YTB Botches Up Honeymoon

In this morning's Atlanta Journal Constitution, and in the reporter's own blog, is a story of a honeymoon gone bad.  Ultimately, the client was made whole financially by the supplier, and YTB feels that shows how hard the "agent" worked for the client. 

Well, had the client booked with a legitimate travel agent, much of this would have been avoided.

• Rather than help a bride through the web, a real agent woudl have handled it.
• A real agent would have been checking on the status of the resort opening.
• A real agent would have made sure the replacement accomodations were equivalent.
• A real agent would have handled it while they were on property.

I am not sure the couple was entitled to a "full" refund--at least not from Travel Impressions. Why did the agent let them go knowing that the replacement accommodations were sub par? Why did the agent not explain that the airline tickets were non-refundable? Why did the agent not call the hotel and leave that to his wife?

The Latest Recruiting Push!

Recruit 2000 people in 12 months and get $100,000

Recruit 5000 people in 24 months and get $250,000

Recruit 10,000 people in 36 months and get $500,000

Yes, recruit enough people to give Coach $5 million dollars and receive $850,000 in return.

We all know how well the last "incentive" worked, I wonder how this one will? You can read the fine print of the latest one here.

How To Shut Up A TTA In One Easy Lesson

There has been a resurgence of "I made millions selling travel" comments and posts on this blog, other blogs and various forums. One of the contentions that the TTAs have made from day one has been that the members of YTB and other MLMs in fact do not make money selling travel but that it is all in the recruiting.

Do you all remember Proud To Be YTB? She was a director in Florida and claimed she was making $30,000 a month in travel commissions. Then she changed the story to that she SELLS $30,000 a month in travel. And then when she was challenged on that, she disappeared.

Way back when this started, in a column on MSNBC, I challenged the naysayers to put their money where their mouths were. That was back in mid-2007 and no one has stepped up to the plate. Not a single person in almost 18 months. What is happening? Are they still trying to find ONE person that makes decent money selling travel in MLM?

So, I will throw it out there again, if anyone wants to shut up the TTAs on this issue, all you need to do is to photocopy a monthly TRAVEL commission check from YTB and redact the personal information and I will post it here for the world to see. Take off your name and address, and YTB's bank account number and let us see the period it reflects and that it is indeed for travel commissions. Anyone up for the challenge? Can anyone put their money where their mouth is?

The Facts Half-Truths About YTB--Part 2

Today we will continue our analysis of the half-truths on YTB's new website, www.TheFactsAboutYTB.com :

History
While this page seems pretty factual, it is certainly exaggerated, but exaggeration is not to be unexpected.

The two most notable exaggerations are in the travel sales figures. They claim in 2006 to have sold $226M but that number has never been verified and it was further clouded by YTB in the reporting to Travel Weekly by saying that $93.7M was by "third parties" and that $175.2 was from hosting of outside agents. When questioned about the number, Kim Sorensen admitted they did not have any actual numbers and the result was "gleaned" from a variety of sources--passengers reported from one vendor, dollars reported from another, and estimates of how much travel they thought RTAs sold on their own outside of the YTB websites. In 2007 they re-defined "third parties" as RTAs, so no one really knows. In 2007, they report $414M in sales, but they were a little bit more forthcoming to Travel Weekly this year and in reality it is only $211M sold by "third parties" (RTAs), so the average annual sales per RTA drops from $3160 to $1610. $1610 is pretty consistent with prior years and would reflect a self sold vacation. $1610 also represents approximately $96 in ANNUAL INCOME--which again is very consistent with prior years!

The other area of exaggeration is the number of attendees at their various events. While the numbers may indeed be accurate, they do not disclose that the number includes, friends, husbands, wives, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that happened to tag along for the ride. As a matter of fact, if you look at the photos of their most recent convention you will see a great number of children present and yes, they were counted as attendees.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing EVERYONE on both sides of the fence a safe, peaceful and happy Thanksgiving!

More Selling Off!

Well, the  bad news is the deal on the plane fell through. The good news is that YTB found another buyer willing to pay $200K more than the initial offer so the loss is now only $200K

And in other news, it is apparent that the sale of the plane and the sale of the office building did not yield enough cash for whatever their needs may be. They also sold off 10 acres of their headquarter property for a cool million AND it already went to settlement.  Now I am not sure how many acres are there to begin with but 10 acres is a decent chunk!

Gosh, what could be prompting all these sales?

The Facts Half-Truths About YTB

Last week, YTB released yet another website, www.TheFactsAboutYTB.com which purports to explain the truth about YTB. Sort of. As the title of this post suggests, it is full of half-truths and over the next few posts we will point them out--tab by tab. We will not even get into the discussion about why YTB needs a site such as this to justify their scam--that's a whole different topic. So let's start at the very beginning:

The Home Page
Well, considering that YTB has been touting that they are "all" about travel, apparently their founder did not get the message. Direct from Scott Tomer, "The purpose of the information in this site is to recruit you into the YTB business." Of course being the reactionary company that they are, this has been changed already to something more benign.

