It's all over but the formal announcement from Bill Alverson, JoyStar's flamboyant and highly controversial CEO. However, there has been a rumor that Alverson has found a new investor but that wouldn't stop the bleeding as the damage has been done.It's a sad time for hundreds of JoyStar agents who have not received their commissions. It's bad enough that the economy is where it is and then have this fall upon many travel agents just before the holidays. Do you think the suppliers would do all they can do to mitigate the hit taken by these travel agents? The answer is only a few tried to take steps. The biggest ones went about business as usual despite the hundreds of phone calls they received. Have we heard from any of the organizations who represent these agents? Not a peep! I am personally disgusted with all of this inaction. It's time for many of you to grow some you know what and do something. At this point "divine intervention" nor actually renewing the Florida Seller of Travel license and being reinstated by CLIA would make much difference. To top it all off, JoyStar's E&O insurance has lapsed leaving many agents with potential liability. Most of JoyStar's producing travel agents have already moved over to new Host Agencies. Coral Sands Travel has signed up over 20 good producing agents while TPI and GTM certainly signed up a bunch along with other Host Agencies.
Who do we blame for all this? I blame some of the media, a couple of the travel agent organizations and a few overly protective suppliers, all with the same reasons for supporting this obvious "con" for the last four years. It was all about revenue dollars without applying ethics. I call it "greed."
Many times good things can come out of disasters. I hope all of the segments work together to tighten up the rules and improve standards. PATH, who represents many of the mainstream Host Agencies, should be the leader in improving standards. To date, they have been too quiet even after one of their former members, another Host Agency, folded up.
I have only been active in this industry for about 6 years coming from the hospitality industry. I don't like what I have seen. The travel industry has an over abundance of "bad guys" and "bad policies." I have met many caring travel professionals which keeps me thinking there is hope for improvement. When the consumers really begin to complain, you will see the States jumping in and creating new laws for the travel community. Maybe that's not such a bad idea.
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