TIS THE SEASON TO NAME THE NAUGHTY AND NICE

I apologize for this article during the Holiday season but I know these scam artists don't believe in the festive season. They are too busy putting coal in everyone's stocking.

The companies listed below are either an MLM or a card mill. Some are both. I just cannot understand why some suppliers continue to 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 MLM's, card mills or financially troubled host agencies. If you know of others please let me know and I will add them to the list. 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 (I plan to write about this company in upcoming articles) Many hotels no longer accept their card.
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)
INTERNATIONAL WORLD VACATIONS
KE TRAVEL
JOIN CRUISE TO CASH
PLATINUM ONE DESTINATIONS
PROTRAVEL NETWORK, not to be confused with ProTravel International
TRAVELBRIDGE
TRAVELENCIA
TRAVELOGIA already cooked
TRAVELSTAR(JOYSTAR), A new MLM
TRAVELWIZE a/k/a CYBERWIZE
TRAVERUS ( A real Prize)
ULTIMATE CHOICE TRAVEL
WORLD VENTURES TRAVEL (Believes there is a sucker born every day and they are correct.)
YTB INTERNATIONAL (Terminated by IATAN, RCL and Perillo Tours and being sued by everyone.). 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.

MY LIST OF VENDORS WHO DON'T APPRECIATE PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL AGENTS

The purpose of this list is to name those vendors who are not really looking out for the interests of professional travel agents. I've tried to do thorough research in coming up with those that make my list. This is a lengthy process which is why the list is short. I really need your help in finding these vendors and of course we won't list them without proof. We will also remove them from the list if we can get them to think more positively about our professionals.

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES refused to help or advise travel agents concerning unpaid commissions and future reservations from JoyStar. There were others but most of the agents singled out this company. A huge YTB supporter.

CCRA, a YTB supporter

GATE 1 seeks to sign agents away from their Host Agency

PRINCESS CRUISES, A YTB supporter

STERLING VACATIONS offers FAM trips to any card mill operation.

TRAFALGAR, A YTB supporter

TRANS-HOTELS allows anyone to be a travel agent and earn commissions.

TRAVEL GUARD, A great friend of the MLMs

TRAVEL WEEKLY, creater of the Homebased and Luxury trade shows held in Vegas last week promoted YTB's Sorensen in an upcoming trade show panel as a questioner. Shame on you Arnie Weissman.

VAYAMA also allows anyone to be a travel agent and earn commissions.

THE FOLLOWING SUPPLIERS, WE CALL THEM THE "GOOD GUYS," NO LONGER DOING BUSINESS WITH YTB

IATAN

ROYAL CARIBBEAN/CELEBRITY

PERILLO TOURS

MARRIOTT HOTELS

FAREBUZZ

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 TO WHICH I MAY OR MAY NOT BE CONNECTED.

	THE YTB SCOREBOARD, A CHRISTMAS LIST FOR THEIR SUPPORTERS

WE ARE KEEPING SCORE AND CHASING THE BAD GUYS.

IATA terminates relationship with YTB

RCL terminates relationship with YTB

YTB find loopholes in CLIA's photo ID card program

Prominent attorney, John Simmons, quits YTB board

Insider deals at YTB raises questions, concerns
Michael Brent, former YTB CEO selling off his stock

YTB lays off 17 employees

YTB International Reports Net Loss for Second Quarter

State of Illinois proposes to work with California in YTB case

YTB Executives Sued in Federal Court in Illinois

Illinois Attorney General's office is investigating YTB

BBB received 90 complaints about YTB

Calif. AG sues YTB Your Travel Biz over alleged pyramid scheme

Florida AG looking into YTB activities

Only 50 out of 443,000 Reps and RTAs earned a bonus in their recent "Leadership Bonus Incentive" program.

Recent SEC reports show sharp decline in # of RTAs and an 87% drop in net revenue.

BBB received 90 YTB complaints

Cash flow continues to tighten as company plane and administrative offices are sold at a loss.

Comments

[CrimeBustersNow]

Please add Business In Motion selling so-called travel packages using the easily identified 1-2-4-8 pyramid scheme.

Canadian Police, government employees, doctors, lawyers, dentists, chiropractors, realtors, etc, involved. Spreading world-wide. Big controversy in Canada.

dave CBNow

[Alex Blank]

Hi! I enjoy reading your blog. I came across a company today called Nettrave... have you heard/read anything about them. It is my understanding that it is a MLM.

