It's All In The Crowd You Hang Out With

Well, the image above is looking for criminals, and it seems we have found a doozie in Wood River!

Glenn and Starla Green were awarded the President's Award at the August 2008 YTB Convention in St. Louis. They are Level 2 Directors with YTB and Kim Sorensen, the apparent good judge of character that he is, awarded them the prestigous President's Award.

Fast forward to this week, YTB is promoting and encouraging attendance at the Millionaires Mindset Conference on February 21st in Dallas. If you want more details on this conference, you can visit their site, Millionaire Mindset Conference.

On the surface, this appears to be just another scheme organized by fellow Directors Dave and Marlis Funk to grab $10 a piece from unsuspecting RTAs. (Or maybe it is to pay for the fuel in their rolling YTBmobile.) I am not sure of the intent, but one thing is for sure with YTB. If you scratch the surface a little bit, you will always find the dirt.

Well, it seems that Glenn Green has plenty of it. Back in December of 2006, the Houston Press News did an expose on this Millionaire Mindset Conference. Glenn Green does not come into play until the bottom of page 4 when he threatens the reporter several times. One of the threats was to not investigate him. Well, as any good reporter would do, he investigated. And here's what he found:

Except the ten-year sentence for theft in 1990, according to Harris County Court records. Green was released after one year. According to an affidavit by a Texas Department of Public Safety officer, the theft worked like this: Green gave an accomplice an American Express card in Green's ex-wife's name. The accomplice charged multiple purchases of $49.99 at a Chevron station, when "in fact, no merchandise had been bought." The accomplice then gave the cash to Green. During April and May 1990, the charges exceeded $20,000.

At the time Green was popped for that crime, he was on probation for forgery for two earlier charges out of Brazos County, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. He was sentenced to ten years for those, which he served concurrently with the Harris County sentencing.

Also falling short of the Glenn Green Investigative Worthiness Standard was the ten years deferred adjudication in 1993 for fraudulent transfer of a motor vehicle. According to the investigating officer's notes, part of the case record in Harris County Court, Green bought and sold over a dozen cars, promising to pay off the leases, when he had no authorization from the lenders.

All but one of the 20 associated charges were dropped. He was also ordered to pay $31,233 in restitution

Harris County court records also show that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sued Green and his wife, Starla, in 2002. The suit was for nonpayment of $107,000 Glenn and Starla bid on a champion steer and a grand champion barrow pig named Cowboy in the 1999 Rodeo auction.

"I know that the money spent here goes for a great cause," Green is quoted as saying in the Rodeo's press release.

Then Starla chimes in about the 17-year-old Brownfield Future Farmer of America who spent four hours a day after school tending to Cowboy: "[He's] very deserving. We were prepared to do what it took."

Everything, that is, except actually pay what they bid. A Harris County judge ordered the Greens to pay the full amount, plus legal fees.

Rodeo Vice President Leroy Shafer says the Greens never paid the money -- the largest debt of any one entity in the show's history. He says it was the first time in the Rodeo's history that a grand champion was involved in a bad purchase, and the first bad purchase of two champions in one year. (The highest bidder's money goes to whoever shows the animal, any charities the bidder earmarked money for, and the Rodeo's scholarship fund. Shafer says the Rodeo was able to pay the $25,000 promised to Cowboy's exhibitor, as well as the approximately $1,000 Green had earmarked for the Houston Women's Shelter.)

Green now works for a multilevel-marketing travel package company called Your Travel Biz.

Wow, Coach and Kim really take that Yale to Jail thing seriously. Penn State to State Penn. First there was Chris Paraldi, then Phil Piccolo and now this. This man has it all. I mean what more could YTB want in a Director. Someone whom they promote and encourage others to emulate. I wonder if all of the non-profit associations YTB is supposedly managing are aware that one of their directors stiffed a non-profit for over $100,000? Maybe in the interest of being transparent, they will add this to their "Facts" About YTB website!

Just to recap, here is the rap sheet on Glenn Green:

• Theft
• Forgery
• Fraudulent Transfer of Motor Vehicles
• Breach of Contract with a Non-Profit where he failed to pay then $107,000

NOTE: To all the Directors and Coach's Corner Members (and esteemed guests) currently in Wood River for the "Best Director's Meeting Ever"--watch your wallets!

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?

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!

