Hotel Management Glossary

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There are currently 79 Glossary Items in this directory beginning with the letter S.
S Corporation
Formerly called the Subchapter S corporation, this corporate form allows tax advantages in the United States that are similar to those associated with a partnership (US).

Safety
Protection of an individual's physical well-being and health.

Safety and Security Committee
An interdepartmental task force consisting of hotel managers, supervisors and hourly employees charged with the responsibility of monitoring and refining a hotel's safety and security efforts.

Salary
Pay calculated at a weekly, monthly, or annual rate rather than at an hourly rate.

Sales and Marketing Committee
The group of individuals responsible for coordinating the hotel's sales and marketing effort.

Sales Call
A meeting arranged for the purpose of selling the hotel's products and services.

Sales Mix Ratio
The sales mix ratio is the acceptable percentage of transient (individual) business in relation to group business.

Salesman-type Culture
These firms are excellent marketers who create successful brand names and distribution channels and pursue aggressive advertising and innovative packaging.

Salon
European designation for parlor.

SBA
Short for the United States Small Business Administration. Established in 1953, the SBA provides financial, technical and management assistance to help Americans start, run, and expand their businesses. The SBA is the nation's largest single financial backer of small businesses.

Search Engine
An Internet searching tool that uses categories and classifications or spidering and crawling techniques to find the information the user is looking for.

Search Engine Result Page
The listing of Web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query (SERP)

Seasonal Hotel
A hotel whose revenue and expenditures vary greatly depending on the time (season) of the year the hotel is operating. Examples include hotels near ski resorts, beaches, theme parks, some tourist areas, sporting venues, and the like.

Second Tier
Management companies that operate hotels for owners who have entered into an agreement to use one of a franchisor's flags as the hotel brand. American General Hospitality, Summit Hotel Management, and Winegardner and Hammons, Inc. are examples.

Second-Party Check
A check made out to the person presenting the check.

Security
Protection of an individual or business's property or assets.

Security Monitor
A closed-circuit television monitor which allows front office employees to

Segmentation
A subgroup of people or organizations that share characteristics in common.

Selection
The process of evaluating job applicants to determine those more qualified (or potentially qualified) for vacant positions.

Self Check-In Process
A procedure that requires the guest to insert a credit card with a magnetic stripe containing personal and financial data into a self-check-in terminal and answer a few simple questions concerning the guest stay.

Self Check-In/ Check- out Terminal
A piece of computer hardware typically located in the lobby of a fully automated hotel. Some resemble automated bank teller machines, while others are unique in design and may poses both video and audio capability.

Self Check-Out
A computerized system usually located in the hotel lobby, which allows the guest to review his or her folio and settle the account to the credit card used at check-in.

Self Registration
A computerized system which automatically registers a guest and dispenses a key, based on the guest reservation and credit card information. See also Self C/I process.

Sell Up
Convince the arriving guest to take a higher priced room than was planned or reserved

Sell-out
A situation in which all rooms are sold or oversold. A hotel, area, or entire city may, if demand is strong enough, sell-out. bb.: A period of time in which management attempts to maximize ADR.

Semi-Automated
A system of front office record keeping characterized by the use of both handwritten and machine produced forms and electro-mechanical equipment such as posting machines.

Semi-Permanent Folio
See Non-Guest Folio.

SEO
Short for Search Engine Optimization.

SERP
Short for Search Engine Result Page.

Service
The process of moving food and beverage products from service staff to the guests.

Service Bureau
A data-processing business which enables properties to enjoy the benefits of automation without having to support in-house computer systems.

Service Charges
A mandatory amount added to a guest's bill for services performed by a hotel staff member(s).

Servicemark
The same as a trademark but distinguishes services versus products.

Serving
The process of moving food and beverage products from production personnel (cooks and bartenders) to food and beverage servers who will serve them to guests.

Settlement (Account)
The collection of a payment for an outstanding account balance. Settlement may involve the guest paying cash or charging the account balance to a valid payment card or another hotel-approved account.

Short
A situation in which cashiers have less money in their cash drawer than the official sales records indicate. Thus, a cashier with S10 less in the cash drawer than the sales record indicates is said to be $10 "short."

Shortage
An imbalance that occurs when the total of cash and checks in a cash register drawer is less than the initial bank plus net cash receipts.

Sign-In/Sign-Out Program
An arrangement in which individuals taking responsibility for hotel assets (such as hand tools, power equipment, or keys to secured areas) must document their responsibility by placing their signature as well as the date and time on a form developed to identify who last had possession of; and thus responsibility for, the asset.

