Last month, Marriott announced it
was removing Global Travel International from its official Card
Mill List. There are about 15 names on the list, but GTI has
corrected whatever problems Marriott felt it had. They did this, in
part, by instituting a training regimen along with the requirement
that their staff carry errors-and-omissions insurance. And, get
this, the agents actually pay for their own insurance.
Wow! How
impressive. The two criteria that Marriott feels are most worth
mentioning to turn a designated card mill employee into a bona fide
agent receiving Marriott sales and marketing support are training
and insurance.
Now excuse my
naivete, but I would have thought that any travel agent entering
our profession would be thirsty for all the training and education
available. I would have thought that any sane, independent business
person would think about carrying business insurance.
And by the way,
don't most states require that travel sellers carry
insurance?
But Marriott was
really strict. They test-called Global. They walked away convinced
that the folks who paid their membership fees were looking to sell
to more than just their own family and perhaps a few friends. They
were not just looking to save money by traveling at agent
rates.
Well, it is nice to
know that the folks at Marriott are protecting the standards of our
industry. At least Marriott has a "card mill" list. That's far
better than the hotel chains who ignore the reality that they are
sanctioning the planning of worldwide travel arrangements by
individuals ill-equipped to anticipate the health, safety and
logistical issues that could arise.
Global Travel
International is not a small company. Randy Warren and Michael
Gross launched the company in 1994. These former college roommates
have built a small empire with, according to their Web site, about
35,000 agents. Last year they did approximately $130 million, or
about $3,714 in gross sales per agent. At 5% commission, the
average agent's annual income would work out to be
$185.70
GTI identifies
itself on its Web site video as "one of the travel industry's most
prestigious companies." OK. But they go on to point out that "most
travel agents are stuck behind a desk." GTI agents "are out there
seeing the world." No desk. Just seeing the world. Clearly, I have
been sitting all these years when I could have been walking around
the world.
So now, GTI has
official Marriott recognition and all of its members, the ones who
earn on average $185.70 per year, if its figures are correct, can
book Marriott.
I have only one
small problem: Call it sour grapes, but Marriott won't pay me
commission.
Not only that, I
have trouble booking Ritz-Carlton, and it took a special
dispensation from Mr. Pritzker to be able to book Hyatt. I have 27
IATA numbers. Of course, not one of them is authentic. They are
assigned by suppliers whose booking system is still based on the
need for a specified number of digits to make a
reservation.
Let me explain, and
you will see why I believe the hotel sector to be the most backward
in our industry. And that's saying something, since I am including
the airline sector.
For the past 20
years, my firm has been unable to earn commission on bookings with
several major hotel firms because their computer systems were based
on the use of an IATA number. Now, an IATA essentially means that
you write airline tickets. But many of the top-producing leisure
agents in the nation will have nothing to do with writing airline
tickets. Agents write airline tickets; consultants, particularly
those who specialize in the luxury sector, often do not.
Consultants who
specialize in selling upscale travel and do not do airline
ticketing frequently have the clientele to book the best rooms at
the very properties that deny them commission.
I've been lucky. I
have found ways around the IATA blockade. But there are hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of consultants out there who are denied
commission because they are selling high-end travel instead of
merely cranking out airline orders.
And if I ever get
really frustrated the next time a Marriott reservationist demands
an IATA number, I may hang up the phone and apply to GTI. Nothing
wrong with leaving my desk behind and traveling the world on
somebody else's dime.
Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen
Ltd., a vacation planning firm, and has been named to Conde Nast's
list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list
began.