Suppliers who pay their commissions in a timely manner are receiving a thumbs-up from the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), which published a list of supplier organizations that do so and is encouraging suppliers to adopt industry best practices.
“We applaud our supplier partners who are committed to working closely with the travel industry and making sure that advisors get paid on time for the hard work they do,” said Zane Kerby, ASTA President & CEO, in a press statement. “Some suppliers withhold full payment of commissions until travel is completed. With our members often working 12 to 24 months in advance on complex travel itineraries, this practice creates a number of problems for the hard-working advisor community that must be addressed”
ASTA’s Position on Timely Payments
“We recognize these suppliers for timeliness of commission payments within 30 days of the published, contracted date set by the supplier for final payment and the payment is made in full.* We encourage all suppliers to adopt this practice.”
* The stated timeline generally does not apply to group bookings or for commissionable ancillary products or services. Commission payments made to host agencies and other intermediaries may be withheld according to the intermediary’s own policies.
Please note: this statement only applies to those travel sectors which generally require pre-payment for travel and excludes car rental and hotel companies.
“Many thanks to the staff at ASTA for the work put into this initiative,” said John Werner, president & COO of MAST Travel Network and chair of the ASTA Consortium Council, in a press statement. “A lot of thought and due diligence was necessary, and it couldn’t be done without their experience and expertise with these kinds of matters. Thank you also to the Consortium Council for its support and for looking out for the interests of travel advisors in your networks.”
For more information, visit asta.org.
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