separate tools joined by integrations.

Housekeeping status

Whether a room is ready: typically dirty, clean, inspected, or out of order. Reception can only give a room to an arriving guest once it is clean or inspected.

Minimum stay (MinLOS)

The fewest nights a booking must cover when it includes a given date, used to avoid single nights that are hard to sell between longer stays.

No-show

A guest who neither arrives nor cancels. What the property may charge depends on the rate's cancellation policy and the guarantee taken at booking.

Occupancy rate

The share of rooms sold. Occupancy = rooms sold ÷ rooms available. 80 rooms sold out of 100 is 80% occupancy.

OTA (online travel agency)

A booking site that sells rooms on a property's behalf in return for a commission, such as Booking.com, Expedia or Airbnb.

OTA commission

The share of a booking's value an OTA keeps. The percentage is set in the contract with each OTA and can rise with visibility programmes. The direct booking calculator shows what moving bookings to direct is worth at your own rate.

Overbooking

Selling more rooms than exist for a night, by accident when channels are out of sync, or on purpose to cover expected cancellations and no-shows.

Pickup

How many room-nights were booked for a future date over a recent period, such as the last seven days. Rising pickup is a signal to hold or raise prices.

PMS (property management system)

The system of record for a property: rooms, reservations, guests, check-in and check-out, and the bill. Most other hotel software connects to it.

Rate parity

Offering the same price for the same room and conditions on every channel. Whether a property must keep parity depends on its OTA contracts and the law where it operates.

Revenue management

Selling the right room to the right guest at the right price through the right channel: forecasting demand and setting prices and restrictions from it.

RevPAR (revenue per available room)

Room revenue spread over every room the property had, sold or not. RevPAR = room revenue ÷ rooms available, which is also ADR × occupancy. €120 ADR at 80% occupancy is a RevPAR of €96.

Serviced apartment

A furnished apartment let for short or long stays with services such as cleaning and linen included, often in a building run by one operator.

Tourist tax (city tax)

A local tax on overnight stays, charged per night, per person, per room or as a percentage of the price, depending on the city. The property usually collects it and declares it to the authority.

TRevPAR (total revenue per available room)

Like RevPAR, but counting all revenue: rooms, food and drink, parking, extras. TRevPAR = total revenue ÷ rooms available.

Turnover

Preparing a room or apartment between one guest's departure and the next guest's arrival: cleaning, linen, restocking and a check. Same-day turnovers have the least time.

Unified inbox

One place for every guest conversation, whether it arrives by email, WhatsApp, an OTA's messaging or the phone, kept against the guest's booking.

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