Short-term rental
vocabulary, decoded.

Software that synchronizes a property's availability, rates, and reservations across multiple booking platforms (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, etc.) so the same room never gets sold twice.

A flat charge added to a reservation to cover the cost of cleaning the property between stays — separate from the nightly rate, visible to the guest at booking.

A reservation made through the host's own website or booking widget, bypassing OTA marketplaces and the commission they charge.

A method of sharing calendar availability between booking platforms by exchanging plain-text .ics files at a polling interval — usually 15 to 60 minutes.

A booking setting that lets a guest reserve a property immediately without the host's manual approval, in exchange for higher booking volume and OTA ranking weight.

A rule that forces a guest's reservation to span at least N consecutive nights — used by hosts to reduce turnover cost, target longer-stay guests, and keep occupancy contiguous.

A booking marketplace that lists travel inventory (rooms, vacation rentals, flights) from independent hosts and operators, and earns a commission on each booking.

Software that runs the full back-office of a short-term rental: bookings, calendars, payments, cleaning schedules, owner statements, and channel sync.

A check-in flow where the guest enters the property without meeting the host — typically via a keypad, lockbox, or smart lock, with instructions delivered digitally before arrival.

The day a guest checks out and the next guest checks in — the operational hot zone where cleaning, restocking, and inspection all have to happen between two confirmed bookings.