First Class Training Overview

Well, this weekend YTB launched their First Class Training. My personal feeling is that it is a small step in the right direction, but it is a long way from being where it needs to be. But one does have to wonder why a "travel" company has been in existence for 7 years and only now (after $225 million dollars worth of lawsuits have been filed) they begin to consider training.

The training will be completely online and hence no opportunity to ask any questions or interact with the people doing the trainign. The exam is self monitored and you can take it as many times as you like to pass it. Yesterday they offered the training live in several cities prior to it going solely online and following are my notes from the 4 hour session:

• An overview of the new "titles". An "Affiliate" is what is now known as an RTA. These people will refer to their sites and all transactions will be handled online. They will not be permitted to work with clients or vendors. They will earn 60% of the commissions received by YTB.   The new version of the RTA will be allowed to book groups and contact vendors directly. They will become RTAs upon completion of the First Class Training  and exam. They will earn 70% of the commissions received by YTB. Down the road, a future exam will be created allowing the RTAs to drop the "R" and call themselves "Travel Agents".
• An overview of a revamped RTA website. The new "technology" will allow RTAS to place their actual contact number on the website. A cost for this new site was not mentioned, however I suspect it will be an additional monthly cost for an "enhanced" site similar to the Rep site.
• The First Class Training will be taken online, and there is no time limit for completion nor is there any monitoring of the exam.
• The "training", while better, was certainly very light and offers no immediate benefit to the consumer. A YTB director narrates the video sessions and introduces a very few select vendors who overview the product they sell. CLIA's Terry Dale presented a recorded overview of CLIA.
• E&O was glanced over and it was briefly mentioned that the YTB policy only covers transactions booked by clients online. So, if any RTA books direct, they are NOT covered. This was a minor point and not emplasized at all.
• Marc Mancini had a recorded session explaining how geography training was important. It was recommended that RTAs view the classes in YTB's e-Campus for more detailed travel training. It is important to note that Marc did not present ANY geography training or travel traingin in this recording for First Class Training.
  
• A brief overview of select vendors was presented. These were not the earlier vendor presentations but essentially a listing of the vendors that work with and "understand" the YTB business model.
• Group travel was covered for a long time. They did not go over the nuts and bolts, but emphasized the ability to earn greater profits from group bookings and highlighted some of the difference between individual and group bookings. They told everyone where to find the forms in the Back Office. If YTB is going to focus on groups as they have in the past, I think this is a huge lapse in judgement and in depth group travel training needs to be covered. Look at what happens when a RTTA tries to book groups--Baltimore....Houston....Nashville!
• Recruiting was covered, but it was certainly not the focus as it had been in past classes.
• They encouraged people to attend the Funshine Events and the CLIA 360.
• They encouraged RTAs to take advantage of FAMS and ship inspections.
• YTB indicated that they would arrange private YTB only ship inspections.
  

 All in all, it is a small step in the right direction. I am curious as to how the vendors feel now that YTB is encouraging the RTAs to pay the fee for this training and then call the suppliers directly. 

Notably absent from this training was:

• Any mention of how to run a business including liability insurance, local and state licensing, etc.
  
• Client problem resolution
• Industry jargon and lexicon
• Geography (as stated above)
• In depth liability discussion
• Responsibilities of the RTA to clients and vendors and YTB
• Accounting methods
• SOT issues and requirements
  

Now I know that all of this cannot be included in the 4 hours they allot for the training. It is a disservice to the vendors and the consumers to allow RTAs to go out in the world with this minimal training. It is a little more than was offered before, but not much more.  The RTAs are now emboldened to do more and the potential to create more mistakes is huge.

There is no supervision and there was no mention of being able to rely on YTB (other than the recoreded videos) for any help. With a legitimate host, when an agent has a problem, he can speak with the host and their staff , other members of the host, or look to the other many resources that are available to legitimate travel professionals and not YTB. Networking among RTAs is ineffective--you cannot expect a kindergarten class to solve a calculus problem. Contacting YTB headquarters is also ineffective as their management has no background in travel and very few (if any at this point) of their call center people have any background. Without a means of support, the consumers are on their own.

But hey, again, it is a reactive measure based on an Attorney General's lawsuit and a few class action lawsuits. It took the non-travel executives and Board 7 plus years to decide that training on "travel" might be an appropriate thing for a "travel" company.  For me it seems a day late and a dime short!

It also should be noted that the "Award Winning" Candi May or Bob The Travel Guy were not featured in any of the training. "Dr. Seligman" was also not featured!