Hotel board types explained: from room only to ultra all-inclusive

A board type is the meal and drink arrangement included in a room rate. RO means room only, BB bed and breakfast, HB half board, FB full board, AI all-inclusive, UAI ultra all-inclusive. No official definition of these codes was found in Türkiye's facility regulation, so each hotel's written concept decides what a guest actually gets.

A guest books all inclusive, arrives at three in the afternoon and orders a coffee. The bar says drinks start at six. Nothing in the booking is wrong, and nothing in it says who is right. This article explains what the hotel board types usually mean, what each hotel must write down for each code, and how the code travels from contract to booking site without changing meaning on the way. After reading, you can write your own concept sheet and check your channels against it.

What are hotel board types, and why do the codes cause disputes?#

A board type is the meal and drink arrangement sold with a room. The codes look standard, but no official definition was found in Türkiye's facility regulation, so a hotel, a tour operator and a booking site can each read the same code differently.

Six codes are in circulation. RO is room only (oda kahvaltı hariç), BB is bed and breakfast (oda kahvaltı), HB is half board (yarım pansiyon), FB is full board (tam pansiyon), AI is all inclusive (her şey dahil) and UAI is ultra all inclusive (ultra her şey dahil).

The ambiguity sits in the details, not the headline. Service hours, which outlets are open to the guest, local versus imported drinks, à la carte limits, minibar contents, children's age bands and what happens on arrival and departure days are where two hotels using the same code differ most. None of these details is carried by the code itself.

Ambiguity becomes money. A guest who expected all inclusive and receives bed and breakfast asks for a refund, a free upgrade or a charge reversal, and someone in the chain absorbs it: the hotel, the agency or the channel. Three documents must therefore say the same thing: the contract with the agency, the rate plan in the hotel's own system, and the description the guest reads on the booking site. For background on how these documents relate, see how hotel distribution terms define contracts, rates and channels.

Because no official definition was found, do not tell staff or partners that a code is legally fixed. Say that the hotel's written concept governs, and keep that concept current.

What do room only, bed and breakfast, half board and full board mean?#

Room only sells the room and nothing else; bed and breakfast adds the morning meal; half board adds one main meal, usually dinner; full board adds three meals. In each case the details, not the name, decide the guest's experience.

For RO, state whether breakfast can be bought at the door, at what price band and until what hour, and whether in-room water or coffee is complimentary. For BB, name the outlet and the time window, and say whether an early or packed breakfast exists for guests leaving before the buffet opens.

For HB, the two questions that cause most arguments are which meal is included and whether drinks with that meal are included. Dinner is the default, but some hotels let the guest choose lunch or dinner instead, and that choice changes the food cost. For FB, state whether drinks with meals are included, whether lunch on the arrival day and breakfast on the departure day are given, and whether a packed lunch replaces a missed meal.

Turkish usage matches the English pattern: oda kahvaltı for BB, yarım pansiyon for HB, tam pansiyon for FB. Use one term per concept in every document and every language. For all four codes, write the meal times, the outlet and the children's rule in the same place, because staff at the door will be asked all three.

What does all-inclusive and ultra all-inclusive actually include?#

All inclusive normally means three meals plus snacks and drinks within set hours. Ultra all inclusive is a stronger promise with no fixed content, so the hotel has to define it in writing or the guest will define it for them.

The all-inclusive baseline should be stated explicitly: main restaurant buffet for three meals, a snack service, and local alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks inside a stated time window, usually controlled by a wristband or a room charge. Everything beyond that baseline is the hotel's choice.

What hotels commonly put behind the word ultra: longer drinks hours, more outlets including à la carte restaurants with a set number of included visits, imported or premium brands, a daily minibar refill, room service, late breakfast and children's facilities. None of this is required by any definition found, so each item must be listed or left out on purpose.

