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Definition
| A summary of all of a group’s activities, billing instructions, key attendees, recreational arrangements, arrival and departure patterns, and other important information; usually stored in a binder at the front desk or in an electronic file. |
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| The clock by the hotel switchboard that keeps the official hotel time. |
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| A collection of information kept at the front desk for front desk agents to use in responding to guest requests and questions, including simplified maps of the area; taxi and airline company telephone numbers; bank, theater, church, and store locations; and special event schedules. |
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| A journal in which important front office events and decisions are recorded for reference during subsequent shifts. In many hotels, the logbook has been replaced by a transaction file maintained by the property management system. |
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| A folio used to chart transactions on an account assigned to more than one person or guestroom, usually reserved for group accounts; a master folio collects charges not appropriately posted elsewhere. |
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| An electronic form of a maintenance log book system. |
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| A posting or closed-circuit broadcast of daily events at a hotel. |
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| A folio in which a guest’s charges are separated into two or more folios. |
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| A chronological recording of important front office events and decisions for reference during subsequent front office work shifts. |
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| A device capable of storing, recording, and playing back messages for guests through the telephone system. |
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| The party appealing a previous court decision. |
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| The party appealed against. Also known as the respondent. |
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| Common law in most states, a citizen’s arrest permits arrest by private citizens when an individual is lawfully deprived of his or her freedom. It should be done only if a sworn police officer cannot respond in time and good judgment requires prompt action. |
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| Damages awarded to compensate the plaintiff for pain and suffering, loss of income during a period of absence from work, medical and hospital expenses, and recuperative facility or home-service expenses. |
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| Monetary awards paid by the defendant to compensate the plaintiff, to punish the defendant, or both. |
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| The side the suit is brought against. |
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| An immediate decision rendered by a judge after the close of evidence, because either side failed to prove its cause. |
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| The reasonable likelihood that a specific future incident could have been foreseen—and, therefore, prevented based on knowledge of past similar incidents on the premises or in the surrounding community. |
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| judgment n.o.v. (notwithstanding the verdict) |
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Definition
| A judgment by a trial judge that overrules all or part of the jury verdict. |
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| The primary or predominating cause from which an injury follows as a natural, direct, and immediate consequence, and without which the injury would not have occurred. Also known as proximate cause. |
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| Failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under like or similar circumstances. |
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| The side that initiates and files the suit. |
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| The primary or predominating cause from which an injury follows as a natural, direct, and immediate consequence, and without which the injury would not have occurred. Also known as legal cause. |
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| Damages awarded against a person as punishment for outrageous conduct; punitive damages also act as a deterrent to similar conduct. |
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| Actions that are ordinary or usual to protect against a foreseeable event—the central legal issue being that innkeepers owe a duty of care to all persons on their property. Failure to meet this duty may result in security-related liability. |
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| The party appealed against. Also known as the appellee. |
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Definition
| Protecting people and assets. Security efforts may involve such areas of concern as guestroom security, key control, locks, access and perimeter control, alarm and communication systems, lighting, closed-circuit television, safe depositboxes, inventory control, credit and billing procedures, computer security, staffing, pre-employment screening, employee training, responsible service of alcoholic beverages, emergency and safety procedures, and recordkeeping. |
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Definition
| A judgment granted (1) to the defendant when the plaintiff fails to meet the factual and legal requirements to establish its case, or (2) to the plaintiff when a valid legal claim exists supported by the facts with no possible defense. |
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Definition
| Provides the basis for actions permitting one person to remedy a wrong committed against him or her by another. For example, it permits an injured party to bring a lawsuit for damages against a security officer and the employing property for such unreasonable conduct as false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, and slander. |
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Definition
| The court in which a suit or case is first tried. |
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| A form on which financial data are accumulated and summarized. |
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| A summary of an account in terms of its resulting monetary amount; specifically, the difference between the total debits and total credits to an account. |
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| An amount owed to the hotel. |
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Term
| accounts receivable ledger |
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Definition
| A grouping of accounts receivable, including the guest ledger and the city ledger. |
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Definition
| A voucher used to support an account allowance. |
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Definition
| The amount of cash contained in a cashier bank when it is issued at the beginning of a work shift. |
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Definition
| A voucher used to support cash flow out of the hotel, either directly to, or on behalf of, a guest |
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Definition
| An amount of money given to a cashier at the start of a work shift so that he or she can handle the various transactions that occur. The cashier is responsible for this cash bank and for all cash, checks, and other negotiable items received during the work shift. |
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Definition
| A voucher used to support a cash payment transaction at the front desk. |
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Definition
| A voucher used to support a charge purchase transaction that takes place somewhere other than the front desk; also referred to as an account receivable voucher. |
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Definition
| The collection of all non-guest accounts, including house accounts and unsettled departed-guest accounts. |
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Definition