Scott proposed you ask the following questions of any travel company...as if these have anything to do with any type of legitimacy:

1. How long has the company been in business? (Valid question)
   
2. Is the company publicly traded? If not, do they have audited financial statements available for review? (Irrelevant. YTB was reverse merged and did not undergo any SEC scrutiny. Most successful travel companies are indeed private.)
   
3. How much travel have they sold in the last year? (Legitimate question. It is unfortunate that YTB cannot answer this themselves. Was it $414M, or $211M, or is their President still "gleaning" the numbers?)
   
4. Is the company a member of the Direct Sellers Association? (Who cares. The DSA is merely a lobbying organization for MLM companies and has NOTHING to do with travel.)
   
5. Do they have a protected compensation plan? (Again, irrelevant. And it is ironic that the "copyrighted" compensation plan that can "never be changed" and is on "file" with all of the "Attorneys General in all states" has indeed been changed numerous times--most recently when they eliminated the Rep override commission on travel sales.
   
6. Do they have online travel training available? (Perhaps legitimate. The question to ask is how valid is the training and what do you REQUIRE of your employees and to what level of achievement do you hold them.)
   
7. How large is their operation (corporate office and support staff size)? (This is irrelevant. 99% of the travel agencies and travel suppliers in the industry are smaller than YTB amd are 100 times more reputable.)
   
8. Is their corporate office open to the public? (Again, irrelevant. As a matter of security, most offices (excepting retail locations) are not open to the public. And YTB promotes working from home, so this is sort of a dichotomy isn't it?)
   
9. Does the company provide an income disclosure statement? (This is irrelevant. To be honest, what an agent makes is not really anyone's business. But since YTB is public and they are operating a MLM company they are required to provide this. It is a shame that more people will not read it and realize that the average Rep in YTB earned $97 in 2007 and that only 163 people out of 305,055 earned more than $20,000 last year.)
   
10. Has the company won any travel-related awards or recognition? (Perhaps a legitimate question.)

But, what about a few more questions:

1. What is your litigation history?
2. Have you ever been charged with a crime?
3. Do you vet any of your agents?
4. How much of your money comes from travel versus recruiting?
5. How much travel industry experience does your Executive Team and Board have?
6. How do you control the information that is passed out by all of yor Reps and RTAs?
7. Can you give me the phone number of Dr. Seligman?
8. Can you explain the "irregular accounting practices" that caused you to be delisted from the OTC?
9. Can you substantiate any of Candi May's industry awards?
10. Why has your stock fallen from $9 to almost a quarter in little more than a year?
11. Do you believe in insider deals and to what extent do you enter into them?

Stay tuned for more after Thanksgiving!

It should be noted that these "facts" are all "factual" as of November 19th as it states at the bottom of the page. I wonder how long until the "facts" change?

TravelPulse/Modern Agent Sees The Light

Mark Murphy, President of Travel Pulse has a very compelling column today on YTB. In it, he has said

The YTB business is one where the focus is on recruiting and getting individuals to set up their own “travel store” online, as if customers are suddenly going to appear and start booking thousands of dollars of travel at some no-name website. Indeed, one needs only to look at the compensation earned by these “entrepreneurs” to understand that the only thing being built is the business owned and controlled by the people who actually run YTB and those who buy its over-the-counter stock.

In yesterday's editorial, Richard Earls of Travel Research Online also commented on the YTB situation

The list of grievances against YTB is a lengthy one. They recruit on the basis of “travel benefits” with an evangelical fervor that would make Jimmy Swaggart envious. But then anyone can be a travel agent, right? Take a look at the California attorney general’s suit against YTB and you can gather a pretty good compendium of the problems inherent in their “anyone can be a travel agent” sales pitch.

Craigslist Comedy

 Craigslist is always a good source for finding the keen marketing insights of the YTB Reps and RTAs.  Here is a sample of recent posts.

11/21/2008
YTB is always looking for new talent
YTB(Your Travel Business) the name simply says it all.YTB is one of the newest travel websites with some very interesting differences.As part of the YTB family you would get to own your very own personalized YTB travel and marketing sites.Ladies and gentleman you could become part of a 7 trillion dollar a year franchise plus you would have the freedom of doing this from the comfort of your own home.RTA's(Referring Travel Agents) get tons and tons of special treatment such as top quality healthcare,residual income,write off taxes and of course UNLIMITED TRAVEL.Most companies limit their hiring but YTB is always on the lookout for brand new talent plus we literally give you all the tools you need to get started.A 1 day training class,$500 at first,a 50 dollar monthly fee and your good to go.Once you get a team of 6(it doesnt matter how the combination came together) you get an automatic $1000 leadership bonus.The holy grail of YTB is to become a director.Just call 954 579 0291 and tell him Rob referred you.

