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Glossary of Terms
Central Reservation System (CRS)
The application used to manage the distribution of hotel room inventory in a multiple property environment. CRS is used to manage guest reservations through multiple distribution channels including GDS, online travel sites i.e. Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc, hotel website and telephone (via call center or direct to property).
Dynamic Packaging
The ability to create hotel packages based on the various components selected by a guest when they are making a reservation.
Electronic Distribution
The channels of distribution that include GDS, Online Travel Sites and Online Reservation Booking Engines. These distribution channels can be accessed through the Internet, an intranet or through an interfaced connection.
Global Distribution System (GDS)
The comprehensive online travel and reservation platform provided by Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus and Worldspan. Travel agents worldwide use these systems to book airline, car, hotel and other travel arrangements for their customers. GDS is also used extensively by online travel sites i.e. Expedia to power the content on their websites.
Hotel Inventory
The number of hotel rooms available to distribute/sell across all booking channels.
Interface
A direct connection between two networks. An interface frequently refers to the connection between a property management system and various hotel applications such as a central reservation system (CRS), point of sales systems (POS), online reservation booking engine, GDS, etc.
Internet Distribution System (IDS)
Hotel room inventory distribution via the Internet. One example would be Online Travel Sites such as Expedia, etc.
Occupancy
The measure of how full a hotel is. This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of rooms occupied by the total number of rooms available i.e. 65% occupancy.
Online Travel Site
Also referred to as Online Travel Agencies (OTA). A Website that offers consumers a wide variety of travel options as well as the ability to make online reservations. Examples include Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, etc.
Online Reservation Booking Engine
An application that resides on a hotel website that allows guests to shop for rooms and complete reservations.
Over Booking
The process of confirming reservations beyond a hotel’s capacity or available room inventory. This is done in expectation of guest cancellations or no-shows.
Property Management System (PMS)
Also referred to as Property Management Software. An application used by hotels to manage activities such as guest bookings, online reservations, point of sale transactions, telephone calls, folios, etc. Hotel property management systems may interface with other applications such as central reservation systems, yield management systems, front office, back office and point of sale systems.
Yield Management Also known as Revenue Management
The process of understanding, anticipating and reacting to consumer behaviour - using this information via a software application to control the supply and price of hotel inventory in order to achieve maximum revenue or profit, by managing availability, room types, stay patterns, etc.