Travel Agency MLM???

[UWSurfer]

My wife is a great person, but one who loves a great sales person and being sold a dream.

That said, many years prior together we were in Primerica for 7 years and we learned a number of good things, including that we both suck at multi-level marketing (MLM). Or at least I thought we did.

This spring her aunt sucked her into Home Interiors and I now have a house and garage full of HI stuff that she's not good at moving.

Her sister (& her) are out of work now and drove 100 miles to another MLM presentation tonight on some sort of on-line Travel Agency. She called me from there with sketchy details but from what I understand you pay $500 upfront and $50/month to operate a website (link) that you steer people to book discount airline tickets. Supposedly you get a cut of this and are elible for a 60% break on your own purchase of tickets. If you recruit 5 people to it, you no longer pay fee's and get some sort of overide on their activity.

I don't see it. I don't want to see it. It feels too much like a scam. I don't know these people and frankly don't see a need for this service given all the other sites people buy airline tickets from. Wife however dreams the dream and wants me to see the pitch. (sigh).

My question: Do any of you know of anything like this...who they are and what's the real story? My impression of MLM's are if you are really good at selling the dream, develope and talk to 10's of thousands of leads and have a decent product, you can make some money. However it's lots of hard work and should be something you belive in. This doesn't sound like that to me.

Any info is appreciated.

 

[JoeMid]

My impression of MLM's are if you are really good at selling the dream, develope and talk to 10's of thousands of leads and have a decent product, you can make some money. However it's lots of hard work and should be something you belive in. This doesn't sound like that to me.

Any info is appreciated.

You got it! There are some people who can make money at this, but they are few and far between.

 

[Enrico]

Is the company promoting the web based business called YTB?

 

[UWSurfer]

Enrico: I don't know...but for discussion purposes, lets say it is. What do you know?

 

[Enrico]

Enrico: I don't know...but for discussion purposes, lets say it is. What do you know?

I'm almost certain that it is YTB based on the dollar amounts you posted. Here is their website that should confirm it: Your Travel Biz - YTB

This company is local to my area and I'm familiar with some of the board of directors. Most people around here scratch their heads as to how they have grown so fast. Pyramid marketing plain and simple. Their stock at one time was $18.50 per share, now a $1.74. I wouldn't go near the company personally. Their founders were part of the A. L. Williams Insurance company, another pyramid marketing scheme. Take a look at their financial statements....obvious that all the money flows to the top.

UWSurfer - Do a google search on YTB....numerous articles and opinions on this company.

 

[PA-]

My sister got sucked into this. I warned her it was a ripoff but she did it anyway and hasn't ever made one penny from it. She regretted it almost immediately. You need to keep your wife busy.

 

[UWSurfer]

She came home with "info" & yes its YTB. I had never heard of them but apparently they were founded by former AL Williams/Primerica folks. Primerica was the successor to AL Williams.

For what it's worth, Primerica has some good basic financial concepts, but the money was made in building a business by recruiting others and getting large commissions from the sales you made off of recruits and their contacts. Frankly there is nothing wrong with that if you are honest and keeping the client's interests at heart...but it's a whole lot of work and selling.

The info I was presented contained almost nothing about the business and a lot about selling the dream (making $, getting out of debt, doing for others, being somebody....)

I know the angle they are selling...but I don't get the business angle. There are so many ways to buy travel and vacations, why would anyone be going to them to book...particularly if they aren't known. Apparently they say they beat the familiar booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity...) in price more than 90% of the time.

My wife just thinks we'll make our money in travel discounts by joining up. Any info on this aspect which can help me put it to bed quickly is appreciated.

 

[UWSurfer]

Thanks for the link.

What's very interesting is by their own report on their website, 90%+ of their "agents" and other titles are earning $50 or less a month at this.

That with the realities of what it takes to get people to a website & I believe I convinced my wife that for the time and effort involved, she'd do far better to put her energies in her Home Interiors biz.

By figuring what we've spent on the flights we booked in the past 12 months, it would basically be a wash (savings vs. fee's & time spent) getting involved with this.

One tidbit though, when I mentioned the low stock price, she was told the stock recently split 3:1, accounting for the low price.

Thank you for your info.

 

[Dave M]

There will be no travel discounts - at least not any discounts you couldn't obtain on your own by searching the various online search engines for lowest fares, hotel rates, cruise rates, etc.

In order to qualify for travel agent discounts, you must be a member of the American Society of Travel Agents, the Cruise Lines International Association or a similar recognized entity. All have strict requirements for the amount of business an agent or agency must do, a membership fee that must be paid and other stringent requirements that you won't be able to meet.

Further, the days of deeply discounted prices even for recognized travel agents are long gone.

Google "travel agent" (with the quotes), scam, discounts, asta and mlm and read some of the sample hits. From remarks made almost 10 years ago (!) to the annual ASTA conference, but still applicable today:

Another common scam is the travel agent mill. In this business opportunity but travel related scam, some companies sell consumers on the idea that by purchasing a simple kit they can learn how to become a travel agent, set up their own profitable travel agencies, and get major discounts on travel everywhere they go. Unfortunately for the consumers, it's not true. The average consumer that buys the kit finds out that it doesn't really teach anything about the travel business. She also discovers that running a profitable travel agency is much harder than she'd been led to believe. Finally, the credentials issued by these mills are never recognized by other segments of the travel industry. In other words, the discounted air fare and hotel rooms never show up. It's all been a big waste of money.