So now along with the perks you get "unlimited travel" when you buy your credential? YTB is becoming more and more attractive by the minute. What is strange is that apparently this posster is NOT in YTB--why does he say to call someone else and tell them "Rob referred you."? Maybe someone in TB is having a tough time recruiting (ya think?) and is paying someone referral fees? Is that allowed?

11/19/2008
ytb.com
http://www.ytbtravel.com (go to luthertravel.com) Looking for the Ultimate Home Based Travel Business? Check Out YTB YTB, Its A Real Business You're about to discover the fastest-growing home based business and fastest growing travel company in the world. You can work from home part-time or full-time. A combination of three operating groups namely REZconnect Technologies Inc, YTB Travel Network Inc, and YourTrvelBiz.com Inc comprise of YTB International. This sucessful International company operates under the trademark of your TravelBiz, YTBnet.com Travel Network, Global Travel Network, Travel Network Vacation Central, YourTravelBiz.com, and YTBnet.com. The main purpose is to provide home based representatives using its services and technology. It also provides travel stores for the travel agency with the help of the Internet. We know that home based business can be highly performance vehicle. It can take people to the future with tax advantages and  savings of tremendous amount of time. With the advent of YTB international in the travel industry, an explosion has taken place. Due to this, the companies are undergoing four phases of growth. Those phases are Formulation, Concentration, Momentum, and stability. It has received Cruise Lines highest awards, which is the pinnacle award for  Production and Outstanding Partnership. However, this pinnacle award has been recognized by very few.In mid 2005 YTB completed its regional travel trade show in Orlando. One thousand travel associates attended it. At this event, 28 travel vendors gave travel training and product information to the RTAs. (Reffering Travel Agents) YTB International is scheduling travel shows in the coming months.The new RTAs are joining hands in hands with the YTB network for its success. RTAs have increased rates of travel–related services. The latter generates commission-based income for the company, thus, we get contracts for leading product suppliers.Travel sellers based on home are the fastest travel agency community’s segment and YTB International is part of that. YTB international is proving to be ambrosia for the travel industry. Henceforth it must be encouraged. YTB COMPANIES OFFER TWO UNIQUE AND POWERFUL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, THAT OF A  REFERRING TRAVEL AGENT OR ‘RTA’ AND THAT OF INDEPENDENT  MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE OR ‘REP’. THE TRAVEL AGENT OPPORTUNITY HAS AN INITIAL FEE UNDER $500 AND A MONTHLY LICENSE FEE OF $49.95. THERE IS NO FEE OR TRAVEL AGENCY PURCHASE REQUIRED TO BE A REP. YOU MAY CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN ONE OR BOTH OPPORTUNITIES."

 The most truthful part of this entire ad is the part where it says "However, this pinnacle award has been recognized by very few."

11/21/2008
Travel Domain Name and YTB 2008 Success Magazines
Are you in the Travel Business or with YTB and need a domain name? We would like to sell our name www.TravelersHope.com to you if you are interested. Please contact us and we can get you more specifics and talk price.We also have 20 YTB 2008 Success Magazines if you could use these for your YTB business. I am willing to sell them for $75 or obo. These would be for pick-up and cash only.
Thanks!

Oh oh.  Seems that YTB is not too recession proof in Denver if they are selling the domain and magazines for $75 or best offer.

10/29/2008
YTB Marketing Materials For Sale (KC, MO)
Hello, I have many YTB Marketing Materials that I would like to sell for less than I paid. I hate to throw them away when someone else could use them. You must be able to pick them up. The list is below, make offer, will not separate must take them all.

YTB INVENTORY
Quantity Items
123 Magazines
6 Leaders Bulletin-Vol 1 No 1
23 Leaders Bulletin-Vol 1 No 3
49 Leaders Bulletin-Vol 1 No 4
49 Leaders Bulletin-Vol 1 No 5
24 Leaders Bulletin-Vol 1 No 7
19 Coach's Playbook
56 8x10 YTB International Turning Fun into Fortune Brochure
50 What's Missing From This Picture Brochure
50 American Destinations Brochure
49 The Ticket to Your Future Brochure
123 Grand Opening Postcards
Your Travel Biz Guarantees Brochure
15 8x10 Signs
100 Free Travel Vouchers to give away
Total Cost $770.01
Thanks for looking and good luck with YTB.

Ouch, seems Kansas City also did not get the email from Coach about how recession proof the business is. And this looks like someone that was serious about the business. Look at that inventory list. And in case the person who placed the ad is reading, I am sure for your $770.01 Coach will send you a nice Christmas card.

