The American Society of Travel Advisors recovered more than $20,000 in unpaid hotel commissions so far since launching its Hotel Watch List in September, the organization announced this week.
The recovery milestone signals that ASTA’s approach of aggregating advisor complaints and applying pressure on suppliers is producing results. The organization set a goal of recovering $100,000 in unpaid commissions this year.
ASTA introduced the Report a Hotel tool to give advisors a structured way to surface payment issues that historically go unresolved individually. By centralizing reports and tracking complaint patterns, ASTA can identify habitually late- (or non-) paying suppliers and intervene more effectively on behalf of its members.
“Travel advisors should not have to spend valuable time chasing compensation they have already earned,” Zane Kerby, ASTA president and CEO, said in prepared remarks. “This progress shows that when advisors report these issues and ASTA is able to apply pressure, results follow. We want hotels to understand that paying commissions on time is not optional. It is a basic obligation.”
The tool feeds data into ASTA’s Hotel Watch List, a member-only database of properties with documented payment issues. The organization has threatened legal action against persistent offenders and has suggested the public-facing potential of the Watch List itself serves as leverage.
Peter Lobasso, ASTA’s senior vice president and general counsel, said the aggregated data is key to the system’s effectiveness.
“Every unpaid commission case tells us something, not just about one transaction, but about whether a supplier has a broader compliance problem,” Lobasso said. “The fact that we have now surpassed $20,000 in recoveries demonstrates that this process is working.”
ASTA encourages all travel advisor members experiencing hotel commission payment issues to use the Report a Hotel tool. The organization expects both the amount of commissions recovered and advisor participation to continue rising throughout the year.
The Report a Hotel tool and Hotel Watch List are available exclusively to ASTA travel advisor members.
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