Glossary
The words of the trade, in plain language.
From ADR to SIBA: the terms you meet running short-term rentals, explained in a sentence or two.
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- ADR (average daily rate)
- Room revenue divided by the number of nights sold in a period. It tells you what an occupied night is worth, not how many nights you sold.How GuestAgent handles it
- AIMA
- Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo — the Portuguese agency that took over the administrative duties of SEF when it was dissolved in October 2023.
- Alojamento Local (AL)
- Portugal’s legal category for short-term rentals: apartments, houses, rooms and hostels rented to tourists for a fee. Each one must be registered and carries an AL registration number.How GuestAgent handles it
- Base price
- The reference nightly price a pricing engine starts from before applying seasons, weekdays, demand and last-minute adjustments.How GuestAgent handles it
- Boletim de alojamento
- The guest registration form sent to the Portuguese authorities through SIBA for every guest who is not a Portuguese citizen, at arrival and at departure.How GuestAgent handles it
- Channel manager
- Software that keeps prices, availability and reservations in sync across Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and other channels, so a night sold on one disappears from the others.How GuestAgent handles it
- Cleaning gap (turnover block)
- A night kept closed before or after a stay so there is always time to clean between guests.How GuestAgent handles it
- Direct booking
- A reservation made on your own website instead of through an online travel agency, so no channel commission is paid.How GuestAgent handles it
- Dynamic pricing
- Changing nightly prices with demand, season, lead time and occupancy instead of keeping a fixed rate.How GuestAgent handles it
- EU short-term rental regulation (2024/1028)
- The EU regulation on data collection and sharing for short-term rentals, applicable from 20 May 2026: registration numbers on listings and activity data shared by platforms with the authorities.How GuestAgent handles it
- INE (IPHH)
- Statistics Portugal. Accommodation providers report each month’s guests and nights by country of residence in the IPHH survey.How GuestAgent handles it
- Last-minute discount
- A price cut on nights still unsold close to the date, so they earn something instead of staying empty.How GuestAgent handles it
- Lead time
- How far ahead of arrival guests book. Short lead times leave less room to react to an empty calendar.
- Minimum stay
- The fewest nights a reservation must have. Too high and gaps between bookings stay empty; too low and cleaning costs eat the margin.How GuestAgent handles it
- Occupancy rate
- Nights sold divided by nights available in a period. High occupancy at a low price can earn less than lower occupancy at the right price.
- Online check-in
- Guests enter their details and identity document on a secure link before arrival, instead of at the door.How GuestAgent handles it
- OTA (online travel agency)
- A booking platform such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia or Vrbo, which brings guests in exchange for a commission.
- Owner portal
- The space where property owners managed by an agency see their reservations, statements and payouts.How GuestAgent handles it
- PMS (property management system)
- The software that runs a rental business: properties, calendar, reservations, guests, payments and the team.How GuestAgent handles it
- Rate plan
- A set of prices and conditions for the same room — for example a flexible rate and a non-refundable one at a lower price.How GuestAgent handles it
- RevPAR (revenue per available night)
- Room revenue divided by the nights available — or ADR × occupancy. The one number that rewards both price and occupancy.
- SIBA
- Sistema de Informação de Boletins de Alojamento — the Portuguese platform where accommodation providers submit the guest registration forms of foreign guests.How GuestAgent handles it
- Smart lock
- A door lock opened with a code or an app. A new code per reservation, valid only for the stay, replaces handing over keys.How GuestAgent handles it
- Tourist tax
- A per-person, per-night charge set by many municipalities — Lisbon and Porto among them — collected by the host and paid to the municipality.How GuestAgent handles it
- Unified inbox
- One place for every guest message — OTA, email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat and calls — instead of one app per channel.How GuestAgent handles it
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