10/22/2008
YTB Success Home Magazines, DVD, travel vouchers & more for sale
hi I have all this stuff from YTB fr sale or trade ( ipod touch 8GB for my son)
* (14) 2007 YTB Success from Home magazines 12 with dvd
* (5) Coach’s Playbook DVD’s.
* (5) Circle of Champions DVD.
* (118) What missing from this picture ? YOU .
* ( 10) Travel vouchers.
*(199) Your travel biz the ticket to your future
RETAIL VALUE: $234.90
(not including shipping). if you have any question please let me know ,thanks

Orlando too? This cannot be. Coach and Scott promised it was recession proof!  What the hell is going on here?

11/15/2008
YTB Success from Home magazines with CD
i have 24 copies of the January 2007 issue of Success from Home featuring YTB. These magazines come with the CD-Rom for this travel business. Those of you in the industry know about this. These are FREE. If they are not picked up within a week, they are going to the recycle trash. Serious inquiries can call me at 727-742-2119.
p.s. if i know you are coming, i can put them out under the covered front porch overhang, so there is no need to set up special times.

It's no better in Tampa appaerenty. But I am not so sure how valuable a two year old magazine is?  But apparently the advertiser knows, they are intending to toss them in the trash.  What is a "serious inquiry" about something you are planning on tossing away? I believe that Coach woudl not be happy!

10/28/2008
YTB Success From Home Magazines - $50
We are selling 28 YTB(Your Travel Biz) Success From Home Magazines. They are the 2007 Edition. 25 have never been used, 3 are in ok condition. We are selling them for 1/2 the price of what you will pay on the YTB website (for 25 Magazines).
On the YTB Website (25 magazines) ~ $99 + $17 S&H
We are selling them for $50!

Denver again. Boy Coach needs to send out more of those Recession Proof CDs. There are entirely too many RTAs and Reps that are unaware of this new unique to YTB program. This guy is even trying to sell his "slightly used" 2-year old YTB Magazines. And we are not even going to address in how they were used--you can use your imagination.

Pot Meet Kettle

This is just too funny. Our own Firemedic has a blog about Traverus and how he does not like that they are competing with YTB and how their people "advertise" that Traverus is good and YTB is bad. They can fight that fight.

But now he is so upset that Traverus is branching out from the travel business and is selling some fragrances and potions and lotions. His title, "I Thought It Was About Travel?" was a hoot.

What about YTB? All we have heard lately is that it is ALL about travel. Well, travel and recruiting, and cars, and camping gear, and flowers, and tickets, and wedding registries, and clothing, and magazines, and DVDs. But YTB is all about travel.

Traverus is evil. Just ask Firemedic.

Assets For Cash? You Betcha!

Ever since YTB started selling off some of their assets, people have been wondering if they have been doing it because they are in need of “quick” cash. They have sold some real estate at a loss of $350,000 and are selling their much touted jet that has been owned for less than a year for a loss of $400,000. Sounds to me like they’re trying to pump up their cash on hand before the end of year report comes out.

Now, this past weekend, the 3Q report was released, and as expected, it wasn’t that great. Granted, there was a profit made, but not that much of one. $287,999 for 3 months. With a sales force of just over 114,000 people. That averages out to $2.51 per person. Now, I know all the arguments…..not everyone sells (well, get rid of the deadwood and stop propping up the sales force figures), the economy is bad (but doesn’t YTB advertise itself as recession proof?), etc. For YTD, the company is in the RED $3,429,229. If this past quarter is indicative, one has to wonder if 4th quarter earnings will be enough to turn that red number to black.

This brings us to the question of selling off more assets to raise more capital. The company itself has said that they are evaluating the possibility of this, along with other measures to try to stop the bleeding. Of course, those on the pro YTB side don’t want to believe that this could possibly be, and have questioned whether this information is factual, or just a figment of our collective imaginations. Well, my friends, I hate to tell you, but it is factual. It says so, right in the report, despite all those saying that it has yet to be found.

I found it. Quite easily, I might add, if one were to read the entire 10Q, and not just what is found on Yahoo Finance. It is on Page 9, in the Notes To Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 2. Paragraph 8, which deals with the incurred losses, and how the company plans on counteracting the losses. They talk about how the company has instituted a cost reduction program and more efficient management techniques. The 3rd to last sentence says: 

"The company is also evaluating the sale of certain non-core assets and raising new capital for future operations." 

Paragraph 8 goes on to say:

"However, there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in achieving its objectives."

Paragraph 9 is interesting as well. It states (emphasis is mine):

"The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. Our ability to continue as a going concern is substantially dependant on the successful execution of many of the actions referred to above, on the timeline contemplated by our plan. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and reclassification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern."