The Lawyers Lay In Wait

Last week in Travel Weekly, there was a blurb about attorneys laying in wait for the next suit against YTB. Some of the insight is amusing. See, it was not only this blog that felt it was just a matter of time.  Before long, you will have your pick of suits of which to enjoin:

There's no shortage of websites devoted to YTB matters. One law firm is even launching www.ytblawsuit.com as an information source and tool for finding more plaintiffs for a class action filed in mid-August. But someone has apparently expected this kind of litigation for awhile. Another site, ytbclassaction.com, is unused, but the domain name has been held for more than a year, TC hears. The owner is the Roth Law Group in Chicago. But the firm is not listed as a plaintiffs' attorney in either of the existing class actions filed against YTB.

Revisiting Ted Lindauer And His Threatened Suit

Ted Lindauer and his warnings have been a topic of interest this week as well. Many people have asked me about the letter to the Board of YTB.

Read the documents from Ted Lindauer and make your own decision if YTB had been warned to clean up their act or not. Remember, this is a man who was loved by YTB and when the issues were brought to light, he mysteriously fell from grace. When he went public with his accusations and threatened a lawsuit, all of a sudden he disappeared again. For a period, he had a statement on his website that he and Coach spoke and worked things out. There was no detail to clarify that statement, but now all that is there is a copy of his resume.

Calls to YTB at the time indicated that he did not work for the company any longer, yet many Reps have indicated that he does indeed still work for the company. Please look at this post and you can see and hear it from someone that apparently (in his mind) knows!

My guess: Ted got a big check and a thick agreement to never talk about YTB again.

The letter that appeared on his site and the subsequent letter to the Board of Directors of YTB can be found here.

So, Does YTB Really Want To Sell Travel?

The Attorney General has claimed that YTB does not sell travel.

So I was doing a little bit of research on-line when I came across the most interesting question that was posed by none other than a YTB member named Angelo. I copied and pasted the question directly from the message board in order to avoid any sort of misrepresentation.

“OK, here is a tough question. Please give me a straight answer, not the company line. I trust you guys.Our leaders are our directors right? So why is it that in a "Travel Company" you do not have to sell travel to become a Director?Let me explain. I can sell $1 million in travel in a year. And sell no travel stores. So I am a master at selling travel, yet am nowhere near being a director of a travel company.So why not have two sets of directors? One set for the Travel side of things and One Set for the Marketing side?There is no one I could go to, that is top tier to let’s say, discuss sending 100 people to China for the Olympics. Or a Director that is plugged into the major vendors we work for. Like Carnival or NCL or Princess.”

Now, we’ve all heard YTBers say things like “Oh, we sell travel. Why I’ve sold $100,000 this year myself.” Or, “I book groups all the time.” Or, “look at my cocaine white Bentley I bought with all the money I made selling travel.” But if YTB is really a travel company, and didn’t deserve to get the boot from IATA, Royal Caribbean, and others, then why is it this company in no way rewards their members for selling travel? Have you ever heard of a travel agency that doesn’t reward its staff for selling travel? Am I the only one here that is confused by this? Maybe one of the suppliers could help me understand this better.

P.S. Angelo, if you’re reading this, please go to ASTA or OSSN and find a real host agency!

News From The Convention Floor

Fighting for truth, justice, and the YTB way! Our very own Clark Kent Travel-Pro is reporting from the convention floor. The report was extensive, so we are including only excerpts.

I would urge anyone who is not here in St. Louis to get yourself to the Opening of our Convention at the Edward R. Jones Dome, Friday morning at 9:00am Central Standard time. The company has decided to postpone the unveiling of our Lady Liberty and dedicate the first 15 minutes of our opening specifically addressing this issue before we move into the Second Phase of YTB.

How un American. How can Liberty be put on hold? Oh wait, this "Liberty" is a fraud. Must be the theme of the convention.

We can not express how important it will be for you and your YTB business to see first hand what our Founders and our Legal Team have to say. We want to give you ample opportunity to hear first hand just how we will vigorously fight this personal attack" and why we believe we have a very solid shot at prevailing and inning the frivolous lawsuit.

Recruit to the death! Must recruit! What is Coach gonna say that he already has not? If he talks about it to 20,000 people his ego has finally been eclipsed by his stupidity!

Make no mistake, this suit was a personal attack towards YTB and the Traditional Travel Agents are behind what is going on. The timing of this suit was far too orchestrated and calculating for it not to be, as an embargo was put on the release of this suit until 10:00 PM Pacific Time on August 4th. Just 1 day before the opening of our National Convention.

The TTAs are flattered that you feel we orchestrated this. I am pretty sure the attorney general might feel otherwise. And just how is it that YTB has been negotiating this for 18 months and the TTAs have been actively campaigning for only 12? Travel-Pro...make sure you attend a math class at the University!

In addition, California has also filed suites this year with Heinz, Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, Pepsi, Proctor and Gamble, AOL, and Country Wide Home Loans just to name a few.

