ACTA released a statement today applauding recent announcements by several suppliers affirming that they will protect agents’ commissions on canceled files as well as pay at the time of booking.
Both were central ‘asks’ by ACTA of suppliers to give agents and advisors much-needed cash flow. While the issue came to a head during the pandemic, ACTA has previously noted the agency and advisor community considers changes in compensation structure long overdue.
An ACTA survey from APR revealed that the number one concern among respondents was commission recall. The organization had a similarly positive reaction when Air Canada’s $6 billion government relief was announced with the caveat that the airline will not retract agency sales commissions on refunded fares.
“This is exactly in line with ACTA’s recommended Best Practices released last year. The pandemic has illustrated the vulnerabilities for travel agencies and travel agents with regard to former policies on commission recall and commissions paid only when clients travel,” said Wendy Paradis, ACTA president in a Wednesday media release.
“Going forward, we hope to see all suppliers change their policies. Travel agents have been without revenue now for months despite taking bookings --this model cannot continue.”
ACTA clarifies its best practices for suppliers for agency compensation are as follows:
1. Pay commission at the time of deposit and/or when the file is paid in full, regardless of travel date
2. Protect commission if the travel is rebooked, cancelled or refunded (and definitely if the
supplier has retained partial payment)
3. Pay commission on any prepaid or pre-booked add-on’s, upgrades and excursions etc.
Consortia heads agree that necessary progress has been achieved.
“Clearly it’s been an extremely challenging year financially for all travel retailers over the
past 16 months,” said Christine James, vice president, Canada, TL Network. “Recognizing the overwhelming cash flow hurdles that travel advisors were faced with, it was a relief to see that the majority of suppliers stepped up to protect commissions on any existing bookings.
“At the very least, it removed the initial burden of advisors scrambling to deal with commission
recalls for their clients that accepted the future travel credits!”
James also specifically applauds those who went beyond industry standards to pay full or partial commission at the time of final payment instead of when the travel was completed.
“The pandemic really put a spotlight on one of the critical issues affecting travel advisors specifically – protecting and paying commissions in a timely manner, said David Harris, the CEO of Ensemble Travel Group.
“While we know that all stakeholders in the travel eco-system were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the recall of commissions hits small independent travel agencies and independent advisors the hardest as that revenue is needed to pay rent, employee wages and general operating expenses.”
“It is important that preferred partners understand the value of a travel advisor’s role in the sale of their products and services. And during the last 16 months, the multiple reselling of their products and services as products shifted and policies changed,” Travelsavers Inc.’s Cathie Lewis-Hardy, the vice president of strategic partnerships, said
“We commend and thank those partners that have already made this change. As a result of these policy changes, we have seen a growth in future sales and a loyalty shift to these partners.”
regarding the article on commission.
I booked a Rocky Mountaineer in November 2019 for a trip to be held in August 2020, which was cancelled due to covid. My clients are elderly ( 86 + ) and will never travel. total paid 11,402.98$. I was imformed that we will NEVER be refunded.. as well as my commission was never paid ( 1705.80$ ). after reading the article about ACTA , who has done a terrific job during the pandemic, this is one operator who does not give a sh.t about their customers and travel agents..
Good to hear that. I just noticed that as a travel consultant declared by airlines (some of them) “business partner” I got a “preferential” treatment : they had promotional/discounted fares on their website, 50 cad under the published fares and at least 30cad under our net fares. Is the kind of “help” we were looking from them. Have you noticed that ? The airlines are taking advantage of our clientele/market but when is about helping “partners” …..Is clear we are not in the same boat.
Our agency has also experienced commission issues with Sandals/Beaches. Our clients were booked for April 2020 when Covid closed the resort in the Turks & Caicos. Paid in full. Beaches would only allow a date change. We moved the trip to February 2021. Our clients had to cancel the 2021 booking. No refund allowed. No further date change allowed. No commission was paid to our agency on the original booking or the revised booking that was under 100% penalty. We appreciate ACTA help with the suppliers on this issue. As Beaches received all the funds, we feel we should be compensated for our clients referral to the resort. Plus I’m sure beaches was able to resell the room as it was Presidents week and a busy travel period.
There has been so much B.S. flying around in the past year! Talk is soooo cheap, and that is exactly what we have been getting from all the suppliers. I haven’t received a commission cheque in over one year, but we were promised the world. We have had over 50 destination wedding groups cancelled since February 2020, and half of the groups had full payments, and to date, we have not received a single dime. And, the cruise lines are even worse! They charged our clients the full amount and had their money for 18 months and then cancelled their cruises 45 days prior to departure. We didn’t receive a dime in commissions…the cruise lines said that if the cruise was cancelled inside of 28 days, we would have received the commission. How convenient for the cruise lines to cancel 17 days before they had to pay out our commissions. All the suppliers know what’s going to be cancelled, but they are playing us and our clients, hoping the consumer cancels first. As an agent, I’m tired of getting false praise from all the suppliers. Show me my MONEY!!