Of the "actions referred to above", they state that they have already instituted them (the reduction in labor and fringe costs, reduction of discretionary expenditures, more efficient management techniques), so the only thing left for them to do is to sell assets.

So, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Straight from the horses mouth. The question now truly is, to sell or not to sell.

Fake Lady Liberty Falls

At long last, the fate of the famed Fake Statue of Liberty has been determined. Sort of. Currently, Hammond, Indiana is saddled with the storage costs of this monstrosity and they have no place to put it in public. So the choices are:

• Find a donor willing to sink several million into shoring up the island where it was originally supposed to go. (Not likely)
  
• Send it back to Beryl Martin (Best choice, let Kim, Coach and Scott figure out how to dispose of their own mess)
• Cut it up in pieces and use it at a welcome center
  

This seems like a fitting end to yet another poor management decision for YTB. Had this news come a few weeks earlier, they could have incinerated her and scattered her ashes from the YTB Lear Jet across the golden plains.

Reality Bites!

Well, the long awaited 10-Q was released on Friday and there was a very good analysis of the document posted here. However, on other blogs and forums, the word is that the TTAs are spinning this information and the news is good.

Well, let's take the TTAs out of the equation for a bit and take a look at the analysis provided by non-travel related entities. These folks don't have a horse in this race and are merely analyzing the data given to them. So is it really JUST a bunch of disgruntled TTAs? Or is there a lot of truth behind what has been posted in this blog over the past year?


From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
YTB growth stalls in Q3, sells assets


From the St. Louis Business Journal:
YTB sees Q3 profit fall 87% 


From the Madison County Record:
YTB posts meager third quarter earnings 


From the Legal Newsline:
Online travel company targeted by AGs post 3Q loss 

From Travel Weekly:
YTB's Q3 net profit falls 87%


And yes, these are all negative sounding headlines and yes, I did select them to make a point. The remainder are pretty neutral, but if anyone can show me a positive headline from the recent filing, by all means bring it on!

But in more positive news, the Emmons County Record is reporting that Grits Travel* has just opened at the Ampride Convenience Store on U.S. Highway 83 in Emmons County North Dakota.

* Yes, that is right, "grits" named after the owner's favorite corn-based food in the south, hominy grits.

"Leadership" Bonuses

Apparently "leadership" is not reflective of the "leadership" bonuses offered so far this year. While the numbers in the 10Q were able to be manipulated, this indicates the number of leadership bonuses paid out by quarter so far this year.

Coach Needs A Smaller Corner

Well, as suspected, the DAD seems to be giving Coach's Corner a run for the money. Look at the the new members who have been successful enough with YTB to make the Corner in 2008 by quarter. This only highlights the statistics presented in the 10Q.

Latest YTB Financials

The 3rd quarter 10-Q has been posted. Let's look at some of the numbers.

First up, the number of RTAs. The second quarter showed a loss of 7,242 RTAs, or 5.2% of the RTA sales force. The third quarter continued this downtrend and even accelerated it. In the third quarter, the net loss of RTAs was 16,958 or 12.9% of the already reduced number of RTAs. The number of deactivations was fairly constant from quarter to quarter, 30,638 in the second quarter to 32,815 in the third quarter. However, the number of new sign-ups dropped dramatically from 23,396 to 15,857.

Next, lets look at sales revenue. Online travel store sales and monthly fees for the 3rd quarter were $30,473,409, vs. $33,354,064 in the 2nd quarter. Actual travel commissions in the 3rd quarter were $8,014,502 vs. $8,819,817 in the 2nd. Both of these continue the downward trend.

There is a bit of good news. For the 3rd quarter, YTB had a net income of $287,999 vs. a net loss of $(199,577) in the 2nd quarter.

Other notes are not so good. Remember the plane that was purchased in February for a price of $1.3 million. Apparently that wasn't such a good idea after all, as the company decided in August to sell it for $900K, a loss of $400K.

Also noted were the lawsuits that have already been discussed at length.

Finally, it was noted that YTB is selling property that was purchased a little over a year ago, also at a loss. This was the subject of a prior blog post.

So, what to make of all this. Honestly, it is not a bad as I expected it would be, but it isn't good. While YTB barely managed to eek out a profit for the quarter, the decline in RTAs cannot be considered a good thing. If this rate of decline continues, the number of RTAs will likely drop below 100,000 by the end of the year. This could actually be a good thing for the company as a whole, but a bad thing for the individuals. Why is that? In order to remain a Director and collect Director bonuses, you have to maintain a certain number of RTAs in your organization. As the number of RTAs shrinks, the less bonuses that will need to be paid out. On the other hand, as people start to lose their Director status, that will make recruiting new RTAs and REPs even more difficult, which eventually leads to the sinking ship.

