The American Society of Travel Advisors has long been known for its lobbying work on Capitol Hill. From securing PPP loans during the pandemic to reopening closed-loop cruise options, the association carved out a reputation as a government-focused advocate.
But a new initiative suggests ASTA is preparing to flex its muscles on the supplier side of the business, and the implications for travel advisors could be profound.
At the center is a delinquency list, ASTA’s answer to the persistent issue of delayed or missing commission payments by suppliers. Technically, it’s an expansion of an existing complaint system that has been available to members for years, but rarely used.
The revamp — due to go live in the coming weeks — will make it easier to use and more visible. Advisors will be able to log issues through a simple online form, with data aggregated in a way that surfaces repeat offenders.
“It’s member-reported data," said Michael Schottey, ASTA’s vice president of membership, marketing and communications. "We’re never going to take a stance on whether you should work with this property or that property. But if six members have had issues, we want to aggregate that data so others know what they’re walking into. It’s basically creating a Yelp for travel advisor issues.”
The stakes are high. Late commissions may not cripple a global corporate agency, but for independent contractors or boutique agencies, cash flow can make or break a business.
“When you’re talking about small, one- or two-person businesses, timeliness is important because they need that regular cadence,” Schottey said. “But for larger agencies, the costs of chasing unpaid commissions are enormous.”
ASTA says the new system will address what Schottey called a trifecta of industry pain points: delayed commissions, hotel reconciliation challenges, and non-commissionable cruise fees.
For advisors that sell cruises, NCFs are particularly frustrating.
“Most advisors think of NCFs as taxes and port fees, which makes sense,” he explained. “But it’s also drink packages, excursions, and other items. There’s no consistency and no transparency, and that can drop an 18% commission rate down to 12 or even 10%.”
The move comes as tech startups circle the same problems. Companies like SION and Brava are launching tools to give advisors visibility into payments, though they remain limited in scale.
ASTA, by contrast, has the advantage of reach: 20,000 official members, and effectively many more when factoring in large entities like AAA, which participates under a single membership.
That volume translates into clout, especially when the association chooses to escalate complaints or revoke supplier memberships.
Supplier feedback, interestingly, has so far leaned constructive.
“By and large, the supplier feedback has been positive,” Schottey said. “They don’t see it as their issue.”
The system’s first iteration will focus on collecting and displaying issues. Down the road, ASTA envisions enhancements such as supplier “report cards” showing how quickly disputes are resolved — akin to a Better Business Bureau scorecard for the travel trade.
None of this is likely to be simple. The payment ecosystem is fragmented, with many intermediaries between hotels and advisors. But ASTA clearly sees commission delays not as an unfortunate cost of doing business but as a systemic problem worth tackling.
For travel advisors, the initiative offers both a measure of accountability and a reminder that their trade body has the scale to push back when suppliers — and by extension their intermediaries — fall short.
One complaint may not move the needle, but 1,000 against a particular supplier could escalate quickly.
If the system works as intended, the outcome could be twofold:
Advisors gain leverage when choosing partners, armed with data on past performance.
Suppliers who want to stay off the delinquency radar will have an incentive to clean up processes, prioritize reconciliation, and push third parties for transparency.
While the new site is for ASTA members only — and the vast majority of members are U.S.-based — the organization doesn’t exclude advisors internationally, potentially making this a global, public-facing database.
That could mean a supplier’s ASTA certification carries more significance as a trusted business partner. What penalties come with losing that status remains unclear, though the data will shed light on the late-payment landscape as it’s collected.
Schottey conceded that while ASTA’s legal reach may be limited internationally with small, independent boutique hotels with no affiliation, it still carries influence with hotels that are part of a larger brand.
In other words, ASTA’s lawyers could take up issues with individual properties on the corporate level and pursue legal recourse as far as necessary.
The organization is emboldened by the industry’s response and intends to bring as many carrots — or sticks — to the table as needed.
“The goal is simple: get our members paid fairly and on time," Schottey said.
This story originally appeared on Travel Agent Central's sibling site Luxury Travel Advisor.
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