In the 3rd part of the Tourism Relations Regulation, quota (allocation) contracts are mentioned under the title of contracts to be made for reservations over a certain period of time. However, in this regulation, it is not mentioned what the quota agreement is, but the conditions in which it will be regulated. This is explained in article 41 of the regulation as follows.
We can define the quota agreement as a contract between the hotel and the agency for a certain period or for special events, where the hotelier agrees to allocate a certain number of rooms to the agency customer, and the agency agrees to provide customers to the places allocated by the hotel. It is a consensual contract that imposes debt on both sides.
Quota agreements are a framework agreement. For this reason, separate contracts are established with each group of customers. However, these contracts should be clearly arranged in the quota contract, which is a framework. Although the framework is a contract, the booking request as a confirmation for each customer and group must be forwarded to the hotel by the agency. However, this reservation request is not a request for the establishment of a contract, but a request for approval for the use of the places reserved by the hotel for the purpose of allocation.
Quota agreements must be made in writing between the hotel and the agency. In the Tourism Relations Regulation, a written contract is not required for Individual and Group contracts.
Although the types of quota agreement are not indicated in the relevant regulation, there are two types of application. However, they should not be considered to be limited in number.
Non-Guaranteed Quota Agreement: In these types of contracts, the hotel undertakes to reserve a certain number of rooms, but the agency has no obligation to pay if they cannot sell these rooms. A waiting period is set to prevent the hotelier from being connected for an indefinite period. Until the waiting period, the hotelier is obliged to keep the rooms allocated empty as if they will be sold at any time during the allocation period. The agency cannot request the hotel to stop the sale before the waiting period is over. With the signing of the contract between the agency and the hotel, the hotel allocates a certain number of rooms to the agency, and the agency makes a prepayment to the hotel in advance, based on the estimated sales amount. No other payment can be made until the accommodation of the agency customers is over. If the prepayment made at the end of the season, if the agency customers cannot stay, it will be returned to the agency as a result of the agreement to be made between the parties or left to the hotel as a prepayment made based on the contract of the next year.
Guaranteed Quota Agreement: In such contracts, the hotel undertakes to reserve a certain number of rooms or the travel agency undertakes to provide a certain number of overnight stays or turnover. In this case, the travel agency is obliged to pay the price, the difference in turnover, even if it does not allow these rooms under the contract to be used. If the hotel has committed to reserve a certain number of rooms, the agency is obliged to record the no show invoices issued by the hotel into their commercial records. In the turnover guaranteed allocation contracts, the targeted turnover amount is determined over the sales to be made by the agency, if the specified amount cannot reach the turnover, the remaining amount must be paid within the scope of the guarantee obligation.
In our country, mostly guaranteed quota contracts are made.
Court of Cassation Decisions on Quota Agreements:
In case of a guaranteed room quota contract, in the presence of force majeure, the money given as a result of the contract must be returned. However, the Iranian market is generally not a stable market. The fact that the Iranian State imposed some restrictions on Antalya flights has become a common practice. It has been decided that in cases where flights are made with connecting flights, the person should take this into account and cancellation of flights will not be considered as force majeure. (11.CC 2020/4852 E. , 2020/5962 K.)
The defendant hotel has allocated a total of 870 rooms, 104 rooms for the weekend and 766 rooms for weekdays, valid between 01/10/2013 and 02/10/2014 on behalf of the plaintiff agency. The plaintiff agency paid 100,000.00 TL to the defendant for these quotas to be valid between 01/10/2013 and 02/10/2014. Even if the room overnight guaranteed by the plaintiff agency is not fully used in the specified period, the plaintiff is responsible for the entire service fee. It was decided that the plaintiff agent was responsible for the total room price promised in accordance with the guaranteed room quota agreement. (23. Civil Chamber 2016/9087 E. , 2020/418 K.)