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Advantage Business Travel Conference: Agents urged to prepare for rail commission chaos
Advantage Travel Centres is setting up a working party to deal with possible changes in rail commissions that could spell chaos for agents next year.
The independent agency consortium is urging its members to be prepared for possible upheaval in May when longstanding legislation relating to commissions paid by rail operators comes to an end.
Under the legislation, rail companies have been allowed to operate as a cartel and pay the same level of commission.
But, when this legislation expires, rail companies will be free to pay more commission to some agents and less to others.
In addition, three-year commercial agreements between agents and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) also come to an end in November 2007.
Tony Stone, managing director of Business Travel Plus, said this would be one of the key challenges facing agents next year.
In January, Stone will become chairman of Advantage’s Focus Partnership – a break-out group of 90 key business travel members.
“There needs to be dialogue between individual agents and the train operators and we will also be setting up a working party,” he said.
“ABTA is already talking to the rail companies and we will also make representations. Rail is a major part of our business, and this could have a huge impact.”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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