Glossary

Hotel, restaurant and shop terms, explained

40 words that come up when you run a hotel, hostel, restaurant or shop in India — from the front desk and the kitchen to GST, cash and payroll.

Each entry opens with a one- or two-sentence definition you can quote, then a worked example in rupees, how Nivasik handles it, and what Nivasik does not do.

The GST and compliance entries — GSTIN, HSN and SAC codes, CGST, SGST and IGST, e-invoicing, MRP and Form C — list their official sources and the date they were last reviewed (25 September 2026).

Browse by topic

Front desk and rooms

The words a hotel, hostel or guest house uses from the booking to the bill.

In Nivasik: Hotel PMS · Housekeeping · For hotels

Rates and revenue

What a room sells for, and the three numbers that say how the month went.

In Nivasik: Hotel PMS · Booking engine

Selling online

Booking sites, your own booking page, and keeping them from selling one room twice.

In Nivasik: Channel manager · Booking engine

Restaurant and counter

Billing, the kitchen, credit customers and stock at a restaurant or shop.

In Nivasik: Restaurant POS · Retail POS · Inventory

GST and compliance (India)

The numbers and forms an Indian business is asked for. Sources and review date on every page.

In Nivasik: GST calculator · POS and billing

Cash and the books

Where the day's money went, and how the drawer is counted.

In Nivasik: Expenses and day book · POS and billing

Operations and maintenance

Requests, time targets, and looking after what the building is made of.

In Nivasik: Guest requests · Staff management

People and pay

Salary slips and the advance somebody asked for on the 14th.

In Nivasik: HR and payroll · Salary calculator

A to Z

A

ADR (average daily rate)Rates and revenue: The average price earned per occupied room: room revenue divided by room nights sold.
Asset registerOperations and maintenance: The list of physical things a business follows one by one — where each is, its state, its cost and its history.

B

Best available rate (BAR)Rates and revenue: The lowest flexible, freely cancellable price a hotel offers for a room type on a given night.
Booking engineSelling online: The booking page on a hotel's own website or link, where guests book directly and no commission is paid.

C

CGST, SGST and IGSTGST and compliance (India): CGST + SGST on a sale within one state; IGST instead when supplier and place of supply are in different states.
Channel managerSelling online: Software that keeps a hotel's availability — and, with certified connections, its rates — in step across booking sites.
City ledgerFront desk and rooms: The accounts a hotel bills after the guest has left — companies and travel agents that settle on credit.

D

Day bookCash and the books: One business day's money: what came in by cash, UPI and card, against what went out, and what is left.

E

E-invoice (IRN)GST and compliance (India): A B2B invoice reported to the government's Invoice Registration Portal, which returns an IRN and a signed QR code.
EscalationOperations and maintenance: Moving a request that missed its time target up the chain — to a supervisor, then a manager — so it gets a new owner.

F

FEFO (first expired, first out)Restaurant and counter: A stock rule: use or sell the batch that expires soonest first, not the one that arrived first.
FolioFront desk and rooms: A guest's running bill for a stay: every charge and every payment, so the balance is known at any moment.
Form C (Form III)GST and compliance (India): The online report of a foreign guest's stay that an Indian hotel or homestay files within 24 hours of arrival — now called Form III.

G

GSTIN (GST number)GST and compliance (India): The 15-character number a business gets when it registers for GST: state code, PAN, entity code and a check character.

H

Housekeeping room statusFront desk and rooms: The state of each room for cleaning and sale — dirty, clean, inspected, out of order or out of service — plus occupied or vacant.
HSN codeGST and compliance (India): The code that classifies goods for GST; a tax invoice shows 4 or 6 digits of it, depending on turnover.

I

iCal syncSelling online: Sharing availability between booking sites through calendar links: dates only, refreshed periodically.

K

KDS (kitchen display system)Restaurant and counter: A screen in the kitchen that replaces printed KOTs and shows how long each order has waited.
Khata (udhar)Restaurant and counter: A shop's running credit account for a customer — the udhar book: take now, pay later.
KOT (kitchen order ticket)Restaurant and counter: The slip, printed or on screen, that tells the kitchen what to cook for a table or order.

M

Markup vs marginRestaurant and counter: Markup is profit as a share of cost; margin is the same profit as a share of the selling price.

N

Night auditFront desk and rooms: The end-of-day close: every occupied room charged for the night, the day checked, no-shows marked, and the business date moved on.
No-showFront desk and rooms: A guest with a confirmed booking who neither arrives nor cancels.

O

Occupancy rateRates and revenue: The share of available rooms (or beds) that were sold for a period, as a percentage.
OTA commissionSelling online: The share of a booking or order that a booking site or food delivery app keeps for bringing the customer.
OverbookingFront desk and rooms: Holding more confirmed bookings for a night than there are rooms — on purpose, or by accident across two booking sites.

P

Payslip (salary slip)People and pay: The statement of how a pay period's pay was worked out: salary, days, additions, deductions and the net paid.
Petty cashCash and the books: A small float of cash kept for everyday expenses, each payout recorded with what it was for.
PMS (property management system)Front desk and rooms: The software a hotel runs its rooms on: bookings, the room rack, check-in and out, the guest's bill, housekeeping and the nightly close.
POS (point of sale)Restaurant and counter: The software (and hardware) a restaurant or shop uses to take an order, bill it, take payment and print the receipt.
Preventive maintenance (PPM)Operations and maintenance: Servicing equipment on a schedule — before it fails — instead of repairing it after a complaint.

R

Rack rateRates and revenue: A hotel's full published price for a room type, before any discount, package or negotiated rate.
Rate paritySelling online: Selling the same room, dates and conditions at the same price on every channel.
RevPAR (revenue per available room)Rates and revenue: Room revenue divided by all the room nights available — ADR multiplied by occupancy.

S

SAC codeGST and compliance (India): The six-digit code that classifies a service for GST; every SAC starts with 99.
Salary advancePeople and pay: Part of an employee's pay handed over before payday, recovered from their salary later.
Shift close (cash drawer)Cash and the books: The end-of-shift count of a cash drawer against what should be in it, with any difference recorded.
SLA (service level agreement)Operations and maintenance: A time target per type of request — acknowledge in so many minutes, resolve in so many — with every request timed against it.

T

Tax-inclusive price (MRP)GST and compliance (India): A price that already contains the tax. MRP on packaged goods is, by law, a tax-inclusive maximum.

W

Walk-inFront desk and rooms: A guest who arrives without a reservation and takes a room on the spot.

Compare the options

Plain comparisons of the choices an independent property faces — each with the cases where the other option is better.

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