Not sure if YTB is counting on the RTAs being illiterate or not, but I have to question these two statements by YTB.
This first one comes from the Travel Compass:
New cabin space has opened up due to the high demand of this rare opportunity to cruise with Coach Tomer! Lead off prices starting at $550.22 for the cruise leaving on June 30th. CRUISE WITH COACH to hear the "State of the YTB Union." Coach will be giving presentations on the current happenings at YTB leading into this year's National Convention. Don't miss this exciting opportunity! Bonus commission paid to you for all cabins booked on your website. Coach is so excited about this chance to cruise with you that he wants to pay 100% of the commissions earned, 90% to the RTA and 10% to the PowerTeam Leader. Book now as space will go FAST! To Book and Cruise With Coach, Go to your Travel Site, click on Groups and select "1" A Cruise With Coach Tomer June 30, 2008And this one from page 10 of the recent 10Q filed with the SEC:
Cruise cabin inventory represents $2,254,496 in cabins held to be sold on two cruises set to sail May 30, 2008 and June 30, 2008, net of a $1.7 million reserve. The cruise cabin inventory is comprised of the full value of the contracts with the cruise line and includes all cost directly related to the selling price of the cabins, including related taxes and fuel costs. The Company recorded this reserve since the Company has evaluated the inventory as of March 31, 2008 and believes it will not be able to sell the majority of these cabins before the departure date of each of the cruises.So, which is it? Is this cruise (incidentally that is being given to pastors and ministers for free) in such high demand as the Coach's ego would like everyone to believe in the Travel Compass? Or is it a dog and appears that they cannot sell even 50% of the cabins as reported to the SEC?
Wow, if they sell 50% of them, a $1.13M dollar loss in 8 days is pretty significant. Maybe someone can chime in here about the Coach's famous saying..."if it ain't true, don't say it..."
And wait a second....how can Coach be on a cruise full of Pastors and servicemen and be doing dog and pony shows in California at the same time? The schedule likely may change and the date roll off.
Fast Start Meeting - San Francisco, CA - Friday, May 30, 2008And I thought YTB did not charge members to see the Coach. Even Il Papa doesn't charge to be seen or heard.... what's the deal with that?
Coach Tomer Will Attend This Meeting!
Friday, May 30, 2008 -- Registration begins 5:30 PM, Meeting 6-11:00 PM -- Special Guests Coach and Ron Head
Marriott San Francisco Airport, Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010
$10.00 in advance - $15.00 at the door. - Please click http://ytbcoachtomer.eventbrite.com for advance tickets.
Host Directors: Northern CA CET Directors: Arlyne Thompson (951) 377-3924, Mary Liu (415) 378-5625,
Jenny Campbell (415) 713-1280, Silke Degenhardt (415) 994-0229 and Aurora Mulchand (415) 699-0967,
Lynda Ward (909) 800-0689
Fast Start Meeting - Costa Mesa, California - Saturday, May 31, 2008
Coach Tomer Will Attend This Meeting!
Saturday, May 31, 2008 -- TWO Events: 9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON and 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Special Guests Coach and Ron Head
Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa, 3050 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
$10.00 per RTA -- Guests are FREE -- Parking Fee $5.00
Host Directors: K. Ross and Julia Johnston, Phone Julia at (949) 939-1568
John,
ReplyDeleteFirst off I can not address the scheduling issue with coach in CALifornia, so I won't
With respect to your other question...are you really that dense?
Surely you have heard phrases like, "limited time offer" or "now with xxxxxxx" etc.
Phrases that remind people that something is out there.
So, in advertising the YTB cruise, by using some choice sales type words, it reminds people that they can buy it.
Think about crusing in general for a moment...Now I am not talking about what you or any ravel agent sells, but how often do you see, "buy today and get a free upgrade"?
Do you question that that reference to "today" is for everyday?
It is a sales pitch.
I am sure you are successful John in your career, but imagine how much more successful you could be if you used catch phrases to entice your customers.
With respect to paying for seeing coach...As I am sure you are aware, renting of venues is not free. When coach was in my area a few months ago, I paid 10 bucks, not for me to see him but so I could bring 7 prospects to see him. I paid 10 bucks and 5 of my prospects signed up that evening, So...my 10 bucks generated me $500 in marketing comissions.
Seemed like a good ROI to me.
Well, with a loyal base of customers (again something most MLM might not know about) there typically is no reason for the hook. The "ad" was in an "internal" YTB communication and looked like they were pitching it to an audience that did not trust the source. If YTB and Coach are so great, why weren't the ships sold out immediately. My client list is not nearly as big as yours...I have about 70K (clients and prospects)and that is sizeable. But if YTB has 138K RTAs that are so in love with the program and 303K REPS that are also in love with the program--why can't YTB find 4000 to take a cheapo three night cruise?
