Vacation Rental Glossary

Average Daily Rate is the average revenue earned per occupied rental unit per day. Calculated by dividing total room revenue by the number of occupied nights. For a property that earned $14,000 across 70 occupied nights, the ADR is $200.

ADR is one of three core revenue metrics alongside occupancy rate and RevPAR. Increasing ADR without losing occupancy is the goal of revenue management — and where automated upsell systems like Dimora's Revenue Engine have a direct impact. Late checkout offers at $35-$50 and gap night extensions at discounted rates both add to effective ADR.

Tracking ADR by property, by season, and by booking channel shows where pricing optimization has room to run. A property with 70% occupancy and a $180 ADR has a different revenue conversation than one at 55% occupancy with a $250 ADR.

An AI operations layer is software that sits on top of an existing property management system (PMS) to automate guest-facing operations — without replacing the PMS itself. The distinction matters. A PMS handles reservations, calendar sync, and owner accounting. An AI operations layer handles everything that happens when guests interact with your business: calls, messages, upsells, payment follow-ups.

Dimora AI is an AI operations layer built for vacation rental property managers. It connects to Guesty or Hospitable via API, reads live reservation data, and uses that context to power six modules: Voice AI, Inbox AI, Revenue Engine, AI Learning, Payment Audit, and Dashboard.

The "layer" framing matters. Property managers do not need to replace their PMS — they need AI handling the operational work the PMS was never designed to do. Answering calls at 2 AM. Drafting inbox replies in under 10 seconds. Detecting gap nights and sending offers automatically.

An AI receptionist is a voice AI system that answers phone calls, identifies the caller, retrieves reservation data in real time, and resolves guest issues conversationally — without human involvement. Unlike an IVR phone tree ("Press 1 for check-in"), an AI receptionist understands natural language and adapts to what the caller actually says.

Not all AI receptionists work the same way. Basic systems read from static scripts. Better ones — like Dimora's Voice AI — match the incoming phone number against live PMS data before the greeting finishes, meaning the AI already knows the guest's name, property, check-in date, lockbox code, and WiFi password before the guest says a word.

Dimora's AI receptionist has handled 1,800+ calls across 130+ properties in Palm Desert, California. First-ring pickup, 24/7, including holidays and peak Coachella Valley season.

Automated messaging in property management refers to software that sends pre-scheduled messages to guests at defined intervals — booking confirmation, pre-arrival instructions, checkout reminders. Most PMS platforms include basic automated messaging as a feature.

Automated messaging is not the same as AI messaging. Automated messaging sends the same template to every guest on the same schedule. AI messaging (like Dimora's Inbox AI) reads the guest's actual inquiry, generates a contextually appropriate response using live reservation data, and routes it for review or sends it directly — adapting to each conversation rather than following a calendar.

The practical difference: an automated message cannot answer "Is there a pool heater?" An AI-drafted response can, because it reads your property knowledge base and constructs a real answer.

Booking window is the amount of time between when a reservation is made and when the guest checks in. A 90-day booking window means the guest booked three months in advance. A 3-day window means they booked last minute.

Booking window data shapes operational decisions and AI automation strategy. Long booking windows allow more time for pre-arrival communication sequences and upsell offers. Short booking windows require faster turnaround on automated responses — which is exactly where AI inbox tools with sub-10-second draft generation earn their keep.

Seasonality drives booking windows significantly in vacation rental markets. Coachella Valley properties, for example, see much longer booking windows for festival weekends and winter snowbird season than for summer months.

In AI operations, booking search refers to the real-time lookup of reservation data by guest phone number or identity when a guest contacts a property management company. When a guest calls, the AI system queries the PMS API to find a matching active or upcoming reservation — retrieving property details, check-in date, access codes, and any notes.

This lookup is what allows AI to have a personalized, contextual conversation instead of asking "Can I get your booking confirmation number?" Dimora's Voice AI performs this lookup before the call greeting completes — the guest never waits.

A cancellation policy defines what refund (if any) a guest receives if they cancel their reservation, and how far in advance they must cancel to qualify. Common structures include: strict (no refund), moderate (50% refund if cancelled at least 5 days before check-in), and flexible (full refund up to 24-48 hours before check-in).

For AI operations, cancellation policy information belongs in the knowledge base that powers your AI receptionist and inbox agents. Guests ask about cancellation terms frequently — especially after booking during high-demand events. An AI that cannot answer clearly creates unnecessary escalations and review risk.

A channel manager is software that distributes your vacation rental listings across multiple booking platforms (Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, direct website) and keeps calendars, rates, and availability synchronized in real time. Without a channel manager, managing listings manually across platforms leads to double-bookings and rate inconsistencies.

