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The Glossary

113 terms, in plain English, each with a worked example and real numbers. Every one of them is a thing somebody will say to you as though you were born knowing it.

Money & Performance 18

ADR The average price you actually got per night you sold. Break-Even Occupancy The share of nights you must sell just to not lose money. Cap Rate NOI divided by price — the unlevered yield of the building. Cash-on-Cash Return Annual cash flow divided by the cash you actually put in. Cleaning Fee The separate charge a guest pays for the turnover — not profit. Compression Night A night when a city-wide event fills every hotel and pushes demand to you. Gross Booking Revenue Everything the guest paid, before anybody takes a cut. Gross vs. Net Three different numbers that owners use interchangeably and shouldn’t. Net Operating Income What is left after operating costs but before the mortgage. Occupancy Rate The share of available nights that actually sold. Pace How your bookings for a future month compare with the same point last year. Pass-Through Money that lands in your account on its way to somebody else. Payout The amount the platform actually sends to your bank. Peak Season The weeks demand exceeds supply and price stops being the constraint. Pickup How many nights you sold in a given window, usually the last seven days. RevPAR What you earn per night you own the house — booked or not. Seasonality The predictable swing in demand and price across the year. Shoulder Season The soft weeks between peak and off-peak.

Booking Mechanics 14

Average Length of Stay Your mean booking length over a period. Booking Curve The shape of how a date fills up over the months before it. Booking Window How far ahead of the stay a guest books. Cancellation Policy The rules for what a guest gets back and when. Comp Set The handful of listings a guest is actually choosing between instead of yours. Gap Night An unsold night sitting between two bookings. Instant Book Guests book without waiting for you to approve. Lead Time The gap between booking and check-in, from the operations side. Length of Stay How many nights one booking covers. Market The whole destination guests are shopping — not your street. Minimum Night Stay The shortest booking you will accept, set per date. Orphan Night A gap too short for anyone to book under your own minimum-stay rule. Request to Book The guest asks; you have 24 hours to accept or decline. Submarket The specific pocket — usually the resort community or the corridor.

Platforms 14

Airbnb The largest STR platform, and the one with the most opinionated ranking system. Booking.com The global giant, hotel-shaped, with the highest commission and the loosest guests. Direct Booking A guest books through your own site, with no OTA in the middle. Guest Service Fee What the platform charges the guest on top of your rate. Host Service Fee The platform’s cut, taken off your payout. Listing Rank Where your listing lands in a guest’s search results. OTA A marketplace that finds you guests and takes a cut — Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com. Premier Host VRBO’s equivalent badge, scored on a slightly different rubric. Resolution Center The platform’s process for claiming money from a guest after the fact. Response Rate The share of new enquiries you answer within 24 hours. Review Score Your running average, and the number that quietly sets your price ceiling. Search Placement Your position for one specific search — dates, guest count, filters. Superhost Airbnb’s status badge, reassessed quarterly. VRBO Expedia’s whole-home platform, skewed to families and longer stays.

Operations 13

Back-to-Back A run of same-day turns with no empty night between bookings. Consumables Everything a guest uses up and you replace: paper, soap, coffee, bags. Damage Report The documented record of what a guest broke, filed the day it is found. Deep Clean The periodic reset that a turnover clean does not cover. Linen Par Levels How many complete sets of sheets and towels you keep per bed and bath. Mid-Stay Clean A clean during a long booking, usually weekly. Preventative Maintenance Scheduled work done before something breaks. Punch List The running list of small things that need fixing. Restock Replacing the consumables a guest used up. Same-Day Turn Checkout and check-in on the same date. T/A Scheduling shorthand for a clean with a guest arriving that same day. Turnover Everything between one guest leaving and the next arriving. Turnover Report What the cleaner sends you after every clean: photos, damage, restock needs.

Tech 9

Channel Manager The piece that keeps every platform’s calendar in sync. Double Booking Two guests holding the same night on two platforms. Dynamic Pricing Tool Software that moves your nightly rate daily based on demand. Guest Messaging Automation Scheduled templates for booking, pre-arrival, check-in and checkout. iCal Sync The free, slow way platforms share calendars with each other. Noise Monitor A decibel sensor that alerts you to a party without recording audio. PMS The software that runs bookings, messages, calendars and cleaning in one place. Smart Lock A keypad lock that issues a unique code per booking. Unified Inbox Every platform’s messages in one thread.

People & Entities 16

Amenity Transfer Fee What a resort charges to give your guests access to the amenities. Co-Host A local partner who runs day-to-day operations for a share of revenue. COA The HOA’s condo equivalent, with more power over your unit. Code Enforcement The local officers who act on complaints about your property. Declaration of Covenants The recorded document that actually controls what you may do with the lot. Department of Revenue The Florida state agency for sales tax and the surtax. Estoppel Certificate The association’s official statement of what is owed and what applies. Guest of Record The person who booked and is contractually responsible for the stay. HOA The private association whose recorded rules bind your lot. Host Whoever the platform holds responsible for the listing. National Property Manager A large multi-market operator running your house from a playbook. Neighbors Unpaid, unelected, and fully capable of shutting you down. Property Manager A full-service local company that runs the property end to end. Resort Management Company The operator running a resort community’s amenities and gates. Self-Managing Owner You do the messages, pricing, vendors and problems yourself. Tax Collector The county office that collects the tourist development tax.

Risk & Money-In 10

Chargeback A guest disputing the charge with their card issuer after the stay. Commercial Use Exclusion The clause in your homeowners policy that voids coverage for business use. Damage Waiver A small non-refundable guest fee that covers accidental damage up to a limit. DSCR Loan An investment loan underwritten on the property’s income, not yours. Guest Screening Filtering who gets to book before they are standing in your driveway. Host Protection The platform’s own damage and liability programme. Investment Property Loan A conventional loan that openly states the property is an investment. Second Home Loan A lower-rate loan for a property you occupy part of the year. Security Deposit Money held against damage — mostly notional on the big platforms. STR Insurance A policy actually written for renting your property to transient guests.