ASTA, the American Society of Travel Advisors, is ready to make it well known who the bad actors are when it comes to slow commission payments.
At Signature Travel Network’s Owners’ Meeting in San Diego, California, last week, ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby announced to event attendees that the organization is going to publicly shame—so to speak—supplier partners who pay commissions in an untimely manner.
By the end of September, ASTA will have a section on its website where advisors can report “low, slow and no”-paying suppliers. Once ASTA receives a complaint, Kerby told LATTE that it will then reach out to the offending supplier, giving them one chance to amend the situation (quickly). If no progress is made by the deadline, the property, brand, etc. will be added to ASTA’s public “list of shame.”
How it Will Work
In time, the list will include any supplier who is an offender but hotels will be first up. “We’re starting with hotels because that’s where the biggest problem is,” said Kerby. “But it’s going to be open to all suppliers that are slow- and no-pay.”
Once a commission payment is more than 60 days late, an advisor can provide ASTA with the details of the booking and the back-and-forth between them and the property. ASTA’s legal team will then send a nastygram letter, alerting the property they must pay.
A major challenge, Kerby explained, is there are no real penalties for suppliers who don’t pay out commissions. “The common law understanding is that as soon as you bring a willing consumer to a supplier, that’s when you’ve earned the commission. It’s not even when the deal is done,” he said. Muddying those waters further is “the contract terms supersede that, which has made it really, really challenging for our members to get paid on time.”
Fixing a Flawed System
Significantly delayed commission payments only exacerbate an already flawed system, said Kerby. “Our members are doing work this month for a trip that happens next March, and then they don’t get paid until next June—and that cannot be. It’s not fair and it’s not reasonable and, so, we want that to change,” he said.
Once the site launches, there will be two lists: one for no-pay suppliers and one for slow-pay suppliers. Those on the no-pay list can move “up” onto the slow-pay list by paying out the commission earned to the advisor. Eventually, hotels and other suppliers on the slow-pay list can be removed, presumably after fixing the issue over multiple instances. (Kerby admitted ASTA hasn’t quite settled on the factors, yet, that will enable suppliers to be removed from the slow-pay list.)
