Remember back in November when all the world was abuzz about fabulous Olympic Packages and a commission of 25%? Remember when I pointed out that none had been sold early on? Remember when I pointed out that later still none had been sold?
Well there is a good reason. Apparently YTB has partnered with an agency that had no right or authorization to sell tickets to the Olympics.
As I suspected, but only had confirmed from the IOC last week, tickets purchased by Shanghai Spring Tours must remain for sale to residents of China--not tourists. You see, 75% of the tickets are allocated for the Chinese!
Even Sorenson agreed when he told Travel Weekly last month that, "YTB is no longer marketing Olympic tours with tickets to the games in Beijing."
But the story gets more interesting as all the RTAs and Reps were saying that they were still offering the trips, but just calling the Olympic tickets "special events". As is typical, the YTBers had all sorts of stories about this. It was a copyright issue. They had such a response that they had to pull back and do the sales by lottery. And I even heard that they were completely sold out.
Well, I spoke with a man named Joe Jarvies who is the International Coordinator and Liaison to YTB, for Spring & Mandarin Tours a few weeks ago and he shed some additional insight. Apparently, Shanghai purchased $3 million dollars worth of Olympic Tickets for this program. Yet as China's "largest tour operator" they did not know that they were not for sale to non Chinese? And no one at YTB looked into this either? I wonder who will ultimately eat the $3 million? Joe indicated to me that their "workaround" was to not sell the tickets and to offer them as a "gift" for visiting China--so all the YTB clients could be given a "gift" when they landed. Yeah, I can see consumers flocking to that special deal!
When I spoke with the IOC, I was told that in order to use the term Olympic in any marketing or sales promotion, you needed to get approval from the IOC. This is mandated by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. The IOC said they had not given Shanghai or YTB permission to use the logo or name and had issues a Cease and Desist letter. In addition, they have apparently turned over the improprieties on behalf of Shanghai Spring to the "proper" authorities in Beijing.
Not sure what that all means, but in a nutshell, YTB partnered with a company that had no right to sell Olympic packages. Someone is holding the bag on $3 million dollars. And once again, an exclusive program by YTB is disproved. I just wonder if any RTAs or their family purchased these trips and how they are handling the refunds!
This is so funny. Remember all the YTBers screaming about the tens of thousands of people they were sending. How they were the #1 supplier of people to the Olympics....
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch of tools they have running the company.They are not even aware that Olympic is a trademark and they infringe on it, and then partner with a company that is not allowed to sell tickets, and then re-partner with them to sell Europe packages---does Spring Shanghai even know where Europe IS?
I am beginning to believe that the management sees the troble that lays ahead for them in Canada and the cost of this Olympic fiasco and is getting ready to dump their stock again.
The latest rumor is that they are buying a $17 BILLION dollar travel company and are in secret talks. Of course this came from some low level director--who I am sure is the confidant of Crotch!
Hey they have a good stock number and they made aprofit but what a freaking joke
All of this from the friendly blogger who says he only spends "about an hour a week" on all things YTB. Calling the laison . . . calling the IOC. You are really efficient with that hour that you spend!
ReplyDeleteTry as you might, John. YTB will be a major player in travel for years to come. YTB is not perfect. They make mistakes as any company does. But the profits are up, the stock is up and 2008 is going to even bigger for YTB than 2007.
You and your fellow TTA cronies have tried to leave YTB for dead. Recruiting is down, the stock is tanking . . . everything doom and gloom. YTB took a big shot last Fall and things are still moving forward in a big way.
You and your fellow TTAs have fun with your nitpicking. Have fun with your jokes. Keep showing your arrogance. It is motivating to say the least.Those of us in YTB will just put our heads down and work harder. We will compare notes in a couple of years and see who is still in business and bigger than ever.
I'm sure there will be many "dammit" moments along the way from the TTAs.
It is curious that the YTB crowd is pretty silent on this issue since it was posted almost 11 hours ago.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is sinking in that the leadership (with no travel background) may not be all it is cracked up to be...
The "exclusive" two fly free program
The "we won't sell RCCL till they apologize with a full page ad in USA Today" stance
The "IATAN is a big card mill and we don't need them" mantra
The "hugely successful" cruise certificate sale
It goes on and on and on.....
I have heard a bunch of rumors in the past week and all seem designed to affect the stock trading. Where they are originating from I have no clue, but there IS a lot of volume and with only a few people holding the stock, it would be very easy to manipulate it..
Emails take no time to send out and read.
ReplyDeleteI did have a call with Joe Jarvies a few weeks ago and it did last about 20 minutes so yes maybe I did spend more on it that week.
11 hours ago??? It is 11 am right now and this was posted at 5:30 this morning. At 5:15 when I logged on to my computer it was still the top 5, after refeshing, just to make sure, then I got back to the site at 5:25 and it was up.
