No matter what you call it – glossary, dictionary, definitions, terms –
here’s a brief description of what things mean and what common acronyms stand for.
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
ADD-ON SERVICES - Add-on Service—also known as an optional surcharge—is an additional, non-mandatory charge that guests can choose to include during the booking process. These services enhance the guest experience by offering extras such as pool heating, early check-in, or equipment rentals. For more information, see our Add-on Services support article.
ANCHOR—An anchor is a feature of the Hosted Website design system that lets you place a marker anywhere on the website and create a link that goes directly to that spot on the page. This is commonly added at the beginning of each section of a webpage. To learn more, see the Anchors section of our Anchors and Links support article.
AVERAGE DAILY GROSS (ADG) - The Total divided by Nights. So whatever the gross is (including taxes) averaged across the length of the booking.
AVERAGE DAILY RENT (ADR) - The Total Rent divided by Nights. take the booking charges that are "Rent" type and add those up and the average across the length of the booking.
API - acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a process that allows two applications to talk to each other – like the OwnerRezAPI for Apps or the OwnerRez API for Channel Integration.
BALANCE - Balance is what the guests owes you or you owe the guest. If the booking's charges (i.e., invoice of line items) does not match what is "received", then the balance will show that, either negative or positive.
BATCH COPY -
BILLING -
BLACKOUT - Available as part of a Channel Integration, this allows you to "Blackout" dates on any specific date range, channel, and property (or set of channels and properties) to keep someone from booking. This will not be visible on your main calendar or booking widget. It is a virtual block, only applied to and visible on the chosen channel.
BLOCKED-OFF TIME - Used to block a property for myriad reasons - maintenance, owner use, etc.
BOOKING TOTAL - The total sum of charges. If you go to the booking > charges tab, this is the amount below the grid.
BOOKING WINDOW - The booking window is how far ahead of time bookings are required or allowed to be made. You control this in Properties > Rules and, for Airbnb Channel Integration connections, from within the channel integration settings. The Lead Time rule controls how far ahead of arrival the booking must be made. You can allow same day bookings or require more lead time between booking date and arrival. The Max Days In Future controls how far into the future a guest can reserve. If you are using an Airbnb Channel Integration connection, the Lead Time is only controlled in the channel integration settings - any settings in Property > Rules are ignored.
BUS - Booking Update Service, runs bi-directionally between channels to keep things in sync regarding booking specifics.
CA - Certified Advisor - Experienced OwnerRez users who have demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the platform. They have successfully completed an official certification process, including rigorous testing by OwnerRez.
CHANGEOVER RESTRICTIONS - Changeover restrictions are rules that control when guests can arrive at or depart from your property. These restrictions help you manage the flow of bookings by determining which days allow check-ins, check-outs, or both.
CHANNEL - When we say “channel,” we mean one of the listing sites like Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, etc.
CHANNEL BRIDGE - Channel Bridge is a tool we wrote to "bridge" the gap between info on major listing sites (channels) and OwnerRez. It's designed to help bring in booking info and reviews from Airbnb and Vrbo into OwnerRez. Channel Bridge can ONLY be used in the Chrome web browser. Channel Bridge is included with your OwnerRez account. Learn more about Channel Bridge in the support center.
CHANNEL INTEGRATION - This refers to the OwnerRez Channel Integrations we have with listing channels, such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, and more.
CHANNEL MANAGEMENT -
CHECKPOINTS (Vrbo) - A list of 'errors" seen when completing a status check on a property via the Vrbo API channel integration. Those error codes can be included in messages to Vrbo PM support.
COMMISSION - The total sum of all commission earned by the PM on the booking. Basically, this is all the booking's charges commission amounts added up. Expenses that are due to be reimbursed are not added or subtracted from this amount, so the PM may end up getting more, but the Commission stat is just the raw commission.
COUNT - The number of bookings. Often, a column in Reporting.
CREDIT CARD PROCESSING—If you want to accept credit card payments from guests, you will need an account with one of the payment processors with which we have integrations. You must also have a payment processor to use the Vrbo channel integration connection. The regular PayPal interface is NOT a credit card processor—here's more info on PayPal vs. Credit Card processing. Also, see PAYMENT PROCESSOR.
