I was reading an interesting article in Travel Weekly today by Mark Pestronk, their legal expert. They were discussing the liabilities of an agency when a tour operator goes belly up.

So the first thing you need to do is to be sure to disclose the identity of the tour operator at the time you make the sale. Add the name to the itinerary that you produce and send to the client, and make clear that the named operator is providing the service.

Even better, add the name to the bottom of a signed disclaimer that says you are not liable for the operator’s acts or omissions. This step is especially important when you use a consolidator, as clients often have no idea that such a middleman is involved.

I know that some agencies do not like to disclose the particular vendor (and not disclosing it is an option in ClientBase) to prevent people from “shopping” them. but in today’s economic times, I recommend that you disclose, disclose, disclose!

And certainly, you need to have the disclaimer on the bottom of your invoices.  The disclaimers are set up on a branch level.

UTILITIES–>BRANCH–>(Select the proper branch)–>MODIFY–>(Click on the Invoice Remarks)–>(Compose your disclaimer)–>CHECK THE BOX THAT SAYS ALWAYS PRINT–>(Select either INSERT, UPDATE, or NEW)–>OK. Using the arrows on the side of the remarks summary window, you can change the order in which the remarks appear on the invoice.

Here is a sample of my disclaimer:

Single Parent Travel (SPT) acts as a sales agent for any airline, hotel, car rental company, tour operator, cruise line, or other service provider named in your itinerary. SPT is not responsible for acts or omissions of the suppliers, their failure to provide services or adhere to their own schedules, their failure to pay any refund, or for any personal injury, property damage, or other loss, accident, delay, inconvenience, or irregularity which may be caused by any party not under SPT’s control. By accepting this invoice or itinerary, you hereby agree to release SPT from all claims arising out of any problem covered in this paragraph.

And when practical, we have the client sign the invoice. In today’s electronic environment this is not possible a lot of times!

Tags: Disclaimer, Invoice, Set Up Tips