The American Society of Travel Advisors has launched a new reporting tool that gives members a formal channel to flag supplier policies and industry practices they say unfairly burden advisors, restrict competition, or undermine their ability to serve clients.
The Report a Supplier Policy or Industry Practice Concern tool, announced Tuesday, is designed to capture recurring or systemic issues involving a single supplier, multiple suppliers within a sector, or the industry at large. ASTA cited direct-to-consumer marketing, pricing discrepancies, inequitable commission or compensation policies, requirements that shift disproportionate risk or liability onto agencies, and restrictions on access to content or information as examples of concerns members can submit.
The launch expands a model ASTA has already put to work on unpaid hotel commissions. The association said its existing Report a Hotel Commission Issue program has recovered more than $53,000 in commissions owed to advisors while tracking properties repeatedly flagged for nonpayment — a figure that has climbed from the more than $45,000 the association reported in June, when it briefly opened its Hotel Watch List to the public. That list contained more than 40 properties across multiple countries and hotel segments.
Where the commission program targets individual payment disputes, the new tool is aimed at the bigger picture: identifying patterns across the travel marketplace that ASTA can act on through supplier engagement, member guidance, and advocacy.
"Travel advisors see firsthand where the system is falling short, and their experiences are critical to ASTA's work on behalf of the industry," said Zane Kerby, president and CEO of ASTA. "This new tool gives our members a clear way to put harmful practices on our radar so we can identify patterns, engage suppliers, inform the advisor community and determine where collective action is needed. When advisors speak up, ASTA can turn individual concerns into a stronger case for industrywide change."
Submitted reports will feed into the association's ongoing industry monitoring and advocacy priorities, ASTA said, allowing it to spot emerging trends and coordinate responses to practices affecting advisors broadly.
"This is about making sure problematic practices do not remain isolated stories shared between colleagues," Kerby added. "We want members to tell us what they are seeing so ASTA can connect the dots, elevate their concerns and press for a fairer, more transparent marketplace."
The tool is not intended for disputes over a specific booking or transaction. Members seeking business-to-business dispute resolution involving an ASTA member supplier should contact B2B@asta.org, while unpaid hotel commissions should still be submitted through the association's dedicated Report a Hotel Commission Issue page.
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