CREDIT CARD STATEMENT TEXT - This is the name of your business. It's what the cardholder sees on their statement after you charge them. Sometimes referred to as the "billing descriptor". Make sure the text showing in OR is the same as what you entered when setting up your merchant account.
CRITERIA -
CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Within OwnerRez, it's the area of the app where Contacts, Inbox, and Reviews are located.
CSE - Channel Sync Events
CULTURE - This page can be found under Settings > Branding & Legal. This is where you define your time zone, country/location, language, currency, and preferred date format.
CURRENCY - You can define your local currency by going to Settings and choosing the Culture option under Branding & Legal.
CUSTOM FIELD -
DAMAGE PROTECTION -
DEPRECATED - is the discouragement of use of a feature or practice, without completely removing it or prohibiting its use, typically because it has been superseded (by newer feature(s) or workflows) or is no longer considered efficient or reliable. If you see something is deprecated inside the OwnerRez app, it also means it is no longer supported. You may continue to use it, while still available, but it is no longer guaranteed to work.
DNS (Domain Name System) - is like the phonebook of the internet, providing a way to map names (a website you’re seeking) to numbers (the IP address for the website). Anything connected to the internet - laptops, tablets, mobile phones, websites - have an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Your favorite website might have an IP address of 93.184.216.34, but this is obviously not easy to remember. However, a domain name such as example.com is something people can recognize and remember.
DP - Acronym for Damage Protection. Learn more by reading our Damage Protection Overview support article.
DUE - The due or owed formula is Total - Paid + Refunded = Owed
DYNAMIC PRICING SOFTWARE - Dynamic Pricing Software is 3rd-party software that you can connect to and integrate with OwnerRez. Dynamic Pricing Software will dynamically update your rates (typically once every 24 hours) based on the latest market demand, competitor pricing, and other factors. To learn more, see our Dynamic Pricing Overview support article.
ECBYO - Emerald Coast By Owner
FIELD CODE - Field code is a placeholder or dynamic variable that automatically pulls specific data (like guest name, property name, arrival date, etc.) into emails, message templates, rental agreements, and other communication or content areas. Review our Field Codes Overview support article for more information.
FLARBO - Florida Rental by Owner
FORUMS—The OwnerRez Community Forums are where you can post how-to questions, business discussion points, and feature requests.
FULL SYNC - Request Full Sync - To execute an action on a property's channel integration connection to synchronize all of the property's data (availability, rates, photos, descriptions, rules) with the property's channel listing.
FULLY REMITTED (in PM Expenses) - an expense that appears on one or more owner statements, and HAS been completely "remitted" (i.e. fully reimbursed)
GAP or GAP NIGHTS - A gap night is an unbooked night or nights between existing reservations. You can manage your gap night settings by going to Properties > Rules > Minimum night restrictions.
GH - Acronym for Glamping Hub
GLP - Acronym for Global Landing Page, aka the Public Booking Link
GVR - Acronym for Google Vacation Rentals
HOSTED WEBSITE - An OwnerRez premium feature that allows vacation rental property owners to create their own direct booking website. These hosted websites are built on web best practices and help property owners establish a strong online presence, build their brand, and drive customers to book directly rather than through third-party listing channels. For more information, see our Hosted Websites Overview support article.
IB - Acronym for Instant Book, a booking mode that allows guests to book immediately. For more information, see our Instant Book vs. Request-to-Book support article.
iCAL - Acronym for iCalendar. It is a standard data format designed to share calendar data across different platforms. It enables vacation rental channels to accurately share and synchronize availability information between different calendar systems. Learn more by reading our Calendar Import/Export Overview support article.
IDENTIFIER MAPPING - A centralized page that stores channel listing IDs or numbers and links to individual listings, making it easy to access in one place. For more information, see our Identifier Mapping support article.
INQUIRY - When a potential guest contacts you about renting your property. Usually, they'll say which property they're interested in and what dates. OwnerRez can receive inquiries from many sources, including listing sites, your website, or email. For more information, see the Inquiry section of our Inquiries, Quotes, and Bookings Overview support article.