ReplyDeleteHere is how marketing is supposed to work for loyal clients. I had a special given to me by an international airline. It was businesses class light fare from the east coast to Europe for $491 RT and change including taxes. It was valid for a specific booking window, travel dates were in another window and I made 10% on the fare. And yes this was within the last year.
I emailed my list of clients that had expressed a serious leisure interest or had actually traveled to Europe in the past and sent them one email announcing the fare. No buzz words, just a note saying that we had this, and if they were interested, they were likely not to find a comparable fare again.
The message was sent to just over 1500 people and you know what, we sold 675 tickets. That is a 45% closing rate and there were no Crazy Eddie sales pitches. Why? Because there was a level of trust and a relationship.
Now Coach does the same thing but needs to resort to the Crazy Coach pitches and out of 441K of his own "employees" 1/2 percent to sign up. Wonder why? His deal is probably as good as mine was. After all he bought the ship and can charge whatever he wants.
Are 99.5% of the people in YTB either distrusting or non believers in the program? Or maybe they are just not able to make enough money in the program to afford the trip.
Well you are entitled to you opinion, I disagree with it. By the way, I am not going on the cruise as there is a scheduling conflict for me.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, the other issue I forgot to mention from your inital post, the loss from the cruise is in FULL A LOSS in the first quarter. So, even if one cabin is recouped, come second quarter it will post as net income.
Maybe he hired a body double like Castro did...
ReplyDeleteYou have to pay to see him on the cruise. You have to pay for the priviledge of seeing him in person. You have to pay for brochures and training and seminars.
I guess you've got to collect a lot of nickels and dimes to gas up the plane.
John,
ReplyDeleteYou might want to view Doug;s blog today. He totally calls you out with documentation.
"By the way, I am not going on the cruise as there is a scheduling conflict for me."
ReplyDeleteScheduling conflict-No money to go or not invited. LOL!
Hey anon..thanks for the tip. I was unable to open the documents referenced for some reason. I am thinking that I might have to join Doug's Meet Up Group to do so.
ReplyDeleteBut I commented on his blog as to the termination. I am not sure if the word "termination" is Doug's word or Carlson's word, but yes indeed, I did close one of my offices in 2001. It was after 9-11 and since I had two retail locations in the same approximate area, I did close the Annapolis store and relocated everyone to the Arnold location--more space and more time on the lease. And according to the UFOC rules, Carlson likely had to disclose any agency closures. So there is nothing really mysterious about that. I suspect that if you look at that document carefully, there are plenty of offices that did the same thing.
But till I see the other docs, cannot comment on them.
Given the amount of time Doug has spent condeming John for the comments on this blog, I find it very interesting that he is doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteYou would have to admit that there are more than one person in YTB with questionable credentials.
While you may be able to prove that Candi is who she says she is, you've still got plenty of people, like the good Dr Segilman, who's background claims still don't hold true. So while you may have won this round, you've still got a long way to go to give YTB any kind of credibility.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteand of course that would be your reply. You (not necessarily you personally, but your ilk) have been on and on about Candi May, so now that there is documentation the old "yeah well your right, but there are others that we can sling some poo at the wall and see if those stick."
As far as George....I have another job and couldn't get time off. I, like the overwhelming majority of folks in YTB work it part time. Yes, I bring in an extra 1-2k per month and that is good, but my career takes priority and I can not take the time off this time of year. If I could I would have happily gone.
I have always been upfront about correcting inaccuracies and wrong information and the Candi issue is no different than a few of the others.
ReplyDeleteCan someone email me the docs? I cannot open them. It downloads but will not allow me to open.
And if Candi is all that she claims to be, why is YTB not using her for her travel expertise?
I guess another question is why has it taken a month (?)for someone to come up with something that supports the claims? It is odd that there is zero on the web about her.
But as I said before, I will recant if needed. But someone please send me the docs.
A reasonable answer by John Frenaye to a document posted on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing with documents.
There are usually reasonable answers.
But not YTB documents.
Oh, no.
Always something sinister going on with YTB.
Reasonable does not fit the TTA and JF anti-YTB template.
By the way, Ann and the TTAs.
I new cirriculum for the Certified RTA trainings has been in the works for months.
There will be much more emphasis on travel sales.
I was at a CRTA Training also on Saturday.
A bigger emphasis than I had previously seen on selling group travel.
AND - much talk about respected other TA customers on cruise ships, etc.
Also explaining decorum when attending travel trade shows.
The Directors (who make Director by building a Team of RTAs) did a great job.
YTB and TRAVEL: A Great Mix!
The CRTA training has always been supposedly about travel. Now you are saying that what Ann saw was considerably MORE about travel than before?
ReplyDeleteI also have to wonder why (and this is for people in general not just YTB or MLM) people need to be reminded or "taught" how to behave in public. I have seen bad behavior from TTAs as well as MLMers. I just shake my head.
