The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) has launched a webpage and tool for members to report late or unpaid hotel commissions.
With the new tool, travel advisors can fill out a form to report hotels that have not paid commissions within 45 days or more. ASTA promises to follow up with member hotels through its dispute resolution process. For properties that are not members of ASTA, the organization will add the property to its watchlist of hotels that do not pay timely commissions.
Our Analysis: Unprofessional Hotels Should Be Exposed — and Advisors Can Seek Changes With a Unified Voice
Commissions are one of the main ways that a travel advisor is paid for his or her services. Yet far too many suppliers do not respect how essential these commission payments are to advisors.
Late or unpaid commissions can cause a real strain on agencies, including cash-flow challenges and wasted time spent chasing commission. Until now, there hasn’t been a unified voice advising against repeat offenders in the hotel space or advocating for prompt payments on behalf of advisors.
What They Are Saying: With This Tool, ASTA Aims to Take Action Against Offending Hotels
“Timely commission payments are not just a matter of fairness, they are essential to the financial health of travel agencies,” said Zane Kerby, CEO and president of ASTA. “Travel advisors should not have to chase down payments for work already completed. This tool brings accountability to the commission process, highlighting where delays are most common and giving ASTA the leverage to address them directly with hotels. By shining a spotlight on this issue, ASTA is making it clear that late payments are unacceptable and must be corrected if our industry is to thrive.”
