MLMs and Travel: A Bad Mix

Tomer, Sorensen & Scott Explain

2011-11-09T08:50:00.000-05:00

To me, this video seems to be backtracking a little bit. A few days ago, Jeff Scott said YTB was going away. Now, in this video produced for the "travel agents" they claim to be keeping it the same and have only sold the fulfillment part of YTB to Sixth Scott. Perhaps this is a backdoor method to re-gain their IATAN certification and access to the suppliers that have decided to not do business with YTB.

This will be interesting to see how it plays out as Scott Tomer concludes by saying that this acquisition was indeed all a part of the plan when YTB was founded eleven years ago.

If the video does not display, (YTB has it as "unlisted") here is the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4f25rq-99g&feature=player_embedded#!

YTB's Sorensen Confirms YTB Is Out Of Travel!

2011-11-08T08:39:00.001-05:00

In an interview with Travel Weekly, YTB's Kim Sorensen has confirmed that "we won't be a travel company and won't have vendor contracts with anybody."

Sorensen continues and admits that travel was probably not the best product for YTB and MLM. He explained the newest venture for YTB. "We also sell gourmet coffee, business texting services, green energy products, other power agreements. We are vastly diversified now. We were very focused on travel back in the day."

What remains to be seen is what Jeff Scott of Sixth Scott, LLC will do with the dead wood that YTB refers to as their "travel agents." The agreement is structured based on existing agents coming over to Sixth Scott, but very few agents are productive--most simply sell their own personal travel as is evidenced by their sales and commissions. A YTB insider confided to me that there are less than 200 agents in YTB who produce more than $5,000 in sales per year. If true, Sixth Scott is paying nearly $40,000 per agent for a very mediocre agent.

Will Sixth Scott be willing to retain 30,000 people that buy inexpensive vacations every year or so? Will Sixth Scott be willing to maintain the liability of these same people calling themselves "travel agents" under the Sixth Scott/First Travel Alliance brand?

Will YTB be able to shift their existing independent contractors to Sixth Scott--or will we see a mass exodus? If there is not a MLM element to the Sixth Scott program, I believe there will be a mass defection since YTB has (since its inception) sold the travel agent program on a multi level basis.

One commenter to the TW story summed it up nicely:

Interesting. So bottom line is - if you read between the lines - "our model simply does not work for travel" AND "it certainly was never going to work being run by people who knew nothing about selling travel" AND "we really screwed up early on by not training agents and not demanding any sort of professional behavior from them" AND "now we're going to focus on selling the kind of products MLM really works with - things people don't really need but perceive that they want".

So it looks like anyone who has hung in there with YTB TRAVEL will now be offered the opportunity to stay in but as an Independent Contractor and with First Travel Alliance. I have to assume there will be no more incentive in selling other people "travel stores" but rather that the only money to be made will be via the actual sale of travel.

And A Huge Selloff Of The Penny Stocks

2011-11-03T19:22:00.000-04:00

Upon the announcement that Sixth Scott, LLC and Jeff Scott was purchasing YTB, the stock tanked (relatively speaking) from the 4 and 5 cent range down to the 2 and 3 cent range. While not a lot of dollars, it does represent a 40% drop in value of the stock that has been promised to soar.

The average volume of traded shares over a 3 month period is 85,000 per day. Yesterday saw 432K and today saw 233K

Introducing Jeff Scott

2011-11-02T11:31:00.002-04:00

UPDATE: After our posting, Travel Weekly is reporting that this is indeed the Jeff Scott who has purchased YTB. While the Travel Weekly article states Scott was president and COO of Hickory from 2006 to 2010, his LinkedIn profile states that he served in tat capacity only from November 208 to June 2010.

Experience

Owner

J.K.M.K. Scott LLC

November 2008 – Present (3 years 1 month)

Providing strategic direction and leadership to national travel investors, TMCs and travel providers. Maximizing ROI and productivity through solid analysis, creation and execution of plans.

President / COO

Hickory Travel Systems

November 2008 – June 2010 (1 year 8 months)

Responsible for creating, communicating and implementing strategic direction while overseeing the day to day operation of the network of over 2,800 locations worldwide in 40 countries. Managed call center activity of over 150,000 calls annually.

