The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) released a statement that it supports and
applauds the timely payment of supplier commissions from its member supplier organizations.
To further support travel advisors, ASTA will maintain a list of organizations that adhere to the
commission payment timeframe.
“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. “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 senior leadership worked with its Consortium Council as well as its Proud Partner
Committee to create consensus and support for the timely payment of commissions.
“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. “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.”
The statement is meant to champion companies that do more to recognize the contributions of
the travel advisor community to their success—companies like Explora Journeys.
“We are offering our travel advisors very healthy commissions, up to 18%, with no NCFs, the
industry’s first Rolling Commission Payment Program travel advisors can earn commission now
on the receipt of deposit funds or when a guest pays in full. We also pay the balance of the
advisor’s commission within 21 days of the receipt of final payment funds—150 or 90 days prior
to guest embarkation,” said Chris Austin, Explora’s Chief Sales Officer.
Any ASTA supplier member that has adopted the best practice can ask to be included on the list
by emailing the society at [email protected].
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