ReplyDeleteNice math.
And, there is no way that you spend only an hour. It is ok, we are all passionate about something. Me, I am passionate about bettering myself, not finding nitpicky crap about some company that supposedly doesn't threaten my well being.
Anon-Above ...
ReplyDeleteso you have no comments on Shanghai Spring Tours for the Olympics or Europe? Why not? too embarrassed? Many, here and on TW, TTAs were warning that there is only one company allowed to sell tickets to the US/North American market ... but the Reps and Rtas just went on and on about what a great deal they were getting and how much they were selling....
Wow another one of those mystery YTB announcements?
ReplyDeleteOlympic Tours...CANNED....
We didn't need IATAN either...but we fight it in court....CANNED
Feb...big news...CANNED...
Ted...paid off...SCAMMED
Mr. PHD....doesn't exist..SCAMMED!
How many times can you people be scammed before you wake up?
Something wild is happening right now.....
ReplyDeleteYTB ooened today at $3.68 and as f 11:25AM EST had dropped to $2.19 - a $1.49 decrease or 40.49%. If you watch it, it looks like it's dropping a little bit every few minutes!!!!
It's what you call profit taking.
ReplyDeleteGot as high as $4.00 and dropped as low as $1.81. Over 3 million shares traded so far. Probably will end back up near $3.00 by the end of the day.
So what happens to the people who purchased these Olympic tickets through YTB. Do they get their money back?
ReplyDeleteIf a traditional agent had done this, you YTBers would be having a field day calling us scammers and dishonest. But yet when your own company does it you have nothing to say. Why is that??
Nitpicking? Your company just admitted to a huge "boo-boo". Notice they didn't send out the press release on that. They were offering packages to people with "invalid" olympic tickets. Are they being refunded? Were any actually sold? And yet you still continue to trust this "chinese travel agency" with packages to Europe???
ReplyDeleteThe amount of time John spends researching is not the point, the point is your company knows nothing about travel, and this just proves that fact. We said all along that by not dealing w/proper companys for the olympics was trouble. Gee..we were right. Shocker...real travel agents know something about travel..who'da guessed.
TL -
ReplyDeleteYTB will take care of any problems that would have been caused with any people holding tickets. Probably were not that many to begin with. I don't think the interest was that high given the Olympics are being held in China.
Yes, nitpicking on a day-to-day basis. Go ahead and continue if it makes you feel good. We are here for the long run, so have at it.
This blog reminds me of anti-Walmart crowd. Walmart gets attacked repeatedly as the anti-Walmart crowd gets their panties in a wad over their every move. Walmart just attends to business and keeps building Supercenters around the World.
Oh for Goodness sakes! the company that DOES handle North American ticket sales for the Olympics is NOW SOLD OUT!!! Very little interest, indeed!
ReplyDeleteWe'er watching one bit Pump & Dump of YTB stock today - today's the beginning of the Dump - last week was the Pump.
"I don't think the interest was that high given the Olympics are being held in China."
ReplyDeleteGiven all the YTb hype on many forums about this in November-January it seems YTBers are back pedeling furiously. Of course they don't want to comment after all the boasting. It is another example of the masses blindly believing what Coach says. It will happen again and again given the nature of the structure of YTB.
Could this be where the term "I've been shanghai'd" comes from?
ReplyDeleteThis Shanghai Spring Tours company sounds like a fantastic company to work with.
ReplyDeleteI just wish that I could purchase all of my European tours through them!
Yeah, it's great to work with a company that doesn't even respect the laws in it's own country!
ReplyDeletelaws shaws...
ReplyDeleteCoach will fix it! He fixes everything!
Interesting how the childish behavior begins to blossom forth from a few scatter brained TTA's on this blog.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, YTB is lucky to get out of the Olympic travel business. Things are getting bad and it doesn't look good for the future.
(CNN) -- "The last part of the Olympic torch relay in Paris was canceled Monday after a day of chaos in which anti-China protesters forced authorities to extinguish the flame at least five times, take to a bus and skip some scheduled stops, including city hall."
I think YTB headquarters is breathing a sigh of relief not sending travelers overseas to a political powder-keg situation. They are smart to let it go even if not by choice.
Wow..considering that when this "exclusive" press release first came out...Spring Tours and the Olympics were the best thing since sliced bread. Now that they've screwed up royally..China is bad and the Olympics are crap. Give me a break. You think that is breaking news, where's your head been buried? People have been bitching about the olympics in China since they got it.
ReplyDeleteSo now your still going to let some Chinese agency handle European Trips even after the big snafu? I sure the hell wouldn't.
They were never in the Olympic business to start with. They just said they were and all their RTA's took up the challange to sell sell sell. But, nobody did sell, and then it's discovered, months after the fact, that the exclusive packages were c==p. Now, you say YTB is 'smart' to let it go? They has a choice? Talk about spin. You should get the YTB gold medal. fools gold.