Channel managers solve a distribution problem. They do not solve the operations problem that comes after the booking — answering guest calls, handling inbox messages, processing upsell requests. That is where an AI operations layer like Dimora works alongside your channel manager.

Most channel managers integrate directly with major PMS platforms. Guesty, for example, connects to 25+ channels. Dimora then connects to Guesty to read reservation data and power AI-driven guest communication.

Co-hosting is an arrangement where a property manager or experienced host helps a property owner manage their vacation rental — handling guest communication, cleaning coordination, maintenance, and reviews — typically in exchange for a percentage of revenue (usually 15-30%).

AI operations tools change the economics of co-hosting. When Voice AI handles 24/7 calls and Inbox AI drafts messages in under 10 seconds, a co-host can manage significantly more properties without proportionally increasing labor. The operational ceiling that traditionally capped co-hosting businesses at 20-40 properties shifts dramatically upward.

A direct booking is a reservation made through a property manager's own website or booking system rather than through a third-party OTA like Airbnb or VRBO. Direct bookings eliminate OTA commission fees (typically 3-5% for hosts, up to 15-20% from guests) and allow property managers to own the guest relationship directly.

Building a direct booking channel requires investment — a booking-capable website, search engine visibility, and trust signals. But the economics are compelling. A property earning $50,000 annually through Airbnb might save $5,000-$7,500 by converting even 30% of reservations to direct.

AI operations tools support direct booking by ensuring that when potential guests call to inquire, someone (or something) answers — 24/7. Missed calls are missed direct bookings.

Dynamic pricing in vacation rentals refers to adjusting nightly rates in real time based on demand signals: local events, competitor pricing, booking pace, seasonality, and lead time. Tools like PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, and Beyond Pricing automate this.

Dynamic pricing optimizes base rates. It does not capture incremental revenue from upsell opportunities — early check-in, late checkout, gap night extensions. These require a separate system that monitors turnaround schedules, detects offer windows, and sends automated requests to guests. That is Dimora's Revenue Engine.

In the Coachella Valley, dynamic pricing during festival weekends can push rates 300-500% above base. Pairing that with automated late checkout offers ($35-$50) and gap night detection creates multiple revenue streams from the same booking.

A gap night is a single unbooked night that falls between two confirmed reservations. For example: a guest checks out Saturday, another checks in Monday — Sunday is the gap night. These single-night gaps are among the most common forms of lost revenue in vacation rental operations.

Gap nights are difficult to fill manually. They require identifying each gap, calculating whether a discounted offer makes sense given cleaning costs and logistics, determining which adjacent guest is most likely to extend, and sending the offer at the right time. Across 130+ properties, doing this manually is impractical.

Dimora's Revenue Engine detects gap nights automatically, checks whether either adjacent guest is likely to extend, and sends a discount offer on your behalf. Desert Sol has received 470+ upsell offers through this system, including gap night extensions.

A golden example is a verified, high-quality response pair — a guest message and the property manager's approved reply — used to train an AI inbox system. When a manager edits an AI draft and the system captures that edited version, it becomes a golden example: evidence of exactly how this manager wants this type of inquiry handled.

Dimora's AI Learning module builds a library of golden examples over time. New AI drafts are compared against relevant golden examples using vector similarity search. The more examples in the library, the more accurately the AI mimics the manager's voice, property-specific knowledge, and communication style.

Desert Sol's system currently has 52 golden examples built from real PM edits. The system uses Voyage voyage-3-lite embeddings at 512 dimensions to find the most relevant examples for each new message.

Guest screening is the process of verifying guest identity, reviewing rental history, and assessing risk before confirming a booking. On Airbnb, some screening happens automatically through the platform's review system. For direct bookings, property managers use third-party tools (Superhog, Safely, Autohost) to verify ID and purchase damage protection.

AI operations tools interact with guest screening at the inquiry stage — when prospective guests call or message to ask about availability, policies, or pet fees before booking. A well-configured AI receptionist can answer these questions accurately and consistently without risk of a human agent making an inconsistent promise.

Inbox AI is a multi-agent system that reads incoming guest messages across all channels (Airbnb, VRBO, email, direct) and generates contextually appropriate draft replies — pulling live reservation data, property-specific knowledge, and golden examples to match the manager's communication style.

Dimora's Inbox AI uses an orchestrator agent that routes each message to one of seven specialist sub-agents: Property Info, Door Code, Availability, Early/Late Checkout, Offer Acceptance, Escalation, and General QA. Each sub-agent has a focused task and draws on property-specific data from Guesty.

