Whether you are a traveller trying to understand what a "booking engine" is, or a hotelier decoding your PMS contract — this glossary covers every term you will encounter in the direct hotel booking world. No jargon, no fluff.
Software embedded in a hotel's own website that allows guests to check availability, select room types, and complete a reservation — without going through an OTA. A booking engine is what makes direct booking possible at scale. StayDirectAI provides AI-guided booking engine capability to partner hotels.
A platform like Booking.com, Expedia, MakeMyTrip, or Goibibo that aggregates hotels and takes a commission (typically 15–30%) on each booking completed through its platform. OTAs drive discovery but at significant cost to the hotel.
A reservation made directly with the hotel — via the hotel's website, phone, WhatsApp, email, or a direct booking platform. No OTA commission is paid. The hotel retains the guest's data and controls the entire experience.
The central software a hotel uses to manage reservations, room assignments, check-in/check-out, billing, and housekeeping. Popular PMS platforms in India include Opera, Hotelogix, eZee, and RoomRaccoon. A booking engine connects to the PMS to update availability in real time.
Software that connects a hotel's PMS to multiple OTAs and booking platforms simultaneously, updating room availability and rates across all channels in real time. This prevents double-bookings and reduces manual work.
A clause in OTA contracts that requires hotels to list the same room rate on the OTA as on their own website. Rate parity clauses have been widely criticised because they prevent hotels from offering genuinely lower direct rates. Several countries have restricted or banned them.
The lowest publicly available rate for a hotel room on a given night — the starting point for pricing. OTA contracts often require hotels to offer their BAR on the platform, which limits how much flexibility hotels have to reward direct bookers.
A core hotel performance metric: total room revenue divided by total available rooms. RevPAR = Occupancy Rate × ADR. Increasing direct bookings improves RevPAR because the hotel keeps more revenue per room after removing OTA commission.
The average revenue earned per occupied room per day: Total Room Revenue ÷ Number of Rooms Sold. ADR is a key measure of a hotel's pricing performance and is used alongside RevPAR and occupancy rate.
The percentage of available rooms that are occupied on a given night: Rooms Occupied ÷ Rooms Available × 100. A hotel with 50 rooms that sells 38 rooms on a night has a 76% occupancy rate.
A large B2B booking network — like Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport — that connects hotels with travel agents, corporate travel managers, and airlines. More relevant for business hotels and larger chains than for boutique or independent properties.
A guest who has a confirmed reservation but does not arrive and does not cancel. No-show policies vary by hotel; most charge a penalty of one night's room rate. OTA bookings with free cancellation can lead to higher no-show rates.
A guest who arrives at the hotel without a prior reservation. Walk-in rates are often higher than advance-booking rates, but walk-in guests generate zero OTA commission.
The ratio of people who view a hotel's availability page to those who complete a booking. A direct booking platform with an AI-guided journey (like StayDirectAI) typically improves this ratio by reducing friction in the booking path.
The practice of adjusting room prices in real time based on demand, season, competitor pricing, and remaining availability — to maximise revenue. Direct booking gives hotels more flexibility to implement dynamic pricing without OTA interference.
A soft block is a tentative hold on rooms for a group or event, pending confirmation. A hard block is a confirmed allocation. Blocks are managed in the PMS and affect what availability the booking engine shows.