Training reference

Glossary

Plain-words meanings of the terms used at the desk.

ReceptionSenior Reception

Arrival / Departure: a Booked guest due today / a Staying guest due out today.
Business Date: the PMS's own "today"; moves only when the Night Audit is run.
Booked, Staying, Checked out, Cancelled, No-show: the five statuses (badges).
Folio: the guest's bill; Folio A is automatic; balance = charges − payments.
Settle: move the balance to a third party's ledger (OTA, company). Not the same as pay.
OTA: online travel agency (Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, MakeMyTrip…).
Source: how the booking arrived (sets payment options and rate plans).
Payment type: DIRECT, VCC, PREPAID-OTA, PREPAID (+ Commission/Host payout as source options).
VCC: virtual credit card issued by an OTA.
Rate Plan / rate code: a named price list; its hidden code is audit-only.
Policy rate: the hotel's rate for the room type and date (calendar, BAR or cheapest plan).
Per-night override: a price set for one night in Per-Night Room Rates.
Corridor: the ±฿1,000 band around the policy/base rate that Reception may use.
Shift gate: Reception cannot use the PMS without an open cashier shift.
Void / Restore: strike a line out / bring it back (Admin).
Bring Back to Staying: reopen a checked-out stay.
Reinstate: undo a cancellation or no-show.
Bound chain: back-to-back stays linked for navigation.
Group: several rooms booked together.
MRZ: the two machine-readable lines at the bottom of a passport photo page.
TM30: Thai immigration notification of foreign guests.
VC / VD / OC / OD / OOO: housekeeping codes: Vacant Clean, Vacant Dirty, Occupied Clean, Occupied Dirty, Out Of Order.
Inclusion: a plan's included service (breakfast) split from the room price.
Quick Find: the top-bar search (Room# / Res# / OTA# / Name).
Charge, payment, payout, adjustment, deposit: A charge (minibar, laundry, damage) adds to the bill and counts as revenue. A payment settles a charge and is not revenue; only cash counts as cash in your drawer. A payout is cash handed back to the guest, recorded as a Direct Payment with a negative amount, and the cash leaves the drawer. An adjustment or discount changes the bill and needs a reason. A deposit is never revenue: it is held apart in the security-deposit ledger.
OTA ledger, house account, city ledger, Disputed: A house account is an account that is billed instead of a guest. The City Ledger report lists every debtor the hotel bills instead of the guest: online travel sites that collected prepayment, plus company and travel-agent accounts. An OTA ledger is one house account per online travel site; a prepaid room is moved onto it with Settle ROOM to the OTA Ledger now. Disputed is an internal house account for a folio that cannot be collected now but must still be checked out; only an Admin, Sub-Admin or Manager may charge to it, and it is never an online travel site's debt. Settling to a ledger is not the same as being paid: no cash came in, and the money is expected later.
Float, expected cash, counted cash, variance: The float is the cash already in the drawer when your shift starts. Expected Cash is the opening float plus the cash payments you took since the shift opened. Counted Cash is what you count in the drawer when you close. Variance is counted minus expected: a positive variance is an over, a negative one is a short. If it is more than the tolerance either way (your hotel's Admin sets it, ฿20 by default), the Manager and Accountant get an alert. A payout recorded with Record Payout does not lower Expected Cash.

Last built from the course on 23 October 2026.