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Since You Asked: Answers to Independent Contractors' Questions
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- How do I sign up with World Travel Management?
- First, read over these questions and answers.
Second, request access to the agent-only section of our web
site from the last answer in this list.
Third, give us a call on our toll-free number, 1-866-257-8273,
and tell us you want to sign up.
Fourth, Sign and return (by mail or fax) the contract and signup
forms that we send to you.
We generally have new agents set up for
online booking within one or two work days. Apollo may take a bit
longer if we need to wait for Apollo/Galileo to send us new
authorization codes, but we try to keep a spare on hand.
- How much does it cost to join World Travel Management?
- In short, $150 for the signup fee and first monthly fee.
For 2007, there is a signup fee of $100. This includes: listing on our
web site, a worldtravelmgt.com email address, individual registrations
as WTM agents in several booking engines, Galileo setup help,
and renewal of your IATAN card (with qualifying earnings). It also
helps pay for a background check. The 2007 renewal fee for agents
renewing their contracts was $50.
There is a monthly access fee of $50
payable at the beginning of each month which includes access to
Apollo, our agent-only web site, diverse online booking engines,
invoicing, accounting, and travel document delivery for the month.
If your commission check is at least $100 in any month, we will
waive $10 of your monthly access fee for the following month for each $100 we pay you, up to the full amount of your fee. This is our way of providing an extra reward to steady producers.
Agents signing up through the TravelCampus Independent Agent Package:
note that your signup costs are covered by TravelCampus, and if you have
not yet taken the TAP test, we will waive your monthly fee until you take
it (but you must be registered to take it within a few months). :-)
- Why do I need Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions Insurance?
- Professional Liability and E&O insurance protects you
against a myriad of possible problems. There are many stories of
agents being sued by disgruntled clients or injured travelers.
- Is my spouse or partner covered by my contract?
- Not automatically. Your spouse or partner has three options:
a) sign a separate contract just like yours, with the same
costs and benefits. b) sign a sub-agent contract (see next section),
or c) your spouse or partner (one only please! :-) ) can be included
on your contract at no extra cost, if your spouse or partner
signs the contract along with you and you designate to us which
spouse/partner should get the commission checks and the
1099 form. Note that your choice of option may influence
your ability to qualify for errors and omissions insurance as an
independent contractor.
- Is my employee covered by my contract?
- Yes, and No. Our contract stipulates that you may hire
whatever assistants you want, but such assistants do not automatically
become WTM Independent Contractors. We *do* offer a "sub-agent"
contract which makes your employee an independent contractor with WTM
and which splits the commissions between the sub-agent (employee) and the
primary contractor (employeer), with each getting a 1099 at the end
of the year. Such a sub-agent will be on our IATAN list and eligible for
an IATAN card with qualifying earnings. We charge the primary
contractor the standard signup or annual renewal fee for each sub-agent,
but there is no additional monthly fee for a sub-agent as long as
the primary contractor maintains his/her contract with us. An
employeer may opt for an additional simultaneous GDS connectioN @
$30/mo for the employee.
- What is the term of the WTM contract?
- Your contract with WTM will run from Jan 1 or the signing date,
whichever is later, through Dec 31.
- Can I charge service fees? How are they handled?
- Yes. World Travel Management encourages its Independent
Contractors to charge fees for their work. Fees can be bundled
into the tour cost or listed separately, and are treated as commissions.
- Does World Travel Management have fees?
- Yes. Although we have eliminated most of our booking
and delivery fees, a few remain:
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Air/AMTRAK Ticketing Fee (Including all domestic tickets, electronic and
paper) | We split your fee
75/25 just like commissions, but take a minimum of $8.00 per passenger.
Experienced Apollo agents who use our scripts and do their own
invoicing through Apollo may ask Donna for self-ticketing privileges
and for a flat fee of $8.00 per passenger regardless of their own
fees.
If an airline charges additional fees (e.g. exchange / paper ticket / GDS fees),those fees are in addition to the WTM fee and should be invoiced to the passenger.
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Exchanges / International Tickets / Certificates / Coupons
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$25.00 per passenger if done by WTM.
$8.00 if done by self-ticketing agent.
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Group Tickets | No fee if ticketed by the airline.
$25.00 per passenger if done by WTM.
Agents are not permitted to do group ticketing on their own without
explicit permission from WTM. $8 per passenger if permission is granted.
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Overnight Delivery | At Agent Expense
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Overnight Saturday Delivery | At Agent Expense
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- Why would I want Apollo/Galileo FocalPointNet/Viewpoint?
- With Apollo/Galileo you have an efficient way to book your
clients' travel 24-hours a day.
You can use either the user-friendly Viewpoint interface or the
efficient Apollo CRS format interface for air, cars and hotels and
the Apollo Leisure Shopper cruise and tour suppliers. Plus you get
Focalpoint Relay to coordinate and organize your client information
and profiles. All our agents get access to the web-based Galileo
e-Cruise and Galileo NeatAgent whether or not they use Apollo focalpointnet.
- Is there a setup fee for the Apollo/Galileo GDS?
- No. We eliminated our former $99 setup fee with the 2004
contracts, in an effort to encourage you to use the GDS and to promote
our image as the "all-inclusive" host agency. Some other host
agencies have a separate fee for just about anything you do. We
try to keep fees as simple and as low as possible. That way we spend
more time accounting for your commissions and less time accounting
for our fees. In other words, we want you to understand that we
make money only when you make money, and that we do our best to help you
succeed because that helps us succeed too.
