Planners as travel agents?!?

  • November 30, 2011
  • Rose
  • Comments
(5)

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

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{ 5 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.

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