Hotel operations, defined.
Plain definitions of the terms hotel teams, management companies, brands and owners use every day, and how each one relates to the others.
- Standard vs SOP
A standard is the required outcome: what must be true in a room, a public space or a service moment, issued by a brand, owner or operator and the same at every property it covers. An SOP is the procedure a property follows to deliver that outcome. The standard does not change by property. The SOP does.
- Brand standards manual
A brand standards manual is the document in which a hotel brand sets out its standards: the required outcomes and conditions every property flying its flag must meet, numbered so an audit can cite each one. The brand issues it and owns every line in it. Properties meet it; they do not edit it.
- PIP (property improvement plan)
A PIP, or property improvement plan, is the list of physical upgrades a hotel brand requires at one property so it meets the brand's standards: rooms, corridors, lobby, exterior, systems. The brand sets the scope and the deadline. The owner funds and completes the work. It is a renovation plan, not a standard.
- QA visit (brand quality assurance audit)
A QA visit is a hotel brand's quality assurance audit of one property. An inspector walks the hotel, scheduled or unannounced, and scores each brand standard met or not met, usually by section. Findings become corrective actions with an owner and a deadline. It is how the brand verifies its standards on property.
- Work order (hotel maintenance)
A work order is the record a hotel opens when something needs fixing: the room or asset, the fault, who reported it, who owns the repair and when it closed. Housekeeping, Front Office, guests and inspections raise them; Engineering owns them. It tracks one repair. It is not a standard, and not a PIP.