Travel-Pro---take spelling as well. Those "suites" they filed. Can you show shere they were intended to topple McDonalds, Burger King, Et Al? Most likely it was for something less than scamming hundreds of thousands of people out of money. I mean McDonalds has screwed up my order on occasion, but to my knowldge they never scammed me. And to boot they don't use styrofoam! And it seems like all of those companies actually pay people to work for them. Not ask people to pay to work for them.

If however you want to be part of the battle with another State just like Florida in 2006 and Rhode Island in 2007, both of which YTB prevailed, I urge you to be in the Dome Friday morning. Our National Convention has more than 20,000 Reps and RTA getting the same play at the same time from Founders and Leaders and we have plenty of room for you.

Wait a minute, for the past year you have said YTB has never been investigated. Please decide which side of your mouth you want to speak from.

Coach, Scott and Kim know how to handle this, they are handling this, and we are not going to hide. We recommend that you stand tall with us on Friday, August 8th at 9:00am when the play is called.

So Coach is calling another play? We saw how well the play turned out when you sold the Carnival certificates in November. The Olympic play was also a good one. Heck, it seems that his play on the two cruises did not work out too well. If the lemmings will not get behind him during good times, what are they gonna do now? And what is he? A coach, pastor or what? Or does it depend on the audience? And what team does he coach? And why does he have only a corner when most coaches have fields or courts? But I am sure he is pleased that you got one more recruiting pitch in!

It should also be noted that if anyone tries to contact you about this suit, please forward any questions and comments to media@ytb.com, and let our Company handle this battle. This is their responsibility, not yours.

Oops, you maybe should tell that to the people at the convention that are talking to the media out front. When you have 438,000 people in a scam one never knows what they will say. And to be honest, the ones that are quoted so far, have not really shed any type of intelligent light on YTB. Note to those that do talk to the media...calling the Attorney General an idiot doe NOT help the case.

See you at the Convention!!
Doug & Ronda BauknightAKA:
TravelProTravel Agents / Network MarketersYTB Travel NetworkPhone:
678.458.5812

OK, one last pitch!

Well there it is, live from St. Louis! All is well and the Coach is going to address the 3,600 Reps and RTAs that are in attendance on Friday. Wait...3,600 you say? Well, yes, 1,600 is the number of people that are Reps and RTAs. The remainder of the reported 22,000 are family and friends. The attendance figures do include friends, neighbors, children, aunts, uncles, and anyone else that wants to attend. You see, even the play called for the convention was a disappointment and they (like the cruise) decided to give it away. After all, it is all about recruiting.

Don't expect too much on Friday other than a round of Kool-Aid and soothing music assuring you that it is all a misunderstanding. Have we heard that before?

--Kate Holmes

PS: Tell Candi May that all of her travel agent friends say hello. And please tell Dr. Bob Seligman we are thinking of him!

Irony At It's Finest

Just over a week ago on the Coach's Conference Call, cheers erupted when the masses were informed that the Travel Weekly story on the YTB franchising concept was the #1 read story at Travel Weekly and the #1 emailed story at Travel Weekly. After that announcement there was some rhetoric about being the #1 agency in the world and how there were already "one thousand more than twice what they had registered for the convention about this time last year"--and more cheers.

No doubt the opening line this morning will be that they are indeed #1 and #2. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (at least at the time of posting) YTB held the spot for the most popular article emailed, and the #2 spot for the most read article!  The article title?

Calif. AG sues local firm YTB, calls it 'pyramid scheme'

If you are interested, the Post-Dispatch will be covering this story from the convention so there likely will be updates including this one from this morning where the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (YTB's hometown paper) wonders "Is it the future of travel? Or "a gigantic pyramid scheme?""

The YTB Response

YTB has responded to the suit:

On August 4, 2008, a civil action was filed against three subsidiaries of YTB International, Inc. (the "Company") and certain executive officers of the Company in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, by the California Attorney General. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated California's unfair competition and advertising laws. The Company believes it has operated in full compliance with California law and intends to vigorously defend the case.

The complaint was filed after eighteen (18) months of dialogue, initiated by the Company with the Attorney General to discuss the implementation of a new California law's potential effect on the Company's business model. Throughout these discussions, which broadened over time, the Company has consistently cooperated with the state's information requests and provided detailed evidence in face-to-face meetings explaining how and why the Company's business model is in full compliance with California law. The parties recently came to a standstill and the August 4, 2008 complaint is a result of this standstill. The Company believes it has meritorious defenses to the claims, intends to advocate its position aggressively, and believes it will ultimately prevail in the case.

