A new tool to help agents recover commission payments from hotels has been launched in France by Amadeus.
The travel technology and GDS company said that 60 hotel brands worldwide ahs so far signed up for the Worldwide Commission Manager (WCM).
It said the tool was now available to 4,400 agencies in France.
Amadeus said the WCM gave agents a web-based single point of information on hotel bookings and commissions which would help track which payments were still due.
Jean De Durfort, Amadeus' head of hotel distribution, said: "Our travel agencies are telling us that hotel commissions are a key source of revenue for them and at the same time administratively challenging to keep track of.
"We have launched WCM to give our agencies visibility on the status of the commission owed to them across the range of hotels they work with from just one tool.
"Participating hotels benefit from the transparency they are willing to provide and that becomes a sales argument for their hotel."
HRG and Starcite market new meetings tool
Hogg Robinson Group and Starcite have joined forces to market a new online meetings management tool.
HRG Event Solution was launched at the IMEX exhibition in Frankfurt this week.
The tool covers meetings planning, venue sourcing, attendee management and multi-spend reporting.
The tool is available in English and German and soon also in French. Other European languages will be added later.
Christer Nordlund, HRG's director events and meetings management, said companies wanted tools which showed if they received a good return on investment.
"We have been working with clients to provide high quality meetings and conferences that deliver excellent value for money," he said.
"The ROI concept is being used to an increasing extent for this industry and the trend is clear: multinational companies are taking charge and directing processes towards increased cost and quality control."