ReplyDeleteps. I think we all know about what's going on in London and Paris, but glad to know you are too.
Have you ever made an error in decision making? Even the fortune 500 have made mistakes in making business decisions. Besides your cockiness and nasty self righteous comments, you are really full of yourself. Your a real piece of work and I feel sorry for your husband. Poor guy.
ReplyDeleteYes I make mistakes, but I admit them, and when my company makes mistakes they learn from them. They do not deal with a company whos already screwed up royally with giving them more business. I am not cocky, self righteous or rude. I am simply stating fact. YTB SHOVED these packages in our face when they came out we warned, nobody listened. But what do we know right?
ReplyDeleteI am a real piece of work, and my husband whos sitting right here, will agree with you on that. :)
Hes quite happy after 18 years..so no worries.
anon...everybody makes bad business decisions....not everone prefaces them with press releases and boastful, in your face, we own the Olympics rhetoric from the 'sales force'. This bad biz decision may cost YTB some bucks, care to help out with that?
ReplyDelete"I think YTB headquarters is breathing a sigh of relief not sending travelers overseas to a political powder-keg situation. They are smart to let it go even if not by choice."
ReplyDeleteYou think YTB HQ CARES about sending travelers overseas?!? NOT! The only thing YTB HQ cares about is making money and buying private jets to tool around in. You people are really, really pathetic...
"Hes quite happy after 18 years..so no worries."
ReplyDeletePoor fellow.
What crap! Hey the stock closed at $2.41 00 - a drop of over 34% in one day....
ReplyDeleteWho are they talking about buying? Shanghai Springs? Are they going to keep that great Management Team in there! Yes, I think the idea of buying a Chinese company is really great!!!!
The general public doesn't give a rats ass about YTB and the Olympic packages. It's only you nits here that are all obsessed about it. LMAO! You guys are pathetic.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct the public doesn't care about YTB and the Olympic packages. The 'public' doesn't care about YTB period. I care because I am a professional in the travel business and I 'care' about how the 'public' feels about purchasing travel. Online or off.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious you don't care and I'll agree that YTB doesn't care either. Thanks for making that clear.
To make sure we are extra clear, the general public doesn't give a rats ass about a self proclaimed professional who goes by the idiotic name of ytbnomore. Bet your really ytbscam. You write just like him at the third grade level.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, you guys are pathetic to have to post your regurgitated crap here all day long.
Was a press release announced to the public letting them know that the packages that were offered are no longer good, and if purchased they do not include tickets? No. Instead they hid that fact in a TRAVEL TRADE newspaper that the general public doesn't read.
ReplyDeleteWe are not obsessed about it, we are annoyed at the fact that you dolts come here to an ANTI-MLM blog and spout how your exclusive packages this, and Shanghai springs is the best that...now when you find out its all crap, even after we all warned you, we're the ones who are wrong? Do you even sell travel? Do you people grasp the fact that your purchasing packages thru the same company who screwed you? Why?
I'm guessing that hooking up with Shanghai Springs for Europe somehow makes up for SS's big Olympics screw-up. And who is out the $3mill - SS certainly, though they will proably be able to recoup some of that during the Games themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think this self-righteous crap about "who are you people to harp on US"? Is exactly that - they're a little shaken and need to find ways to defend their decision to be involved with an MLM like this.
Hey - this is clearly an anti-MLM blog - so who are you to come here and complain that posters are anti-MLM?
Get with your local YTB travel agent and partner up with them to give your clients an experience of a lifetime in Beijing in 2008!
ReplyDeleteYTB has partnered with a 26 year old Tour Operator that is paying out close to 25% commissions in an exclusive deal with YTB for packages to the 2008 Summer Olympics.
I'm sure your friendly YTB travel agent wouldn't mind working out a joint venture for any travel agent that would be interested.
This has been a public service announcement by your friend and colleague - Tom "superfly" Coleman . . .
and...
These folks have been around for over 25 years, have been China's leading travel agency for the last 13 years - in a row AND have their own airline. If you aren't aware of them - you should be ashamed to call yourself a travel agent. YTB was aware - that is why they sought out the exclusive partnership that will provide quality packages to a HUGE event that is recognized by residents of every country in the world and YTB will be a main cog in the wheel of tourism to the Summer Games.
Because of the sheer volume that YTB produces they have been able to negotiate an incredible commission structure with some of the biggest vendors in the industry. Spring Tours for example pays a whopping 25% booking commission. This is unheard of in the travel industry.
ReplyDeletemethinks unheard of at YTB too.
What an education - I just read all of these posts and I am amazed at the arrogance of the so-called professionals in the traditional travel agent world!
