For many workers, paychecks land in hand or in the bank on the same days each month, and you can count on that income to pay your bills, buy groceries, pick up birthday balloons for your child and more. But that predictable payment schedule is not a given for travel advisors. In fact, many feel they have to chase their “commissions,” aka their cut of a travel sale — and who wants to spend valuable time hunting down their own earnings?
Not advisor Heather Christopher. Looking back at her many years in the industry, Christopher estimates that 60% of her earned commissions have come her way hassle-free, while the other 40% have required follow-up emails and phone calls. In practice, that can mean anywhere from 60 days to multiple months before a commission is delivered.
In a recent conversation with Christopher, she said she spent about five hours per week reviewing and hunting down payments — that’s 20 hours per month that she would much rather spend marketing or working with clients.
I really do get worked up about this, because no one is talking about the fact that you spend so much time fighting for money you are owed.
“I really do get worked up about this, because no one is talking about the fact that you spend so much time fighting for money you are owed," Christopher said. “Realtors don’t have to fight to be paid, nor do so many others. But we struggle as independent contractors in this industry. And why? There are thousands of new people coming into this work, and sometimes I think, who wants to come to the land of not being paid?"
Advisor Kara Slater was similarly flustered by the lack of a dependable commission payment system or protocol in the industry, so years ago she hired an assistant (who works for her to this day) who chases her commissions — meaning Slater spends her own dollars on tracking down her income. And Amna Ismail, now an affiliate of Fora Travel, says she left her previous host agency partially because she was enticed by the commission support built into Fora’s operations.
“With Fora, I just forward confirmation and details, and we have our own back-end customer relationship manager that shows us the progress of the booking and the commission status,” Ismail said. “There’s a department just for commissions, so they do the following up. It's an awesome perk.”
ASTA Spearheads Commission Accountability
Christopher was incredibly happy when, in late August, the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) published a list of organizations that pay advisor commissions in a timely manner, which is currently defined as “within 30 days of the published, contracted date set by the supplier for final payment and the payment is made in full.”
She sees the list as an accountability tool — ideally, it encourages companies to alter their business protocols in order to better serve advisors, thereby getting them added to the list — and as a way of rewarding those companies that already prioritize advisor business and commission payment.
“This is a first real step in the right direction,” Christopher said. “Not being paid in a timely way has been a notorious part of this work as long as I’ve been doing it. So, ASTA making a stand is awesome.”
Advisors do all this work up front, and then payment does not come in — because of inertia, because of supplier terms and conditions. The industry has sort of accepted the status quo, but now we’re trying to figure out what’s reasonable, and what’s aspirational.
Zane Kerby, president and CEO of ASTA, is equally pleased with the debut of the list. He recognizes that it’s imperfect — for example, there are some suppliers who are quite advisor friendly, but don’t make the cut due to select business protocols — but it is a start. And really, the groundwork for the list began years ago, Kerby says, when advisors were working tirelessly during the pandemic, often with little to no remuneration.
“We gathered as a consortium committee and we talked about the huge lag in commission payment timing,” Kerby said. “Advisors do all this work up front, and then payment does not come in — because of inertia, because of supplier terms and conditions. The industry has sort of accepted the status quo, but now we’re trying to figure out what’s reasonable, and what’s aspirational. Who’s doing it right? What are they doing that makes it right? This went through a lot of iterations, and there’s still a difference of opinion. But I believe in my heart that trying to get people to pay advisors closer to when the work is actually done is the right thing to do."
Cruise Lines Pay Commissions on Time
Advisors and ASTA see that cruise lines rank well in terms of timely payment. But why, and how? Kerby’s guess is that it has to do with how vital advisors are to the cruise industry.
“Cruise lines are doing it really well,” he says. “They are heavily reliant on advisors to book ships, so because advisors book upwards of 70% of cruises, [timely commission payments] may be an acknowledgment of the role advisors play in the cruise sector.”
Still, there isn’t really a good reason for a commission from a non-cruise brand to be paid months later.
Common law understanding is that commission is earned as soon as an advisor brings a willing customer to the supplier.
“Generally speaking, but not always, hotels pay commissions after someone checks out of a hotel room,” Kerby said. “So, if they pay commission within 30 days of that, is that the spirit of the stance we have taken? Right now, we have said, ‘no.’ We’re hanging our hat on the pre-payment idea. If you’re requiring money up front — and advisors are doing all the work up front — we should be paid, too."
Even if there is risk of a traveler canceling a booking — and then perhaps a commission needing to be recalled — it feels fair for suppliers and hoteliers to bear some of the risk right alongside advisors. It may be messier, but it’s also unreasonable for advisors to carry all the risk alone and to wait months for payment.
“Common law understanding is that commission is earned as soon as an advisor brings a willing customer to the supplier,” Kerby said. “I love that, and our lawyer, Peter Lobasso, is all about that, too. Unfortunately, that understanding is moot in our contracts today. We may not ever get back to that beautiful gold standard, but I want us moving in that direction.”
