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Those
of us who have served the travel industry know that
there is one element which will always remain constant,
the elements of change. Preferred vendors, relationships
between airlines and global distribution systems,
booking methodology with On–line vs. traditional
outlets and of course the evolution of technology.
Over twenty years ago when the airlines first introduced
their first commission compensation reduction and
then the subsequent demise of those revenues resulting
in a significant shift in the travel revenue distribution
model. Since then, agencies and corporations have
re-tooled their financial relationships and in many
ways re-invented the services programs they offer
and the associated pricing for those services.
During
this evolution the search for added service value
and associated revenues has been a continuous “work
in progress”. One of the key contributing factors
in this goal has been technology.
Clearly,
one of the areas that provide significant revenue
opportunities is the collection of commissions earned
on hotels, cars and other ancillary Non ARC/BSP
segments. An industry recognized challenge for decades
has been the collection and recovery of those commissions
earned from bookings reserved and consumed. Unlike
the merchant model, some traditional transactions
for Hotel and Car reservations and services are
settled directly with the vendors by the traveler.
The variables that exist create an unclear picture
of what the travel services provider has actually
delivered and subsequently earned. Industry statistics
reveal that often times as much as 30-50% of those
commissions earned are left with the vendors.
eCommission
Solutions, LLC provides a proprietary technology
that clearly identifies the hotel segments and associated
room nights that CTD's, TMC's, Corporate On–Sites
and On-Line Travel Agencies reserve, but never make
it through the back office interface for a myriad
of reasons. By clearly identifying these missing
segments and the associated matching results has
had a tangible impact on the commission recovery.
The enhanced matching and missing segment identification
is reflected as early as the first reconciliation
cycle. We understand that this process is a bit
different at many agencies we address the processes
that will glean similar results in recovery and
the associated data integrity for reporting.
Although
there are a number of services available today that
focus on a specific segment of this process, eCommission
Solutions is the first to consolidate and combine
these services with proprietary technology that
hits the data integrity issues at the source, the
PNR, not the back office. Combining the services
and technology in this “end-to-end” solution,
eCommission Solutions, LLC provides a fully integrated
process and program that responds to a number of
these industry recognized challenges. These challenges
include: low commission collection percentages,
missing non air segments in the back office accounting
systems and travel management reporting accuracy
and data integrity issues.
Understanding
these shifts in technology and the associated functionality,
ECS is focusing our resources to support the required
integration and evolution of these services. As
travel agencies seek the ability to integrate the
traveler booked data with the hotel stay data, enhanced
audit capabilities in back office, preferred vendor
utilization requirements and competitive pricing
strategies, ECS integrated program today remains
our most significant point of differentiation.
It is ECS’ goal to continue to improve our
service offering and program with tangible, quantifiable
results.
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