Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
Stayover:
Guest who is not scheduled to check out of the hotel on the day his or her room status is
assessed. This guest will be staying and using the room at least one more day.
No-show:
Guest who makes a room reservation but fails to cancel the reservation or arrive at the hotel
on the date of the reservation.
Early departure:
Guest who checks out of the hotel before his or her originally scheduled check-out
date.
Overstay:
Guest who checks out of the hotel after his or her originally scheduled check-out date.
Note that Figure 3 also indicates an availability forecast percentage (40 percent in
line 13), which is the inverse of the occupancy forecast percentage (60 percent in line 11).
In a more realistic example, room use and availability would be forecast by room
type, as well as for the total number of hotel rooms available. However, the proce-
dures used by FOMs are the same whether forecasting room type availability or total
room availability.
Much of the data in Figure 3 are maintained by the PMS, for example, the 
number of rooms available, number of out-of-order rooms, and number of reserva-
tions currently booked. Data for the three forecast adjustments (no-shows, early
departures, and overstays), however, describe events that will occur in the future.
Therefore, “real” (actual) data for these adjustments do not exist. Instead, they must
be forecast by the FOM, and this is relatively easy to do if the FOM has carefully
tracked the hotel’s historical data related to these adjustments.
No-shows
Every hotel experiences some no-show guests. For many reasons, guests change their
plans and fail to contact the hotel for a cancellation number.