OTA Systemsby Multisystems
Glossary · 40 terms · Plain English

Every OTA term, plain-English.

Reconcilable Bookings. HTID. Tax-on-commission. Virtual card limbo. The language of OTA operations, without the legalese.

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Term of focusMoney

Reconcilable Bookings

Expedia Partner Central's screen for marking no-shows, early departures, and waived cancellations. 4th-of-month deadline applies.

See it in action — dispute calendar

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40 terms across 5 categories. Anchor links work with browser back.

By category

Five concept areas.

Skim the area you care about. Most glossary lookups land in Money or Platform — those are where the dispute mechanics and the OTA data layer live.

  • Money

    Commission, reclaim, and the math behind dispute filing.

    14 terms

  • Operations

    Multi-OTA workflows, PMS integrations, and channel management.

    6 terms

  • Revenue

    Rates, comp sets, occupancy pace, and pricing intelligence.

    7 terms

  • Platform

    How Expedia and Booking.com expose data: APIs, IDs, dashboards.

    11 terms

  • Regulatory

    DMA, rate parity, jurisdictional commission tax rules.

    2 terms

Glossary

Reclaim dictionary.

Click any term in a conversation with your revenue manager or accountant. We'll keep this page updated as the industry shifts.

A

ADRaka Average Daily Rate
Total room revenue divided by total rooms sold. Key metric for pricing decisions and comp-set comparison.
Revenue
API commission
The commission amount the OTA pre-calculates on a booking and returns via API at booking time. May differ from the final invoice — hence the need for reconciliation.
Money

B

Booking Retrieval API
Expedia's XML API for pulling reservation data into the hotel's systems. Certification-gated. Source of truth for ingested Bookings.
Platform
Booking.com Extranet
Booking.com's partner dashboard where hotels manage rates, availability, and reservations. Dispute-prep is filed here.
Platform
BYOK pricing
"Bring your own key" pricing: the customer supplies their own API credentials for integrations, reducing vendor markups.
Operations

C

Cancellation waiver
When a hotel waives a guest's cancellation fee as a goodwill gesture. The OTA typically still charges commission on the original amount — reclaim opportunity.
Money
Channel manager
Software that syncs rates and availability across multiple OTAs. SiteMinder, Cloudbeds, STAAH, EZee. OTA Systems works alongside — doesn't replace.
Operations
Commission-on-commission
When OTAs add a fee or surcharge on top of their already-charged commission (e.g. visibility boosters). Part of the rising cost-of-acquisition trend.
Money
Commission-on-tax
Some jurisdictions levy VAT/GST on top of the OTA's commission. This compounds the effective rate above the contract rate. Often missed by hoteliers.
Money
Comp setaka Competitive set
A hotel's chosen competitor properties used for benchmarking rate, occupancy, and ADR. Typically 4–8 nearby hotels of similar category.
Revenue
Connectivity APIaka Booking.com Connectivity
Booking.com's XML-based API for pushing/pulling reservations, rates, and availability. Uses OTA_HotelResNotif, OTA_HotelRateAmountNotif, etc.
Platform

D

Direct booking
A reservation made directly on the hotel's own website or phone. Zero OTA commission. The Hilton 'Stop Clicking Around' strategy target.
Operations
Disputed booking
A reservation for which the hotel is contesting the commission charge with the OTA. Status in OTA Systems: DISPUTING. See also: Reclaim.
Money
DMAaka Digital Markets Act
EU regulation that designated Booking.com a 'gatekeeper' in May 2024, forcing removal of rate-parity clauses. First-year audit due May 2026.
Regulatory

