by Robin Amster
Last updated: 4:31 PM ET, Wed October 28, 2015
Photo courtesy of Disney Cruise Line
"It's disappointing," Linda Mayhugh said of Disney Cruise Line's move to cap agent commissions for onboard bookings at 10 percent. Mayhugh, the chief operating officer of Lakewood, Florida-based Advantage Travel, added, "Those clients are cruising [on Disney] because an agent booked that. Why would Disney want to take away rewarding us?"
Mayhugh called Disney cruises, "a staple product for families." "As much as you'd like to teach them-or other suppliers-a lesson, you can't. You'd just wind up losing business," she said. "If that's what the client wants, that's what they want."
Shiraz (Tony) Sabar, CEO of Laguna Travel in Whittier, California, however, had a different take.
"I don't see it as a problem," he said. When a client comes back from a Disney cruise on which they've booked a future cruise, Sabar said he will simply re-book that cruise to collect the commission.
Disney has staff onboard working on marketing those future cruises and closing those sales, Sabar added. "So they want their cut. Disney thinks, 'Why should agents automatically make 12 or more percent on those bookings?'"
There are always different sides to an issue, he said. "Sometimes agents only look at it from their side."
At Travel Quest in East Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, owner Carey Duncan, said "Disney is generally able to fill ships because they have a unique product."
"My fear is that other cruise lines will follow suit," she said of Disney's commission cap. "Throughout this conference [Ensemble Travel Group's annual conference], though, we've been hearing the opposite: suppliers talking about driving business to agents."
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