notitur.com October 21, 2026

Travel industry glossary

Your reference guide to hotel technology, distribution and marketing terms. For professionals who use them every day and for students still learning them. Each term comes with a clear definition and a concrete example. This is nobody's official glossary, it is how we at Notitur explain the concepts that show up in our analysis.

100 terms

Hotel technology

Mobile key

The mobile key turns the guest's phone into the room key, with no stop at reception. It activates after online check-in and opens...

Distribution

NDC

New Distribution Capability is an IATA standard that lets airlines sell through third parties with the same richness as on their...

AI and automation

NLP

Natural language processing is the branch of AI that lets a machine understand and produce human language. It is what allows...

Operations

No-show

A no-show is a booking that never turns up and never cancels in time. The hotel is left with an empty room and, depending on the...

Operations

Non-refundable rate

The non-refundable rate is paid upfront and is not returned if the guest cancels or fails to show. In exchange for giving up...

Revenue

Occupancy

Occupancy is the percentage of rooms sold out of those available over a period. It is one of the three basic metrics alongside...

Revenue

Open pricing

Open pricing is setting each rate and each segment independently instead of moving them all chained to the BAR with fixed...

Distribution

OTA

An online travel agency is a channel that sells accommodation and travel online in exchange for a commission. Booking.com and...

Operations

Overbooking

Overbooking is selling more rooms or seats than exist, betting that cancellations and no-shows will happen. Done well it protects...

Revenue

Pace

Pace is the rate at which bookings build for a date compared with how the same day ran last year or with the target. If you are...

Revenue

Pickup

Pickup is the new bookings coming in for a date over a given window, for example the last seven days. It measures how fast a...

Hotel technology

PMS

The property management system is a hotel's core software. It handles reservations, check-in and check-out, room assignment,...

Airlines

PNR

The PNR is the record that holds all the data of a travel booking: passenger, flights, fare and contact. It is the locator you...

AI and automation

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics uses historical data and models to estimate what will happen, not just report what did. In a hotel it...

Hotel technology

PSP

A PSP is the provider that processes the hotel's card payments and connects it to the Visa or Mastercard networks. It is who...

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