Agent rewards and loyalty programme MyBookingRewards is growing its UK membership after winning the endorsement of major consortia.
Darren Pearson, founder of MyBookingRewards, told TTG the rewards scheme was now being recommended by the Global Travel Group and the Advantage Travel Partnership to its members. He added Thomas Cook agents were also being allowed to sign up to Jamaica Rewards, one of the white-label incentive programmes run by MyBookingRewards.
Tropical Sky, Kenwood Travel and Blue Bay Travel have also endorsed the platform in recent months.
Pearson said one of the key selling points was the policy of paying the tax on any rewards earned by agents directly to HMRC.
“We are HMRC-approved in the UK so we deduct the tax at source,” he explained. “The employer and agent don’t have to worry about whether the tax has been paid. Global was the first consortium to endorse us in December – that was a big breakthrough.”
Pearson said MyBookingRewards not using paper vouchers was also seen as an advantage because it was difficult to monitor whether tax had been paid on them.
The platform has around 60,000 agent members around the world, with 20% of them in the UK. Its largest market is the US with around 30,000 members.
Pearson added the platform was “constantly adding” new hotel and tourist boards, with a focus on expanding the number of partners in the Middle East and Mexico.