The Hunt for Travel Advisor Commissions Heats Up—and Signature Travel Network Vows Action | Travel Research Online

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The Hunt for Travel Advisor Commissions Heats Up—and Signature Travel Network Vows Action

Susan Shure is tired of suppliers who keep clients’ payments but refuse to pay her commission. So she’s paying no attention to the many notices she has received from Carnival Cruise Lines asking her to return $200 commission paid her on a cruise that was subsequently canceled.

“It’s not very much,” concedes the owner of Susan Shure Travel, “but it’s the principle of the thing. I’m ignoring them.”

It’s not just Carnival, of course. “This has affected me personally more times than I care to count—and what makes it even more frustrating is that it has happened repeatedly during Covid, when we already aren’t making as much. It has to stop. If the suppliers are keeping money, then we should be getting some of that.”

“I’m noticing more and more shorting of commission,” agrees Darcy Connor at Cruise Planners-Cruiselandandsea.com. “It’s not a lot on one booking but, if you think across the board, it’s millions of dollars.”

calculator with the word Commission on the display

“If anyone knows how to get my $1,200 commission from American Steamboat Company let me know,” says Lori Judd at Prestige Travel Vacations LLC in Land O Lakes, FL. Or perhaps her commission on a July Margaritaville at Sea booking that was canceled when the ship failed a health inspection. “I am so sick of fighting for commissions,” she says. “I’ll never book them again.”

I was thinking about this last night when I received a commission recall from NCL for a cruise client canceling right before the pandemic,” says Adrienne Sasson of Rubinsohn Travel in Jenkintown, PA. “They were given an FCC, but never used it. I am also fighting one with a tour operator. They are unjustly enriched when paid in full, and keep our commission. There is no reason for them to keep a commission, whether clients travel or don’t travel, unless they refund the payment. It is time for ASTA to begin investigating this practice.”

And while we’re at it, let’s tackle NCFs, too, says Gary E. Smith, owner of Dream Vacations franchise TravelPerks.com. “Have we argued? Yes, we have, over and over. The cruise lines are tone deaf. It is time to hit reset and go to no NCFs, fully commissionable fares. Yes, it will mean smaller commission percentages, but stop with the time wasting games and unfair practices by hiding commission cuts in higher NCFs and not paying on revenue earned through cancellation fees.”

Baby Steps Into a New World?

But where there is an issue in the travel industry, there are smart folks looking for solutions.

“Is it fair that commission is not protected when a client books and cancels? Maybe. Maybe not. But you cannot stay in business if you are paying for the actions of your clients,” says Teri Hurley at Endless Love Travel. “There was a time when I thought I would never charge a cancellation fee. I thought I was being a nice guy. Then I had three cancellations in one week—and it was an awakening. From a business perspective, I went into the red for those bookings. From an emotional perspective, it hurt. It was a hard lesson to learn. But nice doesn’t pay my bills.”

The answer, she says, is for travel advisors to wean themselves from commissions and take control of their business by charging fees. “It is not the cruise lines’ responsibility to compensate us for our efforts,” she says. “Set up your business as a business, which takes in account that there will be commissions lost. Get ahead of the conditions of the travel industry and we won’t have to heavily depend on suppliers’ compensation policies.”

Carol Rowland at Recess 4 Grownups also suggests seeking out and supporting suppliers who do protect commissions. “I think I will make a point of asking each supplier [about their commission policies] at the next conference/trade show I attend. It should be a point of differentiation that agents pay attention to. If we all start asking the question and make it clear this issue can help define where we steer business, we may see some response from a subset of suppliers.”

“Great idea,” says Terrence Hawkins (aka Terry the Travel Guy). “Let’s remember that Royal Caribbean Group did pay us commission on Covid-canceled cruises AND when those FCCs were used (so double the commission) because they recognized that we did triple the work.” (Editor’s note: Norwegian Cruise Line did the same.)

But at All Points Travel in Salt Lake City, Corina Johnson sees it as an issue for a higher level than individual agents. “Almost all bookings are this way; I struggle to think of an example where commission is truly protected,” she says. “I would love to hear the take of a consortium or ASTA execs on what they can do to help pressure suppliers to be more fair to agents. We need support for pressure on this issue. I fully support a grassroots campaign to help fix this and pressure suppliers to be fair in their compensation to the booking agent. I think it begins with demanding this issue be at the forefront of negotiations and discussions from consortium contracts.”

Signature Steps Up?

ASTA did not respond to TRO’s request for comment on this issue. But at Signature Travel Network, president Alex Sharpe is hearing the call for action—and paying attention.

“We all understand the compensation structure for advisors/travel agencies is flawed,” he told TRO. “This was exacerbated as we all struggled through Covid. As you know, Signature took a strong stance along with some other consortia leaders, under the ASTA banner, to push supplier partners to accelerate commission payments overall. In some cases, we were successful (Globus did an amazing job) and in other cases, Signature from its unique position as a co-op, was able to negotiate some exclusive deals with partners where we ‘guaranteed’ any unpaid recalled commission. Something I can thankfully say, we have never been called to do.

“When I look at this—yes, the timing and execution of compensation for advisors needs to change, but we were fighting an uphill battle in the middle of Covid as our partners were struggling mightily too. Host agencies also struggled with this and how, and when, best to compensate their ICs and protect themselves. In our recent board meeting, we took up the discussion once again and feel like there are a couple of reasonable asks that all partners should commit to. We intend to share this with partners in the coming weeks at our Owners Meeting and, of course, will invite other industry groups to join us in this ask.

  1. We believe full commission should be paid in every instance when the partner collects 100% penalty.
  2. We believe all commissions should be paid to advisors when a booking enters into 100% penalty phase—meaning earlier commission to the advisor and no recall for the partner should there be a cancellation.

“We absolutely hope that some partners will do more, but we also encourage our advisors (and are seeing adoption go through the roof!) to charge fees for their services, which are collected at time the advice is given (even before the booking is made) and sell travel insurance, which not only protects the customer and advisor, but also pays a healthy commission at time of booking. The combination of these things will indeed make our industry stronger, which is critically important to us (duh!) and partners.”


Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.

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