Scott Tomer, CEO of the Company, stated "we are disappointed that the state has decided to take this action. We firmly believe that the facts in this matter support our position and our legal counsel has advised us that our position is strong. The Company will vigorously defend this matter and we look forward to having the courts decide the merits of our case".

The Actual Suit

If you are interested in reviewing the actual suit which was filed in The Superior Court of the State of California, I have made it available for download.

It is a PDF file and it appears that in addition to the four named individuals they will be pursuing up to 100 other individuals to be named at a later date. I have been told by a local attorney, that the phrase "Does 1-100" typically does not indicate a specific number, but rather that there will be additional people enjoined in the suit.

It appears that at this time, this is only a civil matter.

Damage Control On Franchising

As with so many MLM companies, both the legitimate ones and those that are less than legitimate, the leadership creates a fervor and a cult like following. The continued success of this model is reliant on new people coming into the program and funding the paychecks of those that entered the program earlier. Some call it a pyramid scheme or a Ponzi scheme. While partially true, this is not the case, becasue in those two schemes, there is nothing involved but a money trade.  In order to "legitimize" the scheme, there must be a product. And in the case of YTB, the product is travel stores and travel. But please make no mistake, travel is merely a means to an end and a byproduct.

This comment was made on the Yahoo Finance Boards last week. Take it for what it is worth:

I worked for the corporate office for two years as a senior level programmer. I am the one who set up the systems that now run the company and I had access to the top. I was there when the stocks went skyhigh and heard the comments with my own ears from Lloyd and Scott about what they were going to buy when the stocks reached a certain level. They have no intention, nor ever had any intention, of making this a serious company. All of the programmers (very talented programmers who have since left due to the company bull@#$%) always talked about why the hell they didn't let us build a true booking engine if they were truly serious about making the company into something real.

I can tell you without a doubt that they don't want a real booking engine because there never was and never will be any intention of the company being anything other than an empty shell that funnels money into the top tier that will be used up and thrown away.

They are amateurs that only know how to scam people.

The YTB cheerleaders will call me a naysayer or a disgruntled employee but that's ok because I have seen the wizard behind the curtain.

It is funny,he references the Wizard of Oz; because I feel the curtain is about to be pulled open on YTB very shortly and there will be a lot of exposure that will not be pretty. The saddest part is that virtually everyone in the program except for 1000 or so early adopters will lost what they have invested. They will have been promised a dream and it will turn into a nightmare.

At this point in time, I believe YTB is working a new money grab with the announcement they will be franchising in 2009. While they still have a receptive audience (recruiting is tanking and more on that later) they are pumping up the benefits of franchising--a concept they derided as third rate for years. I have suggested that a new franchise (with all the bells and whistles they claim) will sell (if they can sell it) for $5000. But to the RTAs that want to switch, they can do it for $2500 and YTB will finance it over a year interest free. Of course most RTAs are not making money as it is, but this promise, this carrot, will be enough to have many make the switch. This is potentially a $325M windfall for YTB. And then you add the other accessories that will be needed to "insure" your success like manuals, support, training, collateral--all at a price!

Once established as a franchise, the pressure is off of YTB to perform in the realm of travel. It is all put on the back of the individual franchisee  who will likely see lower commissions because they are based on INDIVIDUAL production. The franchisee will pay a monthly franchise fee or a royalty or both. But they will not realize this until they have bought into the franchise and are likely locked into a multi year contract.

They say that the existing program will remain. Probably. They cite the Bill of Rights and the copyrighted compensation plan. Can anyone tell me what the plan is tied to? Recruiting. So if the recruiting falls off like it is, there will be less and less compensation. They pay per the plan and the BOR, but once it dwindles to nothing, the Reps will leave. YTB will not have violated the plan in any way. All they have done is say I will guarantee you a commission as long as there is a sale. No sale no commission. It is simple really. The existing Reps will be able to continue to sell the Busiess Opportunity but not the franchises. There are a lot of legal issues with franchising that are not a part of a Business Opportunity. Is it an odd coincidence that YTB has been quietly hiring Business Development Managers with franchise sales experience for the last six months?

I mentioned the decline in recruiting. YTB is on the verge of losing more people than they are bringing on. I suspect that we will not see this in the financial reports until the third quarter of 2008. When Coach could not sell out his two cruises he opened them up to military and pastors for free--of course they all received a sales pitch and if given a free cruise, I might be inclined to cut a check for $500 to join and "repay" him.  2Q is safe, but 3Q might show a different tale.