- What if I have a problem with Galileo Desktop?
- WTM provides support for the Apollo/Galileo software installation and
trouble-shooting. We also provide training on the proper use of our
scripts and ticketing facilities. For after-hours help,
Apollo/Galileo has a support desk available 24 hours a day that can help with
formats. They also have a web site with an online help desk and a
comprehensive online manual as well as extensive online training.
- Is there any other way to book air, car, and/or hotel reservations?
- Yes.
Galileo NeatAgent is an excellent way to assemble packages, and we have
links to many online supplier booking engines. You can also make a reservation
by phone and then fill out our online invoice request form to document it.
- Can I exchange air tickets?
- Not usually.
It is imperative that all ticket exchanges be done either by your
clients at the airport (where they may be able to avoid the airline
charge), or by World Travel Management to ensure compliance with
ARC regulations. Certain experienced Apollo agents who complete
additional agreements with WTM may qualify for exchange privileges.
Any fines or problems with ARC due to an IC exchanging tickets are
the IC's responsibility.
- Can I void air tickets?
- Not usually.
It is imperative that all voiding of tickets be done by World Travel
Management to ensure compliance with ARC regulations. Certain
experienced Apollo agents who complete additional agreements with
WTM may qualify for voiding privileges. Any fines or problems with
ARC due to an IC voiding tickets are the IC's responsibility.
- Can I reissue air tickets?
- Not usually. World Travel Management handles all reissues.
Reissues will only be done after the originals are received at WTM
headquarters. Certain experienced Apollo agents who complete
additional agreements with WTM may qualify for exchange privileges.
Any fines or problems with the ARC due to an IC reissuing tickets
are the IC's responsibility.
- What do I do if I have a problem or questions?
- We have several resources to help you with your problems or questions.
- Check the Frequently Answered Questions list (the FAQ).
- Check the agent-only section of our web site. This contains many
useful resources.
- Check the WTMbb bulletin board or WTMchat mailing list archive
to see if someone has answered your question already.
- Post your problem or question to the agent bulletin board or mailing list.
With the depth of experience represented in the WTM IC group, someone will
almost certainly have a good answer.
- Call us toll-free at 1-866-257-8273, or
- How soon can I have travel benefits?
- First of all, as Joanie Ogg, president of NACTA (the National
Association of Commissioned Travel Agents) said, most travel benefits
have gone the way of the Dodo bird. That said, there are still
plenty of benefits for committed sellers of travel. Suppliers are
always willing to reward productive agents. Also, there are many
excellent training programs that include travel. As an accredited
agency, we abide by the IATAN rules for their card membership which
is still the industry standard. If your WTM commissions meet the
IATAN qualification, we will pay for your new card or renewal to
celebrate. We want to help you reach that goal. After all, the
more you sell, the more we all make.
- Must all my bookings be made through World Travel Management?
- As an independent contractor, you cannot be forced to put all
your bookings through one host agency. However, we like to think that
you will book as much as possible with us for the support, help, and
other benefits we provide. The host agency - independent contractor
relationship involves a lot of trust. This is a difficult business
and everyone needs some help at some point. Isn't it nice to know
someone will support you because you have supported them?
- Why do you ask agents to submit commission logs?
- The commission log process is really designed for reducing
errors in commission tracking and payments. When you submit your
commission log, we check to be sure the invoice numbers are correct
(and correct any errors we can identify). We then pay all the
commissions that have come in to your account, whether or not you
have claimed them, adding more lines to your log as needed.
If you have submitted invoice numbers for which commissions have
not yet been received, we mark them as "carry-over". You do not
need to resubmit any "carry-over" invoices, only the new invoices
you have generated since your last log.
We also have an automatic "auto-pay" policy for all agents whose
accumulated earnings reach $500, where we simply fill in the log,
and pay you, possibly before we have received your submitted log,
unless you have specifically instructed us to "let it ride" to one
of the higher bonus commission targets. (Your options each month
are "pay any amount", or "let it ride" to $500 [default], to $1000,
or to $2000.)
If you do submit a log after
we have already sent out an "auto-pay" log, we will merge your
submission into that log for the subsequent payment period.
You have the option of submitting no logs at all and relying entirely
on "auto-pay", a plan which is comparable to the commission payment
plans of some other host agencies, but such "auto-pay only" logs
do not show unpaid invoices, which is a disadvantage if you want
to prod a supplier who is slow to pay.
Our leisure agents typically submit logs, while our corporate agents
typically prefer the "auto-pay" option.
- Why do you list your Affiliates and/or Independent Contractors
on your web site?
- First, if you don't want to be listed, let us know and we won't
put your contact information on our site. Most of our agents prefer
being listed because new prospects occasionally find them this way,
and for those who have web sites, the extra links help improve their
placement in search engines.
We like to list our agents and affiliates because we are confident
that if you contact any of them while considering joining us you
will hear how we treat them, and you'll like what you hear. Perhaps
you should ask the other host agencies you are considering why they
don't list their Independent Contractors and affiliates.
:-)
- May I see the agent-only section of your web site?
- Yes. Just fill out our Guest Access
Request form, agreeing to keep the information confidential,
and we'll be in touch soon with a temporary login for you.
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