MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Analysis of hotel jargon and slang

Bachelor thesis

Brno 2015

Supervisor: Author:
Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. Ivan Marousek
Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných

literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro
studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o
právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů
(autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

Brno, 23. listopad 2015 …….…………………

Ivan Marousek
Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. for his valued help
and comments.
 MAROUSEK, Ivan. Analysis of hotel jargon and slang; Bachelor Thesis. Brno:
Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and
Literature, 2015. 77 pp. Supervisor: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D.

Annotation

This bachelor thesis deals with hotel jargon and analyses its use in the hotel
environment, tourist industry and catering in both written and spoken forms. Its aim is to
prove whether hotel professionals are always aware of the meaning of jargon words they
use when communicating among themselves and when dealing with their actual and
prospective customers.

The theoretical part consists of three main sections. The first section contains the
historical overview, describes the development of the hotel industry and suggests the
typical structure of a hotel. The aim of the second section is to describe jargon and slang,
compare them, and explain the role of jargon in the hotel industry. The following section
describes the linguistic features of jargon and names the main word formation processes we
may encounter when analysing hotel jargon. The last part aims to define jargon from the
perspective of sociolinguistics and explain the role of jargon in a social group.

The practical part consists of an analysis of the data obtained from a real hotel
environment, examines the frequency of occurrence of jargon described in the theoretical
part and focuses on its detailed analysis.

The anticipated conclusions are that the majority of new hotel jargon comes from
the English language, and the most frequent form of new jargon is acronym created from
English business words or phrases. Another anticipated outcome of the survey is that
people working in a hotel use jargon to encourage in-group solidarity and they consider
jargon the most effective way of communication in their working environment.

Key words: jargon, slang, language variation, functional shift, word-formation, semantic
change, hotel organisation, sociolinguistics
 MAROUSEK, Ivan. Analýza hotelového žargonu a slangu; bakalářská práce. Brno:
Masarykova univerzita, pedagogická fakulta, katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2015.
77 stran. Vedoucí bakalářské práce: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D.

Anotace

Bakalářská práce se zaobírá hotelovým žargonem, analyzuje jeho využití v

hotelovém prostředí, turismu a restauračním provozu v jeho písemné a mluvené podobě.
Cílem této práce je ověřit, zdali lidé pracující v hotelnictví rozumí žargonu, který běžně
používají při komunikaci mezi sebou samými nebo při komunikaci s jejich klienty.

Teoretický úvod obsahuje tři hlavní části. První část popisuje historii hotelnictví a
jeho vývoj, dále pak přináší stručný popis jednotlivých oddělení hotelového provozu.
Cílem druhé části práce je definování pojmů žargon a slang, jejich vzájemné porovnání a
vysvětlení významu žargonu v hotelnictví. Následující sekce popisuje lingvistické prvky
žargonu, vyjmenovává a popisuje hlavní slovotvorné procesy uplatňující se při tvorbě
nových slov. Závěrečná část pak popisuje žargon z pohledu sociolingvistiky a vysvětluje
význam žargonu v sociálních skupinách.

Praktická část práce analyzuje data získaná v reálném hotelovém prostředí, zkoumá
četnost výskytu žargonu a zaměřuje se na detailní rozbor jednotlivých forem žargonu.

Práce potvrzuje předpoklad, že většina novotvarů hotelového žargonu pochází z

anglického jazyka, a že nejčastější forma současného hotelového žargonu jsou akronymy
anglických obchodních slov a frází. Cílem dotazníkového šetření je ověření hypotézy, zdali
lidé pracující v hotelnictví chápou žargon jako prostředek k udržování a posilování profesní
identity a považují žargon za nejefektivnější způsob komunikace mezi příslušníky v daném
oboru.

Klíčová slova: žargon, slang, jazyková varianta, funkční změna, slovotvorba, sémantická
změna, hotel, organizace, sociolingvistika
Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 8

2. Origins of tourism and its development into a professional field of business . 9

2.1. Defining travel and tourism: are they really an industry? .......................... 12

2.2. The hotel industry as a profession .............................................................. 12

2.3. The learned professions.............................................................................. 13

2.4. The near profession .................................................................................... 14

2.5. The would-be profession ............................................................................ 14

3. The typical structure of a hotel and its departments ...................................... 16

3.1. Food and beverage department .................................................................. 16

3.2. Sales and marketing department ................................................................ 17

3.3. Room Department ...................................................................................... 17

3.4. Accounting Department ............................................................................. 17

3.5. Personnel Department ................................................................................ 18

4. Professional jargon and slang ........................................................................ 18

4.1. Defining jargon .......................................................................................... 18

4.2. Defining slang ............................................................................................ 19

4.3. Difference between jargon and slang ......................................................... 20

4.4. The role of jargon ....................................................................................... 21

4.5. Different classifications of jargon .............................................................. 23

5. Jargon and its use in a hotel ........................................................................... 24

5.1. Back of the house jargon ............................................................................ 25

5.1.1. Advertising jargon ............................................................................... 25

 5.2. Front of the house jargon ........................................................................... 27

5.2.1. Food jargon .......................................................................................... 27

6. Linguistic features of jargon .......................................................................... 29

6.1. Word-formation processes ......................................................................... 30

6.1.1. Conversion or functional shift ............................................................. 31

6.1.2. Derivation ............................................................................................ 31

6.1.3. Abbreviation ........................................................................................ 32

6.1.4. Compounds .......................................................................................... 32

6.1.5. Borrowings or loan words.................................................................... 33

6.1.6. Back formation .................................................................................... 33

6.1.7. Reduplication ....................................................................................... 34

6.2. Semantic changes in the lexicon ................................................................ 34

6.2.1. Metaphor .............................................................................................. 34

6.2.2. Metonymy ............................................................................................ 35

7. Usage of jargon according to sociolinguistics ............................................... 35

7.1. Language and Society ................................................................................ 36

7.2. Language variation ..................................................................................... 38

8. Introduction to the analytical part .................................................................. 39

8.1. The origin of data ....................................................................................... 40

8.2. Nominal data .............................................................................................. 41

8.3. Analysis of obtained data ........................................................................... 41

9. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 51

Works cited .............................................................................................................. 53

Appendices............................................................................................................... 56
List of illustrations:

Figure 1: Hotel organization .................................................................................... 16

Figure 2: Process of communication ....................................................................... 37

Figure 3: Return rate of questionnaires .................................................................... 41

Figure 4: What is hotel jargon? ................................................................................ 42

Figure 5: Jargon words from Czech hotels in numbers ........................................... 45

Figure 6: Hotel jargon words from English speaking countries in numbers ........... 48

List of tables:

Table 1: Examples of jargon terms used by the hotel management ........................ 23

Table 2: A set of jargon words used in Czech hotel industry .................................. 45

Table 3: A set of hotel jargon words used in English speaking countries ............... 47
1. Introduction

Jargon is a language, which describes and defines the world in which its user lives
and works. The motivation to use jargon differs from the position and experience of its
user. A person who is new in a field may be reluctant to use jargon, yet someone who has
been working in this field for a long time shows tendencies to use jargon more often. Every
profession has its unique set of words, which enables its users to communicate more
efficiently and to exclude outsiders, who can be a threat and danger.

Jargon is sometimes described as being a bad language as it can be misunderstood

or not understood at all. Politicians use jargon to cover the truth, manipulate, advertising
companies are enchanted by the power of jargon to sell products and people in power
exploit jargon for its ability to penetrate the minds of crowds. Others call jargon a language
of professions or intelligible talk. Jargon does not consist of mere words; it is always
connected with societies, cultures and subcultures. Jargon lives and talks through different
professions and even if it may lead to misunderstandings, we should embrace jargon as a
variety of language that enriches our vocabulary and makes our communication more
effective.

The following chapters try to describe jargon and its many varieties from different
perspectives. The chief concern of the work is to map the role of jargon in the hotel
environment where jargon undoubtedly thrives as a hotel is about people. Hotels consist of
many professions, and they all strive for one thing. They want to be recognized as a
profession with the right for its language. People in hotels are aware of the fact that a
certain type of language is a ticket to success and a better life. Thanks to language, we can
exchange ideas, communicate across continents and share knowledge. Jargon plays a vital
role in each profession and without jargon; a profession would eventually die.

8
2. Origins of tourism and its development into a professional field of
business

To understand the complexity of the modern hotel industry, we have to look back in
time and trace the early stages of this field of human activity. Books intended for students
in hospitality also pay attention to the history and development. The opening chapter of this
bachelor thesis mentions a few milestones in the history of the hotel industry. The book
TOURISM, Principles, Practices, Philosophies translated into the Czech language by Lucie
Schürerová, brings a useful overview that describes the development of the hotel industry
from ancient times to the modern days. In the book, we can read that the beginnings of
modern tourism reach back to ancient times and they are closely connected with the
invention of money. People soon realized they could pay for transport and accommodation
with money. Already 5.000 years ago, the first entertainment cruises were organized from
Egypt, and we still have many artefacts left by travellers in the form of “graffiti” 1
on
monuments from the ancient world. At this time, it is too early to talk about tourism, and it
takes a very long time before the term “tourism” is used. Another milestone contributing to
the development of tourism was the invention of the wheel and the construction of the road
system. The first road-architects were Sumerians. The long routes, as for example The Silk
Road with its 6000 km in length, followed and enabled the exchange of goods and
knowledge. With the development of travel began the development of lodging
establishments. The first places were very basic and offered their visitors only a roof over
their heads. In the years 2000 BC – 500 AD the areas around the Mediterranean Sea
underwent a revolution in travel. People started to travel not only for business purposes but

1
Graffiti (/ɡrəˈfiːti/; Italian: [ɡrafˈfiːti]; plural of graffito: "a graffito", but "these graffiti") are
writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or painted illicitly on a wall or other surface, often in
a public place. Graffiti range from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and they have existed
since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
(Wikipedia)

9
also for other reasons as are visiting festivals, games, sacred places or for educational and
treatment purposes. With such a large amount of people on the roads, more and more
establishments providing lodging started to be constructed. As early as around 2000 AD the
first inns began to appear providing security and small amount of comfort to travellers and
their animals (Goeldner and Brent 33-37).

