Interesting news emerging from the world of agency distribution as it appears some Travelport customers have won a concession over the introduction of its Agility scheme.
Travelport has made what it calls "limited changes" to the Agility package for agencies in the Americas, but has declined to elaborate any further at this stage.
An official says:
"Based on customer feedback, we have made limited changes to the Americas Agility package. We are discussing those details with our customers in the Americas."
Since it announced the Agility programme in early-December 2011, Travelport has so far only faced public resistance from agencies in North America.
The project puts software and functionality for Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo-connected agents onto a single platform, including the global roll-out of Smartpoint. It also includes the introduction of connection fees for the first time, as well as a 30-day notification to make the necessary changes.
Ahead of the Christmas holiday period, Travelport said it would stand firm on the introduction of Agility despite pressure from a number of agency groups.
It has now confirmed that all agency customers in the Americas region will have a revised package, the first sign that negotiations between some agencies and Travelport during December were successful, at least in the eyes of customers.
Although Travelport says the changes are "limited", one US group, Nexion, which counts over 3,000 agencies in its portfolio, wrote to customers last week with the following:
"Travelport Agility Postponed for Nexion - What better way to end the year with some great news."
In the email, Nexion president Jackie Friedman went on to explain that Travelport had notified the group that it would be "exempt from the new Agility program as well as the Agility program fee" for the remainder of its contract, which is approximately four years.
Friedman added:
"We were able to achieve this through formal discussions with Travelport and based on those discussions and our volume, this amicable decision was reached."
It is unclear at this stage if the concession Nexion has achieved, which appears to be based primarily on volumes of either transactions or number of desktops, is the same as the changes confirmed by Travelport today.