Lawsuit against Pinnacle Travel Partners and Annaliza Proctor

I wrote this article to help Travel Advisors understand the significant issues that you can face if your Host Agency/Agent decides to withhold or simply not pay your commission. As a Sub Agent/IC you are at the mercy of your Host Agency/Agent. ASTA, CLIA, your vendors and suppliers are typically unable to assist you. If you find yourself in this situation, you may have to go through the long and costly legal process to obtain the commissions due to you. Always be sure to read your contract documents and be very cautious who you choose as your Host Agency/Agent.

I’m always looking for interesting stories that have both the Travel Advisor and finances combined and at the end of 2023, I came across an article titled; Host Agency gone wrong; six Travel Advisors head to court over nonpayment of commissions. I really wanted to know, was this just six rogue Travel Advisors going after their Host Agency or was this Host Agency actually choosing to not pay their Advisors for the work they had done and trips they had booked.

You can read the full article at the link above but in summary, the article first talks about how one of the Advisors had been with the Pinnacle Travel Partners, LLC (PTP) for about 6 months when problems first started. This individual joined Pinnacle in 2022 and fully immersed himself in the industry. He was selling travel and also traveling with the owner of Pinnacle, Annaliza Proctor. He even stated that he and Annaliza had become very good friends.

So what happened?! When his first commission check failed to appear, he let it be. The second time, though, he called the supplier—and was told they had sent the money to Pinnacle 45 days earlier. He wasted no time leaving and said “I was the first Agent to leave Pinnacle because of this,” he told Travel Report online. “It was a big shock to everyone because Annaliza and I were very good friends and traveled everywhere together—but there were clear indicators that there were bigger problems going on.”

It turns out, he was very right!

After talking with other Advisors at Pinnacle, they realized that around 12 Advisors were owed more than 40K in commission. Mistakes happen, I get it, and if you make it right when you find out, that is the end of the story. If you don't make it right, or refuse to make it right, then that is where I have a problem.

Payment did not happen to these Advisors and the first lawsuit was filed against PTP and its owner Annaliza Proctor on November 29, 2023. Shortly after, 4 more Advisors filed suit as a last resort to try and recoup their money. The group of former Pinnacle Advisors had three goals according to one of the Advisors and the article above;

Try to figure out how to get the money we are owed
To support each other
To stop Annaliza from doing this to anybody else

Unfortunately, that’s where the article ends, and that seems to be true with most stories, no closure, no follow-up. But that’s not where I stopped. I have been following the case closely through the court documents. You can read them for yourself here.

The first judgment was made on March 01, 2024 in the amount of $1,995.12. The other four cases were decided on March 26th 2024, when, believe it or not, PTPs representative Analiza Proctor decided not to show up to court. Those four cases totaled $21,347 owed to the Advisors for a grand total of $23,342 owed. This dollar amount doesn’t include other Advisors that may have chosen to just forget it and move on.

Now although the court has mandated that Pinnacle and its representative Analiza Proctor pay the amount due to these Advisors, it doesn’t seem like any of them have much confidence they will get paid, and, I can't blame them. All of the Advisors in the lawsuit filed a motion for proceedings supplemental.

In my opinion, they should be worried that they won't get paid. In March 2024, Analiza filed motions to dismiss her name from the lawsuits in every one of the cases, saying that she isn’t being sued, only Pinnacle Travel Partners, LLC, which is likely going out of business.

An LLC can provide you that legal and financial protection where the courts cant pursue your personal assets, only that of the business. However, our court systems also have what is called piercing the veil in which the can disregard the existence of the LLC for many reasons, one being evidence of inequitable results. Basically, if you try to defraud people, the courts will waive that LLC protection and come after your personal assets.

In June 2024, Annaliza failed to appear to court again and a warrant was issued for her arrest. On June 18th, 7 months after the initial lawsuits were filed, Annaliza Proctor was arrested for failure to appear.

Finally, on August 16th following another hearing, the court found that Annaliza and PTP owed each of the Advisors the requested amount and that both her and Pinnacle had sufficient funds to pay.

As of January 2025, Annaliza and Pinnacle Travel Partners, have paid one of the Advisors back in full. The other four Advisors are being paid, however, many of the monthly payments are under $75 a month on a balance of well over $1,000 dollars. At this rate it could take them months if not years to be paid the money they were due over a year ago already.

While Pinnacle Travel Partners, LLC appears to be “temporarily closed”, it also appears Annaliza has opened up a new Travel Agency, Global Gateways, LLC. It also appears she has IC/Sub agent(s) as well.

If you learn anything from this story, know that as an IC/Sub Agent, you are vulnerable. If your Host Agency/Agent decides not to pay you, your suppliers likely offer no help and you are stuck fighting for your commission from your Host Agency/Agent. Choose wisely, read your agreements, terms and conditions and consult a lawyer. Then, move on quickly at the first sign of issues.

As a Host Agency/Agent you need to ensure you have the knowledge and experience to handle the business and financial side of having ICs/Sub Agents. If not, don’t put others' money and livelihood at risk. When you take on the responsibility of employing others or having independent contractors, the right thing to do is pay others what is rightfully theirs. Their commission is not your commission.

If you screw up, make a mistake, fall on hard times, encounter health or relationship problems, etc. , admit your mistakes, take responsibility and do whatever it takes to make things right. Don’t force people to spend months or years of their life taking you to court just to retain what is theirs.

I will continue to follow this until the Advisors are paid every cent they are owed and ensure others don’t find themselves in a similar situation.

The travel world is full of some of the most amazing people so don't let one person dissuade you from this great industry. As with everything, be careful who you associate with and if your gut tells you it's a bad situation, believe it and move on!

I hope you found this article helpful. If you are looking for a great resource regarding the tax and finance side of your business I recommend you check out the Taxes for Travel Agent Digital Course as well as wealth of other resources at the Taxes for Travel Agents website.

Also feel free to join our Facebook community Taxes for Travel Agents.

I hope this case comes to an end soon. I will continue to follow and will update the blog as things change. Thank you for reading.