A dictionary of common travel industry terms, terms used by Nomad Stays, and what they represent.
Account
Each person that signs up with Nomad Stays receives an Account which gives them a range of additional features not available to casual website users.
For instance, with an Account you are permitted to make bookings on Nomad Stays.
If you have also been accepted to receive additional services such as Advertising services, Stay Operator services, Experience Operator services etc. then your account will have even further features available beyond the general Account.
Account Owner
An Account Owner is the person that signs up for an account on Nomad Stays. If the Account Owner also operates a Stay business, then they control the information listed about the business.
Business Number
Many countries require businesses to register with their governments and receive some form of official business number to signify they meet certain standards. Those business numbers are often required by the laws in your country to be displayed on business marketing, invoices, receipts and other official documents.
They are generally used to clearly identify who is responsible for the conduct of the business.
When you rent out a property to strangers you are running an accommodation rental business.
Business Numbers tend to fall into 2 categories: General business numbers and Tourism Specific business numbers.
The laws of disclosing your business and tourism numbers are usually required by online platforms as well to ensure the platform's customers know who they are dealing with when renting a Stay.
Channel Manager
A Channel Manager is an online service bought by Stays to manage and share Stay's availability with many online platforms at the same time.
A Channel Manager ensures each connected platform is aware of the bookings made on other platforms to prevent double bookings for the same room on the same night.
Co-Host
A Co-Host is a person or business that provides management services to a Stay Manager. They are persons authorised to list the Stay and make changes to the details of the listing. They are a form of agent who have the authority to bind the business to contracts.
DAC7
DAC7 is the short name for a set of EU Regulations requiring any online platform in the world to report certain accommodation bookings concerning EU hosts worldwide, and properties situated inside the EU.
Reporting is currently done annually to a single EU country which forwards the booking information to the relevant tax authority in the EU. eg Bookings of German Stays is sent from the collection country to the German tax authority.
iCal
iCal is the term for the iCalendar internet standard for sharing calendar details between internet sites.
While not designed for the travel industry the iCal has been leveraged extensively by the small operator part of the travel industry to share details of the nights a room is unavailable for booking.
Nomad Stays has many iCal based articles available.
Land Registration
The land which a Stay is built upon is generally registered with its government as being owned by a person or a corporate entity. These government records become the official register of the land owner.
Governments will issue an official 'Land Registration Number' to identify the land in their registers.
The land owner is generally liable for the land taxes and rates of the property.
In Europe and some other countries the Land Registration details are required to be reported to government authorities by Operator and Booking Platforms.
Operator
The 'Operator' of a Stay or Experience is the organisation or person that runs the business of providing accommodation to others. The Operator does not need to be the owner of the property as the owner may have rented the property to another business to run the property as a business.
The Operator does not need to be a human as the business may be run by a business, partnership, company, trust, NGO, charity or other legal body.
PMS
A PMS, or Property Management System is a form of enterprise resource platform (ERP) system that helps a Stay manage the business of running a Stay.
Typical PMS functions include a centralised pricing area, availability management, room key allocation, room service scheduling, repair scheduling, re-ordering of normal supplies, cash drawer reconciliations etc.
Stay
A 'Stay' is the name of an individual accommodation property. It is usually your common brand name that your refer to your property as. Example, "Mariott Paris".
Stay/ Experience Manager
The Manager of a Stay or Experience is the person that is legally responsible for managing the Nomad Stays account on behalf of the Operator. They are usually a company director of a company if they are not the actual owner of the business.
A Manager signing up for an account on Nomad Stays signs an agreement stating they have the property authority to bind the business to legal contracts.
Stay Owner
A Stay Owner is the legal owner of the property that is being rented. Their name will be listed as the owner in government land regulation registries.
VAT
VAT is short for Value Added Tax, a form of sales tax that applies on sales of your services (like your accommodation rental services) to the portion of enhancement that your business has added to the inputs that have been used to create what you sell.
VAT is also known as GST (Goods and Sales Tax) in some countries.
ViDA
ViDA is short for 'VAT in the Digital Age'. It is a term used in the EU for a new form of VAT for certain businesses like accommodation and travel businesses.
ViDA proposes to tax the world's online platforms for travel and accommodation bookings made for properties in the EU, or owned by EU residents.
ViDA is an additional VAT with different rules than everyday VAT.