A
ACCOMMODATION?
Any place that provides lodging for guest during travel. Accommodation types ranges from, Resorts, to hotels, to vacation rentals.
ACTIVITY PROVIDER?
A person or company present at a destination that provides a variety of activities for tourists to participate in while on vacation. A few examples are Kayaking, biking, hiking, snorkeling etc.
ADD-ON?
The optional product or services available for travellers to add to their packages when booking a vacation. Travel insurance is a great example.
ADD-ON
Bordering hotel rooms that do not share a common door.
ADVANCED PURCHASE REQUIREMENT
When a product mainly and airline ticket has to be purchased before a given time.
ADVENTURE INDUSTRY?
Adventure industry is a category of the travel market that is made up of the tour operators that provides, the more physical outdoor activities. Activities such as trekking, hiking, surfing, etc.
AFFILIATIONS – Affiliations are partnerships that product vendors or tour operators form with other vendors, normally to provide incentives such as free or discounted add-on services.
Agents
Agents are resellers of travel products and services, normally working on a commission per sale basis.
AIRPORT ACCESS FEE
Charges levied by an airport's management on a car rental company for the privilege of using airport grounds, passed on by the company to its customers under one name or the other.
B
BARGAIN SITES
These are also referred to as discount travel sites. Websites you can go to and find cheap last minute travel packages, tours and event tickets.
BASE FARE
This is the cost of an airline ticket before the taxes and fees are added.
BED & BREAKFAST?
A bed and breakfast, also referred to as B&B, are small local accommodations, that offers sleeping arrangements and a meal plan for visitors. B&Bs are normally ran by the owner/s of the establishment.
BLACKOUT DATES.
Black-Out Dates are usually dates unavailable public for booking, at an establishment. Black-outs are normally due to private charters or renovations.
BLEISURE TRAVEL
Is the term used to describe the growing trend of business travellers extending there trips by a few days for personal leisure purposes.
BLOCKED SPACE
Space reserved to be sold to a third party company or individual.
BOOKING?
When a successful sales is made in the travel industry it is considered a Booking. Booking can be with either a full or partial payment.
BOARDING PASS?
The ticket you receive at the check-in counter at the airport that permits the boarding of a flight.
BULK CONTRACT?
Where a large portion of product inventory is sold or contracted out to a third party supplier for resale.
BULK CONTRACT?
Business class is the mid level seat option between first class and economy.
C
CANCELATION PENALTY
A fee charged by a vendor to the client for cancelling a paid reservation within a certain time-frame.
CHANNEL MANAGER
A channel manager provides access to product inventory through the use of a software, from vendors to distributors.
CHARTER?
A charter is an exclusive group booking of a product, that provides them exclusive rights to the use of the product for the given time-frame. Charters can be done for full or part of the product. For example, a group can charter a section of a resort and that section is blocked off just for that group.
COMMISSION?
A commission is a percentage amount of a total booking paid by a product vendor to an agent for a referred customer. Commission amounts range from 10% – 25%.
CONCIERGE
A concierge is refers to anyone that provides personalized service to clients and guests in the travel and tourism industry.
CONSOLIDATER
A company setup to purchase airline seats at bulk discounted rates and resell to consumers.
CORPERATE AGENCY
A travel agency that caters to the travel needs of medium and large size businesses.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer service is the act of providing assistance to a paid or potential customer.
D
DESTINATION
Destination refers to the geographic location that a traveller is or is interested in going. A Destination could be a country, region or city.
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Destination Management companies also called DMCs, are organizations on location at a specific destination that offers local services and knowledge. DMCs are sometimes resellers of tours and activities.
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION (DMO)
Not for profit association or governmental organization designed to promote a destination.
ELECTRONIC TICKETING
The process by which a customer is provided a paperless ticket via email when they purchase a flight. This ticket is also referred to as an “E-Ticket.
EXCLUSIVE FARE
Special pricing that can only be offered by a specific consolidator.
FAM
A FAM, is a familiarization tour or site inspection offered by a product owners, where resellers and media partners are invited to come and sample the product. FAMs are normally organized by Tour Operators or Hotel owners.
FARE AGGREGATOR
A Fare aggregator collects and organizes pricing data from multiple locations in one place. This makes it easy for customers or agents to compare pricing without having to visit multiple sites.
FREE INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER (FIT)?
An FIT is an individual booking for couple or person not travelling with a group
FULFILLMENT?
Fulfillment implies that the purchased goods are services have been provided to the customer.
G
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
A Global Distribution System (GDS) is a computerized reservation system that product vendors such as hotels and airlines use to manage internal reservations as well as communicate with other resellers and distributors. Travel Agents use GDS systems to search for hotel and airline availability.
GROUND OPERATOR
A Ground Operator is another name for a Destination Management Company.
GUIDE?
A Guide is a person trained to host and lead a tour.
E
HOTEL?
A hotel is an establishment that provides temporary accommodations, meals, activities and other services for travellers or tourist.
HOST AGENCY?
A special type of travel agency that provides resources for travel agents to be able to sell travel from home or any remote location.
HOSTEL?
A Hostel is an inexpensive type of temporary accommodation that provides food and lodging, mainly for students or workers.
I
INBOUND TOUR OPERATOR?
Inbound tour operators are experts in tourism products for a particular destination and promote tourism products through other distributors around the world. Inbound tour operators create an important link between a country's tourism products and overseas travel companies that sell those products.
INTERNET BOOKING ENGINE (IBE)
An online system that allows clients to search for hotel, air and package pricing and book them online.
INTERLINE CONNECTION
A connecting flight that includes multiple airlines.
INSIDE SALES AGENTS
Salary based travel agents that work inside traditional storefront travel agencies.
INVOICE
An invoice, bill or tab is a document issued by a agent to a tour operator, relating to a sale transaction and indicating the tours, quantities, and agreed prices for tours or activities the agent had provided the tour operator.
J
JOINT FARE?
Joint fare is used when a single itinerary has multiple vendors, mainly flights, but the total price on the invoice as one cost.
L
LAND ARRANGE-MENTS
The portion of a trip itinerary that does not involves the land or non-flight portion of a trip. This includes, accommodations, transfers, car rental etc.
LAYOVER
The waiting period between connecting flights. This period is considered a layover as long as it is under 24 hours.
LEISURE TRAVEL?
Leisure travel is any trip that not business for business or personal reasons. Leisure travel is the same thing we call vacation.
LOSS DAMAGE WAIVER (LDW)
Optional damage insurance coverage offered by car rental companies that covers theft, vandalism and accidents.
LOW SEASON?
Low seasons are the less popular times to visit a destination, normally due to weather conditions.
M
MARKUP?
The process by which a rate is increased to accommodate a particular fee. That fee could be commission, premium added due to increased demand or any other type of supplementary cost.
MAXIMUM SAY
The longest possible time a tourist can stay at a destination and still qualify for a special rate.
MAXIMUM SAY
The shortest possible time required to successfully go from one leg of a connecting flight to the next.
MODIFIED AMEERICAN PLAN
A hotel meal plan that includes two meals. These two meals are normally breakfast and dinner.
MERCHANT ACCOUNT
Merchant providers setup payment gateways online to allow payment processing. In order to collect payment on your travel website, you will need a merchant account.