In 1838, Marie-Henri Beyle writes his Mémoires d’un touriste and spreads the word
tourist, which has remained in use until modern times (Goeldner and Brent 52). The
majority of authors agree that the beginnings of modern tourism initiated the aristocracy
and journeymen with their trips for gaining experience in different areas of business, but
the real boom in tourism began in the nineteenth century. During the nineteenth century,
also known as” the century of steam”, many technical inventions (a steam engine and later
a diesel engine) mobilized the nations and caused a rapid development of accommodation
and catering services. The first inventor of organized tourism was the Englishman Thomas
Cook, whose Sunday trips to the English countryside can be looked upon as the first
organized sightseeing tours. With the development of spas, Karl Bädeker began to issue the
first guides containing maps, plans, suggested routes and details about points of interest
and gave them a professional, modern look. At the end of the nineteenth century arises the
first Social Democratic movement, which aims to promote recreation and travel facilities
(Hesková 40-43).

David Litteljohn explains the etymology of the word hotel in his chapter devoted to
the structure and characteristics of a hotel in the book “The International Hospitality
Industry.” According to him, the actual term hotel is originally French and was commonly
applied to commercial hospitality establishments in the mid- to late eighteen century
(Brotherton 6).

10
 J. Vallen adds more facts and explains the contemporary use of the word hotel. He
says the following:

The word hotel appeared in London about 1760, and it began to be used in the
United Stated some three decades later. It was anglicized from the French hotel
garni, “large, furnished mansion.” The name change signalled a worldwide shift
from an industry based on roadside accommodation to one located within the city.
(Vallen and Vallen 5)

The first modern hotel opened in 1829 in Boston. In those days, private households
provided the accommodation services and the owners treated their guests like the members
of the family. These establishments turned into first hotels working more or less as modern
hotels (Goeldner and Brent 50).

The first hotels were along the traveller’s routes and reflected more inclination
rather than the needs of the guests. Hotels were not the primary destination of the traveller,
and they were not as differentiated as we know them today. The solemn purpose was to
provide shelter and an opportunity to rest from longwearing travel. Modern hotels with
their exciting architecture appealing to the wealthy class started to appear in America
between the Civil War and World War I. These “Palaces of the People” became places for
social gatherings, offices and meeting places. The modern era of tourism is called, “The
Age of Service” and hotels and their services are no longer determined by an isolated
innkeeper but by societal pressures of large enterprises. Hotels became closely connected
to the economy, life style and the pressure to respond quickly to changing technologies. All
this is a perfect environment for the creation of specialised vocabulary that characterizes
tourism and its many areas of operations (Vallen and Vallen 5-6).

David Litteljohn laments over the Western (European/ USA) conventional views of
hotels. He claims that according to this view hotels are characterized as “….establishments
that offer meals and drink together with accommodation to travellers and local markets, in
return for a financial exchange.” He urges the Western community to look at the problem
of defining hotels from an international perspective. He states that, “From an international
perspective it is important to understand that hotel may be considered as a culturally bound
phenomenon” (Brotherton 6).
11
 Non-western cultures see hotels as a colourful environment where different cultures
meet, there is no doubt that these cultures also contribute to the creation of new words,
which capture the uniqueness of their approaches. How many of these words become
internationally known or classified jargon is almost impossible to establish.

2.1. Defining travel and tourism: are they really an industry?

Despite the fact that tourism is one of the top three industries in most states, it has
still not gained the status of a legitimate industry, and its importance is still underscored.
Thomas Lea Davidson suggests that: “referring to tourism as an industry may be a major
contributor to the misunderstanding, resistance and even hostility that often plague
proponents of travel and tourism as worthy economic forces in a modern economy”
(Theobald 22).

Despite this point of view people involved in the development and marketing of
tourism have made a considerable effort to create the impression that tourism is worthy of
being compared to other industries such as health services or agriculture. Across states and
continents, there are different definitions of what is to be considered as tourist industry.
Many definitions lack to tackle the problem as a whole, and no universal definition of the
tourist industry is available, which prevents the study of the tourist industry as an
independent discipline (Goeldner and Brent 5).

The modern tourist industry nevertheless evokes specialists’ interest in many fields,
and many studies have been made to address specific problems in the field.

The following chapter discusses the problem of the tourist industry as a profession
and its right to have and create jargon words on its own.

2.2. The hotel industry as a profession

Hudson distinguishes in his book The Jargon of the Professions three different
types of professions. He names them “The Learned Professions, The Near-Professions and

12
The Would-be Professions”. Hudson excluded The Politicians and the Military, as well as
Literature and the Arts and treats them separately. According to Hudson, the tourist
industry does not deserve the status of a profession. He recognizes the groups by a complex
of characteristics and the following requirements:

1. Full membership must be permitted only to those who have reached a

satisfactory standard of training, and a document was issued to successful
candidates.
2. Conditional membership (e.g. lasts only if the member observes conditions
of behaviour and competence).
3. Removal of those who are unfit to practise under the direct control of the
professional body. (8)

Also, others see the problem similarly and are against the naming of tourism a
profession. Thomas Lea Davidson claims that tourism is more than a profession; it is a
“sector”, which affects a wide range of industries. He concludes, “Tourism is not just
business or governments – it is people” (Theobald 28).

In line with Davidson, Peter Robinson states, “Tourism is comprised of many

different industries and is closely related to economic, environmental and social issues.
This can lead to a disagreement as a result of different perspectives through which it is
understood by different actors within the tourist product” (Robinson xxix).

Consequently, we can assume that the specific vocabulary used in the tourist
industry will be rich in jargon as many different industries contribute to the whole. If we
talk about the tourist industry, we talk about phenomena, which are centred around a tourist
and many different sectors are contributing to the whole image.

2.3. The learned professions

The learned professions, according to Hudson, are church, medicine and law, and there
is no reason to add to this list. These professions have a long history and much of their
specialized terminology was in Latin. Therefore, their professional jargon is part Latin, part

13
English (35). They enjoy a considerable social prestige and entry into them always has
been restricted to men who followed a course in the humanities and were accepted as
scholars. Hudson claims that these professions are the less productive group of jargon
producers. The use of jargon in these professions leads to clarity and economy of
communication among its members. In the last decade, the field of medicine shows a
tendency to employ jargon words as the public is penetrating more into its former secrets
(15-35).

2.4. The near profession

According to Hudson, near profession is a profession that seems likely to achieve
full status in the near future. Examples of this category are teaching, psychology and
sociology. These vocations are together with vocations of would-be professions the leading
jargon producers. Hudson adds the following facts to support his statement:

In their fanatic effort to create a special language, they find themselves often in a
position of being found funny. They push technical and scientific language outside
their proper boundaries and use it where a natural language would be more
appropriate. Unfortunately, this type of jargon thrives by being respected and
promoted in learned journals. (83-86)

2.5. The would-be profession

To this group belong professions in which the aspirations of their members seem
unlikely to be realized in the near future. Its members are trying hard to reach the status of
a branch of science, but they understand that this is something they can never achieve. The
principal examples of this group are the advertisers and those concerned with business
management (Hudson 83,104). In addition, tourism is considered by many to be a would-be
profession, and as Thomas Lea Davidson points out, “Historically, tourism has not been
taken seriously by economists, economic developers, even governments. Tourism is seen as

14
fun and games, recreation, leisure, unproductive. Under this view, tourism is just the
opposite of the traditional work ethic” (Theobald 22).

Would-be professions are easy to accuse of jargon use. The fundamental reason is
that these professions had to invent their specialized vocabulary or give new meanings to
old words. Consequently, what they say and write must sound like jargon (Hudson 33).

From our point of view, we can include in this category professions of hotel
business management, sales representatives and advertisers. In response, people involved
in the business of tourism undertook to gain respect by defining tourism as an industry and
proving this by measuring the economic impact of the tourist industry (Theobald 23).

15
3. The typical structure of a hotel and its departments

A hotel consists of several departments with different organization patterns. The

main function of a hotel is to provide the tourist with a place to stay. Hotels also offer food
and drinks; it is a base to explore the surrounding area, a source of local tourist
information, and various ancillary services such as laundry, telephone services and Internet
connection. Many hotels also provide business services, including meeting facilities and
conference centres (Robinson 3).

Rutherford and O’Fallon construct the organization in a hotel as shown in the

following figure (78-81).

Figure 1: Hotel organization

3.1. Food and beverage department

The primary function of this department is to provide food and drink to the hotel
guests and sometimes to cater the employees during their work (serving lunch or dinner if
these fall into their work shifts). The size of this department can vary and is dependent on

16
the number of rooms and offered services. This department belongs to the so-called “front
of the house” as their employees are in everyday contact with hotel guests.

3.2. Sales and marketing department

This department is relatively small in comparison with the other departments of the
hotel. It is one that is excluded from everyday contact with guests and, therefore, is called
“back of the house”. The structure of this department is determined by the needs and by the
type of the hotel’s customers. If needed, an individual manager can handle the corporate
accounts, conventions, or tour and travel markets.

3.3. Room Department

The room department carries out the main function of lodging of the hotel. It has a
number of subunits each with a very specific task. The front office and housekeeping
departments are in daily contact with the hotel guests and, therefore, contribute to the
image of the hotel. These professions require special behaviour, a dress-code and
communication skills. The front office personnel greet guests upon their arrival to the
hotel. They assign rooms and deal with guests during their stay in the hotel. Reservations
handles taking new reservations and tracking changes in them. The housekeeping
department is responsible for cleaning all guest rooms and public spaces. Hotel security
supervises the public areas of the hotel contributing to the safety of all hotel guests. The
engineering department handles the maintenance of the entire hotel plant and performs
minor repairs and renovations.