The recurring dispute list is predictable: imported versus local spirits, fresh juice versus concentrate, Turkish coffee versus filter coffee, ice-cream hours, à la carte cover charges, minibar contents, bottled water, pool and beach service, and drinks after check-out. For children, state the age bands for free stay and free meals, whether the child eats from the buffet or a children's menu, and whether a high chair and baby food are available. For wristbands, say what the band signals, what staff do when a guest loses one, and how a chargeable item is posted to the guest bill so the guest sees it before check-out.

Present the concept as a table by outlet and hour, not as a paragraph. A paragraph hides the exceptions; a table exposes them and forces a decision. When pricing the board, separating room and board revenue in all-inclusive hotels is the honest way to see what the food and drink promise costs.

What are soft all-inclusive, half board plus and other local variants?#

Soft all-inclusive, half board plus and extended-hours labels are made by hotels and tour operators, not by a standard, so each one needs its own written definition attached to it.

Soft all-inclusive usually means meals plus local drinks only, or drinks limited to certain hours or outlets, and sometimes no alcohol at all. Say which of these applies, because the three versions have very different costs. Half board plus usually means half board with drinks included at dinner, or half board with a choice of lunch instead of dinner. State the addition precisely, because the name alone does not carry it.

Extended-hours variants keep the all-inclusive content but stretch the drinks window. Give the exact start and end times, and say whether the extension applies at every outlet or only at some.

The naming risk is real: any variant whose name contains "all inclusive" will be read by the guest as full all inclusive. If the hotel means less, the qualifier must say what is less, in the guest's language. A safe pattern is the base code plus a short qualifier, carried identically in the contract, the rate plan name and the booking site description, so the guest never sees two versions. Do not present these variants as industry standards; present them as the hotel's own definitions, dated and published.

How do board codes travel through contracts, rate plans and channel mapping?#

The code is copied at least three times, from the agency contract to the rate plan in the hotel's system to the booking site, and each copy is a chance for it to change.

In the contract, name the board code and attach the concept sheet as an annex with a version date, and state which document wins if the two ever conflict. In the rate plan, attach the meal plan to the rate itself, and make the rate plan name the guest sees carry the code, so a guest comparing two rates can tell what the difference is. For the contract side, the clauses to check in hotel allotment contracts include which board types the allotment covers and whether the agency may resell a different one, because a resold board type is the hotel's problem at the front desk.

Channel mapping is a common place for disputes to start. Each booking site keeps its own list of meal plans, and matching a hotel rate plan to that list is a manual decision. A wrong match sells all inclusive as bed and breakfast, or half board as full board, and the hotel usually honours it. The mechanics of this are covered in channel manager mapping for room types and rate plans.

Testing closes the loop: make a test booking on each channel, read the meal plan back in the hotel's own system, and repeat after every rate plan change or new contract. A mapping that was right in spring can be wrong after a summer update. Write the mapping down: one sheet listing each rate plan, its board code, its channel and the person who last checked it. When a dispute starts, that sheet answers the first question in seconds.

How do you write the concept page guests and partners see?#

Write one dated page with one row per board type, in plain language, and give the identical page to every agency, every channel and every guest.

Structure it as a table: board type, meals, drinks, hours, outlets, what is not included, children's rules. One row per board type the hotel sells, with no exceptions hidden in footnotes. Write what is not included as clearly as what is: a guest who reads that premium bottles are chargeable before arrival rarely argues about them at the bar.

Put the same text in the guest app and at the front desk, and make sure staff can point to it rather than improvise an answer at the door. Version and date the page, and when the concept changes mid-season, tell agencies and channels before the change takes effect, not after the first guest complains.

Translate with someone who knows the hotel. A translator working from the code alone will produce a different concept, and the English and Turkish versions will disagree in exactly the places that cause disputes. Use the concept page also when choosing which board basis to sell at all, since the operating cost of a richer board type has to be visible before the rate is set; choosing between all-inclusive and half board is a cost decision as much as a marketing one.

What to do next#

Write the concept sheet this week as one dated table, then take a single rate plan on a single channel, make a test booking and read the meal plan back in your own system against that table. If the two match, repeat for the next channel; if they do not, you have found the dispute before a guest did. The codes only work when the document behind them is written, dated and shared.