Meanwhile, the senior management has been filtering  money to a privately held sister companies. Take for example this foam stage prop. Depending on whihch report you believe, YTB is paying $6 million or $8 million dollars to have this produced. Seems extreme to me. But what you don't know is that the manufacturer of this monstrosity is a privately held sister company owned by Coach, Scott and Kim. So, they have effectively transfered up to $8 million dollars to a very small company controlled by three insiders. Sure there is cost, but $8 million? I recently heard that Reps and RTAs were required to buy paper collateral from this same company. Do you want to venture who will be preparing all the training manuals and collateral for the franchise? Would anyone care to venture if the prices might be inflated? Do you think the private company, absent an investigation, is out of reach of the SEC?

Right now, the existing Reps are scrambling. and the blogs are alive with fear and trepidation. One in Michigan even went so far as to say he was selling the franchises (tough to do since it is not a done deal yet) for $449 and he portrayed the site as an official YTB site. He issued a press release that indicated he was speaking on behalf of YTB and only disclosed he was not in the "about us" paragraph at the bottom.  Although I am not sure he fooled anyone--while YTB may be a scam they do put on a good face and I have never seen "registerd By Go Daddy" on the bottom of one of their sites. But YTB never claimed to have the brightest bulbs in the pack.

So there you have it--my take on the YTB debacle. In terms of travel, the numbers are down, they will try some more smoke and mirrors with the franchise allowing them to filter money into a private company and prepare to move on to the next thing. I believe that they realize travel may have been a mistake. There is not a lot of margin, they have essentially failed in their expansions (not to mention the other programs like Olympics, 2 Fly Free, Cruise With Coach, etc.) and are positioning to move on. A recording of the Coach indicated that with franchising he wanted to be the biggest supplier of "products" and to take on Walmart and Sam's Club. There was no mention of travel. I have said for a long time that I felt they woudl use travel as long as they could, and tht time may be here!

Interested in reading some of the fearful blogs? Check it out here, here, here, here, here and here!

DisenFranchised With YTB?

Well, apparently, the TTAs are not the only ones that think this franchising concept is a strange idea and will benefit no one other than the top of the pyramid. A lot of the YTB blogs are alive with the counter spin. This blog warns everyone that the "other" MLM companies will be contacting them and trying to lure them away. The pleading nature of the blog entry is telling. I suspect that many will shift away--if for no other reason than they are not making any money with YTB--nothing to lose!

Not sure I follow this logic, but...

What they DIDN'T KNOW when they called many of us is that we're not worried. Even when they tried their best and used their boldest fear mongering techniques... we didn't buldge. It's not that we're all eternal optimists. It is that we understand that franchising is a GOOD THING... a real good thing. We see a bigger picture, BEYOND what the fear mongers see. Or do we? Maybe, it's because THEY ALSO SEE what a smart move YTB would be making to implement a franchise model into the existing framework. Maybe that's why they're trying to make a pre-emptive move against YTB RTAs and REPS before we are even farther out of reach. I don't know. It is an interesting thought though. What I do know is that YTB is on the cusp of something very exciting and it could be the BEST THING that has EVER happened before.

And of course, regardless of all else..recruit recruit recruit!

So....forget about the YTB "Franchise" Scare Tactics. Better yet, IF YOU ARE NOT IN YTB, this is a GREAT TIME to consider JOINING.

YTB IS ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING A BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY! Our founders, Coach J. Lloyd Tomer, Scott Tomer and J.Kim Sorensen have said that YTB will be the largest travel company in the world. We're on our way to making this a reality. So the fear mongering...we're not buying it, and believe it or not, many if not most of us ARE NOT coming to join your "other travel MLM" company.

Funny, but when the TTAs say we are not "scared" of YTB, they all say we really are. And now it seems that YTB is saying that they are not scared of the "other MLM" but by their logic...they must be!

If I were an RTA, I would be VERY concerned. The move to a franchise is only going to deplete your wallet some more. Remember, the wallet--the piece of leather with an exit only when it comes to YTB?

YTB Pisses Off Environmentalists

Well, first it was the travel industry and now it appears YTB has pissed off a much more, shall we say...enthusiastic group. The environmentalists.

A blog reader sent me this link to an EarthFirst blog entry called Eco-Fail: Giant $6M Foam Statue of Liberty a Big Polluting Mess. And according to their article, YTB is now on their radar!

Seems the Huffington Post is also picking it up as well!

And here too!

Perhaps it’s a fitting tribute to a country that wore the ‘Biggest Polluter’ crown for so long: a 130-foot, 50,000-lb replica of the Statue of Liberty, made entirely of foam and sprayed-on plastic. The company that commissioned the statue, however, wasn’t trying to be ironic or make a point. They really thought it was a good idea to construct this thing – which is only 13 feet shorter than the original Statue of Liberty – made up of what the Sierra Club calls ‘the ultimate waste product’......

