A group of travel agents who spoke to Travel Market Report recently, raised an old issue that’s attracting new interest: suppliers who don’t pay agents the commissions they are due.

Sometimes it’s a hotel that offers to upgrade a guest, then cancels the agent’s booking and rebooks the reservation, so the agent does not get the commission. But the worse culprits are the car rental agencies, the agents said.

The agents agreed that commission problems are nothing new – but they are getting worse.  Four told Travel Market Report of hotels that insisted the customer had canceled – when the agents themselves were the customers. And almost all said they have had so many problems collecting commissions from car rental companies that they don’t even book them anymore.

Then they offered up suggestions on how to deal with the issue.

Suggestions from fellow agents
Valerie Baker-Wynn of Windblown Travel, LLC, in South Bend, Indiana, for example, told of the time she just happened to accompany a customer to pick up his rental car (which he does every week of the year), only to have the rental agent start suggesting, “We can just do this and change this, you will get a new booking number.”

“I stepped up, said the booking is how it should be, I am his travel agent, do not make changes. The guy back-pedaled so fast, reset it how I booked it, and apologized.”

“This happens so often, I stopped doing car rentals,” said Tina Stafford at Travel Designers Unlimited in San Diego. “And I’ve also lost thousands in hotel commissions.”

Others say they have found a solution: they only book cars through their consortia or through tour operators whose volume and clout help ensure they get paid.

“If you make bookings, be sure to remind them you are a member of a consortium and get the consortium involved,” advised Mitch Krayton of Mitch Krayton Travel in Aurora, Colorado. “One agent has little clout. Thousands of agents have a louder voice.”

“I found the solution was with a host that used a GDS interface,” agreed Margie Lenau’ of Wonderland Family Vacations, LLC, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I did need to sign up with the host for a small cost, but the convenience of being able to see all of the rental companies with costs and reserve the car in minutes for my clients is worth it. When I did not do this, the car rental companies would manipulate the booking, so I never got the commission.”

At Seahorse Travel in San Francisco, owner Jennifer Pickering, like a growing number of agents, has found another solution: she just charges the client a planning fee and then doesn’t worry if she doesn’t get the commission.

Others just keep hanging in there until they get their due. “I will chase a commission, even if it takes a year or more,” says Jenifour Jones, owner of Go Get It Events and Travel. “Tuesdays are my admin days, where I contact hotels and just set time aside to make calls, send emails, etc. I think you all are correct in that they expect you to give up. Don’t give up if you can!”

Some agents say they have their preferred suppliers, whom they know and trust, and only work with them.

Some legal advice
Asked by Travel Market Report for some legal advice here, Paul Ruden, who served for years as ASTA’s legal counsel, said the first step is to keep meticulous records of bookings and commission rates.

“I were an agent, I would try to communicate with every client post-trip to determine if they liked the experience and what unusual issues arose on the trip; this may suss out whether the client actually stayed in the booked property and used the agent-made reservation or was offered another deal at the desk,” Ruden said.

If you think you have been the victim of a switch, “Be prepared to be very (politely) aggressive with the managements when you have the evidence of a diversion and commission refusal,” Ruden added. “Agents should be prepared in appropriate cases to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and other consumer protection bodies when faced with recalcitrance. These companies are stealing from the agent and this should not be tolerated.”

Hertz responds
Requests for a comment from Enterprise or Avis by press time were not answered. However, Hertz sent the following comment to Travel Market Report: “Travel agent commissions are not something we have a known issue with at Hertz. Our process to pay commissions is system-driven.

“When booking, each travel agent inputs a unique identifier, which then automatically triggers their commission when the rental transaction is executed. Any adjustments that the customer may make at the counter do not alter this process. We continuously review and evaluate our processes to ensure the originating agent’s commission is protected. As a result, we have strong, tenured relationships with these partners,” said the company’s media relations department.”