Expedia’s Travel Agent Affiliate Program (TAAP) is designed to “empower travel agencies to earn commissions and deliver exceptional customer service with [its] easy-to-use travel booking platform.”
Though the program has been around for some time, having launched initially in 2002, we caught up with the program’s vice president, Robin Lawther, to discuss how today’s advisors can boost their booking revenue in partnership with the company.
How does Expedia TAAP work?
This is a platform built specifically for travel advisors; it takes everything we make available to our consumers on Expedia.com and makes that available to the customers they serve within their travel agencies.
The principal difference, and perhaps most important for travel agents, is that we pay commission on this platform for the things that they sell. Then, we build a layer of other functionality on top. Agents can generate quotes for their clients and itineraries, they can manage and support bookings. These are additional features and functionality that the general consumer, jumping on Expedia.com, wouldn't need.
How much are the commissions?
For hotels, we have a four-tier commission model, so we pay commission at four different levels on hotels. It varies depending on the country that you're in. Typically, it ranges between 5% on the lowest tier and up to 13% or 14% on the highest tier. That commission is paid inclusive of all taxes and fees, so we look at the total price for the property and we then calculate the commission based on that. It’s very clear and simple for travel agents.
There should never be a situation where a travel agent is coming to us and chasing us for a commission payment.
[And] for any booking that is completed on time, we will pay out commissions on 100% of those completed bookings. There should never be a situation where a travel agent is coming to us and chasing us for a commission payment. If a stay has been completed, commission will absolutely be paid.
Is anything new in the works for advisors using the program?
Until now, our payment model has been just commission-based. However, we've also heard lots of feedback from agents, saying ‘Yeah, I know you're paying commissions on this booking, but I've got customers that I know I can charge more for this.’ Perhaps this is where they, as the agent, want to add a planning fee or something else to increase earnings.
So, one of the things that we are starting to roll out (we're testing it with a few agencies right now, and it will be expanded over the rest of this year) is letting agents add an additional service charge onto their bookings. So perhaps they're earning a commission of 12% on the base hotel; they can then add an additional service charge on top of that to increase their earnings potential.
This is [a response to] one of the pieces of feedback we've heard loudest and clearest from our advisors across the U.S. I look forward to seeing the feedback that we get from people once we get it out there.
How else could Expedia TAAP help advisors increase revenue?
First, on our platform, you're going to see hotels in different commission levels. You might see one hotel at 5% and another at 13%. If you're an agent and you're a good salesperson and you have some sway over your client, of course, you can try and navigate your clients to purchase those hotels which are offering you a higher commission. Hopefully, it's a great hotel, and you can help maximize earnings for yourself.
Second, understand the price sensitivity of the client that you're serving. Sometimes a client comes in, and they say, ‘This is the hotel I want — I've seen it online for $200, please book it for me.’ In that case, there's probably not much you can do apart from maybe try and close that sale as quickly as you can.
But if another client comes in and says, ‘My budget for this holiday is $5,000. Tell me where to go. Tell me what to do,’ there you've got more flexibility, and you've also got some price flexibility. Look at where you could maybe add a service charge or where you have more autonomy to guide them to something that's going to be higher earning for you.
Then, it's looking at, ‘Okay, I've now secured part of the reservation, but how can I increase my share across the whole of that client's spend?’ So perhaps you're booking a flight, perhaps you're booking a hotel, perhaps you're booking a car. But what else can you do to maximize earnings on top of that? That could be booking insurance. That could be booking in-stay activities. And just doing more as an agent — partly to help your earnings, but also to give a more complete package to the end customer that's travelling.
So best-case scenario, a customer goes on their holiday, doesn't think about anything, and you — the agent — plan everything, including what they're going to do in destination. And that just increases your earnings as an agent exponentially.