B2B distribution Selling transfers through travel agents: a B2B guide.

Why the B2B channel matters

Travel agents, online travel agencies, tour operators, destination management companies and hotels sell transfers as part of a bigger trip. They bring volume you could never reach with your own marketing, and they book early, which makes planning easier. In exchange they expect net rates, credit, fast confirmation and clean monthly paperwork.

Run badly, B2B becomes the riskiest part of the business: unpaid balances, agents selling below your retail price, and staff re-typing bookings from emails. Run well, it is the most predictable revenue you have.

Net rates and markup tiers

Keep one rate card with net prices, then apply a markup per agent tier. A Gold agent sees a smaller markup than a Standard agent; a retail customer sees the full selling price. Because net and selling prices are stored separately, you can always see your real margin per agent.

• Tiers make onboarding easy: a new agent starts on Standard and moves up with volume.
• Contract rate cards work better for large corporate clients with annual agreements.
• Locked quotes protect both sides: an agent’s confirmed booking keeps its price when you publish a new rate card.

See transfer pricing models for how net prices are built in the first place.

Credit limits, deposits and available credit

Most agents book on credit. The safe way to manage it is a simple formula, checked automatically on every confirmation:

Available credit = credit limit + deposit − amount owed. If a booking would exceed available credit, it should not confirm on credit. When an amendment raises the price, credit should be checked again.

Deposits let you work with new or smaller agents without extending real credit: the agent tops up by bank transfer or cash, uploads the slip, and the deposit increases available credit once it is recorded. Refunds of unused deposits should follow the same documented path.

KYC and maker-checker approvals

Before an agent gets a credit limit, collect their documents: trade licence or commercial registration, tourism licence, tax certificate and address. Then make credit increases a two-person decision: one person proposes the new limit, another approves it, and only when KYC is complete. This maker-checker rule removes the most common source of bad debt in B2B transfers, a limit raised as a favour.

Sub-agents and members

Larger agencies have branches or resell to smaller agents. Supporting one level of sub-agents, plus individual members with their own logins, lets an agency manage its network while you keep one credit relationship with the parent account.

How agents book: portal, app or API

Give agents three ways in, because they work in different ways:

1. Web portal or app for agents who book transfers one by one and want to see prices, credit and their ledger.
2. Public REST API for agencies and OTAs that want transfers inside their own booking engine, with API keys, rate limits, a sandbox for testing and webhooks for status updates.
3. Your booking desk for agents who still prefer to email or call, so your staff book on their behalf in the same system.

Whichever route a booking takes, it should land in the same engine with the same pricing, credit check and dispatch. The agents and corporates module covers all three.

Statements, ageing and invoices

Agents need statements that match their own records; your accounts team needs to see who is overdue. Look for always-current account statements, receivables ageing, and invoices generated from the bookings themselves, including e-invoices where your country requires them. When agent deposits, bookings and payments post to a real ledger, reconciliation with each agent becomes a report, not a project. More in integrated accounting.

B2B channel checklist

If you also sell to corporates, read our chauffeur and corporate accounts guide. To see agent credit, deposits and markup tiers live, request a demo.