3.4. Accounting Department

The main function of this department is managing all to do with money. It includes
documenting all financial transactions, preparing and interpreting financial statements,
providing management with timely reports and auditing the transactions made in the front

17
office department. Responsibilities include payroll preparation, accounts receivable, and
accounts payable.

3.5. Personnel Department

The hotel’s personnel department is a staff organization that plays a vital role in the
efficient operating of a hotel. Among the tasks it performs belong employee recruitment,
management of benefits and in-house training. The personnel department may recruit,
interview and screen prospective employees, but the manager of the department in question
takes the final decision.

4. Professional jargon and slang

4.1. Defining jargon

Hudson offers a very simple key test to define jargon. If something can be said
more simply without the communication suffering the process than we deal with jargon (4).

Jargon is not an invention of recent times as we can trace the word “jargon” to 14th
century Old French. The modern meaning of the word jargon is sometimes misinterpreted
and according to Paula Caudle, we have three definitions of this word:

One current or modern definition of jargon is “an outlandish, technical language of

a particular profession, group, or trade”. Another meaning is “unintelligible writing
or talk”. Another definition is “specific dialects resulting from a mixture of several
languages”. (1999)

Yule proposes that jargon is specialized vocabulary used inside social groups (211).
Finegan is of the same opinion and defines jargon as specialist terms used by a group with
shared specialized interest when engaged in activities surrounding those interests. Jargon is
associated with professions such as finance, medicine and with activities such as sports,
music, and computing (322).

18
 Kenneth Hudson pleads to distinguish between jargon and a technical language. He
claims that each profession has its special terminology. Such terminology is not, in itself,
jargon even if everybody cannot understand its meaning. He calls such terms technical
language without which its members cannot think or express themselves. He stresses that,
“The easiest way to kill a profession is to forbid a use of its characteristic language.”
Technical language is according to him essential to convey the precise meaning. Hudson
thus distinguishes three different levels of technicality (high-technicality, medium-
technicality and low-technicality language). Only the professionals understand the high-
technicality language while low-technicality language is more understandable to a wider
audience (1-5).

For the defence of the use of technical language Hudson wrote:

Without precise, agreed terms, theories cannot be worked out, research loses itself
in a maze of ambiguity and communication among members of what is claimed to
be a profession degenerates into intellectual chaos, as a game of chess or football
inevitably would, if the rules were not laid down in advance. (90)

4.2. Defining slang

Slang is typically used by people outside established higher-status groups. Yule

speculates that slang can be called ‘colloquial speech’, describing words or phrases that are
used instead of everyday terms among speakers with special interest. Slang normally
relates to a group of people who define themselves as part of a certain social group with
particular values and beliefs (211).

In the book The People's Poetry Adams quoted that, “Jargon is used by a particular
group of people, often deliberately created and used to exclude people outside the group. It
is accepted that slang belongs to an 'in-group' language, the use of which designates who
belongs to a group and who does not” (8).

Finegan supports Adam’s point of view and claims that, “slang is used in situations
of extreme informality and may signal rebellious undertones or an intentional distancing

19
from mainstream values”. Another typical feature of slang is according to Finegan its short
life and tendency to change quickly (320).

The contrast between “slang” and “jargon” can therefore be most visible in
institutional formal speech and in the speech of group of peers2 who share certain
knowledge and have a common background. In other words, people use a specific
vocabulary to express their social status and importance and to distinguish themselves from
others.

4.3. Difference between jargon and slang

To be able to understand the meaning of jargon, one should firstly draw a line
between jargon and slang. People often believe that both words “slang” and “jargon”
convey the same meaning and this can lead to misconceptions about the role of jargon.

Wright in Hudson distinguishes between jargon and slang in terms of the

seriousness of the language and says:

The specialized technical language of different occupation and interest is

fundamentally impersonal and serious, whilst slang is basically friendly and
humorous. To the layman a chemical equation, and to advertisements for products,
including, ingredients X,Y and Z‘ are meaningless jargon. (2)

Keith also considers jargon more linguistically conservative in comparison with

slang expressions. He claims that specialized content words are difficult to replace while
slang ages much faster. A typical example is the slang of schoolchildren with the fastest
turnover of all (71).

Hudson, on the other hand, claims that it is not easy to separate jargon from slang
because jargon is no longer confined to previously described senses. The meaning of jargon
became wider with unclear boundaries. He adds that Americans name jargon

2
Peers are people who are the same age as you or who have the same type of job or social position
(Longman Active Study Dictionary 487).

20
“gobbledygook”3 and connect its meaning with pompous and flabby verbosity. Hudson
disagrees with the idea that jargon words belong only to a certain field of human activity.
He underlines that, ”jargon has been handled so promiscuously of recent years that the
edge has been taken off it, and now, as has been well said, it signifies little more than any
speech that a person feels to be inferior to his own” (2-3).

4.4. The role of jargon

Locker in his writing speculates about the role of business jargon and contributes to
the topic by saying the following:

Jargon became a part of business letters since at least 1589 and persisted there
because people think that business letters should use jargon and because jargon
enables authors to write or dictate quickly. Jargon was invented to make the
communication more effective and give it a specific style, which would recognize
the field of business to which it is applied. ('As Per Your Request': A History of
Business Jargon 1987)

The definition of jargon has been moved to a further stage in the last century as the
society discovered the power of the jargon. Hudson proposes that, “jargon is a word, which
can indicate intention and effect, as well as characteristic and help us to identify society’s
enemies more closely” (3). He suggests that jargon contains four essential elements:

1. It reflects a particular profession or occupation.

2. It is pretentious, with only a small kernel of meaning underneath it.
3. It is used mainly by intellectually inferior people, who feel a need to
convince the general public of their importance.
4. It is, deliberately or accidentally, mystifying

3
In American English, the general term for bureaucratese is gobbledygook, whereas in British and Australian
English the sense of this word has generalized to mean ‘(any type of) incomprehensible language’ (Allan and
Burridge 63).
21
 The use of jargon can be addictive, and it is said that many people can stop using
jargon only when they reach the top of their profession. People climbing the social ladder
are afraid to use straightforward language and some of them appear to need their jargon, as
a membership-badge of their profession (3).

Interesting about the use of jargon is whether its user covers an uncertainty and uses jargon
to secure his position. Theodor W. Adorno suggests:

The interested parties who use the jargon as a means of power, or depend on their
public image for the jargon’s social-psychological effect, will never wean
themselves from it. There are others, who will be embarrassed by the jargon. Even
followers who believe in authority will shy away from ridiculousness, as soon as
they feel the fragile nature of that authority to which they look for support“. (xix-
xx)

Adorno warns against the surplus of jargon in the speaker’s speech and says,
“Whoever is versed in the jargon does not have to say what he thinks, does not even have
to think it properly. The jargon takes over this task and devaluates thought“ (6). For that
reason, we can hear jargon in situations where the speaker avoids telling the truth or
declares something, and hides behind jargon still delivering a message to the audience.

Friedman supports the theory about the power of jargon and its influence on
people’s minds. Jargon can be used to achieve the right impression, but one must use
jargon in the right context. Friedman claims, “People use jargon because they want to
sound smart and credible when, in fact, they sound profoundly dim-witted and typically
can’t be understood, which defeats the purpose of speaking in the first place” (89).

22
 A typical feature of jargon is its ability to be understood only by people who have a
particular knowledge of the field in which this word is usually used (Llamas, Mullany and
Stockwell 218). A person who is not familiar with this field can be very confused about the
meaning and many times, he does not know the meaning of the word at all. In the
following table, there are some examples of jargon words from a hotel industry.

Table 1: Examples of jargon terms used by the hotel management (Wyatt)

Source: Kevin, Wyatt. "Hotel Jargon Buster." The Tin. A BSI Company, n.d. Web. 08
September 2015. PDF

4.5. Different classifications of jargon

Scholars agree that jargon relates to certain professions and activities; therefore, we
can find many different types of jargon. How many categories of jargon exist in the world
is impossible to establish. Many published jargon dictionaries illustrate the diversity of
jargon varieties. Pechter claims that jargon has always been with us because it is a function
of the difference. For Pechter, jargon is not a quality embedded in words, but an
interpretative category generated out of diversity. He claims that jargon is the kind of
language used by people who think differently from us. Out of this arises the problem of
the classification of jargon, as today there is a growing number of people who seem to be
using it (171-73).

23
 In addition to the traditional division of jargon according to an occupational field,
Hudson proposes new categories of jargon based rather on its diversity in use. Jargon can,
according to Hudson, not only communicate facts but also express the power, advertise or
hide the truth. Hudson recognizes various types of jargon, which he defines on the base of
its various usages. These categories are advertising jargon, business jargon, caste jargon,
cumulative jargon, in-house jargon, near-jargon, steroid jargon, resume jargon, cover the
truth jargon and legal jargon (Hudson 5+).

Adorno takes another point of view in the classification of jargon and coins the term
“formal jargon”. Adorno warns against formal jargon and says that such jargon wants to be
recognised through its mere delivery without respecting the content of the words used. If
jargon disappeared out of such a speech, it would become mock. The words of jargon
sound higher than what they really mean. Adorno connects formal jargon with professional
groups that carry on intellectual work, which are dependent and economically weak. For
these people, jargon is a “professional illness” (5-13).

Moony highlights jargon’s ability to provoke awe in an audience and emphasizes

the connection between jargon and power. He writes, “People in a position of power often
speak (and write) in a way that others find difficult to understand. At the same time, being
able to use jargon is part of establishing and protecting power.” An example of power
jargon is military jargon and the jargon of politicians (6).

