MSPeconomist

There's a thread (now closed) in the Luxury forum about some very bad experiences that a number of people on FT have had with the same travel agent. The guy is a member of FT and apparently solicited business for himself through PMs.

This raises the question in the minds of at least several people about FT policy in such situations. In particular, should FT members be allowed to solicit business on FT? [It's apparently currently allowed, although of course new FT members can only send limited number of PMs. Also, the extent to which the guy solicited business for himself on FT isn't clear--there could be additional similar stories.]

There's also a second thread in Luxury about how independent contractor travel agents and Virtuoso etc. work. There's been a bit of discussion regarding solicitations on FT and whether it's proper for the travel agent to do so.

Moving beyond the context of luxury travel services, there could also be a more general policy matter of whether FT members should be allowed to solicit business for themselves (as service providers or salespeople for goods and services beyond the travel sphere) on FT via PM or other methods.

Someone said today that there was once a thread about suggestions and recommendations for Virtuoso agents, but apparently it wasn't very effective in providing ratings or information about client experiences with various agencies and agents, including those who are FT members.

ADDED: At this point, I'm not attempting to make a suggestion, but just to raise the issue and put it on the CD's radar. Maybe others already have opinions about whether there should be consideration of a change in policy.