The unveiling of YTB’s giant statue of liberty is meant to get them plenty of publicity before their convention. Their goal is to be the world’s biggest travel company by 2011. Let’s give them negative publicity instead: YTB is now on our radar as a foe of the environment. They’ve already got a bad rep for being a rip-off pyramid scheme, so it’s not like many people will be surprised.

Man if ELF or Greenpeace gets a hold of this, watch out. YTB may make national news yet, but perhaps not for the reasons they had hoped.

If True, This Is Unconscionable

An agent in the Dallas market recounted this story in a forum earlier this week. Words cannot express the disgust at this.

I had a gentleman walk into the office the other day and sit at my desk. As soon as he started talking to me, it was evident that he was mentally challenged. I'd say he was at a 6 or 7 year old mentally. He had on a YTB shirt and started asking me about how he could book a group on a cruise so he could go for free. I talked to him for at least 1/2 hour and found out that he had paid the fee to be an agent with YTB, paid his website fees and couldn't understand why he wasn't making any money from it. He said he was promised that he would make money.

He works as a part time bagger at a local grocery store and lives in a group home environment. He doesn't even own his own computer.

I was sickened that someone would take advantage of a person like this. It makes me want to find whoever sold him the package and beat the snot out of them. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

Note to Rod: I know there are no names and it was a posted in a forum so I do not know the author,as with most things with YTB, it would not surprise me if it were true. However, all I can definitively say is that it was indeed posted on a travel forum and if true, it is despicable.

John Gotti Alive & Well And Running Joystar

Well maybe he has been reincarnated as Bill Alverson.....back in late June, we wondered if Joystar had jumped the shark into the slimy MLM model for selling travel.Apparently the notion of them being an MLM is an issue. They vehemently denied it to Royal Caribbean when they were terminated by the lines last October. As a matter of fact, in a letter to shareholders, Alverson stated:

When we asked for clarification, we were told by Lisa Bauer, SVP of RCCL that she has decided to "broaden the definition of what a card mill is" and considers Joystar and our Enterprise members to be one. She also uttered the words "Multi-level" although I'm not sure why.

Well, I guess we now know why. Looks like Lisa Bauer was spot on.What is more bizarre is that Joystar is apparently attempting to utilize mafia-esque tactics to silence the people who dare to have a different opinion. It has been discussed before on different forums:*

I was completely satisified with Joystar until I was booted out by the CEO over censorship issues in the Joystar Community bulletin board. I still don't know what I did wrong.

And some forums have even succumbed to the advertising pressure and removed any posts that did not sit well with the CEO of Joystar. Check it out here, here, and here. And dare we forget the oh so professional letter where he referred to the President of another host agency as a "wart on the ass of the travel industry". Class outfit. It should be noted that Joystar actually paid to have this letter broadcast to 100,000+ travel agents by eMarketing Solutions Group, who did apologize for the broadcast, but the damage was done.But now it seems there are some strongarm tactics being employed by Joystar. Apparently, one of the ICs for one of their Enterprise Agencies voiced an opinion. How dare he! And the immediate response from his host, A1 Travel-Vacation.com dba Home-Based Travel Agents, of Central Islip, NY was as follows:

You MUST retract your statement in XXXXXX that Joystar is an MLM. Failure on your part to do this will result in Joystar refusing to provide you with a FREE travel website and I will cancel your host membership with us quote from: Paul Davis, Presidentwww.HomeBased-TravelAgents.com

Wonder where Paul Davis got the message? Is anyone surprised? So, the next time you think about talking about Joystar, consider yourself warned--you may get whacked!

Calling Florida MLMers

It appears that selling travel in Florida just got a little more expensive. Effective July 1, 2008, EVERY Independent Sales Agent must register with the State and pay a $50 fee annually.



Now according to an email from Doug B back in February, Florida had the most RTAs. I am not sure at what percentage, but if they had 20%, that is a $1.3 Million Dollar Windfall tot he Florida coffers each year!



And since we all know that YTB and the other MLMs pride themselves on their upright business principles, you can download the  Florida DACS 10211 (Rev. 7.08)  right HERE!



Now, I am not sure about you, but if all of a sudden some legislation just took away 48.8% of my income (Average Income for an RTA in 2007 was $102.42 in travel commissions earned from YTB), I might be on the phone to my local Senator. On second thought, I might be on the phone to my Coach and see why this bill got passed in the first place. I mean, I thought YTB bought acquired hired  a Florida Senator!