E

Early departure
Guest checks out before their scheduled stay ends. Commission should recompute to the nights actually stayed; typically doesn't without a reclaim.
Money
Effective commission rate
The real commission paid after taxes, taxes-on-tax, and commission-on-commission. Always higher than the headline/contract rate.
Money
EQCaka Expedia Quick Connect
Expedia's messaging format for Booking Retrieval and Availability & Rates API calls. Built on XML over HTTPS.
Platform
Expedia Collect
Payment model where Expedia collects payment from the guest, deducts commission, and remits net to the hotel. Opposite: Hotel Collect.
Platform
Expedia Partner Central
Expedia Group's partner dashboard. Houses reservations, rates, accounting, reconcilable bookings, and invoices. Dispute filing happens here.
Platform

F

Folio
The detailed bill for a reservation — room charges, taxes, resort fees, F&B, incidentals. Lives in the PMS, not the OTA.
Operations

H

Hotel Collect
Payment model where the hotel charges the guest directly (card-on-file or at check-in). Commission is invoiced monthly. Opposite: Expedia Collect.
Platform
HTIDaka Hotel ID
Expedia's internal property identifier. Used in every Partner Central URL and API call. Example: htid=973675.
Platform

L

Lighthouseaka OTA Insight
Market-leading rate shopper. Pulls competitor rates across tens of thousands of hotels. One example of a rate shopper a hotel might bring to OTA Systems.
Revenue

M

Monthly reconciliation
The process of matching invoiced commission (from the OTA's monthly PDF) against expected commission (from real-time booking data). Every delta is a reclaim candidate.
Money

N

No-show
Guest doesn't arrive and doesn't cancel. The room typically can't be resold. Expedia still charges commission unless you mark it no-show in Reconcilable Bookings.
Money

O

Occupancy pace
Running count of confirmed bookings as a percentage of available rooms, across a forward window. Leading indicator for pricing.
Revenue
OHIPaka Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform
Oracle's integration layer for Opera Cloud PMS. Common way hotels connect Opera Cloud to third-party tools.
Operations
On the books
Revenue that's confirmed but not yet realized — bookings in-house and arriving. Used as a near-term revenue forecast.
Revenue
OTAaka Online Travel Agency
Third-party marketplace for hotel bookings — Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Agoda. Charges 10–30% commission in exchange for demand.
Platform
Over-charged commission
Commission the OTA collected that it shouldn't have, because the booking was cancelled, modified, or the guest didn't complete the stay. Core OTA Systems use case.
Money

P

Partner Extranet
Generic term for any OTA's partner-side dashboard. Expedia Partner Central and Booking.com Extranet are the two biggest.
Platform
PMSaka Property Management System
The hotel's system of record for reservations, folios, housekeeping, and check-in. Cloudbeds, Mews, Opera/OHIP, Little Hotelier, RMS.
Operations

R

Rate parity
Contractual requirement that hotels don't offer lower public rates outside a specific OTA. Technically dead in the EU as of July 2024 (DMA).
Regulatory
Rate shopper
Software that pulls competitor rates from public sources. Lighthouse, RateGain, Duetto. Not supplied by Expedia or Booking.com — third-party only.
Revenue
Reclaim
The action of disputing an OTA commission charge to get it refunded. OTA Systems is a Reclaim automation platform — we find, package, and track. You file.
Money
Reconcilable Bookings
Expedia Partner Central's screen for marking no-shows, early departures, and waived cancellations. 4th-of-month deadline applies.
Money
RevPARaka Revenue per Available Room
Total room revenue divided by total rooms available (not rooms sold). The headline hotel-industry metric. Up 19% since 2019 (PhocusWire, Feb 2026).
Revenue

T

Tax-on-commission
VAT, GST, or digital services tax applied to the OTA's commission, charged back to the hotel. Varies by jurisdiction; always increases effective rate.
Money

V

Virtual card
A one-time-use card number Expedia generates for prepaid bookings. Activates on check-in; deactivates on the stated date. Common source of reconciliation gaps.
Platform

W

Waived cancellation fee
When the hotel forgives a guest's cancellation penalty. The OTA still typically keeps its commission on the original booking. Reclaim category.
Money

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