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Travel Agent Commission Hierarchy

This article explains the order in which Travel Agent commission settings take precedence in RMS.

 

Overview

A Travel Agent Commission can be configured at multiple levels in RMS. When more than one commission setting applies to a reservation, RMS follows a hierarchy to determine which commission is used.

Understanding this hierarchy helps ensure commissions are calculated correctly and that any manual adjustments work as expected.

This hierarchy applies to all Travel Agent types in RMS, including:

  • Travel Agents configured manually under Setup > Travel Agent
  • Wholesalers
  • Online Travel Agents (OTAs) connected through Channel Management - each OTA connection auto-creates a Travel Agent record in RMS, and commission set up in the Agent Commission Setup grid on the channel applies through that record

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels, and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

 

Hierarchy

The following hierarchy determines which commission applies to a reservation. A reservation override takes the highest precedence. If no override exists, RMS uses the commission configured on the Travel Agent record for the matching property and Rate Type.

  Reservation Override  
  Property Commission (Rate Type)  

 

Commission Levels

Reservation Override

A commission amount that has been manually overridden on a reservation takes the highest precedence. Once an override is applied, the commission on that reservation will not change even if the commission setup on the Travel Agent record is updated.

An override can also be used to lock in a commission amount before making changes to the length of stay or Total Rate that would otherwise update the commission.

When multiple commissions are configured for the same Travel Agent, each commission line is overridden independently. Overriding one commission does not affect the others.

For steps on applying a reservation commission override, see Reservation Travel Agent Commission Override.

 

Property Commission (Rate Type)

When no reservation override exists, RMS uses the commission configured on the Travel Agent record for the property and Rate Type matching the reservation.

Commission amounts are configured per Rate Type within the Travel Agent's commission setup. This allows different commission values to apply depending on which rate type is used on the reservation.

More than one commission can be configured for the same property and Rate Type. For example, both a percentage-based commission and a flat amount can be active at the same time. When this is the case, all matching commissions apply simultaneously - each appears as a separate transaction on the reservation account. There is no precedence order between them.

Tip! Enterprise properties can configure a different commission for each Property on the same Travel Agent record. This means a Travel Agent can have tailored commission terms for each property in the enterprise.

For steps on configuring a Travel Agent commission, see Travel Agent commission setup.

 

Commission Auto-population

When a Travel Agent is added to a reservation, RMS automatically calculates the commission based on the hierarchy above. The commission amount appears in the TA Commission row in the reservation account.

If the Travel Agent does not have a commission configured, the TA Commission row will display No Commission.

 

Changing a Commission Rate

A commission is not fixed at the point a reservation is created. The reservation refers to the commission held against the Travel Agent record, so changing that commission also changes the amount on reservations that already exist.

What happens to an existing reservation depends on whether a reservation override has been applied and whether the reservation has reached Departed status.

Reservation state Result of changing the commission on the Travel Agent record
No override, not yet Departed The reservation uses the new commission.
Commission overridden on the reservation The reservation keeps its overridden amount. The new commission is not applied.
Departed The commission has already been created on the Travel Agent Commission Account. The new commission is not applied.

Important! Changing the commission on a Travel Agent record affects reservations that were booked under the previous commission, provided they have not yet Departed. Where an existing reservation needs to keep its original commission, apply a Reservation Travel Agent Commission Override before changing the Travel Agent record.

To apply a new commission to a reservation that has already Departed, set the Reservation Status back to Unconfirmed or Confirmed, make the change, then move the reservation to Departed status again.

 

Dual Commission (Travel Agent and Wholesaler)

When both a Travel Agent and a Wholesaler are assigned to the same reservation, both can claim a commission independently. The reservation account will show Multiple Commissions, with a link to view and manage each commission separately.

Each commission follows the same hierarchy described above, applied independently to the Travel Agent and the Wholesaler.

 

 

 

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