Guide · Vocabulary
Banquet terms and BEO abbreviations, in English and Spanish
Written by a hotel banquet operations manager ·
Banquet terms are the words on a banquet event order (BEO) and on the floor, and the ones to learn first are EXP (expected count), GTD (guaranteed count), set, call time and strike. Below, each term has its English name, the Spanish word your team uses, and a line or two on what it means for the shift.
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The team
| English | Spanish | What the role does |
|---|---|---|
| Banquet server | Mesero de banquetes | Sets the tables, serves the courses, clears and strikes the room. |
| Banquet captain | Capitán de banquetes | Leads the crew in the room during the event and holds the pre-shift meeting. |
| Lead captain | Capitán líder | The captain in charge when an event has more than one. |
| Busser | Garrotero | Supports the servers: water, bread, clearing plates, restocking. |
| Bartender | Bartender | Works a bar. |
| Barback | Ayudante de bar | Keeps the bar stocked with ice, glassware and product. |
| Houseman | Montajista | Sets and strikes the room: tables, chairs, staging, dance floor. |
| Banquet manager | Gerente de banquetes | Runs the banquet office and the week's staffing. |
| On-call | Eventual | Works when there are events, without a fixed shift. |
| Agency staff | Personal de agencia | People an outside staffing agency sends to fill a slot. |
These are the Spanish role names Hotelwright uses. If your hotel calls a role something else, rename it in Settings. For the jobs themselves, see banquet server duties, banquet captain duties and banquet houseman duties.
The event order
The BEO, or event order, is the document sales sends to operations for each function. How to read a BEO goes through it line by line; here are just the words.
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| BEO, EO, function sheet | BEO, orden de evento | The banquet event order: room, times, counts, menu, setup and notes for a function. Hotels use several names for it; the order number is the EO #. |
| Function | Evento | One event in one room on one date. One order can hold several functions; read each as its own event. |
| Revised (REV) | Revisada | A new version of the order. Compare its revision date with your printed copy; if it is later, read the new one in full. |
| Change notice | Aviso de cambio | A page that changes only some lines of an order already sent out. Tell the people on that event. See what to do when the BEO changes. |
| Special meals | Comidas especiales | Plates served apart from the menu: vegetarian, allergy and other meals. |
| Head table, VIP table | Mesa principal, mesa VIP | The tables that get attention of their own. |
| Daily Event Sheet | Hoja diaria de eventos | Every function of the day in time order, with counts, times and who is working. Hotels use other names for it, such as cover sheet. See the Daily Event Sheet. |
| Print packet | Paquete de impresión | The Daily Event Sheet followed by each event's order pages. |
| Line-up card | Tarjeta de junta previa | A card for one event that the captain runs the pre-shift meeting from. On the Team plan, Hotelwright prints one per event. |
| Stale | Desactualizada | Marks a printout that no longer matches the order because something changed after it was printed. The old copy is kept and marked, not replaced. |
Counts
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| EXP (expected) | Esperado (EXP) | The sales estimate of guests. Staff off it only until the guarantee arrives. |
| GTD (guaranteed) | Garantizado (GTD), garantía | The guest count the client commits to by the cut-off. The kitchen and the crew work from it. See the guaranteed guest count. |
| Set | Montados | How many places are set in the room. It can be a little over the guarantee. |
| Overset | Sobremontaje | The extra places set above the guarantee, so a few late guests are covered. In Hotelwright it is a percentage each hotel sets. |
| Cut-off | Cierre | The deadline for the guarantee, a set number of days before the event. |
Times and shifts
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Montaje | When the room can be set. The setup crew works to this time. |
| Call time | Llamada | When a person is due to arrive for the shift, before the start time. |
| Start | Inicio | When guests arrive or the function begins. |
| End | Fin | When the function is over. |
| Strike | Desmontaje | When the room must be cleared for the next function, and the work of clearing it. |
| Out time | Hora de salida | When a person is released from the shift. |
| Break | Descanso | A rest in the shift, paid or unpaid, set by your hotel and the laws that apply to it. |
| Pre-shift meeting, line-up | Junta previa | The captain's short meeting with the crew before service. See the pre-shift meeting template. |
| Open shift | Turno abierto | A shift offered to the team because nobody has it yet. On Hotelwright's staff phones it is under Open shifts. |
| Pick up a shift | Tomar un turno | Taking an open shift. |
| Call out | Avisar que no puede ir | Telling the office you can't make it to a shift. |
Service styles
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Plated | Emplatado (servido a la mesa) | Each guest gets a plate at the table, all at about the same time. It needs the most servers. |
| Courses | Tiempos | The parts of a plated meal: a three-course dinner has three. |
| Poured wine | Vino servido | Wine poured at the table by the servers, which adds work for each server. |
| French service | Servicio francés | Dishes presented and served to each guest at the table from a platter. |
| Buffet | Buffet | Guests serve themselves at the line. Servers clear, refill and pour drinks. |
| Reception stations | Estaciones de recepción | Food stations around the room, such as carving or pasta. |
| Passed hors d'oeuvres | Bocadillos pasados en charola | Small bites carried around the room on trays. |
| Coffee break (AM, PM) | Pausa café (AM, PM) | A short refreshment break in a meeting, in the morning or the afternoon. |
| Cocktail hour | Hora de cóctel | The drinks hour before the meal. |
Bars
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted bar | Barra abierta | The host pays for the drinks; guests don't pay at the bar. |
| Cash bar | Barra de pago | Guests pay for their own drinks. |
| Consumption bar | Barra por consumo | The host is charged for what was poured. |
How each bar is charged is up to sales, so there are no prices here. For how many people a bar needs, see how many bartenders per guest.