More Slimey Recruiting

We are all feeling the pinch of oil at the pump. It stinks and it looks like we need to live with it for a while anyhow.

Just yesterday, I ran across several blogs touting gas at $1.00 per gallon! What a great deal, but then when you get to the nuts and bolts of it it is nothing more than a slimely recruiting tactic by YTB. Buy into YTB and then deduct your mileage to your kid's soccer game and only pay out $1.00 per gallon. As with all of the tax deductions they are touting, this one too is a huge stretch!

What is more offensive is that more and more people are feeling the pinch of the economy, yet this guy is trying to sell a program that fails the majority and he is preying on what likely is one of their biggest concerns right now. And this is the guy that YTB reveres and calls Mike The Travel Guy. Does not seem like he is selling too much travel in this blog! But a similar message showed up in Regina Osei's Blog where she alludes that by joining YTB you can make the money needed to offset the price of gas. Well, I guess if you drive less than 100 miles a year it might--remember, the people that make money in YTB are very few and far between. But don't let that get in the way of recruiting and scamming someone out of their money.

Right now more than ever the price is gas is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Right now this is what everyone is talking about and what is coming up in more conversations than anything else.

BUT, did you know that as a YTB Home Based Business Owner your gas ‘should’ be only costing you $1 per gallon?

Now before you start thinking that coach is amazing, what oil company did he cut a deal with? - let me say that no matter what home-based business you’re in you can make these gas prices work for you and EXPLODE your business like never before because all gimmicks aside, this is real, your gas only has to cost you $1 per gallon!

Here’s how it works:

1) The IRS provides a .52 cent tax (Just increased to 58.5¢ starting July 1st) write off for every mile you drive that is legitimately related to business.

2) People who do not own a business CANNOT qualify for this tax write off.

3) Everywhere you go, whether its work, church, the kid’s soccer game, or just going to the store can be a legitimate mileage tax write off if you insert business into the equation.

This is EASY to do! It can be done by leaving YTB business cards on peoples windshields, handing people YTB business cards (or Success From Home Magazines), or of course doing a presentation.

Note: You must record your business mileage in case you ever get audited and this is where it typically becomes a sticking point with most people as they do not want to take the time, can’t take the time or forget. If that’s you here’s what you need to do immediately:

Go to www.Xpenser.com (this is a FREE service) and sign up. Now you can simply call a phone number before, during or even after you’ve driven somewhere (that was business related) and leave a voice message such as ... “Soccer game handed out 3 business cards & 14 miles” and hang up.

This FREE service will convert your message to text and log our it in an online mileage log for you.

4) So here’s the $1 per gallon formula (working with round numbers)

- $4.00 Per Gallon

- 20 Miles Per Gallon

- .50 Cents Per Mile IRS Deduction

- 30% Tax Bracket

Those of you with math brains can do the calculation but the basics are a 20 miles per gallon vehicle at $4 per gallon cost .20 cents per mile to drive. .50 cents per mile IRS deduction x 30% tax bracket is .15 cents in real money you pocket at the end of the year and when you deduct .15 cents from .20 cents your at .05 cents per mile or $1 per gallon!

These are real dollars/savings and real cash in your pocket at the end of the year.

_______________________

You might be saying “Wow, this sounds great - I see it and I’m excited that my YTB business is going to help me save $3 per gallon on my fuel cost & I’m going to business wherever I go and log my miles”.

PLEASE whatever you do - don’t miss the bigger picture!

Eye Am Rilly A Vary Goode Travell Agent.

For months travel agents have been making the argument that these untrained RTA’s are ruining the credibility of our industry. And each and every time this comes up someone starts spouting off about how YTB has Marc Mancini and CLIA and the RTA’s are getting training, blah, blah, blah.

What no one seems to get is that these untrained, uneducated are destroying the reputations of agents everywhere. The consumers and the press don’t know the difference between an RTA and a TTA, so when these stories are reported in the press it makes all of us look bad.

The “agent” who abused the trust of over 60 high school seniors couldn’t even spell the destinations that the cruise was stopping at!

If I were in YTB, I would be embarrassed beyond belief at this point. Do you really believe that you can be successful in the long run with a company that is doing nothing to prevent things like this from happening? And please don’t tell us that YTB is going to make it right by settling up with the students. As long as they allow anyone, “from Yale or Jail” you will continue to have these problems, and it will continue to have a negative impact on your ability to get people to join your downline as well.

Another vendor, APlus Tours, has dropped YTB due to this incident. Are you going to claim that you don't need them either?

