IHG Commission Services Process August 2009

IHG Commission Services Process
August 2009
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 2
Process Flow.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Process Flow of a Transaction ................................................................................................................... 3
Process Flow of an Inquiry ......................................................................................................................... 3
Guidance for Agents when booking reservations. ......................................................................................... 4
Booking Reservations ................................................................................................................................ 4
IHG Commission Services Agent Payment and Statement Options (www.IHGAgent.com) ..................... 4
Commission Research / Inquiries .............................................................................................................. 5
Most common Invalid Commission Inquires............................................................................................... 5
Most Common Valid Commission Inquires ................................................................................................ 5
Groups, Meetings, Conferences and Accommodation Process ................................................................ 6
IHG Commission Services Fee .................................................................................................................. 6
Best Practices for Agents............................................................................................................................... 6
Overview and Training IHG Commission Services Online (commissions.pegs.com) ..............................8
Help & Contact Information ...........................................................................................................................10
Appendix .........................................................................................................................................................11
Support/Helpdesk information
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Introduction
This document serves as an overview of the IHG Commission Services as in place June 2008. The
document reviews the processes and practices that should be followed to ensure that the system works as
best as possible for both hotels and agents. The document is intended for Travel Agents as a reference for
the IHG electronic commission process.
The IHG Commission Services system works as a result of IATA numbers being placed on reservations
within HOLIDEX Plus. If an IATA number is not included on the reservation IHG Commission Services will
not process the related commission payment.
Process Flow
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Process Flow of a Transaction
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Reservation is booked with IATA number populated in the appropriate field of HOLIDEX Plus
Stay is consumed
Guest departs from hotel and reservation is checked out
Hotel has 24 hours to edit commission data on HOLIDEX Plus ® LCU Screen
If the reservation is booked outside of HOLIDEX Plus hotels must fill out the Payment Authorisation
Form and send this to the IHG Commission Services Operations Team
([email protected] or [email protected]) OR manually add the transaction via the
TravelCom tool. If this is not done commissions WILL NOT be processed in IHG Commission
Services for payment.
Commission payments then move into the commission processing system (a combination of
technical support tools managed by IHG and external vendor Pegasus Financial Services).
Payment is made to the agency. Depending on when the guest checked out, payment will occur for
agents within 4 – 5 weeks.
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On the 3 of every month invoices are created and posted to hotels for their review online
Hotels must review the invoice
Hotel pays IHG amount owed on invoice via direct debit or the hotel bill
Process Flow of an Inquiry
1. Agents often inquire about payment they expect that has not been received. This inquiry comes
directly into the IHG Commission Services Operations Team or into the hotel.
2. If the inquiry comes directly to the hotel it should be forwarded to the IHG Commission Services
Operations Team via ([email protected] or [email protected]) for processing.
3. The IHG Commission Services Operations Team researches if a commission has been paid using
IHG Commission Services Online (commissions.pegs.com) tool. Additionally, they research the
validity of the inquiry using HOLIDEX Plus. If the inquiry is valid (e.g. older then 30 days), and has
not been paid, a manual inquiry will be added to IHG Commission Services Online
(commissions.pegs.com).
• Note: The IHG Commission Services Operations Team does not have access to any
additional tools that will allow them to research status further.
4. The inquiry should be approved or rejected by hotels in IHG Commission Services Online
(commissions.pegs.com). The hotel has 5 business days to reject the inquiry. If the inquiry is not
rejected the operations team will add a manual payment transaction. The payment transaction then
follows the same payment process identified above.
5. The IHG Commission Services Operations Team can only research commission requests on
bookings with departure dates within the last 6 months. Any request made to the IHG Commission
Services Operations Team for bookings outside the 6 month window must be researched with the
hotel directly for review.
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Guidance for Agents when booking reservations.
Booking Reservations
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The agency IATA number MUST be on the reservation or the agency will not be paid.
If the retail IATA is not in the reservation and the reservation was booked through a Third Party
Intermediary (TPI) or Affiliate, the retail agency will not receive the commission. The agency
receiving the commission will be the TPI or Affiliate.
