Meetings and event industry jargon explained

Meetings and event industry jargon can be a little overwhelming if you’re new to the industry. Like most industries, even if you’ve been around for a few years you can still come across new acronyms.

So here’s our quick guide to some of the lingo flying around to support you in your jargon busting journey.

A

Allocation – Agreement by a hotel to hold an agreed number of bedrooms at a fixed rate, for a set period of time.

Attrition clause – Used to protect accommodation providers when rooms allocated to a client cannot be filled. Hotels may impose fees when fewer rooms are filled than the agreed percentage of the number contracted.

B

Bed night – A measure of occupancy calculated by multiplying the number of guests by the number of nights stayed. For instance 12 guests staying from Monday to Thursday would clock up 36 bed nights.

Best available rate – Also known as a flexible rate. This is a variable rate according to demand and occupancy.

Build-up and breakdown – Additional time to set up and dismantle audio/visual and production equipment. If you need access in advance or after the event there may be an additional charge, depending on the time required.

By the piece –  Food purchased by individual item.For instance canapes at a drinks reception.  The alternative to by the piece is by the person in which a fixed price covers all food (or more often drink)consumed by the individual.

C

Complimentary ratio – The measure dictating how many rooms are provided free of charge compared with those paid for.

Comp. rooms – Complimentary rooms allocated by the hotel.

Confirmed reservation – Verbal or written agreement to proceed with the booking.

Contract – Binding agreement where there are legal responsibilities for both parties.

Customer rate – A special rate agreed with a customer in return for booking a certain number of rooms.  Be aware that this is usually lower than the corporate rate, the increased use of best available rate means it is not usually the cheapest option.

Cut-off date – Date when the venue will release a block of bedrooms to the general public.

D

DDR (Daily Delegate Rate) – Usually comprises hire of one meeting room, lunch,refreshment breaks and water in the meeting room. Generally better value than paying for all the elements separately. Check whether there are two or three refreshment breaks included, if you want tea and coffee for delegates on arrival as well as mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

DMC (Destination Management Company) – Company with local knowledge and which uses local suppliers at the destination.

DMP (Day Meeting Package) an inclusive package for non residential meetings typically covering the hours of 9am- 5pm.

E

End on end – A travel arrangement that combines two itineraries into one ticket for example flying from New York to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Sydney on a single ticket rather than two separate ones.

EP – In hotel terminology this stands for European Plan but has nothing to do with the geographical location. It’s a rate that covers only room cost and not meals; an American Plan, in contrast, includes three meals a day

F

Folio – The written record of a guests account including all charges and payments.

G

Guaranteed late arrival – A room reservation guaranteed by a credit card or advanced payment if a guests arrival is later than the hotels deadline.

Ground arrangements – Services covering the land portion of events such as accommodation, visits to museums, site seeing tours and transfers between an airport and hotel and venue.

H

Hold time – The hour at which hotel rooms that have been reserved but not guaranteed are released for general sale: usually 4pm or 6pm.

Host bar – Private room bar set up, with drinks paid for by a sponsor (as opposed to a cash bar).

I

Inclusive rates – Including all taxes and service charge.

In – out dates – The dates on which a hotel guest arrives and leaves.

Interactive response –  A system that enables an audience to respond to prepared questions by means of a multi-function keypad. Responses are fed to a computer that tabulates them and displays the results graphically on a projection screen.

J

Junior suite – A hotel room featuring a living /sitting area that may not be partitioned off from the rest of the room, in addition to the bedding area.

Joint fare – A fee charged to a traveller taking a trip that involves more than one airline. The joint fare covers the cost of the entire journey.

K

Keynote address – A session that opens or highlights the meeting or event.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator) – Measure a value, such as the number of people who attend an event, which shows how effectively a business is achieving key objectives.

L

Limited-service hotel – Defined as a hotel without a restaurant. Such accommodation might, however offer a beverage option or continental breakfast.

LRA (Last Room Availability) – A contract that allows customers to book any hotel room, even the last available, at their usual rate.

M

MI (Management Information) – Good travel management companies will regularly provide management reports on travel spend, traveller behaviour and other data.

MICE – It may sound like the last thing you want to hear about in connection with a business meeting, but this is a commonly used acronym for the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibition sector.

Microphones – There are a variety available:

• Cordless/Wireless – portable, using its own power source.
• Lapel – can be pinned to clothing, used if speakers walk around or need their hands free.
• Lectern – attached to the lectern.
• Roving – hand held, used for taking questions from the audience.
• Standing – attached to an adjustable stand on the floor.
• Table – on a short stand placed on the table-top, usually used by a panel of speakers.

N

Net rate – What everyone really wishes they were paying for when they travel, this is the price of a ticket before any third party commission or taxes are added.