5. Jargon and its use in a hotel

Hotels, like every other profession, necessarily have their special terminology,
without which their members cannot think or express themselves. Special language should
help us to communicate more efficiently, and it is not a crime if we talk in the manner that
other people do not understand our message. Jargon or technical language is sometimes the
only possibility how to say something particular. If we stop using this particular
vocabulary, we are on the best way to stop this industry from thriving (Hudson 5). From
these words, we can deduct that language, and particularly special vocabulary, help the
profession to distinguish itself from the outer word and gain identity and power.

24
 5.1. Back of the house jargon

As described in Chapter 2, sales and marketing departments are called back of the
house because these departments are not in face-to-face contact with hotel clients.
Nevertheless, both departments play an important role in the economy of the hotel. The
economic success of the hotel is dependent on its sales and marketing strategies, which
originate in these departments.

In the competitive business environment, it is necessary to be recognized and

distinguished from others. Hotels are often employing jargon words to their advertisements
and business talks to achieve this goal. For this reason, Hudson states that sales
representatives and advertisers create a formidable amount of jargon each year. Both
groups are exceptionally interested in the possibilities of words, and their sole interest is to
exalt advantages and conceal the flaws of whatever they try to sell (104-05).

5.1.1. Advertising jargon

Brochures and catalogues are the main forms of advertising in the hotel industry.
They describe the services and contain pictures for illustration. Especially travel agents use
this form of advertising. They use high quality paper and elaborate print techniques to
impress potential clients. For this reason, many hotels use poetic expressions and jargon
words to impress and differentiate themselves from others (Horner and Swaarbroke 208,
214).

Local language and expressions are often used to meet this goal. Thus, a tourist can
encounter words, which can be incomprehensible and confusing. Advertisers name their
lodging facilities as a “casita village” (the word of Spanish origin), or “paradors” (historic
mansions in Spain converted into luxury hotels), “Gondolas” are prepared to take Alpine
skiers up the hill and many kilometres of well- prepared “loipes” wait for cross-country
skiers in mountain resorts. When the day is over, all guests are welcomed to enjoy the fun
at “après-ski” facilities (Míšková 41).

25
Hudson describes the reasons for employing jargon in advertisement fittingly:

Business is subject to two quite different linguistic pressures. On the one hand there
is the never ending search for the new, even more arresting phrase, which will give
a firm the edge over its rivals, and on the other, the wish to tone words down, to
make them less dangerous, less precise, less likely to blow up in the face of person
who uses them. (122)

Geoffrey N. Leech in Hudson writes that jargon is a powerful tool in advertising

and he adds the term “strategic semantics“. According to Leech, it is the art of delivering
meanings, which influence the selling effectiveness of an advertisement (156).

A major weapon in the selling campaign for many hotels is the creation of new
vocabulary or use of euphemisms in order to up-to-date old-fashioned terms. Another tool
for advertisers is the set of certain words, which evoke feelings of dynamism. Preferred
words in the hospitality industry are executive (e.g. executive resort, executive floor),
generous, major, limited, and substantial. The hospitality industry is an activity world.
Therefore, words of constant movement are favoured (Hudson 119-21).

People working in advertising are aware of the commercial importance of

advertising jargon. They know very well that people like to feel that they are getting value
for money when they make their purchases. An effective way of giving satisfaction is to
dress the goods up in fine-sounding language. In the repertoire of sales representatives, we
find old words connected with aristocracy like reception room, breakfast room, hall with
cloaks, weekend residence. By a skilful blending of such words and pictures, the most
unlikely person can be persuaded to buy a stay in the advertised establishment (Hudson
106-7).

26
 5.2. Front of the house jargon

The reception and restaurant departments are also called Front of the house
departments because guests are in daily contact with the employees of these. The
employees of the aforementioned departments have to comply with the image of the hotel
and with the duties assigned to them by their employer. One part of the corporate image is
the manner of speech of its employees. The general definition of the image according to
French sociologist Guye Debord is that it is a way of broader communication, a picture of
the person himself, which this person communicates with his environment. One of the
elements of the image is the way we talk, and when we are a part of a professional
business, we use its special vocabulary. The use of jargon belongs to the category of
corporate culture, which derives from values set in a corporate philosophy and influences
the process of internal communication (Hesková 144).

One category of the front of the house jargon is worth mentioning in a separate
chapter. It is food jargon, which is present in the restaurant department of a hotel and does
not appear in the practical part of the thesis. Food jargon contributes to the whole image of
the tourist industry by its presence in the talk of waiters and bartenders and the written
form in menus and advertisements.

5.2.1. Food jargon

The restaurant department generates a significant portion of the hotel’s income.

Western clients expect that the hotel and restaurant are mutually conditioned, thus people
in charge of advertising of a hotel often include in their offers the hotel restaurant’s special
banqueting facilities. This strategy can on the other hand be the decisive impulse for the
client to buy a promoted hotel. Often the restaurant itself can be the reason clients book a
particular hotel, especially when connected with a famous destination known for its
culinary quality and local specialities (Horner and Swaarbroke 352-53).

Kenneth Hudson states that the ultimate food jargon in the English-speaking world
is the “kind of French” that gives menus a more distinguished flavour than the food they

27
describe. In his opinion, the food writers produce a special jargon of their own with the aim
to grade up every dish on offer. In order to achieve this, they produce the prose-poem type
of menu (81).

Most likely, we are going to see main courses and specialities described in jargon
language consisting of fine sounding French words and long descriptions full of adjectives.
Such description should suggest that only the finest ingredients and ways of preparation
have been used to prepare a unique dish. Here are some expressions used to describe
dishes: appetizing, baby, chilled, cool, colourful, creamy, crispy, crunchy, crusty, delicate,
delicious, exotic, fine, imperial, frozen, iced, irresistible, light, royal, sharp, sparkling, still,
thick, thin baked, browned, diced, glazed, grated, freshly: fried, , ground, grilled, jellied,
melted, minced, poached, steamed, stuffed, etc (Míšková 112).

One nice example provided by Míšková illustrates the use of food jargon in hotel’s
menu. Unlike Hudson, Míšková praises the appetizing description of the menu and sets it in
sharp contrast with a jargon free menu. Here we can compare the difference between these
two menus:

A jargon free menu: “Welsh Rarebit with bacon and mushrooms on toast points.”

A menu employing plenty of food jargon words: “Coach House Welsh Rarebit –
melted snappy aged cheese blended with ale, our special seasonings, hickory
smoked bacon and fresh mushrooms, piping hot in a casserole.” (112)

From the example given, we can see that food jargon likes many adjectives, and it
sometimes passes beyond absurdity and exaggeration and into sheer nonsense. Hudson
states that this manner of writing menus is aimed at snobs, and it is jargon at its most
immoral (82).

28
6. Linguistic features of jargon

Jargon consists of terms and words used elsewhere in a different sense or perhaps
not used anywhere else at all; talk, including newspaper and magazine articles that deal
with specialized topics and display jargon (Finegan 322). Based on the aforementioned
usage, we can encounter jargon in its many different linguistic forms. The first linguistic
form that comes up in our minds is a word. Scholars, though, hesitate to call elements of
jargon inventory words for several reasons. The following paragraphs describe some of
these problems.

Firstly, we have to look at what the term “word” means in linguistics. One of many
definitions of the term “word” is that it is the most typical naming unit, and it is free to take
up a different position in a sentence (Vogel 15). Černý states that a word is the laic term
and in linguistics, it is connected with many problems. The same lexical meaning can be
expressed in different languages by a various number of words, and it is still one lexical
meaning. Therefore, linguists prefer other terms such as a form, a moneme, or a lexical unit
(63).

Finegan writes, “The most tangible elements of language are its words.” He says to
define a word we have to examine its parts and its function in sentences. A word can be
one meaningful unit or has several meaningful parts. These parts can be words themselves
or meaningful parts smaller than a word. A proper usage of word requires according to
Finegan four kinds of information:

• Its sounds and their sequencing (this is called phonological information)

• Its meanings (semantic information)

• How related words such as the plural (for nouns) and the past tense (for verbs) are
formed (morphological information)

• Its category (e.g., noun or verb) and how to use it in a sentence (syntactic
information). (35)

29
 Fromkin emphasizes that languages make an important distinction between two
kinds of words – content words and function words. Content words are such words, which
denote concepts such as objects, actions, attributes, and ideas. The group of content words
also known as open class words is constantly growing by the process of word-formation
processes. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are the example of content words (38-39).

Function words do not have clear lexical meanings or concepts associated with
them. Function words or closed class words are a relatively stable group, and no new words
enrich this group. The function of these words is purely grammatical, and the rules of
syntax require them. Typical examples of this category are articles, conjunctions,
prepositions, and pronouns. For our needs, we can ignore the function words because all
jargon words are content words connected with objects, actions, attributes, and ideas.

6.1. Word-formation processes

The next problem we should answer is how jargon expands its vocabulary.
According to Finegan, languages have three principal ways of extending their vocabulary
and thus:

 New words develop from existing words and word parts.

 Words can be “borrowed” from another language.
 New words can be made up, created from scratch. (46)

In line with Finegan, Malmkjær says that jargon and slang create new expressions
by inventing or reworking words according to the semantic possibilities of a language, and
form expressions according to its morphological potential. Jargon employs the standard
processes of word formation in English. The most common are compounding, blending,
derivation, borrowing, functional shift, clipping, abbreviation and acronym. The products
of these processes are new words that result in important technical meaning (492).

Word-formation processes are variably productive but constantly in operation to

expand the lexicon as new meanings emerge, social and technological changes take place,
and individuals create new forms (Malmkjær 372). The next paragraphs deal with the

30
aforementioned word-formation processes, which we can recognize in various linguistic
forms of jargon.