Travel agents booking online should use www.IHGAgent.com or call an IHG call centre directly using
a branded toll-free number to ensure no other IATA # is assigned to the reservation.
Once an IATA # is entered IHG will not allow a change to the IATA number to be paid commission.
The actual booking partner, which could be a TPI or affiliate, may receive the commission if the
process is not correctly managed.
If agencies book with the hotel direct, have the agency remind the hotel reservation staff to place the
IATA number on the booking.
IHG Commission Services Agent Payment and Statement Options
(www.IHGAgent.com)
Payments
• Agents should go to www.IHGAgent.com in order to change/setup their current payment option.
o Agents are paid in multiple currencies
o Agents have the option of the following payment methods; Electronic ACH/ Wire/ Direct
Deposit / Traditional Cheque
• Agents receive all IHG payments, or all hotel payments if a Pegasus member, on one transfer or
cheque
• Payments occur weekly between 4 – 5 weeks after checkout. The exact payment week depends on
the date in the week the guest checks-out
• Agents have access to the Pegasus self service tool (Comissions.pegs.com) or the IHG Commission
Services Operations Team for support if they have questions or need assistance
Agents have the option of researching on demand. User ID’s and passwords should be requested on
www.IHGAgent.com. This will provide the agent with access to the same information as the IHG
Commission Services Operations Team.
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Statements
• Electronic, faxed or email statements are provided by Pegasus to agents in conjunction with their
payment
Commission Research / Inquiries
IHG Commission Services has a standard template for inquiry requests, “Travel Agent Commission Request
Form” Agents using this template will see a quicker turn around than sending the traditional mail and/or fax
for research of commission inquiries.
NOTE: As of the 1st of December 2008 IHG Commission Services will no longer accept mailed commission
requests. All requests must be submitted electronically via email ([email protected] or
[email protected]) or fax (+44 (0) 1384 473398 or 1 770 604 2181). E-faxed requests should be on the
designated Payment Request Form. Requests with insufficient information will be declined.
Most common Invalid Commission Inquires
If an agency contacts the hotel about any items below it is important to explain to the agency that the IHG
Commission Services Operations Team will not resolve the inquiry as the reasons for inquiry are not valid for
questioning payment:
• Non-commissionable rate was booked
• Cancellation occurred
• No Show occurred, unless no-show has been charged to the customer
o IHG Commission Services does not support no-show. If the hotel charges a no-show fee the
hotel needs to manually process the commission for the agent via one of the manual options
explained in this document.
• Guest offered lower rate at check-in and agent wants payment on original rate
• Bill Back or Voucher Program is in place and agent wants additional payment
Most Common Valid Commission Inquires
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Booked direct to hotel and no IATA # was provided at time of booking. This is “valid” but needs to be
avoided.
Groups, Meetings and Conferences – the hotel did not load the business to be paid through IHG
Commission Services. The IHG Commission Services Operations Team will take the inquiry and
follow-up directly with the hotel.
Hotel changed rate to non-commissionable when it was booked as commissionable
Wrong IATA paid
Hotel cancelled and rebooked the reservation without including the IATA number
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Groups, Meetings, Conferences and Accommodation Process
Invoice Process for Travel Agents
All travel agents will send all invoices (conference/accommodation) directly to the hotel. Once these invoices
are received by the hotel, the hotel will self load a payment.
The hotel has 3 options to make a payment:
The hotel can manually load the payment in TravelCom using the manual upload tool.
The hotel can enter the payment in the Group Payment Form or Payment Authorisation Form and
send it to Operations. Only the Official IHG Commission Services spreadsheet will be accepted.
o The spreadsheet allows more than one payment to be entered and sent to IHG Commission
Services Operations.
o The completed spreadsheet should be emailed to the following address;
[email protected] or [email protected] with the subject line “Authorisation to
Pay Commission”
o The email needs to be sent from an official hotel email address with instructions to IHG
Commission Services Operations as to what needs to be done. If this is not included or the
spreadsheet is not complete the request will be sent back to the hotel.