Non-transferable – A ticket that is specifically for one passenger – the one named in the paperwork – and cannot be used by anyone else.

O

OBT (Online Booking Tool – The system that travel and meeting bookers use to make bookings where their companies preferred policy and suppliers are available.

Options

• Option date (release date) – the date that the option expires and the venue can offer the space to another client.
• First option – the space is being held for one client until the option date and they have first choice to confirm the booking.
• Second option – the space will be offered to the second option client if the first option does not proceed.
• Joint option – the space is held by two or more clients and the venue will proceed with the first one to confirm (contract) their booking.
• All space hotel – when all function space at a venue has been reserved for one client

Overnight hold – Exclusive use of the meeting room for the duration of a multi-day event. You may be using the room during the day, but the venue may wish to book another event there in the evening. Check this, as it has implications for setting up and production. There may be a charge for overnight hold.

P

Preferred programme – A list of approved properties for an organisations employees to use where we will have negotiated rates, payment terms and extras (and often a level or guaranteed room availability), based on the companies and the travellers needs.

Pre-registration – The process of booking in for an event before the day itself, which can speed up check in time on the day,attract delegates with early bird discounts and provide organisers with useful advanced info.

Q

Queen room – In a hotel, this will have a queen sized bed, which is smaller than a full sized double. In the UK, a queen bed is about 120cm wide – generous for a solo traveller, cosy for a couple.

R

Rack rate – Published standard cost of a hotel bedroom.

RDR (Residential Delegate Rate) – Also known as 24-hour rate. As daily delegate rate, plus dinner, bed and breakfast.

RevPAR – Revenue per available room, the hotel industries way of calculating how much revenue is received relative to the number of rooms in a hotel over a given period.

RFI (Request For Information) – Process of gathering information to decide how to proceed. This can be the first step in a process and is often followed by a RFP.

RFP (Request For Proposal) – Invitation for suppliers to submit a formal business offer, which includes details of the products and services they can provide as well as a quotation.

Risk assessment – Carried out in advance of an event and lays out the potential risks, who can be effected, how serious they are and they can be mitigated.

ROI (Return On Investment) – Measurement of the success of an event, which can be by arrange of criteria such as financial, educational, motivational…

Room set-up – The instructions for how the conference and meeting rooms should be laid out, includes seating style, AV/PA requirements etc.

Room hire rate – Charge to hire a room and any equipment provided in it, with water for delegates. Usually used for syndicate rooms, as the main room is included in the delegate rate.

Rooming list – A breakdown of which rooms delegates have been assigned along with check in/check out details and and special requirements such as disabled access or dietary needs.

Run of house rooms – Available bedrooms which are allocated at a flat rate, regardless of the standard of the room and at the discretion of the hotel.

S

SLA (Service Level Agreement) – Agreed standards that all parties will work to.

Syndicate room (or breakout room) – Smaller room for group meetings away from the main event.

T

Theatre style – Potentially to most popular style for conferences, as the name would suggest Theatre style sees delegates sat in rows all facing the front. There can be a few variations, some venues can offer tiered seating which allows for better views and more seating. Room layouts really up there with event industry jargon, so check-out our full guide on room layout options, here, for more help.

Turnaround time – Time required to change a room layout or clean a room

TRevPAR – Similar to RevPAR but this takes into account all spending within the hotel including bars/restaurants, room service, WiFi charges etc.

U

Upgrades – Receiving something of a higher standard for the standard price. Hotels will often offer upgrades to key staff such as the directors, event planner or keynote speaker.

U shaped layout – U shape generally comes into play when larger numbers mean that boardroom style is too small. Delegates all have somewhere to write/type and one end of the set up is left empty so that everyone can see the AV set and speaker.

And don’t forget – our full guide on room layout options, here, for more help.

V

Venue finder – A person or company who find venues and negotiate rates on behalf of a client in return for commission paid by the venue. Similar to a travel agent.

VAT – Value Add Tax, currently at 20%, applicable to most items within an event. Room hire can sometimes exclude VAT is no catering is required.

Venue – A location where a meeting or event takes place.

W

Workshop – A breakout session from a larger event for training/educational purposes.

WiFi

• Free Wifi – Wireless internet connection with no charge to access.
• Paid Wifi – Wireless internet that costs guests for use.

Working Lunch – The most basic form of catering, usually taken within the meeting or event space and generally composed of sandwiches.

• Working Buffet Lunch (WBL): A selection of finger foods taken in the meeting room to enable delegates to keep working.
• Working Sandwich Lunch (WSL): A selection of sandwiches taken in the meeting room to enable delegates to keep working.

There you have it – meetings and event industry jargon explained!

And if you need expert support with your next event venue, start your search right here!