Apparently the Officers and Board members understand this. They note in the latest 10-Q,

"Management has taken several actions to ensure that the Company will continue as a going concern. Management has instituted a cost reduction program that included a reduction in labor and fringe costs, as well as reductions of discretionary expenditures in the operating structure of the organization. In addition, the Company has instituted more efficient management techniques through better utilization of technology. The Company is also evaluating the sale of certain non-core assets and raising new capital for future operations. Management believes these factors will contribute toward achieving profitability. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in achieving its objectives."

There was no mention of any worry about continuing as a"going concern" in previous 10-Q reports. In case you aren't familiar with accounting and stock reporting documents, a "going concern" clause is very significant, especially when issued by the company's auditors in an annual report. We've got 3 more months to wait for that.

Coming up near the end of the month, the company's responses to the two class-action lawsuits are due to the judge. That should prove interesting.

Also, if the company continues to need additional cash, they won't have their sweetheart bank to fall back on anymore, as on October 10th, Meridian Bank was taken over by the FDIC. That annual report should be an interesting read.

I only wish that Traverus, World Ventures, and the others were publicly traded companies so I could give them equal time.

Gag Order From YTB?

  

A friend of mine is an RTA with YTB and attended the Travel Training in Arlington, TX last weekend.

It seems that half the day was devoted to Kim Sorensen talking about YTB. However, he refused to accept any questions because of his concern that "problems would arise from the questions." So what is Kim hiding that he cannot tell the people that essentially sign his paycheck?

The main training in the afternoon was Spring Tours and apparently they were not training; but telling the RTAs that they plan to train. They are planning on training RTAs to sell Spring Tours and they will have a webinar on November 18th.

Spring will be a hard sell since they are not USTOA members and consumers have no protection. Also, apparently the Spring alliance has irritated (to a degree) Globus, Trafalgar, and Collette who see them as a competitor.

One interesting tidbit did emerge from Spring Tours however. Apparently 131,000 RTAs were able to sell 48 packages to China. That is 48 out of the 1500 that were prepaid. RTAs you need to get on the stick!

YTB sells administrative offices

We need to wait a few more days for the YTB 10-Q filing, but it appears that they need to raise some cash. According to this 8-K filing, YTB is selling its property at 1 Country Club View in Edwardsville, IL. The property is being sold to Prestige Management Services, LLC for $1.5 million. This is the same property that YTB acquired a little more than a year ago, and according to this 8-K filing paid $1.85 million for.

The current sale is not only for the building and land, but also "All office equipment to remain with building to include: Cubicles, Chairs, Desk, Tables, Break Room Equipment. Sellers may leave or take Phone system." Computers and Computer Systems are excluded. Further, the buyer has taken an option to purchase 600 Country Club View at any time within 12 months of the closing of this sale.

This means that YTB is losing $350,000 on the sale, plus the cost of the equipment and furniture, plus the costs of acquisition and sale.

Why would they be doing this? The obvious speculation is that the company is bleeding financially, and needs to raise cash.

A quick search found a Prestige Management Services, LLC in Alton, IL, but their website, such as it is, doesn't really give us any information about them. The "whois" check shows the site to be registered to the website hosting company. What appears to be a related company, Prestige Management, Inc. is located in the same town, and could have formed an LLC to purchase the property, rather than buy it directly for the corporation. I guess it doesn't really matter who the buyer is.

This property that has been sold was used by YTB for administrative offices. What property will they be using now for this purpose? Have they laid-off so many people that they no longer need the space? Perhaps they will be leasing back the offices. If so, since they were leasing them prior to the 2007 purchase, why did they buy in the first place?

Hopefully the answers to these questions, and others, will be made public when the 10-Q is filed on 11/14.

Oh The Suspense.....

One wonders what we will learn....

What's The Difference Between An Endorsement and an Advertisement?

Most people would know, but according to many in YTB, there is no difference. This month's Inc. magazine mentions YTB in a "column" called "Ask Candee" and lists YTB as a "Leading Travel Franchise Opportunity". Several message boards have been gloating about it and even the blog Just Picture It Now, devoted some space for it. As is typical, you can only believe half of what is said.

We will not even go into the whole, YTB is not a franchise argument; but will focus on the fact that the "article" is merely an ad. YTB has once again paid for placement in a publication that neither endorses them or approves of them

Inc. had nothing to do with the article beyond accepting a check from the advertiser that placed it. It says on the top of the page "SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION". So, again, YTB has paid for a mention that they likely did not deserve. Don't believe me? Check it out online for yourself, or buy a copy of the magazine.

