Planners as travel agents?!?

November 30, 2011
Rose
Share this ShareThis
Comments

(7)

by Rose on November 30, 2011

A recent Court of Appeal ruling by Justice Gregory A. Pockele found that David Gray, president of Ontario-based All Sport Accommodation, functioned as a travel agent when he facilitated accommodation with a hotel on behalf of his clients. At the time, Gray was not registered with the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), the administration and enforcement body of the Ontario Travel Industry Act, and to which all those who sell or facilitate travel services (which includes accommodation), must, by law, belong. As a result, Justice Pockele ruled that Gray was in violation of the Act and was thus “properly convicted.”

This ruling effectively defines planners as travel agents. What do you think about this situation?

Tagged as: All Sport Accommodation, David Gray, event planner, meeting planner, TICO, Travel Industry Act

Posted In Incentives + Meetings

Tags All Sport Accommodation, David Gray, event planner, meeting planner, TICO, Travel Industry Act

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

Sandy Biback December 7, 2011 at 4:31 pm: I am not a travel agent–I do not plan leisure travel for clients. As a planner, my role is to manage all elements of a meeting/conference/event, etc. That includes booking bedrooms for speakers, ensuring speakers have appropriate transportation. It also includes reserving blocks of rooms at venues for delegates and/or arranging group travel. Meeting Standards that were accepted by HRDC in 1996, indicates that this is part of our role. It does not pertain at all to leisure travel.

If I was in the leisure travel business, I’d be a member. I am not a travel agent–I an a professional meeting planner
sherryll December 7, 2011 at 9:02 pm: Hi Sandy, Thanks for your passionate and thoughtful response. You’ve made some excellent points. After extensive interviews with several key players, including David Gray and TICO, among others, it became clear to me that there is a serious lack of communication between TICO and the business events community. As a result, I put forward the idea that Ignite host a roundtable with TICO and leaders from the business events industry to bridge the communication gap. The suggestion was met with positive response, and the roundtable will be taking place next week with Doug Bolger of iLearn2 as moderator. We will cover the outcome of the roundtable in detail, along with photos, in our Feb issue. Stay tuned for more! Best, ~ Sherryll, editor, sherryll@ignitemag.ca
Phil Ecclestone January 4, 2012 at 1:26 pm: If the crux of it is that David Gray arranged for guests to book rooms and received compensation from the hotel, does this make on-line booking programs like PassKey a travel agent? I agree with Sandy that we are professional event planners not travel agents any more than travel agents are professional event planners. I look forward to the February report.
sherryll January 4, 2012 at 4:24 pm: Hi Phil,

Happy New Year and thanks for your comments. Well, it’s an extremely complicated issue and your scenario was among many that were tossed around at our meeting with TICO (just before the holidays). The article I’m currently writing (which will appear in our Feb issue) delves into the TICO topic in detail, and hopefully will answer most of your questions, and spur on more discussion in our industry.
Cheers, ~ Sherryll, editor, sherryll@ignitemag.ca
Abigail Timmons Drasperton February 8, 2012 at 11:15 pm: In turn, the prospective client has an opportunity to determine whether the planner has the ability to offer the types of services that are needed.
Anne Thornley-Brown @executiveoasis March 1, 2012 at 5:05 pm: I want to congratulate you on your excellent and comprehensive exploration of issues related to TICO and event planners. This was my original blog entry that sounded the alarm in November, 2011 about this important issue:

Ontario Court of Appeal Ruling Jeopardizes Event and Wedding Planners
http://blog.cvent.com/blog/executiveoasis/event-planner-jeopardy

While what I wrote was a shock to many Ontario event planners and industry leaders, I am glad to have been instrumental in bringing these issues to light so that event planners can take the steps required to ensure that they comply with the law.

Through continued dialogue with TICO, I am sure that the confusion will be cleared and gray areas sorted out. I also met with Michael Pepper at TICO and found that he is willing to work with event planners to sort things out. Your roundtable and the town halls that have been held by MPI and BEICC are important steps in the right direction. I do feel that business travel and leisure travel are different and that there needs to be a clear set of guidelines for business travel and events.

As for me, as soon as I can catch my breath (I have been working steadily since November), I intend to write the travel counsellor exam. I have identified a travel agency with which I can form an alliance to serve my clients. In the meantime, for any inquiries that involve travel services as defined by the new case law, I am advising clients that they either have their regular travel agent do the bookings or that they book through one of 2 travel agents that has agreed to handle our bookings.
sherryll March 1, 2012 at 6:10 pm: Thanks for your comments, Abigail.

And for your compliments, Anne. We credit you for being the first to bring this important issue to the fore in your LinkedIn comments (as above).

Please note: Will soon be bringing you a Special Report on what was discussed at the BEICC Town Hall. Keep your eyes peeled! Cheers, ~ Sherryll, editor, sherryll@ignitemag.ca

Planners as travel agents?!?

Categories