INTEGRATED WEBSITE - Integrated Website refers to a custom-built, external website that connects to your OwnerRez account using widgets. This setup allows you to synchronize your property data, rates, availability, and booking rules directly with your own website, providing a seamless experience for guests and maintaining control over your branding and user interface. For more information, see our Integrated Websites Overview support article.
IPM - Integrated Property Management. This is another way of referring to a channel integration connection.
LEAD TIME - Lead time is how far ahead of arrival the booking must be made. You can allow same day bookings or require more lead time between booking date and arrival. Lead time is set in both Properties > Rules as part of the "Booking Window", and in the Airbnb channel integration connection. If you are using an Airbnb channel integration connection, the Lead Time is only controlled in the channel integration settings - any settings in the Property Rules are ignored.
LISTING QUALITY ANALYZER (LQA) - An OwnerRez tool to check your listings for errors, content requirements and minimums for channels like Vrbo. The Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) provides recommendations for improvement. Watch the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) support video for more information.
LISTING TITLE - The Airbnb Listing Title is Airbnb's version of the property description "Headline" text. Other listing channels (e.g., OwnerRez Hosted Websites, Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) refer to this text field as a property description Headline, commonly added in property description overrides.
MAPPING - Mapping simply means the info we use to link OwnerRez to another site. It's how we match a property in OR to the same property on a listing site. In this case, it's your listing number for each channel.
MAXIMUM NIGHTS - The maximum number of nights you would allow a guest to stay at the property. This setting can be found on the Property > Rules page under the "Length Restrictions" area. Note that this setting refers specifically to how long a guest can stay and is distinct from Lead Time or Booking Window.
MINIMUM GAP NIGHTS -
MoR - Refers to the entity responsible for processing the guest’s payment and handling the financial transaction. This is a critical distinction when determining who controls the funds, who charges the guest, and who is responsible for taxes, refunds, and chargebacks. Also, see our Merchant of Record support article.
MUTUAL BLOCK or BLOCKING—Mutual blocking is used when a property is rented with another property or as part of another property. The Mutual Block tool automatically blocks the calendar of the combined property when any of its components is booked, and vice versa.
NET FOR COMMISSION (in Reports) - This number is calculated by taking the total booking charges amount and subtracting the total taxes and total Non-Commissionable amounts.
NET PAYMENTS - Formula: Paid + kept from secdep - Refunded - Host Fees. Host fees are usually assessed by channels or payment processors and are tracked on the Transactions tab of the booking.
NET TOTAL - Formula: Total - Host Fees. Host fees are usually assessed by channels or payment processors and are tracked on the Transactions tab of the booking.
NEVER REMITTED (in PM Expenses) - an expense that does not appear (never appears) on any owner statement.
"Never Remitted" means it's not been paid on a statement yet. The possible remittance statuses are:
- Never Remitted - Has not been paid on a statement yet.
- Pre-deducted - This is a prededucted expense so it will never show on a statement
- Partially Remitted - Has been remitted in the past, but the amount subsequently changed so an adjustment will be included on the next statement.
- Fully Remitted - Fully remitted.
Reimbursed expenses will have one of the three Remitted statuses, while pre-deducted expenses will only ever be pre-deducted.
NIGHTS - The number of nights a guest stays at a property. The formula is Departure - Arrival = Nights (departure day doesn't count).
NON-COMMISSIONABLE (in Reports) - This number is calculated by looking at the charges, expenses and host fees, and determining what part of those does not have commission calculated on them. Remember that host fees can "give back" commission to the owner, so a host fee might actually decrease the Non-Commissionable amount depending on the user's settings.
Opt Back In - The function provided by Airbnb to continue receiving a guest's proxy email. Airbnb has turned off the automatic email addresses that they used to provide for reaching guests. You can turn that feature back on again by using this link to Opt Back In to getting the proxy email.
OR - abbreviation/shorthand for OwnerRez
OTA – Online Travel Agency. Any of the listing sites guests may use to look for a property – Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, etc.
OWED - The owed or due formula is Total - Paid + Refunded = Owed
OWNER AMOUNT - The amount the owner has or will be remitted. This doesn't factor in reimbursed expenses as they are deducted later.
OWNER NET AND OWNER REVENUE
- Owner Net = Owner Amount - Taxes (if paid by owner) - Damage Protection (if paid by owner) or is the amount the owner would expect to pocket after all liabilities are paid.