Please note that I do refer travel to our Travel Agents in TX for UCT,but I am aware that there are many companies that should be avoided for unlawful/unethical practices.

Thanks for this post and the YTB update- Merry Christmas to you both.

[Alex Blank]

also- do you know if YTB, World Ventures, etc. have licensed and experienced travel agents on staff or if they rely on their Travelocity or Expedia partner sites for all travel booked?

[John Frenaye]

Alex--there is no licensing of travel agents in the US and that is one of the problems.

Peter, it is not only about the FAMS and discounts. Why are vendors paying commission to consumers?

I would be interested to see the 2008 sales figures for CCL and RCCL and looking at percentages to see if CCL's numbers increased MORE than RCCL. If so, then it indicates that perhaps the MLMs are bringing something to the table. If not, I suspect that it shows that the MLMs are selling to themselves and most likely they woudl have traveled in any case. CCL is just tossing away 16%.

[John]

Hi Peter,
You forgot to mention Extraordinary Vacations Group (Trip Professionals, Cruiseshoppes)These are the biggest scammers of all. 100's of agents have lost their commissions to this company because they are broke. They also sell travel agent cards to anyone that can afford their price.

[John]

I forgot to mention that Shawn Tubman signs the applications for the clia and IATA cards of these people

[peter]

I plan on discussing them in detail in the Feb issue of the newsletter. Anything you have would be helpful.
Peter

[Brenda]

I had a Traverus agent approach me. Do you have any info. on that company?

[Sylvia]

What about this company "Platinum 1 Destinations/NetTrav"...they have been trying to contact me as an Independant Travel Consultant....what do you know about them?

[CrimeBustersNow]

Business In Motion hit the CBC National TV

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/easy_money/main.html

[pam]

While I highly agree with you on your list of scam sites, I disagree on one point.

You mention that Vayama.com allows others to be travel agents and make commissions. Actually, they allow anyone with a website to post FREE links to their site and earn commissions. Every legit corporate giant does this nowadays, and it is called an affiliate program, which is pay-per-sale advertising. It is FREE to post Vayama's links on your website, and it is not a scam or illegal. Travelocity, Orbitz, ect. all do the exact same thing, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Are you going to add them to your list? Sure, these websites take away from the small home-based travel agent. But, Travelocity is a travel agency and it is not illegal for them to promote their site.

Also, non-travel corporations such as Dell, HP, Apple, Staples & Sears all have affiliate programs. It is just a way to promote their websites. Many of these affiliate programs are administered through cj.com.

That being said, I appreciate your bringing light to the pleathora of real travel scams out there, such as YTB. I recently was contacted by someone about Rovia.com/worldventures. I find these programs completely ridiculous!

[Pete]

Hello, Does any one know how creditable Penn Foster College is for there online travel agent program. I am looking to become a travel agent. Any recomendations would be greatly appriciated.. Thanks.

[gesundheit]

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Congratulations on your page, it is really interesting

[Jami Bowen]

I am looking into becoming a home based travel agent and would love some advice, you really seem to know a lot about this industry. I am looking into a couple different host companies and would like to get you insight on them. KHM Travel, Travel Planners, and Ticket 2 Travel and some I am looking at. What are your opinions on these? Would you recommend one? Thanks so much for your help. My email is jamibowen@msn.com.

[Jennifer Thomas]

I tried the home based travel agent with Academy Travel( aka MickeyVacations) I only booked 2 trips thru them but have spent the last 6 months truing to get my commission. Owner is Lisa Givas - are you familiar with her companies

[Cialis Online]

very nice cpost, thanks for this info!

[J. Neufeld]

Add Travel Ventures International www.tviexpress.com to your list of scammers. A $250 one time fee promises a return of $10,000 over and over again...

[L Deery]

I am thinking of signing on with KHM Travel. What can you tell me about them? Who are your top three recommendations?

[Sender]

Hi I am looking forward to opening my own travel agency online/offline and I would like to promote different packages for vacationers. My interest is to work closely with travel planners around the world and offer this packages to my offline customers. How can I best work with them and under what conditions/commissions?

[John Ski]

Can you tell me anything on World Ventures/Rovia Travel out of Plano Texas..They are making astromical claims about their success...Anything would be appreaciated before I make the leap...That seemds to be what all this home based travel stuff is about..Give me 300 and see ya

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