The hotel can enter the payment in the Commission Payment Authorisation Fax Form and fax it to
IHG Commission Services Operations at +44 (0) 1384 473398 or 1 770 604 2181. Only the Official
IHG Commission Services spreadsheet will be accepted.
When any invoice is sent to IHG Commission Services Operations from a hotel, the Operations team will
assume that the information is correct and should be paid. The hotel needs to review and validate that
the invoice amount is correct and should be paid prior to sending the information to the IHG Commission
Services Operations team.
When a travel agency calls the IHG Commission Services Operations Team for payment information one of
the following will occur:
If the payment is in queue the Operations team will give any information they have for the payment.
If the payment hasn’t been processed the Operations team will send the agency back to the hotel to
discuss the status. Only transactions sent from the hotel will be processed. All transactions sent
directly from agencies will not be processed.
When an invoice is sent directly to the IHG Commission Services Operations team from a Travel
Agency the Operations team will send an email/fax to the agency informing them that all invoices
should go through the hotel and not be sent directly to IHG Commission Services Operations.
IHG Commission Services Fee
Non Pegasus member agencies will be charged a 3.5% fee for processing through IHG Commission
Services. This fee covers costs to allow for IHG Commission Services operations support, technology
development and the partnership with Pegasus that allows consolidated cheques to be cut. Both hotels and
IHG must work together to ensure minimal impact in charging this fee.
Best Practices for Agents
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Ensure your address and contact information is updated with IHG any time you move, or change fax
and phone numbers
Ensure your IATA # is always on the reservation and that it was booked through an approved
channel such as calling the CRO, booking direct on IHGagent.com, or in your GDS system.
Commission can not be guaranteed if you book directly with the hotel.
Ensure your payment and statement settings in IHGAgent.com are updated with your payment
requests
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Agents should request a user ID and Password for IHG Commission Services Online via
IHGagent.com to research payment online
Understand and use the Group Commission Authorisation Form
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Overview and Training IHG Commission Services Online (commissions.pegs.com)
Go to Merlin
Click on the link name “IHG Commission Services Online under Applications”
The following can be done from this page:
o Commission Research
o Close Inquiry
o Payment History
o Online Reporting
Select “Commission Research” from under the Customer Service heading.
The following page is displayed:
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The Search Tab allows the user to research commissions that they believe have been paid to the
Travel Agent
A user can populate all or some of the fields depending on the information they have. The following
is the list of available fields:
o Agency ID – enter the IATA number
o Guest Last Name – either enter the full name or partial name plus * i.e. SMI* for all guest
that start with SMI
o Brand Name – is pre-populated
o Search Type – you can choose to research commissions or payments
o Property ID – is pre-populated
o Payment Number link - directs you to the Payment History
Once data is populated click on search
The following Booking Details screen is displayed.
The screen contains the following information:
o Booking Information
o Cheque Number
o Agency Details
Select the Payment Details tab to see the specific payment information for this Commission.
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The following Information is displayed on this screen.
o Commission Amount Paid
o Payment Number
o Payment Date
o Payment Currency
Help & Contact Information
If there are questions on any of processes in this document please feel free to contact IHG Commission
Services Operations for assistance.
Americas/Asia-Pacific/Australia
Main Telephone:
Main Fax:
1 770 604 2101
1 770 604 2181
UK/Europe/Middle East/Africa
Main Telephone:
Main Fax:
+44 (0) 1384 473399
+44 (0) 1384 473398
Main Email:
[email protected] or [email protected]
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Appendix
Attached are the templates that are used in the IHG Commission Services process:
Travel Agent Commission Request Form:
Group Payment Form:
P:\BP&T Hotel
Services\ECS works 4 u\Final UK Docs\Travel Agent Commission Request Form.xls
P:\BP&T Hotel
Services\ECS works 4 u\Final UK Docs\Group Payment Authorization Form.xls