- Owner Revenue = Owner Amount + Commission - Non-Owner Charges (charges where the entire amount is kept by the PM) or is the amount received by the PM for the owner (which includes commission the owner owes to the PM).
PAID - The total sum of all payments (doesn't include any refunds or secdep charges, just what was paid).
PARTIALLY REMITTED (in PM Expenses) - an expense that appears on one or more owner statements, but has NOT been completely "remitted" (i.e. not fully reimbursed)
PAYMENT PROCESSOR—A payment processor is a company that processes credit cards for businesses. An account with a payment processor is required to accept credit card payments for direct bookings, make automatic security deposits, and connect with the Vrbo API channel integration. Also, see CREDIT CARD PROCESSING.
PLACE BELOW TAX LINE -
PM - Property Management - premium OwnerRez feature allowing for property managers or others to manage properties on behalf of others easily. Abbreviation/shorthand for Property Manager or Property Management. Can refer to a property management company, an individual who owns a property management company or performs the role of property manager, or the Property Management Module in OwnerRez.
PMS - Property Management Software / Property Management System - that's what OwnerRez is!
PPM -
PRE-DEDUCTED (in PM Expenses) - an expense that does not appear on any owner statement because it's configured to be pre-deducted from the associated booking revenue. For example, channel commissions and fees are often pre-deducted, so that for commission purposes, they don't exist as that's money neither the PM nor the owner ever see.
PREEMPTED - This Quote status means that the quote is no longer valid due to another booking coming in that is now blocking the dates of the first quote.
PROFILE -
PROPERTY - One "Property" in OwnerRez corresponds to one "Listing". If you have 1 property that you divide into 3 separate listings, then you will have 3 properties in OwnerRez.
PUBLIC NAME—In OwnerRez, the Public Name refers to your property's public-facing name. It is set on the Property > General Info page and will be inserted when you use the field code for "Property Display Name" in guest communications.
QUOTE - A quote is when you respond to an inquiry with a price that the guest can choose to accept (or not). For more information, see the Quote section of our Inquiries, Quotes, and Bookings Overview support article.
RTB - Acronym for Request to Book, a booking mode that allows hosts to review booking requests before the host accepts the booking request. For more information, see our Instant Book vs. Request-to-Book support article.
RATE ADJUSTMENT -
RECEIVED - The difference between what was paid and any refunds. if a guest pays $1,000 but you refunded $200 back, then you "received" $800.
REFUNDED - The total sum of all refunds (doesn't include any payments, just what was refunded).
RENT LINE ITEM -
RENTER AGREEMENT - A legal agreement for short-term accommodations is a contract outlining the terms, conditions, rules, and responsibilities between the property host and the temporary guest. To learn more, see our Renter Agreements Overview support article.
REVENUE MANAGEMENT - The practice of considering multiple factors to determine the optimal nightly rate for a property. For short-term rentals, this can include evaluating market occupancy, market supply, average booking window, average length of stay, historical performance, competitor pricing, and other factors to determine the best price for any given night.
REVPAN -RevPAR is a term borrowed from the hotel industry that means "Revenue Per Available Room". The short-term rental industry has modified this term to RevPAN - "Revenue Per Available Night". It is a measurement that combines your total revenue during a given period with occupancy to determine your revenue on a per-night basis. For example, if you rent 20 nights in April and your total revenue is $3000.00, your ADR (Average Daily Rate) for that period may have been $150 ($3000 divided by 20 rented nights), but the RevPAN is $100 ($3000 divided by 30 available nights).
REVPAR - RevPAR stands for Revenue Per Available Room. It's a key performance indicator (KPI) in the hospitality industry that measures revenue-generating ability per unit, regardless of whether it's occupied.
SEARCH - We have two search functions. The "Search" box you see at the top, right of most OR screens, is to search for a guest/booking. If you want to search for help info or support docs, click the question mark "?" at the right end of the main menu. With the ? you can search help articles, feedback from users in the OwnerRez Community Forums, or our Blog with updates on OR.
