HAS THE MAINSTREAM TRAVEL INDUSTRY GONE SOFT ON THE MLMs/CARD MILLS?

During 2007, IATAN and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines initiated steps to combat the growing problem of issuing credentials to consumers in order that they may receive travel agent benefits and selling travel and earning commissions, another form of commission rebating and the misuse of their logo.

IATAN terminated accreditation with at least two of the alleged MLMs/card mills and promised more terminations would be forthcoming. RCL also terminated three alleged MLMs/card mills and has since reinstated Global International, one of the oldest card mills still in business. A great deal of media press was put out with much discussion about the MLMs/card mills including interviewing a few of the MLM/card mill executives. All these executives pretty much said the same thing. Remember, Sargeant Schultz of the old "Hogan's Heroes" TV series? His favorite expression was, "I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing." Apparently, those words are still used today by these MLM executives. I'm now wondering if these words are being practiced by much of the travel media, suppliers and organizations.

We are well into 2008 and have heard nothing further from IATAN, RCL or, for that matter, any of the mainstream suppliers. Is it because they have been threatened by those scarry words, "anti-trust violations?", is it apathy which most travel agents also suffer from or is it just a lack of interest? After all, revenues take the number one seat with these folks just as it does with any for profit business. It's not just about profits and putting back a little; it is 100% about profits.

I have always believed that one in business must give something back to those who kept them in business in the first place; In this case, the travel agent or travel professional. Travel professionals sell the products that keep us all in business. When the real travel professionals begin to disappear, there goes our bread and butter. When I use the word "disappear" I mean becoming less recognizable by the average consumer as a travel professional. The MLMs/card mills and some other so-called "host agencies" are simply recruiting consumers to sell travel without the proper training and doing it by the thousands. Today, these consumers or hobbyists far outnumber the serious travel professional. Suppliers continue to reward these consumer hobbyists with commissions (a form of commission rebating) and other travel agent benefits. It kind of reminds me of our government today believing a total global environment is the answer to everything. The introduction of untrained and unmotivated travel agents into the world of the trained travel professional is like the outsourcing our goods and services to countries using cheap labor. You receive an inferior product in return most of the time, in this case, untrained consumer travel agents selling the supplier's products.

Travel agents are the most apathetic group I have ever encountered; with some exceptions. Its the younger professional in his/her 20's, 30's and 40's that should be speaking out as they will be around a lot longer than most of us older duffers. They need to work together to safeguard their future as travel professionals. Normally, the best way is to ban together and join an organization that will speak out for them and not just offer a little product /destination training and a few FAMS. OSSN, NACTA and STARS have the best opportunity to do real justice for its travel agent members. The older organizations, namely ASTA and ARTA, have done nothing for us in recent years and are mainly controlled by people who prefer the status quo. The only exception being ARTA's creration of TRIP, a travel agent indentification program which stands for higher standards. I believe every independent travel professional should seek out the pros and cons of OSSN, NACTA and STARS. Join one of them and become an active member.

Yes, mainstream travel is soft on the MLM/card mills and other questionable host agencies. When one can no longer determine a travel professional from a consumer travel agent it will be too late. We need to clean up our act, improve standards in the way we operate our business and work to improve the image and standards of our travel agent professionals.

NOTE: IATAN recently won a decision over YTB concerning the use of the IATA, IATAN name and logo. I hope IATAN will check out the list of "bums" below and terminate all of them if they are in violation. It's obvious CLIA supports these businesses and has done nothing. I hope we have at least one organization with the "chimes" to do the right thing. One final comment. If the new Travel Retailer Identification Program known as TRIP is accepted by all, they will cause great harm to IATAN and CLIA unless they themselves improve standards. The "cash cow" will be coming to an end for some of these travel agent ID sellers.

EXPOSING THE MLMs and CARD MILL AGENCIES-

This section appears and is updated on a monthly basis. I think it's always good to know who these vultures are that prey upon the travel agent or consumer. The vultures are the companies only and do not reflect upon the few serious travel agents among them. I do not address why these serious travel professionals belong to such trash, however, it is their business and their decision.

The companies listed below are either an MLM or a card mill. Some are both. I just cannot understand why some suppliers support the 95% of these MLM affiliates when they are just consumers trying to discount their vacation. Some suppliers will say they support these companies because they can't separate the consumers from the serious agents. The solution is to stiffen the requirements for all incentives to travel agents. Of course, there are those suppliers that feed on pure greed for a sale and allow consumer affiliates to book travel and provide commissions. ( It's called "commission rebating" or throwing manure against the wall to see what sticks). It's OK for the suppliers but not the travel agent to rebate commissions. Suppliers who really care about the travel professional would not advertise on the MLM websites or display at their "smell the money" conventions. A supplier does not need to terminate the MLM agency, they just need to toughen up their requirements as to who sells their products and who goes on a Fam.

The following companies are either MLMs, card mills or financially troubled host agencies. If you know of others please let me know and I will add them to the list that will be printed twice monthly. If you find that I am incorrect in listing one of these companies, I will do a retraction in the following issue.

A-1 TRAVEL-VACATION.COM
ALL TRAVEL and CRUISE CENTER, INC
AMERICAN TRAVEL BUREAU
AMERICAN VOYAGER TRAVEL a/k/a GRAND VOYAGER TRAVEL
CASH CARD WORLDWIDE, now known as TRAVEL REACTION
COASTAL VACATION CLUB
GATEWAY ASSURANCE SYSTEM
GOLDRUSH GETAWAYS
EE TRAVEL BENEFITS
GLOBAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL
FUN TIME VACATION CLUB
GAZOOBA TRAVEL
GT TRENDS formerly PRT TRAVEL
HOLIDAY PLANNERS a/k/a INFINITE FRONTIERS and formerly AMERICAN VOYAGER, not to be confused with Holiday Planners , Branson, Missouri.
INTELETRAVEL(terminated by IATAN)
KE TRAVEL
JOIN CRUISE TO CASH
PROTRAVEL NETWORK, not to be confused with ProTravel International
TRAVELOGIA already cooked
TRAVELWIZE a/k/a CYBERWIZE
TRAVERUS
ULTIMATE CHOICE TRAVEL
WORLD VENTURES TRAVEL
YTB INTERNATIONAL (Terminated by IATAN, RCL and Perillo Tours). YOUR TRAVEL BIZ, YTBCARS, YTB TRAVEL NETWORK and REZconnect TECHNOLOGIES operate as separate companies under YTB International may not be affected by the terminations. For example, Vacation Central, under Rezconnect is not affected.

I have only heard of three agency terminations by RCL effective November 9, 2007. They are YTB, GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL and JOYSTAR. I understand RCL reinstated Global. IATAN terminated 4 agencies, two of which are YTB and Inteletravel. If you know of others please let me know.

ALL THE ARTICLES I WRITE ARE GENERATED FROM MY OWN PERSONAL RESEARCH. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE MY OWN AND IN NO WAY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL, COMPANY, ORGANIZATION OR EVEN MY MOTHER TO WHICH I MAY OR MAY NOT BE CONNECTED.

Comments

[Andre Roberts]

Extraordinary Vacations group; Trip Professionals; Cruise SHoppes- started the MLM for the company about 2 years ago- I work for this company and it is ready to go belly up.

[Rick Sutton]

What happend to joystar and travelstar? why are they no longer on your list, they went MLM because the "host" thing wasn't working? Why did you pull them off are you getting paid by them? they ripped me off

[Kim C]

After viewing different host agency web sites to compare for more information. Aren't you the same as YTB minus the recruiting....You are selling an agency, charging a one time start up fee,and charging a yearly fee. It sounds the same to me.