Business Challenge: Create a new consortia model that will endure the ever changing travel industry while maximizing stockholder value.

- Implemented immediate changes in staffing, finance, IT and operations to reduce cost and improve cash flow
- Created new product offerings to improve client dependency and increase customer base
- Increased Brand recognition through press releases and industry events

Executive Vice President

American Leisure Group

March 2008 – November 2008 (9 months)

Reponsible for overseeing the travel assets of American Leisure Group to position and secure the tranfer to new owners.

Executive Vice President

TraveLeaders

Public Company; 201-500 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry

March 2006 – March 2008 (2 years 1 month)

Direct responsibility for the AMLH travel division - Traveleaders generating $220 million in gross sales and over 250 employees. Stabilized and refocused employees, vendors and customer relations following the takeover of the business from previous management company.

Reduced cost through improved productivity and facility maximization with focus on efficiencies and employee utilization.
Refocused leisure marketing through on-line content redesign and joint vendor advertising
Negotiated revised both product and technology vendor agreements for the new company
Complete analysis of GDS agreements and responsible for conversion to Sabre

General Manager

Cendant - THOR

August 2002 – March 2006 (3 years 8 months)

Complete responsibility for Cendant Business unit THOR - product and service provider to the Travel Agency community

- Responsible for company P&L, strategic direction and business development.
- Established pipeline planning, metrics and training programs for the sales team.
- Led team of employees through right sizing and change management to set future direction.
- Repositioned company into a growth business through sales focus increasing sales over 200% from 2002.
- Increased Hotel Program revenue results by 46% generating $2.2 in listing fees.
Improvement in transaction expense through contract negotiations posting a 65% savings.
Restructured THOR during the 2003 Iraq War and SARS travel downturn to show $658K positive shift in EBITDA for 2004.

Director Operations

WORLDSPAN

Privately Held; 5001-10,000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry

April 1990 – March 2001 (11 years)

Responsible for department planning, scheduling, implementation and statement generation of activities from 14,000 customers worldwide for a $700 million limited partnership owned by three major airlines and employing over 3,500. Managed and coordinated plans for daily operations, established work priorities, vendor interaction/development and ensured customer inquiries were handled effectively while meeting cost, productivity and quality goals. Directed budgets of over $4.3 million with 10 direct reports and 70 employees.

- Designed and launched GUI order fulfillment system that improved processing time by 80% and reduced new hire training by over 50%.
- Reduced departmental resources by 25% through improved processes and system enhancements.
- Established e-business offering for customer orders through the Internet, creating 24/7 product ordering and real-time consumer updates.
- Initiated the Conversion Project Planner position to orchestrate fulfillment activity and improve satisfaction in the implementation of new customers.

Jeff has 1 recommendation (1 co-worker) including:

2^nd Doug Payne, CCTE, National Accounts and District Sales Manager, Worldspan

PARS Sales Manager

NWA

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; NWA; Airlines/Aviation industry

March 1988 – March 1990 (2 years 1 month)

Automation Sales

Northwest Airlines/Republic Airlines/Southern Airways

1977 – 1990 (13 years)

Could this be the elusive Jeff Scott? This makes some sense. In April of 2008, YTB was supposedly in talks with Hickory Travel Systems to be acquired. The deal ultimately fell through.

But this LinkedIn profile does make a connection. This Jeff Scott was President of Hickory Travel Systems for a period immediately following the reported acquisition talks. He does seem to have travel industry experience as well. Hmm...

Who Is Jeff Scott

2011-11-01T14:46:00.002-04:00

Jeff Scott is the CEO of Sixth Scott, LLC and First Travel Alliance. Aside from that, not much else is known.

No one in the industry seems to have heard of him, yet YTB claims he "has access" to a huge portfolio of travel suppliers and is IATAN approved for easier credentialing of the RTAs.

Little by little, it will trickle out. It always does. But as the days go on, this "sale" begins to smell fishier and fishier!

Sixth Scott Still A Mystery, YTB Fires Orbitz

2011-10-31T15:02:00.001-04:00

The terms of the asset sale may (if all benchmarks are met to the maximum level) realize YTB $7.5 million for the sale of their travel company.