6.1.1. Conversion or functional shift

In some languages, a word belonging to one category can be converted to another

category without any changes to the form of the word. Conversion is a change in the
function of a word. Therefore, conversion can be labelled as “category change” and
“functional shift.” Conversion can involve verbs becoming nouns (to guess  a guess) and
vice versa, or verbs becoming adjectives (to stand up  a stand-up comedian) and vice
versa. Conversion of this type commonly leads to noun/verb and noun/adjective pairs.
Once a form has been shifted to a new lexical category, it conforms to the inflectional
morphology of that category (Finegan 49-50).

6.1.2. Derivation
The creation of new words happens by the use of derivational morphemes. These
are called bound morphemes because they are added to a base, and a new meaning is
derived. To create a new word by the use of derivational morphemes, we must follow the
morphological rules of English. The newly created word may be of different grammatical
class than the original word (Fromkin , Rodman and Hyams 47-48).

There are three types of derivational morphemes. Prefixes occur before the root or
stem; suffixes occur after the root or stem, and infixes occur within the root or stem.
English derivation, unlike Czech, is characterized by dissociation. This means that words
connected in meaning do not develop from the same base (dog – canine). Dissociation
occurs because of the co-existence of Germanic, French, and Latin vocabulary in the
English word-stock (Vogel 17).

31
 6.1.3. Abbreviation

Under the term abbreviation, we shall understand a shortened form of a word.

Abbreviation contributes to the economy of language (Vogel 19).

Finegan lists three categories of abbreviated words. The first category is ordinary
shortenings formed by clipping. New words are the shortened forms of original words, e.g.
narc for narcotics. The second category of abbreviations is acronyms. These words evolve
from the initial letters of several words and we pronounce them either as one word,
(UNESCO, WASP) or as a sequence of letters (DVD, MTV). When we pronounce the
shortenings as a sequence of letters, we talk about initialisms. The last category of
abbreviated words is blends. Blends are words created by combining parts of words, e.g.,
motel (motor and hotel). Most blends seem to combine two nouns, but the combination of
different word-classes is also possible, e.g., wannabe (a person who wants to be something
other than what he is) combines verbs to want and to be. Some analysts call blends
portmanteau words (45-49).

6.1.4. Compounds

Two or more words may be joined to form new, compound words. Especially
English is very flexible in the kinds of combinations permitted. The most common
compounds in English are two-word compounds, but the upper limit is difficult to
establish. Compounds can be formed by combining words from the same word-class
category or by combining words from different word-class categories (Fromkin , Rodman
and Hyams 60-61). The meaning is not always the sum of meanings of its components, and

32
many compounds are idiomatic4. The meaning of many compounds must be learned as if
they were individual lexical units.

6.1.5. Borrowings or loan words

Fromkin says that linguistic borrowing occurs when a community of speakers

incorporates some linguistic elements in its own language from another language.
Borrowed words are generally made to adapt to the regular phonology, morphology, and
syntax of the borrowing language. When the word preserves its own phonological and
grammatical properties then we talk about codeswitching. Codeswitching is common with
bilinguals as they switch languages between or within sentences. Linguistic borrowing is
one of the primary sources causing the changes in the lexicon of many languages. Fromkin
names two types of linguistic borrowing and thus direct and indirect borrowings. In direct
borrowing, the loan word is a native word in a language from which we are borrowing it. In
the indirect borrowing, the loan word is not a native word in a language from which we are
borrowing it (461-63, 505).

6.1.6. Back formation

Back formation occurs when a suffix disappears from a complex word; liaison  to
liaise; lecher  to lech are some English examples (Malmkjær 372). According to
Fromkin, back formation enriches our lexicon also by incorrect morphological analysis.
For example, peddle was derived from peddler because -er was wrongly considered to be
an agentive suffix. The deliberate miscast of back formation created many new words,
which are in use. A topless bathing suit monokini derives from the word bikini. The word
monokini was derived deliberately from the word bikini, which comes from the Bikini Atoll
of the Marshall Islands. The name of the atoll was used because the first syllable bi- means
“two” in words like bicycle (60).

4
Idiom/ idiomatic phrase: An expression whose meaning does not conform to the principle of
compositionality, that is, may be unrelated to the meaning of its parts, e.g., kick the bucket meaning “to die”
(Fromkin , Rodman and Hyams 581).

33
 6.1.7. Reduplication

Reduplication is the morphological process that repeats all or part of the morpheme
to create a new word with a different meaning or different category. Partial reduplication
repeats only part of the morpheme while full reduplication reduplicates the entire
morpheme. Reduplication is not repetition, which does not create a new word but simply
repeats the same word. Reduplication can have different functions in languages; it can
moderate or intensify the meaning of a word. (Finegan 47).

6.2. Semantic changes in the lexicon

In addition to changes in vocabulary, modifications also occur in the meanings of

words. Semantic changes follow three general principles: semantic broadening, that is,
extending the scope of a reference semantic narrowing, shrinking the scope of a reference
and semantic shift, that is, words take on a new meaning. Semantic shift, also called
metaphorical extension, creates metaphors. Metonymy is another method of semantic
extension. (Malmkjær 63, 240-41).

6.2.1. Metaphor

Jargon makes extensive use of metaphors, playing on and with the meaning and
associations in the mind. A traditional notion of metaphor sees it as an extension of the use
of a word beyond its primary sense to describe referents that bear similarities to the word’s
primary referent (Finegan 188-89).

Finch says that many words acquire new senses by developing a metaphoric or
transferred sense. Through metaphors, we can express our creative freedom; metaphors
allow us to translate inexpressible into the expressible. Part of the power of a metaphor is
its reflected meaning, that is, the user is aware when using a metaphor of its original sense.
Once this reflected meaning is lost, the metaphor becomes dead (144-50).

34
 6.2.2. Metonymy

Metonymy is another tool of semantic transfer, that is, an attribute stands for the
whole. Vogel states that it is a transfer of the naming of reality, which is related to the
original one by some temporal, spatial, qualitative, functional, causal or other connection.
Unlike a metaphor, metonymy essentially maintains the original meaning of the naming
unit, which is subject to the shift; it is only subdued (27).

For Yule the meaning found in a metonymy is based essentially on similarity and a
close connection with everyday experience. He provides three different types of
metonymical patterns based on close connections:

 Container-contents relation (bottle/water; can/juice)

 Whole-part relation (car/wheels; hose/roof)
 Representative-symbol relation (king/crown, the President/the White House)

In Yule’s words:

It is our familiarity with metonymy that makes it possible for us to understand He

drank the whole bottle, although it sounds absurd literally (i.e. he drank the liquid,
not the glass object). We also accept The White House has announced... or
Downing Street protested… without being puzzled that buildings appear to be
talking. (108)

7. Usage of jargon according to sociolinguistics

Because jargon interlaces with the speech of any social group, we must take into
account the role of sociolinguistics in its use. Jargon serves not only to convey technical
meaning but also to support in-group solidarity among the users.

Etymologically, the term sociolinguistics is derived from the words socio and
linguistics (Sociolinguistic). The definition of sociolinguistics is the study of the
relationship between language and society. Sociolinguistics has strong connections with

35
anthropology through the study of language and culture, and with sociology through the
investigation of the role, which language plays in the organization of social groups. It also
has a link to social psychology, particularly how in-group and out-group are identified
(Yule 205).

Gumperz in Wardhaugh states that sociolinguistics tries to find a link between

social structure and linguistic structure and to study the changes that occur. Every social
structure displays systematic patterns of behaviour between individuals, between groups,
and between a group and an individual. Thus, sociolinguistics studies the social uses of
language and the social evaluation of language variations (11).

7.1. Language and Society

Any discussion of the relationship between language and society, or of the various
functions of language in society, should start with the definition of these terms. A society is
any group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose and a language is what
the members of a particular society speak. Consequently, speech in almost any society
takes many different forms (Wardhaugh 1). According to Trask, every society has its
norms for communicative behavioural patterns. These patterns are not the same
everywhere; instead, they vary substantially from culture to culture (59).

Černý defines a language as a means of communication among members of a social

group. The principal goal is to exchange information among its users. Except the primary
communicative function, language can perform other functions. These are the conative,
referential, phatic, expressive, poetic, and metalingual functions. All functions above are
macro-functions of a language. Language does not only serve to communicate, but it is also
an important tool in the process of learning and describing the reality, which surrounds us.
In this context, we talk about the cognitive and denotative functions of language (13-17).

For Mooney, what counts as a language is a political, cultural and technical

question. He claims that even if a group of people may share the language, they will have
their individual way of using that language. Language varieties depend on the people using

36
it, and the society in which it all takes place. Language can tell us a lot about people as
individuals, as members of the group, and about how people interact with other people (3).

Sociolinguistic competence is one component of communicative competences. It

enables to use appropriate language in the process of communication (Yule 169).

Figure 2: Process of communication

Source: Wikipedia (1999)

Bernstein in Wardhaugh claims that individuals learn their social roles through the
process of communication. This process is specific to each social group therefore role
differences spread in society. Bernstein claims that every social group employs a different
type of language. According to Bernstein, there are two distinct varieties of language in use
in society: the formal code and the public code. The formal code uses accurate grammatical
order and syntax, complex sentences and employs a range of devices for conjunction and
subordination. In contrast, the public code uses short, grammatically simple, and often
unfinished sentences of the poor syntactic form (337).

According to Wardhaugh, there are several possible relationships between language

and society. Firstly, the social structure may influence or determine the linguistic structure
and the choice of words, that is, the varieties of language that speakers use to reflect upon
the regional, social, or ethnic origin and even their gender. Secondly, the linguistic
structure and behaviour may either influence or determine the social structure. Bernstein
and Whorfian support this fact by stating languages rather than the speakers can be sexist.