Room setups
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds (of 8, of 10) | Mesas redondas (de 8, de 10) | Round tables with guests all the way around. |
| Crescent rounds | Media luna | Round tables with seats on one side only, so no guest has their back to the front. |
| Classroom | Escuela | Rows of tables with chairs on one side, facing the front. |
| Theater | Auditorio | Rows of chairs with no tables. |
| U-shape | En U | Tables in a U with seats on the outside and the open end at the front. |
| Hollow square | Cuadrado abierto | Tables in a square with seats on the outside only. |
| Boardroom | Sala de juntas | One large table with everyone seated around it. |
| Reception, cocktail | Cóctel, recepción | High-top tables and stations, with few chairs or none. |
See banquet room setup styles for each layout in detail.
In the room
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Dance floor | Pista de baile |
| Staging, stage | Escenario, tarima |
| Diagram | Diagrama |
| Linen | Mantelería |
| Table skirting | Faldones |
| Side stand | Estación de apoyo |
| Chafer, chafing dish | Chafer |
| Glassware, silverware | Cristalería, cubiertos |
| Centerpiece | Centro de mesa |
Labels and allergens
| English | Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Contains line | Línea "Contiene:" | The line on a buffet label that lists the major allergens in the dish. |
| Dietary codes | Códigos de dieta | Short codes on a label, such as V for vegetarian or GF for made without gluten-containing ingredients. |
| Legend | Leyenda | The key that says what each code means. See menu dietary codes. |
The nine major allergens, with the exact English and Spanish words Hotelwright's labels print, are in the major food allergens in English and Spanish. One note here: GF means "made without gluten-containing ingredients", not "gluten-free".
Ask, don't guess
If your hotel uses its own abbreviation, write it on the BEO legend and tell the new hire. A term that means one thing to the weekday crew and another to the weekend crew costs more than a minute at the worst moment.
FAQ
What banquet managers ask.
What does GTD mean on a BEO?
GTD is the guarantee: the guest count the client commits to by the cut-off. Until it arrives, work from the expected count (EXP).
What does strike mean at an event?
Strike is when the room must be cleared for the next function, and the work of clearing it. On a BEO it is one of four times: setup, start, end and strike.
What is a banquet server called in Spanish?
Mesero de banquetes. A hotel set up in Spanish starts with the role named "Mesero" and one set up in English with "Server"; either can rename it in Settings.
What is a banquet captain called in Spanish?
Capitán de banquetes. When an event has more than one captain, the one in charge is the lead captain, the capitán líder.
What is a busser called in Spanish?
Garrotero. A hotel set up in Spanish starts with the role named "Garrotero" and one set up in English with "Busser"; either can rename it in Settings.
What is the difference between a BEO and a Daily Event Sheet?
A BEO covers one function in full detail. The Daily Event Sheet brings all of the day's functions together, in time order, with counts, times and who is working.
Does Hotelwright show the event order in Spanish?
Screens and messages to the team come in English or Spanish, as each person chooses. Printed sheets, such as the Daily Event Sheet, come in the language the hotel picks in Settings. The text of the original event order stays as your sales system wrote it.
Who decides these terms?
They come from the way banquet offices talk. Hotels differ, so check the legend on your own orders.