ABC Global Services’ pledge of up to $10,000 to ASTA’s Political Action Committee (ASTAPAC) is the largest any company has donated to ASTAPAC, according to Eben Peck, ASTA’s vice president for government affairs.
The actual amount is contingent on agent hotel bookings made through ABC during the month of February. Peck said it is the first time any company has made such an incentive-based donation to ASTA.
Peck said ASTA would welcome similar efforts from other companies.
ABC will pay 10 cents for every ABC rate code booked by its travel agency customers and 20 cents for every ABC rate code from a new agent who signs up with ABC.
It will also pay 20 cents for every ABC rate code booking made in the company’s online hotel booking portal, ezBook by ABC.
Eric Altschul, CEO of ABC Global, said he was “very confident” that agents would meet the challenge and that ABC would end up contributing the full amount. He said ABC has about 6,000 agents signed up with it worldwide.
Altschul said that ABC is promoting the incentive through its six-person sales team and through an email campaign. The goal, he said, is not only to educate agents about the incentive but about ASTA’s efforts as an industry advocate.
Because the contribution is coming from a corporation rather than an individual or another PAC, it is “soft” money — that is, money that ASTA can use to cover the administrative costs of operating ASTAPAC but cannot use for political contributions.
Federal election laws limit soft-dollar contributions to $10,000.
The bulk of ASTAPAC’s funding is spent on campaign contributions. According to the website of the Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org, ASTAPAC had $181,934 cash on hand as of June 30, 2013, and as of mid-December had made $14,500 in contributions in the 2014 election cycle to seven congressional incumbents.
They are, in the House, Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.).
Recipients in the Senate were Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
All contributions were for either $1,000 or $2,500.
ASTA received contributions from 348 ASTA members last year. Those amounts ranged from $100 to $5,000, which is the maximum they can contribute under federal election laws.
In addition, ASTA received hard-dollar contributions from other PACs, including SabrePAC, EnterprisePAC and ExpediaPAC.
A $10,000 contribution is “very significant” to ASTA, said Paul Ruden, senior vice president of legal and industry affairs.
Peck noted that ASTAPAC is just one part of ASTA’s advocacy toolkit. Other advocacy efforts are funded by general ASTA funding, member dues and sponsorships.
Examples of recent ASTA advocacy successes include fighting for travel agents’ access to real-time “transactable” airline ancillary fees through the GDSs and other channels; opposing tax hikes in 2013 in Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio that would have cost agencies $170 million per year in new taxes; and helping to put a new travel insurance regulatory standard into place in 21 states, which will cut licensing costs, red tape and regulatory risk for agents.
Altschul said that ABC Global, which has been in business for 36 years, has been an ASTA member for as long as anyone can remember. It has been a higher-level Proud Partner of ASTA for about five years.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.