Room status taxonomy (vacant clean, occupied dirty, OOO, OOS…)

A room is in one of eight states at any given moment. Most front-office staff know six of them and operate from memory; the other two are the ones that cost money. Knowing the full taxonomy and the transitions between states is what separates a front-office supervisor from a desk agent who got promoted.

The eight states

The two that cost money

OOO and OOS are the ones that cost money because they are the ones that get misused. An OOO room held for "the curtain to be re-hung" that turns into 11 days of inventory loss is a common pattern. An OOS room pulled from inventory for a renovation that was supposed to take 6 weeks and now lives in OOS for 14 — even more common.

Discipline: every OOO over 72 hours and every OOS over 30 days needs a documented owner with a documented return-to-service date. A weekly review of the OOO/OOS log is the cheapest revenue protection a property has.

The transition discipline

Rooms move from state to state based on physical events and entered data. A room cannot go from OD to VC without a housekeeping inspection. A room cannot go from OOO to VC without a maintenance close-out. The PMS will let you skip the inspection step — Operators do not.