The system goes through a training phase (approximately one week) during which managers review and edit AI drafts. Those edits become golden examples. After training, the system can operate autonomously. Desert Sol has generated 6,300+ drafts through this system, with drafts completing in under 10 seconds.

Length of stay (LOS) is the number of nights a guest books at a property. Minimum length of stay restrictions (min LOS) are settings that prevent guests from booking shorter stays than a property can profitably accommodate — factoring in cleaning costs, check-in logistics, and revenue targets.

Longer stays generally have lower per-night operational overhead. A 7-night stay requires one cleaning, one check-in, one checkout. A series of 1-night stays across the same week requires seven of each.

Length of stay also shapes AI automation opportunities. Shorter stays with adjacent bookings create more gap night detection windows. Longer stays with flexible checkout times create more late checkout upsell moments.

Noise monitoring in vacation rentals refers to decibel-level sensors installed in properties that detect when sound levels exceed a set threshold — typically indicating a party or policy violation. Common devices include Minut and NoiseAware.

Noise monitors do not record audio or video. They measure sound levels only. Most systems send automated alerts to property managers when a threshold is crossed, allowing outreach before neighbors escalate.

In an AI operations context, noise alerts can trigger automated guest communication via the inbox system — a politely worded message reminding guests of house rules — rather than requiring a manager to personally intervene at 11 PM.

Occupancy rate is the percentage of available nights that are booked. A property available for 30 nights that is booked for 22 has a 73% occupancy rate. Portfolio-wide occupancy is a key performance indicator for property managers — alongside ADR and RevPAR.

Occupancy rate is a lagging indicator. By the time you see a low-occupancy month, you have already lost the revenue. AI systems help on both ends: automated upsell offers can fill gap nights that would otherwise drag occupancy down, while Voice AI ensures that inquiry calls — potential bookings — are never missed due to unavailable staff.

Desert Sol properties in the Coachella Valley experience sharp occupancy seasonality — near 100% during festival weekends and winter months, significantly lower in summer. AI operations must handle both extremes without requiring headcount adjustments.

An OTA (Online Travel Agency) is a third-party booking platform that connects travelers with vacation rentals, hotels, and other accommodations. In the vacation rental industry, the major OTAs are Airbnb, VRBO/HomeAway, and Booking.com.

OTAs provide distribution and trust. In exchange, they charge fees — typically 3% host service fee on Airbnb, though guests pay an additional 14-20% service fee. VRBO charges either 5% + payment processing or a flat annual subscription.

OTA guest communication happens through platform-specific messaging channels. Dimora's Inbox AI supports Airbnb and VRBO messaging channels, drafting replies directly within the platform inbox workflow.

Payment audit in property management refers to the systematic review of reservations to identify outstanding balances — guests who checked in without paying, damage deposits that were not collected, or fees that were charged incorrectly.

Dimora's Payment Audit module scans active reservations daily at 9 AM PST, flags unpaid balances, and sends automated follow-up messages through Guesty's internal notes system. The system tracks escalation through up to five messages, then surfaces unresolved cases with a Slack alert for human review.

Manual payment auditing across 130+ properties requires someone to review every reservation regularly — a task that is easy to deprioritize until unpaid balances accumulate. Automation ensures nothing slips through.

Property management software (PMS) is the central platform that vacation rental managers use to manage their portfolio — reservations, calendar sync, owner statements, cleaning schedules, and channel distribution. The major PMS platforms serving vacation rental managers include Guesty, Hospitable, Hostaway, Lodgify, and Track.

A PMS is not an AI operations layer. A PMS manages what happens on a screen. It does not answer guest calls, draft inbox replies, detect gap nights, or monitor outstanding payments. Those functions require a separate AI operations layer that connects to the PMS via API to read live reservation data.

Dimora integrates with Guesty and Hospitable. The integration is read-heavy — pulling reservation details, property information, and calendar data — plus write actions for logging messages and updating reservation notes.

Revenue management in vacation rentals is the practice of optimizing pricing and availability to maximize total revenue — balancing ADR and occupancy to achieve the highest possible RevPAR. It includes dynamic pricing, minimum stay restrictions, booking window strategy, and upsell programs.

Most property managers use dynamic pricing tools (PriceLabs, Beyond, Wheelhouse) for the rate-optimization piece. These tools adjust base nightly rates. Revenue management goes further — capturing incremental revenue through early check-in fees, late checkout fees, gap night discounts, and extended stay offers. Dimora's Revenue Engine handles these upsell components automatically.

At Desert Sol, 470+ revenue offers have been sent — a combination of late checkout ($35 for Legacy Villas, $50 for other properties) and gap night extensions. None required manual identification or outreach.

RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room/Night) is calculated by multiplying ADR by occupancy rate, or by dividing total revenue by total available nights. It is the single most comprehensive metric for vacation rental performance because it captures both pricing and occupancy in one number.

A property with $250 ADR and 60% occupancy has a $150 RevPAR. A property with $175 ADR and 85% occupancy has a $148.75 RevPAR. Similar RevPAR, very different profiles — and different optimization strategies.

AI operations affect RevPAR from multiple directions. Voice AI ensures inquiry calls convert to bookings (occupancy). Upsell automation adds incremental revenue per booking (effective ADR). Gap night filling captures nights that would otherwise contribute $0 to RevPAR.

A short-term rental (STR) is a residential property rented to guests for periods typically under 30 days — as opposed to long-term rentals with month-to-month or annual leases. Vacation rentals listed on Airbnb and VRBO are STRs. The term is commonly used in regulatory and zoning contexts.

STR regulations vary dramatically by city and county. Some markets require permits, limit rental nights per year, or restrict certain property types from operating as STRs. Palm Desert, California — where Desert Sol operates 130+ properties — has specific STR ordinance requirements that property-specific AI knowledge bases must account for.

Managing STR compliance is a property manager responsibility. AI systems can help by surfacing policy questions from guests consistently, but human oversight remains essential for regulatory matters.

A smart lock is a keyless entry device that allows guest access via a code, app, or NFC — eliminating the need for physical key exchange. Smart locks are standard equipment for professionally managed vacation rentals. Common brands include Schlage, Yale, Kwikset (Halo), and Igloohome.

Smart lock integration with PMS systems allows unique access codes to be generated per reservation, automatically expire at checkout, and be updated for cleaning crew. This access information populates the knowledge base that Voice AI uses to answer guest lockout calls.

When a guest calls at midnight because they cannot get in, the AI receptionist needs the correct access code and backup protocol for that specific property — not a generic answer. This is a core use case for property-specific AI knowledge bases.

Superhost is Airbnb's designation for hosts who meet specific performance criteria: 4.8+ overall rating, 90%+ response rate, less than 1% cancellation rate, and 10+ stays or 100+ nights per year. Superhost status comes with a badge that increases listing visibility and guest trust.

Maintaining Superhost status requires consistent guest communication — which is harder at scale. A 90%+ response rate across 50+ properties means answering every inquiry quickly, even at 11 PM on a Friday. Voice AI and Inbox AI help by ensuring no call goes unanswered and no message sits unread.

VRBO has an equivalent Premier Host program with similar performance criteria.

Turnaround time in vacation rental operations refers to the window between a guest checking out and the next guest checking in at the same property. During this window, cleaning, inspection, restocking, and any maintenance must be completed.

Turnaround time is operationally critical and AI-relevant in a specific way: it determines the buffer available for early check-in or late checkout offers. If Guest A checks out at 11 AM and Guest B checks in at 3 PM, there are 4 hours for cleaning. Offering Guest A a late checkout to noon might be feasible. Offering 2 PM would not be.

Dimora's Revenue Engine checks the actual turnaround schedule before sending any upsell offer. For Desert Sol, the rule is: late checkout offered at (adjacent arrival time - 3 hours), early check-in offered at (adjacent departure time + 3 hours). This prevents offers that would create operational conflicts.

Upsell automation refers to software that identifies upsell opportunities from reservation data and sends offers to guests automatically — without requiring a property manager to manually check each booking and craft individual outreach.

In vacation rentals, the most common upsell opportunities are: early check-in (for a fee, if prior checkout allows), late checkout (for a fee, if subsequent check-in allows), mid-stay cleaning, premium amenity packages, and gap night extensions.

Dimora's Revenue Engine automates all of these. The system pulls every active reservation from Guesty, checks the turnaround schedule for each, determines which offers are feasible, and sends automated messages to eligible guests. Desert Sol has received 470+ upsell offers through this system — $35 for Legacy Villas late checkout, $50 for other properties.

Voice AI in property management is a system that answers phone calls using natural language processing, retrieves live reservation data to personalize the conversation, and resolves guest inquiries in real time — without human involvement. It is distinct from IVR (interactive voice response) phone trees, which route calls via keypad input, and from simple voicemail-to-text transcription services.

The defining feature of production-grade Voice AI is context: knowing who is calling, which property they booked, and what their active reservation looks like before the conversation begins. When a guest calls with a lockout issue, the AI needs the specific access code for that property — not a generic answer.

Dimora's Voice AI has handled 1,800+ guest calls across 130+ properties in Palm Desert, California. It answers on the first ring, 24/7, including during Coachella Valley festival peaks that would overwhelm any human reception team.