| A voucher used to support the correction of a posting error that is rectified before the close of business on the day the error was made. |
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Definition
| An entry on the right side of an account. |
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Definition
| An entry on the left side of an account. |
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Definition
| A situation that occurs when a cashier pays out more than he or she receives; the difference is due back to the cashier’s cash bank. In the front office, due backs usually occur when a cashier accepts so many checks and large bills during a shift that he or she cannot restore the initial bank at the end of the shift without using the checks or large bills. |
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Definition
| A folio used to chart transactions on an account assigned to an employee with charge purchase privileges at the hotel. |
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Definition
| A limit assigned to hotels by payment card companies indicating the maximum amount in payment card charges the hotel is permitted to accept from a card member without special authorization. |
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Definition
| A statement of all transactions affecting the balance of a single account. |
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Term
| front office accounting formula |
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Definition
| The formula used in posting transactions to front office accounts: Previous Balance + Debits − Credits = Net Outstanding Balance. |
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Definition
| A record of the financial transactions that occur between a guest and the hotel. |
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Definition
| A form (paper or electronic) used to chart transactions on an account assigned to an individual person or guestroom. |
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Definition
| The set of accounts for all guests currently registered at the hotel; also called the front office ledger, transient ledger, or rooms ledger. |
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Definition
| An account that has reached or exceeded a predetermined credit limit; typically identified by the night auditor; also called a high risk account. |
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Definition
| A credit limit established by the hotel. |
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Definition
| A charge posted to a guest account after the guest has settled the account and departed the hotel. |
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Definition
| A method for tracking past-due accounts according to the date the charges originated. |
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Definition
| A city ledger account that is within the current billing period. |
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Definition
| A city ledger account that has not been settled within a reasonable collection period, usually ninety days. |
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Term
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Definition
| A pre-departure activity that involves the production and early morning distribution of guest folios for guests expected to check out that morning. |
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Definition
| A collection of guest history records, constructed from expired registration cards or created through sophisticated automated systems that automatically direct information about departing guests into a guest history database. |
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Definition
| A record of personal and financial information about hotel guests relevant to marketing and sales that can help the hotel serve guests on return visits. |
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Definition
| A transaction requiring posting to a guest account that does not reach the front desk for posting until after the guest has checked out and closed his or her account. |
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Term
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Definition
| A room status term indicating that the guest is being allowed to check out later than the hotel’s standard check-out time. |
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Term
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Definition
| A charge imposed by some hotels on guests who do not check out by the established check-out time. |
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Definition
| A city ledger account that is unpaid beyond the current billing period, usually between thirty and ninety days. |
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Definition
| An automated system, usually located in the hotel lobby, that allows the guest to review his or her folio and settle the account using the payment card authorized at check-in. |
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Definition
| A guest who has left a hotel and has intentionally not settled his or her account. |
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Definition
| Charges remaining in a guest account after the guest has left the hotel. |
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Definition
| Settling a folio account balance in full as the guest checks out. |
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Definition
| A list of all items within a particular area that need cleaning by or the attention of housekeeping personnel. |
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Term
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Definition
| Intensive or specialized cleaning undertaken in guestrooms or public areas. Often conducted according to a special schedule or on a special- project basis. |
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Definition
| A schedule that indicates how often each item on an area inventory list must be cleaned or maintained. |
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Term
| housekeeping status report |
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Definition
| A report the housekeeping department prepares that indicates the current housekeeping status of each room, based on a physical check. |
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Definition
| The greatest number of purchase units that should be in stock at any given time. |
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Definition
| The fewest number of purchase units that should be in stock at any given time. |
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Definition
| A report prepared each night by a front desk agent or the property management system that lists rooms occupied that night and indicates guests who are expected to check out the following day. |
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Definition
| A multiple of the standard quantity of a particular inventory item that must be on hand to support daily, routine housekeeping operations. |
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Definition
| A required level of performance that establishes the quality of work that must be done. |
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Definition
| A systematic approach to maintenance in which situations are identified and corrected on a regular basis to control costs and keep larger problems from occurring. |
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Definition
| An acceptable amount of work that must be done within a specific time frame according to an established performance standard. |
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Definition
| A situation in which the housekeeping department’s description of a room’s status differs from the room status information at the front desk. |
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Definition
| Activities related to the general upkeep of the property that occur on a regular (daily or weekly) basis and require relatively minimal training or skills to perform. |
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Term
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Definition
| Activities related to the upkeep of the property that are initiated through a formal work order or similar document. |
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