More Law Enforcement Joins The Probe

Just this past weekend, there were lot's of updates on Cynthia Anderson. Now her husband says he is in control of the trips. What is that all about? Is he a RTA as well? Or is he just an Al Haig wannabe?

Another interesting question I have is how was this group ever booked on Carnival? A senior class trip is not something Carnival encourages and their policies for chaperones are pretty stringent. Unless of course these seniors are over 21 but..nah! Could it be that the RTA did not know the product? Maybe the training aspect of this program is falling just a wee bit short? This will be interesting to see how YTB makes good on this one.

Sheriff's Office joins trip scam probe The Daily News Journal

The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office has assigned a detective to investigate the claims of Rutherford County high school students who allege a Murfreesboro woman has scammed them out of $700 each for a senior trip.

In a press release Friday, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said a School Resource Officer at La Vergne High School has turned in multiple reports of students being defrauded of money by Cynthia Anderson of Murfreesboro.

According to Rutherford County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dan Goodwin, those cases have been assigned to Detective Todd Sparks.

The press release states no warrant has been sought on Anderson by victims, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office or any other persons in connection with the alleged claims and she has not been arrested.

Students say they booked the trip through Anderson, who is a former independent marketing representative for Internet-based Your Travel Biz. Her husband, Kenneth Anderson, told The Daily News Journal that he has taken over responsibility for the May 25-29 trip on Carnival Cruise Lines.

YTB Chief Operating Officer Duane Vancil said Cynthia Anderson was terminated two to three weeks ago because she was not authorized to collect any money on behalf of the company. He said the company is now working with 20 to 25 students to refund their money.

Goodwin stated the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office understands that the "Murfreesboro Police Department is investigating claims made by Riverdale and Oakland High students."

The sheriff's office release goes on to state that it has an active 2003 bad check warrant against a woman named Cynthia B. Anderson, but it is not known if it is the same woman named by students.

Murfreesboro Police Department spokesman Kyle Evans said he will not comment on the case at this time.

"I will let the police reports speak for themselves," Evans said.

Rogue RTA Not A Stranger To Scams

While the travel world was abuzz with the news that Bob Dickinson took a seat on the Board of YTB and then recanted, some new news emerged about the rogue RTA in Tennessee. Apparently she now has an arrest warrant for an unrelated charge of bouncing a check--at a Walmart! Now, the last time I heard, most RTAs were rolling in so much money, that shopping at Walmart was beneath them, so I have to wonder.

Apparently, she went to the schools and promoted the trip. I believe this is one of the tactics YTB encourages its RTAs to do to gain business. Granted they do not recommend them to steal the money, but without a vetting process, they cannot be surprised that it happens

I love the comment by the husband when asked if she may have done something with the money that he did not know about. I think his response was telling in that he was totally involved as well. Apparently they are waiting until the trip does not materialize before charging her. I wonder if YTB is going to bail out this RTA in the name of good PR?

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Dozens of Midstate high school students said they were scammed out of thousands of dollars.

Police have issued a warrant for the woman the students said promised to book their senior trip.

Police in Rutherford County said the trip money remains unaccounted for, but the arrest warrant is for an unrelated bounced check.

Students said Cynthia Anderson and her husband Kenneth Anderson stole their Caribbean vacation. Police said it doesn't look like the trip is going to happen later this month.

Sixty-one students paid about $700 each to Anderson, a travel planner, for a trip to Jamaica. She and her husband were supposed to book the trip.

But police said $48,000 is now unaccounted for.

Anderson said his wife is hospitalized with stress.

Recently, police took out a warrant for her arrest stemming from a bad check she wrote at a local Wal-Mart.

Straight A Tours, a national travel agency that caters to students, said the Andersons still haven't paid for the trip. In fact, two checks bounced.

"I've been assured on a daily basis that the money will be here and to this date it has not been wired yet," said Michael Holladay of Straight A Tours.

"That's something my wife done. I really can't comment on," Kenneth Anderson said.

When asked if it's possible his wife did something with the money that he wasn't aware of, Anderson said, "No, she wouldn't do that."

The police aren't so sure. Police said they would like to question the Andersons.

Criminal charges could be filed if this trip doesn't happen later this month.

Kenneth Anderson insisted that the trip will take place. The students are supposed to leave May 24.

Right now, no one seems to know where the money is to pay for it.

Right now, police cannot press charges in this case, but the trip doesn't happen later this month, detectives will consider filing theft and fraud charges.

The vacation was not sanctioned by the Rutherford County school district. However, several parents said the local high schools allowed Cynthia Anderson to pitch the trip to students on campus. The school system director is looking in to whether that happened.