37
A third possible relationship between language and society is that these can influence each
other as they are in a state of constant interaction. The last possibility is to assume that both
linguistic structure and social structure are fully independent (10-12).

Language and society cannot be separated; they influence each other. Language is a
means of communication to express an idea, attention, and thought using a system of
signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. Meanwhile, society is a group
of people associated with religious, cultural, scientific, political, professional, or other
purposes. A language varies and symbolizes one group among others, such as the language
of people working in a hotel is different from people working in a hospital or anywhere
else.

7.2. Language variation

Language variations are the object of sociolinguistics and are the result of the
relationship between language and social factors, such as age, sex, education, social status,
professional occupation, and other factors. The principal types of language variation appear
in pronunciation (accent), grammar and vocabulary (regional dialect) and the social
variation (social dialects, sociolects, jargon, slang, argot) (Finegan 247+). For Mayerhoff,
occupation is the key factor in assigning speakers into different socioeconomic classes
because occupation has a major impact on an individual’s status and life chances (196).

Jargon is part of the register variation of a langue. Wardhaugh defines register as a

set of language items associated with discrete occupational or social groups (52). Yule
defines register as a conventional way of using language, which is related to a specific
context. The context may be identified as situational, occupational or topical (210-11).

In conclusion, some variations emerge as the result of age, sex, social class and
attitude influence, i.e. jargon, register, argot, slang and style. For the use of jargon, it is
typical, that it takes place in established social groups.

38
8. Introduction to the analytical part

The analytical part of this thesis deals with the actual use of hotel jargon in its
natural environment and draws some conclusions from the data gathered in various hotels.
The aims of the research are to name the main formation processes employed in the
creation of new jargon, determinate the most frequent forms and specify the function of
jargon in hotels.

The selected type of the research work is a survey in the form of a questionnaire.
The reasons for selecting this method are the following. A survey gathers data at a
particular time and describes the nature of existing conditions, identifies standards against
existing conditions and finally determines the relationship that exists between specific
events (Cohen , Lawrence and Morrison 169). The following advantages speak for the use
of a questionnaire: it is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting survey
information, providing structured, often numerical data. It can be administered without the
presence of the researcher, and is often prepared for a straightforward analysis.

The questionnaire has an on-line format, which enables its on-screen

administration, that is, responses can be entered rapidly, and data can be examined
automatically, producing graphs and tables, as well as a wide range of statistics. The
participants of the survey received a link to the email address, through which they could
access the questionnaire. All respondents completed a questionnaire that bore absolutely no
identifying marks – names, addresses or coding symbols, ensuring absolute anonymity and
thus encouraging greater honesty of the answers. The design of the questionnaire, namely a
structure, questionnaire items, and layout, follows Cohen’s suggestions and useful tips for
research work (245-66).

The structure of the questionnaire is in the form of a semi-structured

questionnaire. This form sets the agenda but does not presuppose the nature of the
response. The questionnaire consists of a series of questions, statements and items and the
respondent is asked to answer or comment on them in his way.

The beginning of the questionnaire collects the nominal data, as is gender, the
length of work experience in a hotel, department affiliation, and managerial duties. In this

39
section of the questionnaire only dichotomous and closed question can be found with one
or more possible answers.

The body of the questionnaire collects information about the actual usage of jargon
and concrete word-forms of jargon. In this section of the questionnaire, we can find
dichotomous, closed, open, multiple-choice questions, rank ordering, rating scales and rank
ordering. In this part the respondents can enter the most frequent jargon words they use and
think about the role of jargon in their work places. The complete questionnaire forms are
included in Appendix XII of the thesis.

Different types of questionnaire items enable to collect data of a different nature.

Closed questions prescribe a range of responses from which the respondent can choose
(dichotomous questions, multiple choice and rating scale). Dichotomous questions offer
only two categories of response (usually yes/no answers) and are a sorting device for
subsequent questions. Multiple-choice questions offer a range of choices to capture the
likely range of responses to given statements. A rating scale contains a degree of sensitivity
and differentiation of response. The other major type are open questions, which enable
respondents to write a free response. Lastly, a rank ordering question requires setting a list
of items into a preferred rank order.

The layout of the questionnaire comes across as easy, attractive and interesting.
Each question appears in a new window to avoid a compressed, clumsy layout. The
questionnaire contains clear instructions and simple wording to encourage the respondents.

8.1. The origin of data

All data come from the online survey, set on the platform of the company
Survio.com. The questionnaire was distributed to staff in hotels in the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, U.S.A., Canada, Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Hungary, and
Rumania. The set of hotels is randomly selected, and there are no differences in the
questionnaires sent to the individual hotels. In total, 358 recipients received the email with
the link to the questionnaire. Out of this number, only 50 responses returned (see Fig. 3).

40
One of the disadvantages of questionnaires is a low percentage of returns (Cohen ,
Lawrence and Morrison 129).

Figure 3: Return rate of questionnaires

50
14%

Responders
Non-responders

308
86%

8.2. Nominal data

The majority of respondents are women with work experience of three or more
years (see Charts 1 and 2 in Appendix I). More than half of the respondents work at the
reception followed by a group working in hotel management, and over 50% of the
respondents occupy a managerial position (see for Charts 3 and 4 in Appendix II). This
situation is an ideal outcome of the survey as one of the aims of this thesis is to describe the
use of jargon in the back-office and front office of hotels.

8.3. Analysis of obtained data

The opening questions of the questionnaire asked the respondents to assign a

definition to the word “The hotel jargon”. All the suggested answers connect jargon with a
hotel environment, but only two of them contained the element of the intelligibility of
jargon. The respondents distributed their answers almost equally among all three offered
answers. The majority of the respondents nevertheless chose the definition of jargon, which

41
ignores the aspect of the comprehensibility of jargon. This finding may suggest that there
are people who use jargon without understanding its meaning (see Fig. 4).

Figure 4: What is hotel jargon?

An overwhelming number of the respondents think that jargon makes our

communication faster and more efficient. This result supports the thesis proposed by
Hudson that jargon is a language without which its members cannot think or express
themselves (1-5). A minority of the respondents consider jargon a coding language for a
message, and surprisingly none of the respondents connects jargon with the importance of
its user in the hotel hierarchy (see Chart 5, Appendix III). This finding does not support the
thesis proposed by Moony that the users employ jargon to express power (6).

Chart 6 (see Appendix III) shows that respondents unambiguously confirm that
jargon is a part of their profession, and many respondents encounter jargon words often or
very often in their workplaces. This finding is fully in line with Finegan, who defines
jargon as specialist terms used by a group with shared specialized interest when engaged in
activities surrounding those interests (322). Regarding the active use of jargon, only one

42
respondent says, that he never uses jargon. On the other hand, more than a half of the
respondents admit to using jargon words often (see Chart 7, Appendix IV). Almost all of
the respondents claim that they fully understand all the jargon words they use, which may
be the sign of their professionalism and sufficient work experience (see Chart 8, Appendix
IV).

Chart 9 illustrates an interesting finding (see for Appendix V). More than 30% of
the respondents use jargon words in communication with people outside their work group,
that is, with clients, travel agents, suppliers, etc. Unfortunately, there is no data available to
estimate, which out-group faces the most frequent usage of hotel jargon. This finding may
suggest that people accustomed to using jargon cannot stop doing so and consider it to be a
part of their public image and a form of a certain authority. Adorno’s theory confirms this
result, stating that the interested parties who use jargon as a means of power, or depend on
their public image for the jargon’s social-psychological effect, will never wean themselves
from it (xix).

The tables below (see Tables 2 and 3) contain a collection of jargon words that the
respondents entered into their questionnaires. This corpus represents only a small fraction
of all hotel jargon words; nevertheless, we can draw some basic conclusions by scrutinizing
the individual word-forms of jargon and grouping them according to their common
features.

Prior to the sorting of data, editing was necessary to exclude all errors (e.g.
unfinished words). The first division split the corpus into two main groups, jargon from
Czech hotels and jargon from hotels in English speaking countries. The questionnaire
circulated in Czech hotels as well as abroad; therefore, some of the responses came back in
the Czech language and some in the English language. The group of words from Czech
hotels is considerably smaller and treated separately but to draw general conclusions we
may consider both groups as a base for the conclusions of the thesis. The next division of
words reflects the word-formation principles. The goal of this sorting is to identify the
group with the most entries and to establish the most productive word-formation process of

43
hotel jargon. This type of jargon division also enables to observe other distinctive features
connected with individual categories of jargon.

A more comprehensive corpus of hotel jargon provides Appendix XIII containing

over 300 entries without explanatory notes. This set is a compilation of words and
acronyms from various hotel manuals, business emails, and hotel guidelines that I
encountered during my work at the hotel reception in various hotels. The purpose of this
corpus is solely to demonstrate the kind of jargon we may encounter in the hotel
environment and to support the findings derived from online questionnaires, which are
discussed in the following paragraphs.