The company that places these ads is called VentureDirect, and here is what they have to say:

VentureDirect Worldwide provides premium print advertising opportunities, in a range of industries and interest categories. We exclusively manage the Direct Response, Marketplace and Special Advertising sections in some of the United States's premiere publications. Long-standing relationships with more than 600 national magazines and newspapers provide unique targeted, cost-effective advertising opportunities that deliver the right audience, at the right price for our clients. Major advertisers in industries such as distance education, fitness and nutrition, health and beauty, fine jewelry, travel, franchises, technology products and services, small and home-based business services, computer software and hardware have all utilized our service.

Our print brokerage experts analyze the market and your message, to identify the best publications for your product or service – procuring the best possible rate and position in each publication. As the broker for hundreds of print advertisers, we are able to leverage our buying power with publishers to secure much lower rates - sometimes as much as 70% below rate card. We also identify remnant space, and negotiate added-value items that can complement your print campaign. Added-value items may include free or reduced pricing on subscriber mailing list usage, supplemental online ad components and editorial mentions.

Over twenty years of print media experience ensures exceptional value, strategic positioning and guaranteed placement.

Failing the Bonus Test

An update was announced in the October 24th YTB Biz report on the status of the Leadership Bonus incentive that started in August for 305,000 Reps and 138,000 RTAs.

“Additional compensation of 50% match or $2500 if you can earn 5 Leadership Bonuses between Aug-Nov, payable in December. “

The sad part of the announcement is that only 25 out of 305,000 have qualified for this bonus, or if you prefer 25 out of the 18,000 from the conference. In either case, that is a pretty poor showing.

Notably absent from the report are the following names:

• Gail Walker
• Regina Osei
• Denyse Turner
• Doug Bauknight
• Rod Ward
• Candi May
• Danielle Mangum

One would think if YTB is such a great opportunity, and you can in fact make millions of dollars and travel like an insider, this should be an easy task to complete--no? Certainly if the 25 people on the list can do it, those of you above who are so adamant that YTB will take over the world can do it. I’ve seen the posts on other forums pushing this great incentive, yet none of those names made the grade. What is it? Are you busy selling travel? Busy with your other JOB? Busy writing nonsensical blogs? Or is it that less and less people are buying into your baloney? Is making millions with the company not as easy as you all proclaim?

Oh Where Are They Now??

Over the past year we’ve heard a lot from people in travel MLMs about how much money they make, and all the cool stuff they get to do because they are in the MLM. Just the other day this little gem popped up in my email.

“I am quite happy with my $10,000+ monthly
commissions I get, mostly from cruises. Not to mention I have some pretty
big regular corporate accounts. I really enjoyed the free 7 night cruise my
Husband and I recently went on, and wow, my whole family had a blast in
Disney World. The discounts I got on our hotels were incredible and you cant
beat free car rental! MLM are not scams, you just have to be good at what
you do and work hard at it. The same as what you would do at a 'job' working
for someone else! The whole world is run by a pyrmid affect. read the Bible,
its in there too!”

Sounds impressive doesn’t it? But if you’re bullshit meter isn’t going off, it really should be. The fact that they took the time to throw God into the mix is usually a dead give-away.

All of these earnings claims made by the MLM crowd are so completely over the top that you really have to wonder how it is that someone gets sucked into one of these scams. And, you also have to wonder just how far down in the toilet someone’s self esteem is that they would need to make something like this up.

Remember Metre Wisham and her claim of a Cocaine White Bentley purchased with all the mad cash she was earning with YTB?  

“...I'm going to the top, and perhaps that is why I am purchasing a brand new Bently Cocaine White Convertable to go on my 5 acres of property in Wine Country to go along with my already G500 and SL600 because my husband and I both are building an empire with YTB”

Whatever happened to “Proud To Be YTB” guy? He claimed he was making tons of cash! Look at this.  

“Every week, i'm getting checks in the mail. Some are travel commissions. Some are 50% matches from those in my downline. Some are from people in my downline signing up other people. some are the 4% residual. then at the end of every month I also receive a $2000 check on top of everything else”

And what ever happened to Bouwou who claimed to be a part of the millions in bonuses that YTB was handing out? He even claimed to have a client who spent $100,000 per month in travel with him. No, that’s not a typo. That’s really what he claimed.

Here’s the interesting thing. If you look at the majority of the earnings claims made by people who visit this blog, they all claim to be making $10,000 per month on average. ( Except for Proud, who claimed at one point to be making $36,000 per month). But yet all of these people who claimed to be rolling in money from their travel MLM, have disappeared. Their websites are gone. Their blogs have been removed or haven’t been updated in months. And you never see their names listed on the YTB bonus list. So why is it that so many people feel the need to claim to be making money that they aren’t? Anyone can look at the YTB earnings statement and see that only 11 people in YTB made over a million dollars last year. So, do you think all these people who claimed to be rolling in cash with their travel MLM are living on a beach together somewhere? Or do you think they just quit drinking the kool-aid?