ReplyDeleteYou remind me of the PMS ladies on ABC's "The View" . . . all caught up with themselves and spouting their venom regarding anything conservative.
And travellisa- you sound amazingly similar to the former host of "The View" Rosie O'Donnell . . . UGH!
TomG said....."YTB will be a main cog in the wheel of tourism to the Summer Games."
ReplyDeleteYou are sure correct about that. Did you really mean to put it that way?
As an experienced TA for over 25 years, I've never heard of Shanghai Spring Tours and I am not ashamed. I would never book with a foreign outfit that did not have an office in the USA.
And travellisa- you sound amazingly similar to the former host of "The View" Rosie O'Donnell . . . UGH!
ReplyDeleteCan you spell..TWINS. Heheheheh
Oh booo hoooo, the mean YTB people are calling me names. Shall I go cry on my pillow now?
ReplyDeleteI ask simple questions as to why you'd want to book with a company who royally screwed up, and instead of answers I get the usual diversionary tactics of name calling.
Yes, I'm the unprofessional one. I'm the person who actually cares about my clients and where and with whom they are booked. Can you say the same?
Rosie's better looking.
ReplyDeleteI was quoting the ever YTB loving Tom Coleman. I do not consider YTB to be a cog in any form for the travel industry. Clog, maybe.
ReplyDeleteI really like this blog too.
Congrats on a excellent day in the markey. Once again I was right, the pump and dump is happening. The blind pumped and the rest dumped. Congrats once again.
ReplyDeleteClosed at 1.27 DOWN 34.51% excellent day for you all.
The pump was the financial report, claim everything is good when across the board everything was pretty much flat lined.
And for the anonymous that thinks ytbnomore is me. BZZZT. Wrong again. No hiding and anonymous posting such as you. But then again the YTB people can do nothing but name calling etc...because they sure as hell have no news to post.
ReplyDeleteOh wait...yes you do...you exclusive Olympic package!!
How come you only post when the stock goes down. How come you don't give stock reports when it goes up? I'm sure glad I don't have you for a backyard stock broker that you are!
ReplyDeleteWhy should I? I warned you when it would go below $1 and it did. I warned people when they were going nuts about the stock rising. I warned that the pump and dump would happen and it didn't take but a week.
ReplyDeleteWhy should I post when the stock goes up? I feel bad for the people who are losing alot of money.
Are you nutz?
ReplyDeleteYou told people to dump their stock when it was .60 to .65. That was WRONG advice. If I followed that advice, I would have been out over 3K. Instead of .60, I got 3.94. Anyone who follows your advice as their broker is a damn fool!
Amen!
ReplyDeleteGo back to flipping hamburgers, ytbscam. You are more in your element there.
I'm sure your out way more than 3k. I bet you bought in on that stock when it was 9 bucks a share...because Crotch told you to eh?
ReplyDeleteI also told them to dump it before it went below a buck. Guess what I was right once again. Yeah short sales really are going to make you guys millionaires...if I wanted to make a dollar here and there, I'd collect cans like the rest of the YTB folk that can't make any money. Hell, if I collected 500 cans a month I would be making twice what those in YTB make on average.
Keep posting under anonymous. I'm sure your the same person. Thats one thing you can't deny, you could be the same person posting under 10 different anonymous. At least I have the balls to post under my name.
And once again for the YTB challenged (and there are a ton of you out there), I'm not a TTA, and I have never been involved with a MLM scam.
Spring Tours for example pays a whopping 25% booking commission. This is unheard of in the travel industry.
ReplyDelete25% commission is not unheard of the industry ... I can think of at least one cruise line that offers 25% commission.
Not only did ytbscam not deny he works as a hamburger flipper, it looks like he supplements his income by collecting aluminum cans.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive. Just the kind of guy you want educating people about the stock market and the travel industry.
Once again the mentally challenged Ole can't read. But that's part of the YTB motto..."You don't need to be educated to be in YTB". Just look at Scott....he's about as smart as a rock.
ReplyDeleteOle....I never said I collected cans, I said if I wanted to make twice the amount the average YTB person makes, then I would collect 500 cans. "IF I WANTED TO MAKE A DOLLAR HERE AND THERE"..there is your quote. Why do I bother? You YTB folks are about the most ignorant people out there. Keep guessing at my profession. First it was a TTA, now a hamburger flipper....well guess what your wrong ONCE again. No surprise, go sell some fake Olympic packages or something OLE. Oh wait...130k of you can't sell one.
YTBSCAM said..."Once again the mentally challenged Ole can't read.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint SCAM, I'm not the anon who wrote about you collecting cans. But it WAS rather clever.
SCAM also said, "But that's part of the YTB motto..."You don't need to be educated to be in YTB".
Well, I guess that would put you way ahead of the class. Congrat's, your numero uno for a change!
OleScorekeeper
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