Activated Date Range
Special offers can appear on the front-end website before they are valid. The activated date range is the period of time when the offer is featured on the website, comprising of a valid and non-valid time range.
Administrative Role
The user level / role of users of the ALAVEX Solution. Each user can be given different restrictions on their viewing privileges. A unlimited amount of administrative roles can be added with users assigned to those roles. The popular administrative roles include: Administrator, Director, Manager, Area Manager, Reservation Clerk, Maintenance and Cleaners.
Affiliate Programme
A way in which companies can become a part of the ALAVEX brand. These partner companies support, sell and provide ALAVEX’s high quality services in countries all around the world.
Average Daily Rate (ADR)
A measure of the hotel staff’s ability to sell available room rates. It is calculated by: Room Revenue / No. Rooms Sold.
Back-Office
The ALAVEX Solution, although on-line, can only be accessed via a registered username and password. This allows information to be protected. It is called the back-office because information on the system is not viewable by the general public. If you want some of this information viewable on your public website, then it can be integrated using the ALAVEX Solution.
Balance Sheet
An official financial listing of assets, liabilities and the owner’s equity.
Channel Management System
Often hotels, serviced apartments and other accommodation providers want to advertise their available rooms on many websites, the problem with this is how many rooms to leave available on each site. A channel management system allows you to list the available rooms you have for sale and it will update all sites simultaneously and automatically. When a online reservation is made, the channel management system will update all websites. Using such a system allows accommodation providers to reduce overbooking while selling as many rooms as possible.
Check-In Form
On the day a guest comes to stay, a check-in form can be printed from the ALAVEX system. The form includes information about the booking and terms and conditions for the guest to sign.
CloudView
This is ALAVEX’s colour-coded graphical room view of all rooms and properties, which enables room availability and booking status to be easily identified.
Commercial Rate
Room rates for business people who represent a company but do not necessarily have bargaining power because of their infrequent or sporadic pattern of travel.
Commissioned Agents
Accommodation providers regularly use an intermediary / agent to help find guests or tenants. These intermediaries often charge a fee as part of their service and are known as commissioned agents.
Corporate Client
A hotel guest who represents a business or is a guest of a business and provides the hotel with an opportunity to establish a regular flow of business.
Cross-Training
Training employees for performing multiple tasks and jobs.
Daily Sales Report
A financial activity report that reflects daily sales activities with accompanying paperwork.
Deep Cleaning
A thorough cleaning of furniture, accessories, windows, flooring and walls.
Front-End Website
This is the website viewable by the public. It contains information used to sell rooms to potential guests / tenants.
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, such as Expedia, to power the content on their websites.
Guest Folio
A billing receipt for an individual guest containing the room number, guest identification, check-in date, check-out date, room rate and other charges.
Housekeeping Room Status
Terminology that indicates availability of guest room, such as available, clean or ready (to be occupied), occupied, dirty or stay over (guest will not be checking out of a room), on change (guest has checked-out, but the room has not been released for occupancy) and out of order (the room is not available for occupancy).
Invoices
An invoice is a list of goods or services provided, with a statement of the sum due for these. When a guest has booked a room and the price and duration has been agreed, a member of staff will enter the relevant information into the Intercloud Solution and an invoice is generated automatically.
Licence to Occupy Agreement
This is an agreement between the accommodation provider and the guest / tenant. It sets out the terms and conditions and period of the reservation. Generally, it is only used for reservations that are between two months to a year.
Night Audit
The control process whereby the financial activity of guest folios are maintained and balanced on a daily basis.
Non-Commissioned Agents
Accommodation companies regularly use an intermediary / agent to help find guests or tenants to stay in their accommodations. Intermediaries that do not charge the company, because their commissions are provided by the guest or the guest’s company, are known as non-commissioned agents.
Occupancy Percentage
The percentage of rooms occupied at a particular time. It is calculated by: No. Rooms Occupied / Total No. Rooms.
Online Chat Solution
Allows potential guests to contact a representative of the company, whilst browsing the front-end website. This enables guests to enquire about room availability and ask any questions they may have. It is also known as “Live Chat”.
Outstanding Balance Report
A listing of guest’s folio balances.
Overbooking
Accepting reservations for more rooms than are available to attain 100% occupancy. This is calculated by forecasting the number of no-show reservations, stayovers, understays, and walk-ins.
Package Rate
A room rate that includes goods and services to the rental rate of a room.
Payment Overdue
Occurs if a guest or tenant is behind on a payment. The InterCloud Solution automatically assigns a booking as “Payment Overdue” if the “Invoiced From” date has already past.
Profit & Loss
A financial statement that summarises the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time. These records provide information that shows the ability of a company to generate profit by increasing revenue and reducing costs. It is also known as an “Income Statement” or “Income & Expense Statement”.
Property Management System (PMS)
Also referred to as Property Management Software. An application used by accommodation providers to manage activities such as guest bookings, online reservations, point-of-sale transactions, telephone calls, folios, etc. The systems may interface with other applications such as central reservation systems, yield management systems, front-office, back-office and point-of-sale systems. ALAVEX is a PMS system.
Reconciliation
Enables credit card payments, bank transfers, direct debits, standing order and one-off payments to be entered quickly and easily into the system. This allows full and accurate reporting at all levels.
Residential Marketing Portals / Residential Websites
Websites where landlords can advertise residential properties. Often the Landlords prefer to advertise using high street letting agents. For example, www.rightmove.co.uk and www.findaproperty.com are portals in the UK.
Residential Short Let Agreement
This is a common type of contract in the UK between landlords and tenants, where the tenant has exclusive rights of the rented property for an agreed period of time, usually between 6 months and a year.
RevPAR
Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) is a performance metric in the hotel industry for a particular time frame. It is calculated by: ADR Occupancy Rate.
Revenue Management
The process of understanding, anticipating and reacting to consumer behaviour. For example, room availability, room types and stay pattern information can be used via a software application to control the supply and price of hotel inventory to achieve maximum revenue or profit.
Total Net Revenue
The income for the company after sales tax (VAT).
Track Changes
Changes made on the ALAVEX Solution are recorded and can be viewed by a user with the relevant privileges. These are called Track Changes.
Trial Balance
A full list of all the financial ledgers in a business. From this the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet can be calculated.
Valid Date Range
Special offers have a time period in which they can be used. This is the valid date range. It is a period of time within the activated date range. (see Activated Date Range)
VAT Payable (Value Added Tax)
The amount of tax collected from guests on behalf of the tax office. It is also known as the sales tax.
VAT Receivable (Value Added Tax)
The amount of tax paid for purchases within the business that can be claimed back from the tax office.
Web Hosting Company
A company that provides the storage, connectivity and services necessary to serve files for a website or a company that provides space for individuals and organisations to store the files that make up their website.
Yield
The percentage of income that could be secured if 100% of available rooms are sold at their full rate.