Jamie Biesiada
How quickly are you getting commissions from your hotel partners? If it's taking longer than 39 days, that's longer than average, according to commission reconciliation provider Onyx CenterSource.
Of course, there are a lot of variables that go into when advisors get their commission, ranging from a supplier's policies to a host agency's schedule.
Onyx's quarterly data offers a benchmark on what advisors are earning in hotel commissions and when they arrive. In the first quarter, it said the commissionable average daily rate (ADR) was $217, a 2.1% decrease, while the average commission per room night was $21.50, up 1.2%. Commissionable yield improved to 9.2%. The average days to payment was 39, essentially flat up (up 0.3%).
The data, Onyx said, suggests that hotels paid more in commissions even as rates declined slightly.
"The money that the agencies eventually got in their pocket was still good, even if the rate growth was not as great as it was in the Asia Pacific and Europe-Middle East-Africa regions," said Akshath Dhar, director of business data analytics at Onyx.
In the Asia Pacific region, commissionable ADR was up 3.5%, and in EMEA, up 7.1%.
Dhar noted that the average time it takes for North America hotels to pay commissions -- 39 days -- bests all other markets. He believes it's because of the way hotels are structured to provide payouts, as many payments come from a corporate office rather than the hotel itself. The form of payment also matters, he said, with the North America market largely using direct debit.
He recommended advisors use the statistics as benchmarks. For instance, they can understand which hotels might be paying more in commission than others, and direct their business to those hotels.
"There is an [opportunity for] agencies to better understand where they can get more, where the supplier is underpaying," he said.
Benchmarks can also show if agency commissions are arriving late and if they are, how late.
On the supplier side, the data might show hotels they need to speed up payments.
"I don't want my commissions to be outstanding for the longest period of time because that becomes a trigger for agencies to shift their booking to somebody else," Dhar said.
Onyx offers deeper insights via its OnyxInsights business intelligence tool. That product was launched at the end of 2023.
Onyx started releasing quarterly data last year.