WASHINGTON -- ARTA said that it is possibly days away from going
live with Travel Retailers Universal Enumeration (TRUE), an
Internet-based registration system for non-ARC travel sellers that
it developed with the Outside Sales Support Network.
ARTA said it expects Iatan to supply the necessary numbering
sequence for the program before the end of February.
"We consider ourselves open for business," said ARTA president
John Hawks. "We are taking orders but not filling them until we get
the numbers."
So far, some 48 travel sellers have requested numbers, most of
them at OSSN's Web site, www.ossn.org.
Hawks said ARTA and OSSN are "touting this to our members.
Anyone else that wants to take part obviously can. But I was
surprised that we [reached 48] this quickly."
Initially, the groups planned to charge agents an up-front
application fee of $40 to $60, plus an annual $20 to $30 annual fee
to maintain the registration number. But Hawks said the fee
structure has since been altered to reflect the cost of acquiring
the numbers from Iatan.
"It's now $70 for the first year and $60 for the subsequent
year," Hawks said.
ARTA's numbering system follows a similar service launched by
ASTA in January, called Travelsellers.com, and ARC's Reservation
Service Provider (RSP) program. Iatan is supplying numbers for
those programs as well.
The numbering system allows suppliers to easily recognize the
sales made by non-ARC agents, who often are outside sales agents.
Agents have to meet certain criteria to participate in each of the
programs.