The Hotel Booking Agents Association (HBAA) are set to pave the way with new Terms of Business that will ensure hotels, venues and agents are fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations during the confirmation process of meetings and events.
Longer term, it is also anticipated that the HBAA Standard Terms of Business will be used to confirm the engagement of an agent by a corporate client.
The HBAA will draw up the Terms of Business following on from a court case held between an HBAA member, Logical Venue Solutions, and a non-partner of the association.
- The case was based on alleged non-payment of a commission claim for an event at a hotel.
- The event in question was the third repeat of a conference which Logical Venue Solutions had originally placed in 2006 and again in 2007.
- Despite the agent making the hotel aware that the client may be liable to confirm in person for 2008 during the 2007 event, Britannia Hotels claimed that no commission was payable for the 2008 event as the booking was 'direct'.
- The judge ruled in favour of Britannia, stating that in strict legal terms no contract was in place and that any document such as terms of business or a letter of engagement may have made him view the situation differently.
- The presiding judge also stated his sympathy with the claimant and drew comparisons with estate agents who are often circumnavigated during house sales.
All hotels, venues and training centres that make up the HBAA's membership must adhere to the Code of Conduct, which drives professionalism within the hotel booking sector. Britannia hotels are not members of the HBAA.
Peter Ducker, Executive Director of the HBAA, said: "This highlights the need to have clear terms of business between parties in order to protect clients, agents and venues. Obviously in business transacted between HBAA members and Partner venues the Code of Conduct - widely regarded as being the balanced, fair and comprehensive rules to protect all parties is automatically in play."
"The HBAA's advice to all members is that when they find themselves dealing with a venue that is not an association partner they insist that the terms of the HBAA code apply. If the venue will not agree to that they should question where the sticking points are, and advise their clients accordingly of any compromise in their protection".
Steve Ockerby, Managing Director of Logical Venue Solutions said: "Clearly this is a disappointing outcome for us yet I do not regret bringing the case to court. It was important that we drew attention to a practice which, thankfully, is much less prevalent in the industry that it was years ago."
"However, with the HBAA helping to drive a resolution of the situation, we are confident that this should never happen again to any agent. It was also interesting to read the comments of Mr Ferrari, Britannia's FD, trumpeting their 25% commission rate currently being offered to agents."
"Hotel groups who recognise the true value of business from the agency market and who have spent years developing genuine partnerships with this vital supply chain do not have to resort to such extreme measures once the going gets tough".
For more information, visit HBAA
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