NEW YORK -- The Utell hotel rep firm is launching a travel agent
portal at UtellAgent.com that enables retailers to track
commissions on all Utell bookings on a real-time basis and to chase
overdue commissions quickly and easily.
The portal was set to debut at the World Travel Market in London
on Nov. 10.
Utell's 4,400 member properties are required to maintain
commission payment information in the UtellAgent system as a
condition of retaining Utell as their rep, said Roland Tanner, vice
president of product strategy and planning for Pegasus Solutions,
Utell's parent.
Tanner said the purpose of the system is to make commission
tracking more efficient for hotels and agents, which, in turn, will
produce faster commission payments. He said Utell aims to "regain
and rebuild" agency confidence in its commission processing.
The UtellAgent system is not about curing nonpayment, Tanner
said, because if hotels don't pay agents, they won't be in the
Utell portfolio. He said in the last 18 months Utell has dropped
about 1,000 properties for nonpayment of commissions and for other
reasons, such as bad debt or failure to produce the business
anticipated.
The result, he said, is "a smarter and more attractive
proposition for bookers."
About a year ago, Utell began giving its properties access via
UtellAgent to agency booking data for commission reconciliation.
About two dozen agencies in Europe, meanwhile, were beta-test sites
for the trade's half of the program.
Effective Nov. 10, any agent can use the system by logging on
with an ARC, Iatan or pseudo-agent ID number and generate status
reports on specific bookings by entering the confirmation
numbers.
Each on-screen report shows details of the customer stay,
including departure date and commission due, as well as status of
payment. It also reveals cancellations and no-shows. The report
indicates if the payment is late -- if payment is not initiated by
30 days after client departure. However, agents are asked to wait
60 days after a departure before beginning the commission chase, to
allow time for checks to arrive.
When it is time to begin the chase, the agent can use an e-mail
template to send a query to the hotel, with a copy to Utell. Tanner
said Utell will keep tabs to ensure that hotels respond on a timely
basis and to track the frequency of complaints by property and by
agency.
Matthias Garke, CEO of Ehotel AG, a German agency beta-test
site, said commission processing has improved "tremendously."
UtellAgent is linked to Pegasus Commission Processing, which
means that, after reconciliation, hotels can electronically order
up payment to all their agents at once. Utell said its hotels get
more than 80% of their business from agencies, including online
firms.
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