About Commissions

The OPERA Commissions module, activated by the Commission Handling add-on license (OPP_COM), provides a comprehensive and technologically advanced commission processing service. The Commissions function collects and consolidates details about commissionable guest stays and commissionable transactions from every reservation. When commission payments are processed, guest stay details are combined with travel agent and source profile data to identify the agents and sources that are eligible for commissions and how much commission they have earned. The output of the commission payment process can either be commission checks or electronic funds transfer (EFT) files that are forwarded to whichever clearinghouse the property uses.

The commissions payment process also flags commissions that the property wants to send to AR in order to offset the agent/source account; it handles prepaid commissions to avoid double payment; and it enables placing a hold on the payment of selected commissions for reasons determined by the property. Management reports are available throughout the commissions payment process.

After the commission payments have been processed, OPERA offers features for tracking outstanding, voided, cleared and unpresented commission checks, and for reprinting checks as necessary.

Commission codes are at the heart of the Commissions function. Commission codes determine the conditions under which commissions are to be paid, and how the commission is to be computed (e.g., as a percentage of revenue or a flat amount). These codes are then attached to travel agent and source profiles (sources include meeting planners, corporate travel departments, etc.), or directly to the rate codes that are assigned to reservations.

OPERA provides travel agents and sources with an automated solution to replace the previously labor-intensive process of reconciling their commissions, including the data capture, tracking and accounting of every commission dollar paid from a participating property. This value-added commission consolidation and reporting benefit facilitates more efficient and effective operation for both property and travel agency participants by providing a single, monthly commission payment to member travel agencies from participating properties.

With additional application settings and parameters, you can choose to activate the following options:

• Automatically calculate value added tax over the commission paid.
• Automatically preprint the commission report before cutting the actual commission checks or generating the EFT file.
• Allow commission hold reasons to be set.
• Use ISO codes for exporting country information for a travel agent.
• Include zero commission records in payment processing. Zero commission records will be sent to history upon payment.
• Pre pay commissions to the agent or source.
• Use pre-printed checks for commissions. This will internally void a check/stub number if a check number was used due to another check exceeding one page.
• Pay commission to a source.
• Show the commission code on the source profile.
• Show all no shows and cancellations in the Commissions module and calculate commission for them if applicable.
• Validate IATA numbers attached to the profile in order to pay the commission.

These options and other key Commission handling features are covered in the following topics:

Payment Processing - Pay commissions by bank account or by agent/source. When working with bank accounts, you can pay a commission to one agent or source or to multiple agents and sources.

Payment Activity - Use the Payment Activity function to reconcile the commission payments with the bank statement. Checks can be cleared, marked as unpresented, voided, reprinted, or viewed by status. A user-definable check format setup is very similar to the OPERA folio setup. This flexibility allows the property to tailor the output to existing, pre-printed check forms.

Commissions Research - Rapidly determine the status or details of any commission due or paid.