Author: Samuel Dunsiger
Successfully managing room blocks for your events can be a tricky business. To help you navigate through the process of managing your room blocks, here’s a quick guide to some of the most common terms you need to know in room block management.
Allocation
The number of hotel rooms that are currently available for sales.
Attrition
When your event ends up using fewer hotel rooms than what you contracted for your room blocks. Hotels often charge attrition fees, which can often be mitigated through negotiating and communicating with the hotel.
Allotment
A block of negotiated rooms which have been bought out and held by a third party, such as a travel organizer, wholesaler, tour operator or travel agent.
Availability
The number of vacancies possible for a specific type of accommodation for a certain set of dates.
Average length of stay
The total room nights in a hotel divided by the number of reservations in the hotel. It’s used to keep track of hotel performance in attracting and keeping guests in house. Formula: Total occupied room nights / Total bookings.
Average room rate
Commonly known as the average daily rate, the rate that represents the hotel’s average per paid occupied room for any given time period.
Booking engine
The software application being used to secure online reservations. Your Booking engine will allow you to sell your rooms through your own website and third party sites like Trivago that your hotel is listed on.
Booking curve
A tool that can visually show bookings over a certain period of time. It includes data like room pickup, bookings and availability.
Booking pace
The rate at which hotel reservations are made for a particular date.
Central reservation system
The application used to manage a hotel’s distribution and hotel room bookings.
Contracted rate
The cost per room night that the hotel provides event attendees in exchange for the event planner’s bulk room purchase. The contracted rate could differ based on room type or hotel.
Cut-off date
The final date for room block reservations before the rooms are released back into the general inventory.
Delegates
More commonly referred to as your event’s attendees, the number of people you anticipate for your event.
Folio
A collection of charges and payments incurred or made by a guest or corporate account.
Hold space
Also known as a 24-hour hold, the act of reserving a meeting room or function space for longer than the actual meeting time, often for 24 hours, to allow for set up or tear down.
Hosted Payment System
The system that presents a web page where payment information is securely collected.
Inventory
The rooms available that the hotel has to distribute.
Loyalty program
A marketing program that offers rewards to guests for regular or frequent business. Loyalty may be tracked by points or other means.
Overbooked
When the total number of rooms reserved exceeds the number of rooms available.
Occupancy rate
The percentage of how many rooms from the hotel’s total number of rooms are currently occupied.
Peak nights
The nights during the event when the most rooms are occupied.
Property Management System
An administration system used for reservation, availability and occupancy management. This application is typically used in-house to control onsite property activities.
Room block management
The process of securing and managing hotel room blocks for your event’s attendees.
Room blocks
A group of designated hotel rooms set aside for a particular event.
Room type
A form of categorization, set or collection of rooms with some common element that must be managed for marketing purposes within the hotel.
Run of house
Any type of hotel room available at the time of check-in.
Sub-blocks
The different segments of guests that occupy your room blocks. Sub-blocks can include attendees and exhibitors.
Shoulder nights
Off-peak nights when attendees want to extend their room stay outside of the days of your event.
Hopefully this helps you navigate the world of room block management. And we’re here to help. Book a demo with Resiada today.
