If you ever find yourself at a networking event with other hoteliers, you may find that joining in on a conversation which consists of passing the following first three hurdles: ‘So, what is your ARR, ADR and RevPAR?’ It may seem that from an outsider’s perspective, the hotelier world speak in a completely different language than any other. From ARR (Average Room Rate) to ABR (Average Bed Rate) the list goes on, however, for the hotel owner it is simply the common tongue.
So what do all of these ‘hotel acronyms’ really mean? And what benefit are you going to gain by knowing them?
If you are starting out new within the hotel and travel industry, understanding this ‘common tongue’ is essential in being able to appreciate one another’s hotel businesses and to create relationships with future partners and potential clients. Different acronyms are beneficial to various types of business within the hotel and travel sector. For example a hotel owner may be interested in your average room rate (ARR) but for a hostel owner, average bed rate (ABR) would appeal more, as hostels tend to have a larger number of beds per room (6-8) as opposed to a hotel.
Similar to this, revenue per available room (RevPAR) as opposed to revenue per available bed (RevPAB) also hold different values. Someone working in the hostel industry would be more interested in RevPAB to understand how many spare beds there are within their hostel compared to an hotelier who would be interested in how many rooms are filled up.
To help you out with understanding this cryptic industry, umi Digital have provided you with the ‘holy grail’ of hotel acronyms to keep you up-to-date:
ADR – average day rate
ARR – average room rate
ABR – average bed rate (this is more significant with hostels where there are 6- 8 beds per room)
B&B – bed and breakfast
BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India, China
Channel Manager – it may not be an acronym but it is still important to know, channel manager helps hoteliers to manage each channel they are selling in, for example online travel agents.
CRS – central reservation system
DBA – design business association
DMO – destination management office/company
F&B – food and beverage
GDS – global distribution software
Ground handler – everything on the ‘ground’ from coach transfers, hotels , theatre tickets and more.
OTA – online travel agent
PDQ – process date quick, (credit card machine)
PMS – property management system
RAR – recommended agency register
RevPAR – revenue per available room
RevPAB – revenue per available room (this is more significant with hostels where there are 6- 8 beds per room)
SLIMA – Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina