RTA Income Claims

This information is from a document entitled, "Rep and RTA Income Claims" as authorized by YTB.

RTA Income Potential Claims . The following RTA income potential
claims are approved for Rep use in presentations and promotional
materials:

1. “As a YTB RTA you earn 60% of the travel commissions earned by YTB on everything from hotels, car rentals, cruises, fly/drive and fly/hotel packages and yes, even airline bookings.”

2. “In addition to the travel discounts, perks, Fam Trips and the tax savings which come with the YTB RTA position, our RTAs earn 60% of the travel commissions YTB receives whenever travel or travel related products are booked through the YTB system. You may have heard that the airline industry no longer commissions airline travel. That may be true for most travel agencies, but not for YTB – YTB earns, and you as an RTA earn, every time that you
book airline travel through the YTB system. You are even commissioned on your own travel.”

3. “Book Travel and Travel Like A Pro, that’s the YTB motto. Attend free CLIA certification training, YTB gives these one half day trainings continually across the country, and you earn a CLIA card which enhances your access to travel discounts, perks and Fam Trips. Never lose sight of the importance of booking travel and earning travel commissions, a full 60% of the travel commissions are paid monthly to our RTAs. Forget what you’ve heard about no
airline commissions, airline tickets are commissioned to YTB RTAs every time you or your customers book airline travel through the YTB booking system.”

4. “Can you receive regular commissions by booking travel as a YTB RTA? The answer is clearly, yes. YTB pays travel commissions on all travel and travel related bookings made through the YTB system. Cruises and fly/hotel packages pay the highest commissions; YTB also pays on airline bookings and on your own travel.”

At best, most of these 4 are misleading as it applies to the travel industry. These "talking points" are very finely worded to avoid any legal issues, but they are misleading on many points.

1. The allusion that YTB earns commissions on airline bookings. The reality is that the airlines do not pay commissions. Yes there may be an odd consolidator here and there for some international travel, but there is essentially no commission to be had. What they do receive is a flat fee (I believe $6) for each ticket booked on the site and the RTA is entitled to 60% of that. So without industry knowledge, a prospective RTA might envision all this airline commission when in reality is is $3.60.

2. This point is obviously to sell the perks. They discuss perks, FAMS, discounts and tax savings. While YTB claims that they do not sell the program on these points, it certainly seems as if they do. Again, the emphasis on airline commissions is misleading. Earning commission on personal travel is an accepted practice in the industry, but it is certainly not a reason to get into it. We are working of a 10% margin and any consumer can probably find an agent to rebate or discount that will be more to the benefit of the RTA than taking their own commission. Assume $1000 Carnival Cruise. YTB Earns 16% or $160. The RTA earns $96. I imagine one could go to Drews Cruise and get a rebate larger than that. Remember, if this is the only sale for the RTA, that commission is further reduced by the website rental fee.

3. This is the most egregious of the four. They are touting more perks and discounts. They are admitting that they (YTB) are offering free half-day CLIA training classes that will get you a CLIA card good for more perks and benefits. I had mentioned that I had heard that YTB was doing this and everyone rebuked me. Now it is in writing from YTB's own manual.

4. This is probably the less deceptive of the four talking points. However, it does again allude to the airline commissions that can be earned. Actually, it is not even a commission, but a fee come to think of it. And again, while it does not claim that you can make a certain amount of money, this claim does not say what the majority are earning--zip.

I notice in the first part of the document where they talk about the Rep points, they keep using the phrase "thousands make hundreds and hundreds make thousands". AS I have said from the start, their business is renting websites--not selling travel. It is glaringly obvious that there are no such phrases for the RTAs. But then again, "hundreds make tens and hundreds of thousands make zero" just does not have the same ring.

NOTE: I have uploaded this document to my site as I suspect that it will be pulled from the source shortly. The original document is a Word document located here. Follow the link to Income Claims. This is the site belonging to a Level 2 Director, Arlyne Thompson. According to her site, she has 400 RTAs in the California Expansion Team. Actually, the entire site is interesting and worth snooping around a bit.