YTB INTERNATIONAL'S ATTEMPT AT CREDIBILITY BACKFIRES

YTB International, the most dispicable in my opinion, and largest multi-level-marketing travel company and card mill thought they had one more in the bag on its quest to be more credible. YTB had elected Bob Dickinson, retired CEO for Carnival Cruise Lines to its Board of Directors along with a local, non-descript politician from Florida. There was a good compensation package in place for the new Board Members. However, Mr. Dickinson, remaining loyal to the many travel agents who have supported him over the years, declined the Board seat.

YTB International, in recent months, has been trying to gain more acceptance and credibility with the mainstream travel industry. They have hired well known and respected Marc Mancini to write training programs, purchased a retail travel agency in Canada and most recently attempted to recruit one of the best known cruise executives.

The problem with YTB and the other MLMs of this world is that their focus and revenues are not based upon earning travel commissions. About 20% of their revenue is from earned commissions while the rest is about signing up referral agents and selling websites that don't draw flies. The MLM world is very different in that management is generally made up of smooth talking "con artists", used car salesmen (YTB also sells cars) and former snake oil salespeople. You just need to do a little research on these people to see how they talk about the MLM industry and each other. The serious travel agents who started with YTB are moving to the legitimate Host Agencies because the commissions are higher, the costs are lower, the training is consistent and there is support.

It is unfortunate CLIA is a major supporter of these MLMs just because it brings in revenue and damn the real travel agents and their dedicated work.

My research of the MLM plague has resulted in dividing MLM players into the following categories.

1) Those smooth talking "con artists" etc, as mentioned above, who have no conscience when making statements as to the wealth building promises using their plan. These are generally the MLM's management who make most of the money.

2) The next tier are those who came into the game afterward, but see much wealth ahead of them in creating a team with their own identity and often their own website. They also have no conscience and prey upon their family, friends and anybody who will listen. Some of them do make money from selling business opportunities but it is generally short lived.

3) This group are the real suckers and are sold a dream based on hype, deceit and lies. Their predator, from 2 above, relies on the individual's own greed to sell them. These people last a very short time after running out of families and friends to sell. They also have no conception of operating a business.

4) From group 3 above you have a small group who are really only interested in becoming a travel agent. These are the ones who eventually see past the BS and seek out more legitimate sources or a Host Agency in which to pursue their ambitions of being a successful travel agent. This is the group the legitimate travel industry desires.

EXPOSING THE MLMs, CARD MILL AGENCIES AND OTHER DANGERS TO THE TRAVEL AGENT

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,a card mill or some other atrocity. I just cannot understand why some suppliers support the 95% of these MLM affiliates when they are just consumers trying to discount their vacations. 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") 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.

The following companies are either MLMs and/or card mills or a combination thereof. 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 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
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
JOYSTAR
( ADDED DUE TO FINANCIAL CONDITION) PROTRAVEL NETWORK, not to be confused with ProTravel International
REAL ADVENTURES>BR> TRAVELOGIA already cooked
TRAVELWIZE a/k/a CYBERWIZE
TRAVERUS
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

[Mary]

Thank you Peter

[John F]

Great piece. You nailed the 4 types right on!

[Tom]

No way is Joystar a MLM or Card Mill, I have been with Joystar for 3 years and I sell on a average 500 Cruises per year, 100's of tours, how dare you call me a MLM or Card Mill. I wont sell Royal unless the client absolutely ask for it, Joystar got a bad rap and RCCL should apologize.

[Tasha]

Well, I sell travel with YTB and I haven't found which category I belong to out of your four. I love selling travel, I get a lot of the business that was going on the internet anyway, so why not get those commissions instead of having it spent on shotgun advertising by the other online retailers. Personally, I think companies like YTB are saving actual people who enjoy making a living selling travel from losing it all to the expedias etc. They have given us a vehicle to get in the online game too. I see both sides and I def. pick this one. I agree that there are a lot of vultures out there though, in the form of other "host agencies"! People selling travel need training, and it is in response to serious travel professionals within YTB that the company has endeavoured to get Marc Mancini and others not only to make it more reputable but to hold themselves to a higher standard. I wish they would make it more stringent, but they have already required that new YTBers book a certain amount of non-personal travel to event get basic credentials. Hopefully we will all co-exist happily one day. In the meantime - Life, Liberty and Travel for All! Ciao.

[denyse]

I'm another person who sells travel with YTB. I do not fit into any of those categories nor do I care anymore what people say. As long as I can earn a decent income selling travel just as other professional agents do, why should I? YTB gives people who are looking to enter the travel industry a way to do that without having to attend school for months. Policies have been changed to book a certain amount of travel before credentials can be received. That's a good thing. I guess we didn't anticipate that backlash. But it's changed and people are STILL talking!! Sheeesshh.