SEASONS -
SECURITY DEPOSIT -
SETUP CHECKLIST - A comprehensive step-by-step guide designed to help you set up your account properly before connecting to listing channels. The checklist covers all essential configuration aspects and ensures a smooth and complete process before you begin actively managing your properties through OwnerRez. For more information, see the Setup Checklist support article.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving a website's visibility in search engine results pages like Google. The goal is to attract organic or unpaid traffic to the website by making it more relevant and appealing to search engines. For more information, see our Hosted Website SEO Optimization support article.
SMS- Short Message Service (SMS) is commonly known as texting. Our premium SMS Messaging feature also works with templates and triggers so that you can send automated personalized messages at scheduled times.
SPOT RATE - A price or rule that applies to only a single night and overrides seasonal rates and property rules.
STR - Acronym for Short Term Rental
SUBDOMAIN - A subdomain is a prefix added to a domain name to separate a section of your website. As part of your Team Access Portal setup, you can link a subdomain of your primary domain name to the OwnerRez servers, and from then on the Team Access will "live" at your domain, and Portal Users will log in to your branded domain rather than using the main OwnerRez URL. This is sometimes known as a "white-label" Client Portal.
SURCHARGES -
SYSTEM ALERTS -
SYSTEM MESSAGES - System messages are built-in email templates that are triggered based on specific events in the booking process. They are designed to help manage routine communication scenarios, such as booking confirmations, payment receipts, reminders, and updates. To learn more, see our System Messages Overview support article and video.
TAXABILITY - A setting in OwnerRez that determines whether or not tax will be calculated on a specific line item. Taxability of certain items varies from one tax jurisdiction to the next, so you will need to research this to determine whether or not certain surcharges, such as cleaning fees or pet fees, are taxable. In the case of discounts, setting a discount to non-taxable means that the guest will pay tax on the non-discounted price of the booking; if you want the guest to pay tax only on the subtotal (including all discounts and surcharges), discounts should be set to taxable. To learn more, see our Taxes Overview support article.
TEMPLATES -
TMK (Tax Map Key) - This is a government-issued number assigned in some areas (Hawaii, for example) which Airbnb and Vrbo require the host to provide in order to appear on the platform. If necessary, enter this in your Property listing, at the bottom of the Description page, in the Registration Number field.
TOTAL RENT - Total Rent is from the booking line items summed that are Rent or Show as Rent. The total booking charges that are type "rent" or surcharges marked as rent.
THIRD PARTY ALERTS (TPA) - Third Party Alerts feature where you can put in a cleaner's name/email address and the system will automatically email them every time a booking is created, canceled or changes dates. It does not give them guest details, nor does it send alerts when details change - only the dates. To set this, go to Properties > (select the property) > Third Party Alerts.
TRAVEL INSURANCE (TI) -
TRIGGERS - Triggers enable users to automatically initiate sending user-edited system or user-created custom messages (e.g., email, channel, or SMS) based on certain conditions, events, and/or time-based conditions being met. For more information, see our Triggers Overview support article.
URL - This is the abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator. It's just another way to refer to a website address. If someone asks for our URL, we tell them it is www.ownerrez.com!
VERIFIED EMAIL DOMAIN - Domain Verification will allow OwnerRez to send from any email address on a particular domain. For example, once you have verified mydomain.com, OwnerRez can send emails on behalf of any associated @mydomain.com email address set up in the system. This feature is especially useful for sending all email communications to your guests, etc.
WALLED GARDEN - A walled garden refers to a limited set of technology or media information provided to users with the intention of creating a monopoly or secure information system. The main purpose of creating a walled garden is to shield users from certain kinds of information. For you that may mean you do not have access to all the guest or booking data.
WEEKEND NIGHTS (f.k.a. WEEKEND DAYS) - You can choose which nights are considered part of the "weekend" for rates. Go to Settings > Pricing Preferences. At the top of the screen, use the drop-down menu for the "Weekend Nights" field to make your selection (e.g., Friday - Saturday). You can also override this global setting at the property-level under a property's Rules.
WIDGET - A website widget is a small application or code snippet embedded in a web page to add specific features—like chat, forms, or booking tools—without custom development. It typically operates by adding a JavaScript or iframe snippet to your site’s HTML, which loads content or functionality from the provider’s server and displays it directly on your page.