Single
A room assigned to one person; may have one or more beds.

Single Bed
A bed approximately 36 inches by 75 inches (90-100X200 cm)

Site Tour or Sit Inspection
A physical trip (tour) around the hotel, usually hosted by a sales and marketing staff member, for the purpose of introducing potential clients and other interested parties to the hotel's features.

Six Sigma
A philosophy based on minimizing the number of defects found in a manufacturing operation or service function

Skip
The term used to refer to a hotel guest who vacates a guest room without paying the bill incurred for its rental and for other charges made to the room. See also skipper.

Skipper
A room status term indicating that the guest has left the hotel without making arrangements to settle his or her account.

Sleep-Out
A room status term indicating that the guest is registered to the room, but the bed has not been used.

Slide
The transcription error caused by a misplaced decimal, as when 362 is written 3620

Smart Card
A credit card or other card containing a microprocessor capable of interacting with PMSs or other computer configurations

SMERF
Short for social, military, educational, religious, or fraternal organizations as in, "We should assign Vernon to work the SMERF market next year because he has extensive contacts with these groups."

Social Responsibility
The duty of an organization, defined in terms of its economic, legal, and moral obligations, as well as discretionary actions that might be considered attractive from a societal perspective.

Soft Copy
Output on a display screen which cannot be handled by the operator or removed from the computer.

Software
A set of programs that controls the operation of the hardware components of a computer system. Software tells the computer what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.

Solvency
The ability of a hotel to pay its debts as they come due.

Source Reduction
The effort by product manufactures to design and ship products so as to minimize waste resulting from the product's shipping and delivery to a hotel.

SPALT
Short for Special Attention List. See also VIP list.

Spam
Sending mass e-mails to people who have not indicated interest in receiving e-mails from you.

Span of Control
The number of people one supervisor can effectively manage.

Spread Rate
Assignment of group members or conventioneers using the standard rate distribution, although prices might be less than rack rates.

Staff Departments
Hotel divisions that provide technical, supportive assistance to line departments.

Standard of Care
The level of performance that is determined to be reasonably acceptable by the industry to fulfill a duty of care.

STAR Report
Short for the Smith Travel Accommodations Report. Produced by Smith Travel Research, this report is used to compare a hotel's sales results to those of its selected competitors. The reports are generated for occupancy and average room rate figures on a daily as well as weekly, monthly, and annual basis.

Statement of Cash-Flows
A projection of income from income-generating areas of the hotel.

Statement of Income
A financial statement which provides important information about the results of hotel operations for a given period of time.

Stay Control
See Stay Restrictions

Stay-over
A guest that is not scheduled to check out of the hotel on the day his or her room status is assessed. That is, the guest will be staying at least one more day.

Strategic Leadership
Generally refers to leadership behaviors associated with creating organizational vision, establishing core values, developing strategies and a management structure, fostering organizational learning, and serving as a steward for the firm.

Strategic Management
A process through which organizations analyze and learn from their internal and external environments, establish strategic direction, create strategies that are intended to move the organization in that direction, and implement those strategies, all in an effort to satisfy key stakeholders.

Strategy
A method or a plan developed to achieve a long-range goal.

Subcontracting
Acquiring goods and services that used to be produced in-house from external companies.

Suite
While there is no universally agreed-upon definition, in most cases this term refers to a guest room consisting of at least two physically separated rooms or, at the very least, a hotel room that is extra large when compared with the hotel's standard guest room.

Suite Hotel
A hotel whose guestrooms have separate bedroom and living room or parlor areas, and perhaps a kitchenette.

Supplemental
A detailed report of all non-guest accounts that indicates each charge

Supply
The total amount of a good or service available for sale.

Surcharge Rates
Telephone rates for adding service charges for out-of-state long-distance telephone service.

Sustainability
The idea of providing for current needs without sacrificing the needs of future generations.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Exists when a firm enjoys a long-lasting business advantage compared to rival firms.

Switchboard Operator
An employee. In either the front office or a separate telephone department within the rooms division, who handles calls coming into the hotel and takes and distributes messages for guests.

Synergy
Occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

System Update
A fully automated audit routine which accomplishes many of the same functions as a non-computerized night audit routine and more. Daily system updates enable file reorganization, system maintenance, and report production, and provide an end-of-day time frame.

System-wide
The term used to describe all hotels within a given brand. Used for example, in: "Last year, the systemwide ADR for the brand was $115.20, with an occupancy rate of 63.7%."