44
Table 2: A set of jargon words used in Czech hotel industry

Compounds Jednonočka (a one night stay), samoplátce (a guest pays for his
(2) stay directly in a hotel)
Phrases pokoj v klínu (a room in the corner of a building)
(1)
Abbreviations shortenings specka, okružka, indíci, čekačka, dvoják,
(14) stěhovačka

acronyms BARovka, FITýčka, APRko, HBéčko, FOCka,

BBéčko, VIPka, GDSko

Jargon-slang tágo (a taxi), pingl (a bus boy), policajti (a police report), šikmáči
(9) (people of Asian origin), kopec (local slang for an airport), modří
(?), batůžkáři (low budget tourists), hankrle (a dish cloth),
slevosráči (clients booking discounted packages)

Borrowings English začekinovaný (check in), odčekinovaný (check

(22) origin out), sajtka (a sightseeing tour), fajl (a file), tůrka
(a tour), upsel (upsell), tábl (a table), dabl (a
double room/bed), travelák (travel), holder
(hold), singl (a single room/bed), bukovat (book),
walkini (walk in), bagáž (a baggage), nonrefka (a
non- refundable rate), dirty pokoj (a status of a
room before it can be used again)

German absatz (der Absatz), štafle (die Staffel), forleg

origin (vorlegen), šafina (schaffen), kundík (der
Kunde), budlík (die Bude), selbcáler (der
Selbstzahler), štamgast (der Stammgast)

Figure 5: Jargon words from Czech hotels in numbers

30
A number of words

22
20 14
9
10
2 1
0
Word-forms of jargon

Compounds Abbreviations Borrowings Jargon/Slang Phrases

45
 The most entries of jargon originated in Czech hotels fall into the borrowing-group.
In our small sample, we can observe that most borrowings originate from the English
language. The words in our sample do not follow the orthographic and phonological rules
of English (they vary in their written and spoken forms) but follow the Czech phonological
and orthographic patterns. The finding supports two theories proposed by Fromkin, firstly
that borrowed words adapt the regular phonology, morphology, and syntax of the
borrowing language. Secondly, that the borrowing is one of the primary sources of the
changes in the lexicon of many languages (461-63).

The second strongest group of entries are the abbreviations. In this group, we have
two sub-groups, dividing the abbreviations into shortenings and acronyms. Interestingly, all
the entries in the sub-group acronyms overlap with the borrowings because they have
English acronyms as their base. The English language strongly affects hotel jargon and
seems to be the main source of new jargon in the Czech hotel environment.

The third strong group, called jargon-slang is the most problematic group of words.
They are not pure jargon, and its entries can be classified both jargon and slang. The entries
cross the boundaries set for jargon words. Some expressions are a coding language and
cannot be understood from their word-forms. Some of them carry even racist and pejorative
meanings. Words like policajti, šikmáči, kopec, modří, slevosráči trespass the boundaries
of jargon and can be considered argot.

Another distinctive feature of local jargon is the use of Czech suffixes with English
acronyms. The users instinctively add suffixes to acronyms, to create Czechisized5 nouns.
The reason may be of a syntactic origin, that is, the users can apply common Czech
conjugational patterns to such neologisms. The next feature of local hotel jargon is its
humorous, and expressive nature originated in unusual word combinations and
associations.

5
počešt|it, -ím pf-111, počešť|ovat, -uji impf-110 Czechisize, Czechify (Fronek 721)

46
Table 3: A set of hotel jargon words used in English speaking countries

Compounds No-show, walkin, bookout, upselling, overbooking,

backpackers, underground, non-refundable, stayover
Phrases Black out dates, cut-off date, rooms rolled, must stay 2, guest
services, a rooming list, rate centre, in the weeds, star report
(VIP list), hot lead, wake up call, set the bill, make it sexy
(make it as nice as possible), job on the line (when you are
preparing for a VIP manager), pig in the pen (a guest stuck in
the parking ramp)
Abbreviations shortenings COMPL, double, fam trip, twin,
acronyms FIT, TBA, PAX, GM, BAR, F&B, BB, BAR,
GDS, ADS, ROH, DMC, DDR, RFP, FOC,
ADR, SMERF, LOS/MLOS, LEA, OTA,
DMO, LRA, CRS, DND, RFP, CTA, MOD, c/i,
c/o, ghkv, B&B, NS, CMS, PMS, FOM,
PERM, HD, CRA, OTB, RevPAR,
RevMAX,VIB, SVP, UG, DG, APT
Jargon-slang Skipper, lobby lizard (a guest relation personnel), onstage
(front office area), weekend warriors (people coming on
weekends), living room (lobby), wheels (valet), cosy (the
smallest room), munchie box (minibar), 20/10 rule
(acknowledgment of a guest 20 steps away with a nod, and eye
contact when 10 steps away), peach (a very difficult guest), a
classic (a very traditional guest), wolf pack (loyal returning
clients), dens (rooms), red card
Professionalisms Forecast, leisure, allotment, check in, check out, late arrival,
Rack rate, walk in, overbooked, log book, book, room night,
half board, mystery guest, free sale, allotment, bucket drop,
batch, occupancy, property, full board, half board, queen size,
pick up, drop off, log file, back up
Borrowings French Porterage
origin

47
 Figure 6: Hotel jargon words from English speaking countries in numbers

60
51
50

A number of words
40

30 27

20 15
14
9
10
1
0
Word-forms of jargon

Compounds Abbreviations Borrowings Jargon/Slang Phrases Professionalisms

The overwhelming majority of words in English speaking countries falls into the
abbreviation group. In our set, we have a mix of entries coming from hotels, where English
is the main or secondary language of communication among the employees. For this
reason, we cannot establish whether the abbreviation may be a borrowing or not.
Nevertheless, all the abbreviations are again of English origin and the sub-group of
acronyms forms a substantial part of them. Unlike their equivalents adapted to Czech
morphology, all entered acronyms lack suffixes and are, most likely, used, as they would
be in English speaking countries. We may speculate, but it is very likely that the non-
English speakers also reflect the syntactic rules of their languages and the spoken form of
acronyms differs from the English standard.

The second strongest group of entries are the professionalisms. Surprisingly,

nobody from the Czech hotels listed professionalisms in the questionnaire, as if the
respondents considered professional terms a kind of language outside jargon. This result
may suggest that Czech users define jargon only as an informal version of professional or
technical language while the others ignore the technicality of the language. Entries in the
group of professionalisms strictly follow grammatical rules of English and carry a high
degree of a technicality.
48
 In the group jargon-slang, we can find mainly informal expressions with the
elements of a figurative language. Figurative language is an expressive use of language
when words are used in a non-literal way to suggest illuminating comparison and
resemblances (Vogel 27). Some examples are humorous metaphors (a living room for a
lobby), synecdoche (wheels for a car) or euphemisms (cosy for something very small).

Only one entry in the group French borrowings confirms the huge impact of
English on the hotel language. It is obvious that the English language, namely technical
language, is the main source of acronyms, which are very popular for their short forms
carrying a high degree of a communicative value. In both sets of borrowings, we could find
only eight entries from the German and French languages. These entries seem to be very
old and are the core of hotel jargon.

In terms of legibility, jargon consists of terms used inside social groups with shared
specialized interest and, therefore, should be comprehensible to all members of these
groups (Finegan 322). In line with this statement, our respondents rated the legibility of
hotel jargon for in-groupers as well understandable (see Chart 10, Appendix V). As out-
groupers may not understand jargon, one fifth of our respondents use jargon as a coding
language to hide a piece of information from the others (see Chart 11, Appendix VI). More
than a half of our participants think that jargon belongs rather to informal type of
communication (see Chart 12, Appendix VI) and suppose that jargon plays an important
role in spoken in-group interaction (see Chart 13, Appendix VII). This finding supports the
in-group solidarity function of jargon described by Allan and Burridge (65).

According to the survey, jargon plays an important role in written in-group

communication (see Chart 14, Appendix VII). In terms of interdepartmental
communication, one third of respondents are aware of the fact, that some jargon can be
incomprehensible for their colleagues (see Chart 15, Appendix VIII). The hotel staff is not
a homogenous group of people but there are several groups, created based on the work
duties or place of work (front office, back office, maintenance, etc.), each with its special
terms. If this is the case, over forty per cent of our participants are unwilling to stop using
jargon. They would rather explain the term in question and continue with its use (see Chart
16, Appendix VIII).

49
 The graph in Chart 17 (see Appendix IX) shows that the knowledge of jargon
influences communication. Jargon in this instance is perceived positively as a sign of
professionalism. The respondents think that communication is faster and more effective
solely due of jargon. On the other hand, they realize that jargon can be a barrier between
them and their clients. For this reason, over 63% of them avoid using jargon in contact with
guests or business partners (see Chart 18, Appendix IX). The reasons are different, but the
majority of our participants doubt that guests would be happy to hear jargon, and they
might feel embarrassed or angry because they do not understand (for a detailed list of
reasons see Chart 19 in Appendix X).

The results of our survey show, that the department with the most frequent use of
jargon is the reception (see Chart 20, Appendix XI). The second position belongs to the
reservation department, and sales and marketing come the third in place. Even if the latter
named departments have an enormous number of jargon words (especially acronyms),
reception personnel have, additionally, frequent contact with other hotel departments and
their jargon.

An interesting finding of the survey is illustrated in the graph in Chart 21 (see

Appendix XI). According to the respondents, the main reason for using jargon is the
absence of an alternative form due to the jargon’s high degree of technicality. The
preference of jargon also explains the motivation of the users for economy in their
communication. All the aforementioned is fully in line with Locker’s theory on the role of
jargon. Locker stresses that jargon was invented to make our communication more
effective and to give it a specific style that recognizes the field of business to which it is
applied (As Per Your).

50
9. Conclusion

The language of the hotel profession appears in two major forms. One form is the
professional language, that is, a formal jargon embracing a technical language with its
special technical vocabulary and terms. All forms in this category strictly follow the
grammar rules, and they lack spontaneity and expressiveness (especially irony and
pejorative undertones). The other form is the informal language consisting of pure jargon
and slang expressions.

Informal jargon and slang words seem to be products of personal, spontaneous, and
anonymous word-formation processes. Informal jargon is characterised by considerable
lexical productivity, grammatical flexibility, figurativeness, playfulness in meanings, and
association. We can describe this type of jargon as an informal and often humorous version
of the professional language. The terminology of professional jargon differs from the
informal jargon, but both are relatively stable and well established among its users.

For hotel jargon, an overuse of technical language is typical, namely economic

terms in the form of acronyms and abbreviations. Due to the abundance of technical
language, we can talk about jargon in its true form. Acronyms are mainly the abbreviations
of technical terms, but there is a minor group of acronyms with a humorous meaning
belonging to the informal jargon. This minority exploits the inexplicitness of acronyms to
cover the message and thrives because of the popularity of acronyms in hotels. The
acronyms VIB (a very important baby), VIP (a very important pup) are examples of such
jargon.

