Selling travel to sub-agents abroad: currency, FX and credit

1. Decide what a "market" means for your business

Before you touch currencies, define the unit you're managing. For most networks a market is some combination of:

• Where the agent is based (their country, legal entity and tax registration)
• What currency the agent pays in (not always the local currency; many agents in the Gulf and parts of Africa and Asia prefer to settle in US dollars)
• Which of your entities contracts with them (if you run more than one company)
• Which suppliers and fares they're allowed to see

Write this down per market. When "UAE agents" can mean AED-paying agents, USD-paying agents, or agents contracted through a different entity, every later rule gets ambiguous.

2. Supplier currency vs selling currency

Every booking has at least two currencies: the one the supplier charges you in, and the one your agent pays you in. Sometimes there's a third, your own reporting or base currency.

Settle three questions:

• Where does conversion happen? At search, at booking, or at invoicing? If the price an agent saw at search was converted at one rate and the invoice uses another, you'll have disputes.
• Which rate do you use? A published reference rate, your bank's rate, or a rate you set yourself and update on a schedule. Any is defensible; switching between them without telling agents isn't.
• Who carries the FX risk between booking and payment, especially on credit? If an agent books today and settles in 30 days, a currency move in that window is your cost unless your terms say otherwise.

Some suppliers will bill in more than one currency. Where you have the choice, billing in the currency you collect in removes a conversion step entirely.

3. FX buffers and markups per market

The common mistake is treating FX and margin as the same number. They do different jobs:

An FX buffer protects you from rate movement between pricing and settlement. It should track volatility, so it's often higher for currencies that move more.

A markup is your commercial margin for that market, tier or product. It should track competition and your agreement with the agent.

Keep them separate so you can change one without breaking the other. When a currency weakens, you want to adjust the buffer for that currency, not reprice every markup rule in the market.

Practical rules that hold up:

• Set markups per currency or per market, not one global percentage. A flat fee that's sensible in one currency can be meaningless or excessive in another.
• Use effective dates, so a commercial change lands on a known day instead of whenever someone edits a sheet.
• Decide whether markups are applied before or after conversion. Either works, but rounding differs, and agents will notice an odd-looking price.
• Round to what the market expects. A fare ending in .37 looks like a calculation, not a price.

Our guide to sub-agent tiers, credit and markups covers how tiered markup rules cascade; here the point is that each rule needs a currency attached.

4. Credit limits and wallets across currencies

Credit and wallets are where multi-currency selling gets risky, because a limit only means something in a specific currency.

• Pick one credit currency per agent and stick to it. An agent with a USD limit who books a fare priced in EUR needs a clear, consistent conversion at the moment of booking.
• Decide what happens to exposure when rates move. If a limit is set in the agent's currency but your risk is measured in yours, a weakening currency can quietly increase your exposure without the agent booking anything new.
• Match top-ups to the wallet currency. Deposits received in a different currency should be converted once, at a recorded rate, and shown to the agent.
• Hold, don't fail. Over-limit bookings are better parked in an approval queue than rejected, especially for agents in a different time zone from your desk.

5. Tax by market

Each market brings its own indirect tax rules: GST, VAT or none, different treatment for flights, hotels and service fees, and sometimes rules on which currency an invoice must show. You don't need to become a tax expert, but you do need:

• Tax advice for each market you invoice into, not just your home market
• Clarity on whether your service fee and markup are taxed differently from the travel component
• Invoices that show the currency and, where required, the conversion rate used
• A way to issue credit notes in the same currency as the original invoice, so refunds don't create new FX differences

Whatever system you use, the tax and currency on the invoice should come from the same booking record the agent saw, not be re-keyed in the back office.

6. Settlement and statements

Agents in different markets pay differently: bank transfer, card, local payment methods, sometimes cash deposits through a partner. That affects timing, fees and which currency actually lands in your account.

Good practice:

• One statement per agent in their currency, showing bookings, payments, credit notes and balance in one place
• Record the rate on every conversion, so the statement can be explained line by line
• Reconcile supplier statements in the supplier's currency, then report the FX gain or loss separately instead of hiding it in margin
• Agree payment terms per market, especially credit periods, before the first booking, not after the first late payment

If partners can't reconcile your statement against their own records, every month starts with a dispute.

7. Supply and content per market

Agents in different markets don't need the same supply. A partner in Europe may care about different airlines, hotel inventory and fare types than one in the Gulf. Decide which suppliers, private fares and products each market can see, and whether you hold contracts that are only valid for certain points of sale.

If you sell through a portal, check you can connect a supplier once and switch it on per market. If your partners want your inventory inside their own systems instead, a travel API lets them book with their own front end while your commercial rules still apply on your side.

8. Hosting, data and contracts

Selling into new regions sometimes raises questions about where booking and traveller data lives. Ask your platform where it's hosted, whether you can choose a region, and what your contracts in each market require.

The multi-market checklist on one page

Settle before adding the next market.

• Market definition: Country, entity, selling currency, supply visibility
• Currencies: Supplier vs selling currency, where and at which rate you convert
• FX and markups: Separate FX buffer per currency; markups per market with effective dates; rounding
• Credit and wallets: One credit currency per agent, exposure rules, top-up conversion, approval queue
• Tax: Advice per market, fee vs travel treatment, currency on invoices and credit notes
• Settlement: Statement per agent in their currency, recorded rates, payment terms
• Supply: Suppliers and fares enabled per market
• Data: Hosting region and contract requirements

Where Elkanio fits

Nucleus is our branded B2B platform for consolidators and master agencies. Its markup rules can be set by supplier, airline, cabin, destination, product or agency tier, as a percentage or flat amount, per currency and with effective dates. Each agency gets its own credit limit, deposits and prepaid wallet, bookings draw on the balance live, and sales, ledger and commission statements run per agency and per tier. For networks with branches in several markets, Elkanio for agencies and consolidators lets you connect suppliers once at head office and enable them per branch or market. Hosting options cover India, Singapore, the EU and Dubai.

Bring your list of markets and currencies from section 1 to a demo, and we'll walk through how your rules would be set up.