ASTA's purchase of the National Association of Commissioned Travel
Agents is a sign of how the times have changed in the post-caps
era.
Agents working on commission have taken on greater stature in
the industry in the past few years, and ASTA has underscored this
trend with the Nacta acquisition.
For the Society, the investment in a small, family-run trade
association is a remarkable turn from the days when the Society was
considered exclusionary.
Only in recent years has ASTA begun to recognize the growing
diversity of the agency business that embraces cruise-only outlets
as well as the rising tide of at-home agents.
With the arrival at ASTA last year of former Hertz executive
Bill Maloney, who serves in the top paid post, the Society is
moving to become inclusive, reflecting the changes in the structure
of retail distribution.
The at-home commission agent always has been a part of the
retail landscape, but the numbers are rising sharply.
Some of the increase is attributable to the decision by former
brick-and-mortar agency owners and employees to switch to at-home
businesses, the owners giving up the pressures of CRS contracts and
ARC regulations and their employees following suit.
Nacta founder Joannie Ogg, who will remain president, estimates
that at least three out of four of the group's members operate from
home. She says the membership has risen so sharply that the
organization needs the economies of scale that ASTA can bring to
it.
In addition to the Nacta commission agent members, estimated at
between 1,000 and 2,000, the group encompasses 80 traditional
agencies that serve as host agencies.
One such agency is Bel-air/Empress Travel, the Maryland firm
owned by Phil and Doris Davidoff. According to Doris Davidoff,
Belair/Empress was motivated to join Nacta by a desire to find
additional commission agents.
In the past few years, the agency has increased the portion of
its volume contributed by commission agents to 25% and expects that
percentage to continue to rise.
Managing both inside and outside agents can be a challenge. Just
as each inside agent in an office may have a different client base,
outside agents vary widely in the type of clientele they handle as
well as in their level of productivity. But with careful handling,
productive commission agents can expand an agency's business
significantly.
In this age of airline commission caps and Internet competition,
finding and keeping good commission agents is worth the effort.