Two Companies or Just One?

We have been told over and over again that there are two separate companies to YTB. There is the YTB Travel Network which has all the travel sites owned by the RTAs, and there is YourTravelBiz which is the company of REPs that sell the RTA sites.

So, are they really separate, or like some siamese twins, are they joined at the hip? Let's take some time and examine this.

So, What is a YTB Independent Marketing Representative?

According to the YTB Compensation Plan,

A person who has signed an Independent Marketing Representative agreement with YourTravelBiz.com is called a Representative. (We will use the term “Rep” from now on).

• Reps may sell online Travel Agencies, enroll RTAs, and sponsor other Reps

• Reps do not receive travel credentials and cannot sell travel.

And, What is a YTB Travel Network Referring Travel Agent?

A Referring Travel Agent (RTA) is a person who has purchased an online Travel Agency in an agreement with YTB Travel Network of Illinois and pays the $49.95 monthly license fee for a personalized online travel website and its “Back Office”. (We will use the term “RTA” from now on).

RTAs refer people to their website (online Travel Agency) to book travel and earn commissions on travel booked through their personalized site.

So far, so good. They certainly look separate according to those definitions. So what's the problem?

Well, it seems that an RTA can become something that used to be called a CRTA or Certified RTA. Now, the training program has been renamed to First Class Training. So why should an RTA take the First Class training?

According to this page,

You will learn how to:

Earn substantial income from travel sales:
Put your online travel agency on autopilot
10% override on all travel sold by RTAs referred by your PowerTeam Reps
$500 and $5000 bonuses by helping those RTAs succeed

Save incredible amounts on your personal vacations and travel:
Only RTAs who have taken the First Class can apply for their CLIA card
The proper way to ask for industry rates and upgrades
Where to find, and how to book FAM trips

Dramatically and legally reduce your personal income taxes:
Home-based travel business tax advantages
Convert current personal expenses to tax deductible business expenses

The cost of the First Class training is $149 and comes with a 2-Way Money Back Guarantee.
If you are unsatisfied for any reason, tell us at the end of the certification and receive a 100% refund.
Personally enroll 3 who have taken the First Class training and receive a 100% reimbursement.

This alone shows exactly how the two are tied at the hip. From the above I note the following:

1) 10% override on all travel sold by RTAs referred by your PowerTeam Reps

RTAs don't have Power Team reps, only REPs have power teams. So, this can mean only 2 possible things. Either nobody can ever get this 10% override because RTAs don't have Power Teams, or the RTA position and the REP position are tied together so they can. Also, since REPs can't sell travel, why should they get overrides on the travel sold by RTAs? They already get overrides on RTA sites sold by their downline REPs. Sounds like YTB just can't decide which head of the siamese twins does what.

2) $500 and $5000 bonuses by helping those RTAs succeed

According to another site that I found, these bonuses are based on RTAs in your downline selling certain amounts of travel. Gee, I thought that only REPs had downlines, and that they consisted only of other REPs. Apparently, the assumption is that all REPs are RTAs and all RTAs are REPs. We know that is not entirely true, as there are examples of REPs that are not RTAs and RTAs that are not REPs. However, it is obvious that these bonuses are for those that are both.

3) Personally enroll 3 who have taken the First Class training and receive a 100% reimbursement.

How can an RTA enroll other RTAs? I thought only REPs could do that. Perhaps the two companies aren't as separate as one would think.I'm sure that these are only a few of the arguments that the California Attorney General will be making in the lawsuit. I'll bet they find a few more.

AUTOREPLY: Out of Office

For the next week or so, this blog will be authored by guest bloggers. I will be out of the office for some meetings in California and then speaking at a travel industry conference on the Carnival Elation.

Have a good week!
JWF

Don't Forget

Talk About Saying Nothing

Last week I got my YTB announcement saying that YTB.com had been re-done. They were extremely proud of this accomplishment and the "Still Not Yet A Director After Three Years" even blogged about it!

Check it out for yourself at YTB.com. To be honest, it really does not say anything. Really nothing. I learned there is more parking at HQ. I learned that (as suspected and stated) YTB only earned the Pinnacle Award one year (2007) and finally I learned that you really have no way to contact anyone from the "Contact Us" page--well, you can if you want to call or mail them a letter but there is no email contact. But judging from the way they handled the RTA sites, it is not a surprise.

One redeeming quality is pure entertainment--content aside, there is now no real need to download the Whack-A-Mole game. Just go to YTB.com and play Whack-A-Guy Who Has No Experience In Travel. Be warned, with every click, either Coach, Scott or Kim will jump up at you--and if you are lucky and hit the trifecta, you get all three at once.

My top score is 1574.