AMSTERDAM -- Travel advisor grievances were discussed at a town hall-like event at the ASTA River Cruise Expo on Thursday, and topping the list was supplier-direct pricing that undercuts retailers.
ASTA members also said that some suppliers contact advisors' clients directly when they return home from a trip, offering incentives for a repeat booking.
"This is a shared customer, and the best suppliers understand that and want to honor and serve this shared customer," said Zane Kerby, ASTA's president and CEO.
A live Slido poll measured the responses of expo attendees who voted on their top issues.
The top six, ranked in order of votes from 84 travel advisors in the room, were supplier-direct campaigns that offer advantageous pricing; commissions canceled for fully paid but canceled travel; portions of cruise fares that are not commissionable (NCFs); sweeten-the-pot client poaching from suppliers by means of offering upgrades; client poaching during travel from the supplier's loyalty desk; and hotels that are slow to pay commissions or fail to pay them at all.
Views on Verified Travel Advisor
Also, many advisors in the room had opinions about the lack of regulatory compliance and licensure for travel advisors. Several touted the benefits of ASTA's Verified Travel Advisor Program. Others said they felt that the sales requirement of $500,000 for the VTA program was too high, especially for advisors early in their careers. Others said they didn't have the time to commit to the program.
Kerby clarified that the $500,000 qualification is an aggregate figure of total sales, not an annual sales requirement. He also said that he would pay for VTA accreditation for anyone currently in the room who passed the test.
"I understand where we are, and that we have a wide variety of people selling travel," Kerby said. He also said the VTA coursework tackling regulatory compliance, law and ethics isn't covered by most host agencies and consortia.
Professional fees were also a topic. Most members in the room appeared to agree that charging fees is important for the entire industry, and Kerby noted that ASTA endorses the practice. ASTA has a course on how advisors can begin implementing fees.
"People benefiting most from your work should be paying something for your services," he said. "These fees range from something very small to very large."
Toward the end of the town hall, Jackie Friedman, president of Nexion and former ASTA chair, shared that fraud is becoming an increased problem for travel advisors.
"Having some training on red flags -- what to look for and how to protect yourself -- would be helpful as a companion to the VTA Program," she said.