I have also said a number of times that YTB is reactionary. They will get away with something as long as possible and then take corrective action. The Baltimore scam--refused to return calls until it was just ready to go live. The issuance of a CRTA card for $449 was derigeur until IATAN and RCCL bounced you and then it was changed. Operations in Canada were gung ho till you were almost shut down and a quick acquisition of a small agency saved it. Now we have the "training" that has been exposed for what it is and all of a sudden there is a new curriculum focusing on training.
And you ask the question of why the YTB documentation is suspect?
Actually the card for 449 simply was being changed BEFORE IATA and RCCL.
ReplyDeleteIN california non personal travel sales had to be made before applying for a card as of JAN 2007. The same for the rest of the states began JAN 2008 BUT was mentioned as early as last summer. And January was simply the start date. Now that was all BEFORE the IATA issue and RCCL. So, seems to be proactive and not reactive.
The card was freely given in CA until the AG contacted you and explained you were in violation and you agreed to correct it in return for no fine.
ReplyDeleteThere was no talk about the new criteria for the RTA card much before the IATA RCCL issue. Maybe there was talk and maybe IATA and RCCL had already put YTB on notice. No one will ever know.
But they are a reactionary company. Take Earl's YouTubes---fine till people complained and he threatened Marc Ewing. Then all of a sudden it was an issue.
Some of the threads I posted a few days ago from Craigslist---fine till someone complained and now most of them are down.
The Reps and RTAs simply don't follow the rules. Dough told me that to advertise ANYTHING, you had to send it to Legal at YTB and they issue an approval number to be shown at the top of the ad. Show me where they appear on most ads? And what is YTB's response--nada till someone complains.
IN california non personal travel sales had to be made before applying for a card as of JAN 2007. The same for the rest of the states began JAN 2008 BUT was mentioned as early as last summer. And January was simply the start date. Now that was all BEFORE the IATA issue and RCCL. So, seems to be proactive and not reactive.
ReplyDelete--------------------
But isn't that just what they are saying and not following through on? We've seen posts on this blog that people are selling to their spouses and it is considered non-personal sales. Or RTA A books their travel with RTA B and RTA B books their travel RTA A so each get enough non-personal sales to be able to get the card.
I guess the rule is "rules are made to be broken." Yep, Yale or Jail.
Sorry, JF.
ReplyDeleteThe travel sales requirements were talked about last June and RTAs were told to prepare for the change in 2008 again in August.
Not a reaction to RCCL at all.
And a change in cirriculum for the CRTAs has been in the works prior to any RCCL decision.
And certainly not a reaction to the small percentage of TTAs who signed your overhyped petition.
YTB has dealt with hypergrowth the past 2 years. They have done a remarkable job in the midst of it.
Going from 140 employees to 350 employees in a little over a year is challenge enough.
And, by the way, look for that growth to increase in the months ahead.
Lots of great things just around the corner with YTB.
And you will still be trying your best to figure it out.
YTB and TRAVEL: A Great Mix!
"And a change in cirriculum for the CRTAs has been in the works prior to any RCCL decision."
ReplyDeleteCRTA needs to be overhauled.
The information could be stored on a DVD or password protected on the YTB secure Website much like the Marc Mancini training where updates can be made as needed and a test given to prove you have received the training.
Why charge $149 and say you are a Certified RTA, but actually not enough travel training was taught except telling you where to go to get professional travel training.
Where's the BEEF? It's not in CRTA class.
Couldn't the present fee for CRTA credential be covered somewhere in the $449.95 or the $49.95 monthly fee? Then utilize the travel professional expertise of the Candi May's of YTB and charge $149 to get RTA's genuinely Certified.
So what Candi May owned a brick and mortar? She sucked as an agency owner/manager and business person to have to shutter them all and join a sleazy operation like YTB. Obviously, 2 bricks short of a full load. And, then to have to have Mr. Weenie Dougie defend her is really laughable. What's the matter is she afraid we will eat her or what?
ReplyDeleteOh, and anyone named "Candi May" should be running around the Playboy Mansion with Hugh and not some old bat with teased hair and sagging. Think I would change my name honey.
Was that you, Martha?
ReplyDeleteAnother example of the wonderful, gracious TTAs.
TTAs . . . pure as the wind-driven snow.
YTB and TRAVEL: A Great Mix!
"Was that you, Martha?
ReplyDeleteAnother example of the wonderful, gracious TTAs.
TTAs . . . pure as the wind-driven snow.
YTB and TRAVEL: A Great Mix!"
YTB STINKS AND SO DO YOU! ASSHOLE!
Anonymous said..."Was that you, Martha?"
ReplyDeleteNo, it wasn't. I don't post anonymously. I have no reason to, Doughole.