Again, Life, Liberty and Travel for All!!

Take care and keep traveling!

[Mawill Mill]

GOOD DAY.
I NEED URGENT RESERVATIONS FOR SOME PASSENGERS
NAME--
1,BOUBACAR/MOUSSAMARRIETOU (MISS)

2,MIKEY / BOAFO (MR)

ROUTE : ACCRA--DUBAI----HONGKONG---ACCRA

AIRLINE :EMIRATE AIR LINE
ECONOMY CLASS

E-TICKET
----------------------------------------------------
QUICKLY DO THE RESERVATIONS AND GET BACK TO ME WITH
THE PRICES IMMEDIATELY SO THAT I CAN SEND YOU ALL THE
PAYMENT CREDIT CARD DETAILS FOR THE TICKETS PAYMENT
IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE I WANT ALL THE E- TICKETS TO BE
ISSUE URGENTLY OK.
NOTE : THE PAYMENT WILL BE MADE TO YOU WITH CREDIT
CARD OK.
AM WAITING FOR ALL THE RESERVATIONS URGENTLY.



BEST REGARDS,

MAWILL BELLAY.

[Joyette]

I recently graduated from a travel academy and I am in the process of setting up a home based travel agency. I am researching host agencies and will finalize my decision by the end of the month. Does anyone have a great one they are working with that they would recommend? I will add them to my research list.

[Donna]

I was suckered in by YTB about 5 months ago but have seen the light and have terminated my involvement with them. You are exactly right in all you say about YTB. I hope they are shut down.

[Lauren Fiori]

What say you, now, Mr. Peter Stilphen? I wonder why you criticize YTB so much? Is it because you are not getting as many people to join your own Host Agency, for which I see you don't really have very much to offer. How can you say the YTB website is useless? The YTB website for which one can book travel is aligned with Travelocity, which was sold for over a billion dollars, and for which every YTB RTA has access to. And please don't talk about YTB's profits. Remember Amazon.com lost billions before they started generating profit. Most companies have little revenue in the first few years of business - that is not so unusual. Mr. Stilphen, is it just sour grapes. $414 million in travel sales speaks volumes. What is the combined sales volume of all of the home-based travel agents that have signed up with your host travel agency? Speak up and give us the numbers, please. Don't let a jealous Peter Stilphen stop you from joining YTB.

Everyone pay attention, if even the former president of ASTA says so:
“YTB may well be the future of retail travel sales and deserves close study by the industry— not condemnation,” Phil Davidoff, president of Davidoff Associates and a former president of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) told Travel Agent in an interview.

Both Phil and his wife/partner, Doris Davidoff, taught two seminars at YTB’s recent national convention in St. Louis and offered praise for the quality of the estimated 15,000 to 20,000 agents who attended.

“The quality, degree of interest in travel as a profession and the awareness of the travel industry’s need for professionalism was clear to us,” Phil said. Phil and Doris are CTCs, CTIEs and MCCs, and long-standing "establishment" advocates.

The Davidoffs have been working with YTB to enhance its travel agent program along with another respected educator, Marc Mancini, who is assisting YTB in creating a comprehensive professional education and training program. “YTB is aggressively expanding its professional education program and we believe will produce productive and professional agents that will be a credit to the industry,” Mancini said.

“Virtually every new business model that has been developed in the industry— cruise-only agents, franchise agents and home based-agents, for example— have been targeted for criticism, sometimes unfairly,” Doris said. “YTB isn’t perfect, but their management is moving to build on their strengths.”

“YTB is positioned to deliver market share to suppliers.” Phil said. “As long-standing champions of professionalism for travel agents, we believe YTB has the power to become a major selling force. They are aggressively marketing travel. And given the sheer numbers involved, YTB will produce a lot of well trained agents.

“What we suggest is that agents keep an open mind toward YTB and its agents. There are lessons to be learned for all of us,” Phil continued. “The real question is if they are expanding consumer demand for travel.”

Response to Lauren from Peter Stilphen

This reply also can be a reply for many of you YTB fanatics. You all basicly say the same thing when responding to anti YTB blogs. This is the same rhertoric you hear from cult communities. If you were really interested in selling travel you would move over to mainstream travel where you would not be frowned upon by your travel peers. If you don't want to sell travel, but instead, recruit people, be my guest. However you should do it selling vitamins, cosmetics and used cars.

All Mlms have a 5-6 year life expectancy. YTB has had 3 name changes and next year will be dumping their RTAs in favor of franchising. That's if they survive the many law suits against them for operating a "pyramid scheme" Your former ASTA president has been paid good money by YTB. What would you expect?

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