THE RISK
Nothing marks the deposit as the customer's.
The failure is structural. Money arrives into an account with no rule attached, and by the time anyone can tell the difference it has already been spent.
- 01
The deposit funds last year's group
Bookings for the departure that is leaving now are paid from the deposits of the departure that leaves next year. It works until intake slows.
- 02
Nothing is booked yet
A customer who has paid in full may have no ticket issued, no visa lodged, no room held. There is no moment where they are told which of those are true.
- 03
The agency reports on itself
Progress is whatever the agency says it is. The one party with an interest in the answer is the only party producing it.
- 04
By the time it shows, it is gone
The signal that an agency is in trouble is a departure that slips. At that point the money for it was spent months earlier.
None of this requires anyone to behave badly. It only requires the intake to slow down.