AccorHotels’ Australian hotels are now 100% covered by the group’s automatic commission payment service, FASTcom, guaranteeing agents fast and reliable commission settlement.
Commission volume for the first half of 2015 has increased 10% while commission payment times have continued to reduce. In the five years since FASTcom has been operating in Australia, average commission payment times have been reduced by more than 60% – from 53 days to 23 days.
FASTcom is AccorHotels’ automatic commission payment system, introduced to ensure that agents receive their commissions promptly and accurately from all Accor branded hotels.
When an agent partner books via accorhotels.com or GDS the booking is automatically added to FASTcom for review. Each week, every hotel reviews the previous week’s departures and approves the commission payment. Commissions need to be reconciled within that period or payments are automatically processed. Payment from each hotel is then processed, with agents receiving their commission payments via cheque or direct bank transfer.
“FASTcom has been very well received by both agents and hotels as it ensures prompt reconciliation on a centralised basis,” said AccorHotels Vice President Sales, Distribution & Revenue Management – Australia Henrik Berglind.
“The days of agents having to chase individual hotels is a thing of the past with AccorHotels. That is the benefit of dealing with a group like AccorHotels. We not only have the largest network, we can guarantee fast commission payment, which is essential for agents’ cash flow.
“All agents have to do is book via accorhotels.com or GDS and we guarantee the rest. This allows agents and hotels to get on with looking after their clients rather than tedious paperwork.
“FASTcom provides the technology and 100% coverage to ensure a very effective system, and agents have a simple, central point of contact – commission.ta@accor.com – if they have any issues.
“The travel world may have changed dramatically in the past decade, but AccorHotels believes that agents still play a critical and highly valuable service for the hotel sector, and FASTcom is designed to show our support for our travel agent partners through prompt commission payment.”