The main source of new jargon in Czech hotels are borrowings from the English
language, particularly business English. Other languages contribute considerably less to
enrich jargon in modern hotels. Borrowings from the German and French languages seem
to become a part of generalized jargon. Such words are no longer considered true jargon, as
they are widely understood. A substantial part of back office jargon is a formal language,
which reflects upon economic terminology. The examples gathered in the appendix XIII
are most often the initialisms of hotel technical language and economic terms. The reasons
to create and employ such jargon are the economy and efficiency in communication across

51
hotel departments and among hotels themselves. On the other hand, front office jargon is
more informal and inclines rather to slang. Slang words collected in the survey come most
likely from the front office because they all bear a few distinctive features. Hotel slang
expressions reflect upon different types of hotel guests (šikmáči, travelák, batůžkáři), their
behaviour (peach, wolf pack), often refer to clients’ areas and services in a hotel (dens,
munchie box, tágo), or replace formal names of regular activities carried on by
receptionists and other employees of a hotel (policajti, jet kopec). Hotel slang is very often
based on direct observations and perceptions of the front desk personnel. The functions of
such informal jargon and slang are to cover the truth from the out-group members and to
support in-group solidarity among its users.

The tourist industry has an international and interdisciplinary character; therefore,

hotel jargon is rich in forms and originates from many languages. This fact initiated the
publication of several tourist industry dictionaries and encyclopaedias even in the Czech
Republic. One example is the dictionary compiled by Zelenka and Pasková, Cestovní ruch /
Výkladový slovník (The Tourist Industry / The Explanatory Dictionary). The authors of this
book realized the complexity of jargon in the tourist industry and by publishing this book;
they provided a useful tool for all people engaged in the travel industry and for students
preparing for their careers in hotels or travel agencies. Malá encyklopedie cetovního ruchu
(The Small Encyclopaedia of the Tourist Industry) by Jiří Čech or English-Czech/Czech-
English Dictionary of the Travel Industry by Zuzana Míšková are other examples of such
initiatives in the Czech Republic.

52
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Appendices

Appendix I

Chart 1: Gender

Chart 2: Work experience in a hotel of the respondents

56
Appendix II

Chart 3: Work position in a hotel of the respondents

Chart 4: Are you in a managerial position?

57
Appendix III

Chart 5: Reasons for the usage of jargon in a hotel

Chart 6: How often do you encounter jargon in a hotel?

58
Appendix IV

Chart 7: Do you personally use jargon?

Chart 8: Do you fully understand all the jargon words you use?

59
Appendix V

Chart 9: Do you use any jargon words in a communication, which is not addressed
to hotel workers (e.g. clients, travel agents, suppliers etc.)?

Chart 10: Legibility of hotel jargon for in-groupers

60
Appendix VI

Chart 11: Do you intentionally use jargon to hide information from the others?

Chart 12: Do you use jargon rather in formal or informal communication?

61
Appendix VII

Chart 13: What role does jargon play in a spoken interaction among the staff of
your hotel?

Chart 14: What role does jargon play in a written communication among the staff of
your hotel?

62
Appendix VIII

Chart 15: Do you think that some jargon can be incomprehensible for your
colleagues?

Chart 16: If your partner does not understand some jargon, do you start to avoid
using it?

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Appendix IX

Chart 17: Does the fact, that your partner knows jargon, play a role in a
communication?

Chart 18: Do you think that jargon is appropriate in a contact with a hotel guest?

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Appendix X

Chart 19: Reasons why jargon does not belong to a contact with a guest

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Appendix XI

Chart 20: Ranking of departments according the most frequent use of jargon

Chart 21: Reasons for the use of jargon (a top position belongs to the most
important reason)

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Appendix XII

An on-line questionnaire form distributed to various hotels via email

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Appendix XIII

A corpus of words and acronyms from various hotel manuals, business emails, and hotel
guidelines

A&G AHMA Average Food Blocked Space

Check
A la carte menu AHR BMF
Average Room
A.m. room status Airport hotel Boutique Hotel
Rate
report All-inclusive BRA
B&B
Above the line resort Brigade
promotion Back of the
All-suite hotel BSC
house
ABTA Allocation BTA
Back office
AC Amadeus C&B
BAHA
Accessibility Amenities C&I
BAR
ACE American plan Cashier
Base Fee or
Activity
American plan
Basic Fee CBRE
Holidays (AP)
Bays CDP
ADA Room AP
Bed and Central
Adjoining rooms Apollo
breakfast reservation
Adjusted Gross ARR system
Bell service
Operating Profit
Arrival time CIBC
Bellhop
Adjusted Net
ATM Cleaning caddy
Operating Profit Below the line
Available promotion Club
ADR
Rooms
Benchmarking Clustering
AGOP
Average Daily
BHA CMI
AH&LA Rate
BISL Commercial
AHIC
hotel

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Comp Baby cot Dishonoured EP
Reservation
Complexing Cover Equity
DMC Destination Club
Complimentary CP
room DMO ERA
CQI
Concierge DND ETA
CRM
Condo/Condomi Domestic ETC
CRO
nium Tourism European plan
CRS
Confidential DOS European plan
CTA
Tariff Double Bed (EP)
Cumulative
Connecting Downgrade EVP
attraction
rooms
Drive-up Executive chef
CVB
Continental
Dry storage Expenses
breakfast Day visitors
DSCR F&B
Continental Plan DBB
(CP) DSRA FAM tour
DCMS
Controller Du jour menu Familiarisation
Demi CDP
tour
Convention E-Key
Demi pension
Bureau Family plan
EAME
Departmental
Cooperative FF&E Reserve
Expenses Early Arrival
Advertising FIFO
Destination Club Early-Out
Cooperative FIT
Destination EBITDAR
Marketing
Management Fixed Charges
Economy
Cooperative
Destination operation FOH
Partner
Marketing Ecotourism Folio
Corporate Rate
Direct Billing EMEA Food Cost
COS
Percentage
Entree
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Fractional GRR Hotelier Incentive trip

Frequency GS&B House account Inclusive resort

programme GSA House Count Incoming tour
Frequent Lodger operator
GSTS House Limit
FRI lease Incoming
Guaranteed Late House Manager
Tourism
Front of House Arrival HR
Independent
Front Office Guaranteed HRN
hotel
reservation
Full board HVAC
Independent
Guarantees
Full House HVS reservation
Payment
Full pension system
Chamber maid
Half Board
Full service Inventory
CHE
Half Pension
Galileo Inventory log
(Half Board) Check-In
International
Check-Out IRE
HCIMA
GDS
Chef de rang IRHA
Heads in Beds
GM
IAC IRR
HFTP
GOPPAR or
IACVB ITB
HHC
GOPAR
HITEC IBFC ITT
Gross Operating
IHG JLL or JLLS
Profit HOFTEL

IHIF JLLH
Gross Rooms Hold Time
Revenue IMF Key rack
Homestay
Ground operator In-Out Dates Key Card
Hostel
Group Arrivals Inbound King Bed
HOT
Group Departure Tourism KPI
Hotel Register
Group rate Incentive Fee L4L
Hotel voucher

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Late arrival Maintenance log NOI Option Date
(Late show) Maintenance Non-guaranteed Out of order
Late charge work orders reservation Overbooking
Leisure travel MAP NOP Over sale
Leisure visitor Master Bill NPV Overstay/Stay
Length of stay RTI NTA Over

LFL Master Key NTB Package Tour

License Fee MCI Occupancy Paid out

Limited service MIA Occupancy Rate Parador

Limited service MICE OE Pax

operation MICROS OES PBIT
Line chef Mid-tier OFFMKT PCMA
Lockout MLA OOO PDQ
Lower tier MLOS Open house Peak Night
Loyalty Modified OPERA Peak season
programme American Plan Enterprise Pick-Up
LRA Solution
MPI PIP
LTC Operated
MWB PKF
Departments
LTV Mystery guest PMS
Operating
M.O.D. N/S
Equipment POM
M&C NDA
Operating Porter
M&IT Net Operating Expenses POS
MA Income
Operating Plan Positive space
MAC Net Rate
Operator PRC
Magnetic Key No show
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Pre-Block Request for Rotary Split Folio
Proposal information rack
Pre-Registration Spotter
List Reserve key Royalty Fee SPV
drawer
Priority Club RPTI SRP
Residence Club
Private RSO Star Link
Residence Club Restricted Area S&M Station chef
Production chef RevPAR Sabre Stayover
Property RFP Section master Suite
Improvement ROCE key
Plan Supplement
ROH Short-order cook
Property Sustainable
Rollaway Shoulder season
Management tourism
System Room Block Shuttle service SVP
PTEB Room SI TA
Commitment
QA Single Bed Table-d’hôtel
Room Deposit
QMH SITE Menu
Room Night
Queen-Size Bed Slippage TAC
Room
R&M SMERF TBA
Occupancy
Rack Rate Snagging List
Pattern Technical
RCI Sofa bed Assistance
Room Only
Registration Soft Opening Technical
Room rack
Card Services
Sous chef
Room status
REIT Technology
report Special Needs
butler
Remind-o-timer Accommodation
Rooming list
TIC
Rental and Other Specialty rate
Rooms Revenue
Income Timeshare
SPG
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Total Revenue Understay Vacation Walk-in rate
Ownership
Total RevPAR Undistributed Wholesaler
Operating Valet service
Tour Operator WTM
Uniform System VCB
Transient WTO
consumer market Upgrade VFR WTTC
TRI Upper tier Voice Yield
Trundle bed Upsell VP management

TSA USP VR YOY

UFOC Vacancy Walk In

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