glossary: O

Onward distribution is the conveyance of hotel content such as rates, inventory, and content to various distributors channels through the GDS or through the Internet via switching mechanisms.

Opaque is a booking channel where the property name remains hidden until after the purchase is complete. Opaque is the opposite of transparent. In transparent pricing, the customer sees the brand or product he is buying. In opaque pricing, the customer does not see this branding and hotel’s branding remains hidden throughout the entire booking … Continued

Opaque rate or pricing is A non-transparent value offer, or pricing opacity, basically means that you can’t see the brand of the product type you are buying. It allows hotels to offer discounts, varying with great range from their public prices, without affecting their price positioning. Opaque Rates most commonly seen in the hotel/travel industry, … Continued

Operating Profit Ratio is a hotel KPI that measures the relationship between operating profit earned and the net revenue generated by a property which is also labelled net sales. Net sales should include both cash and credit sales. Operating profit should be accounted for before interest and taxes. The ratio is a profitability ratio that … Continued

Open pricing is a revenue management strategy that gives the ability to price each of the hotel room types, channels and dates independently of each other rather than relative to each other to maximize revenue without having to make rooms unavailable for sale in other channels, such as OTAs, where the adjusted room rates should … Continued

Operational Forecast is the hotel management tools using the occupancy forecast data to anticipate staffing levels in all areas of the hotel business (reception, housekeeping, restaurant, etc.) The Operational Forecast method focuses on operations areas across the hotel such as hotel staff allocation per department and with seasonal peaks and troughs taken into consideration i.e., … Continued

Optimization or revenue optimisation means setting the best possible price for your hotel rooms based on the information available. It means determining not just a good price, but the best price. Also, it is the use of forecast, inventory, rate, configuration, and user interaction to calculate the best pricing and inventory control decisions that maximizes … Continued

Overbooking is a practice of selling more rooms or confirming reservations beyond the hotel capacity than there are available for a given night. This practice has originated with the airlines and not is common in the hotel business as well. Many hotels do this deliberately to offset last-minute cancellations or no-shows and avoid losing revenue … Continued