Part of the agreement includes terminating the agreement they just put in place with Orbitz last January. The agreement also ties in the sale price to the number of "RTAs," which explains why YTB made a huge push to renew dormant RTAs after the convention.

I am unaware of any penalties from Orbitz for terminating their agreement.

The details of the sale can be found in this filing! (PDF)

The New YTB Program

2011-10-31T10:02:00.001-04:00

While a YTB director was touting the ability to get an IATAN card again as a benefit to joining YTB, the Travel-Pro laid out his opinion of what the acquisition of YTB means to the people in the program.

If what he says is correct, this is a HUGE step in the right direction for YTB. However, little to nothing is known about Sixth Scott (Tomer perhaps??) or First Travel Alliance. And sine this was structured as an asset purchase, YTB will likely undergo a new name. Even ValueJet could not survive after they crashed an burned, but they sold, re-vamped, and upped the ante.

If YTB can do this and focus on travel rather than recruiting (and there are mixed messages still at this point coming from the directors) I am sure they will eventually be welcomed by the industry. Here is Doug Bauknight's opinion on the new YTB program as explained in his weekly newsletter. All emphasis is his:

Everything you love about YTB is staying exactly where it is! You'll have all the commission percentage opportunities, group booking access, and a fabulous customer facing booking engine (which will be getting a new look!).

You'll have access to even more travel vendors including all the major cruise lines, tour operators, hotels, airlines and charter organizations, best in class package deals, and even vacation home rentals! And, you'll book these vendors through your industry-leading agent only booking system! (No more commission claim form to fill out or various usernames and passwords for vendor specific booking engines!)

There will be new, specialized, in-depth training. This training will show you exactly how to be successful - even if you have limited experience in the travel industry. This new training program allows you to become even more knowledgeable in cruising, hotel properties, tour companies, and even destination specialists from some of the vendors who aren't currently available to you.

The new program will also show to market your business, when to sell what, how to use CRM and client data, as well as sales techniques to create a more profitable business!

Also in works: an optional A-List program for our top producing Travel Agents. The new travel company has programs that provide travel services to companies across the country. This program would give you access to process bookings generating more commission income for you.

The new partners are IATAN accredited, and those who meet certain commission requirements may be eligible to receive an IATAN ID card. With this, access to FAM trips, inaugural cruises, and ship positioning cruises where available are all a possibility.

From what we've been able to gather thus far, this is a welcome and much needed addition for those of us who love and focus on travel. (It's why we got into YTB all those years ago.)

Please keep in mind, this isn't going to happen over night there's a lot of work to be done between now and seeing all these enhancements as a reality.

Just know that it's in the works, and while YTB will still work on and control the marketing aspect of our business - we have a new partnership with experts in the travel industry to help all those who love and care about travel.

Did YTB Sell?

2011-10-27T11:59:00.000-04:00

On one hand, it seems YTB sold the travel portion (asset purchase) to a new company. See release below:

YTB International Inc. (Pinksheets: YTBLA.PK - News) ("YTB" or the "Company"), a provider of e-commerce business solutions for individual consumers and home-based independent representatives in the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Canada, today is pleased to announce the Company executed an asset purchase agreement ("Agreement") with an unaffiliated third party, Sixth Scott, LLC ("Sixth Scott"). Sixth Scott, which will operate under the name First Travel Alliance, has access to a collection of companies that generate $1.2 billion in travel sales annually.
According to the Agreement, Sixth Scott agrees to assume contracts, agreements and licenses previously held by the Company's subsidiary, YTB Travel Network of Illinois, Inc. Sixth Scott will independently manage all travel content and provide the customer support function as well as handle all group travel booking.

President of YTB Travel Network, Inc., J. Kim Sorensen, said the deal strengthens the product mix and increases the travel commission earning potential for all site owners. "We are excited about the potential for our current and future travel members. Because the Agreement makes more travel products available at higher commission levels, I expect our home based travel agents to re-establish their market position within the industry."

A representative from Sixth Scott added, "We have been very impressed with the incredible size of the YTB member network, which can provide a distribution channel to our portfolio of travel businesses. As we continue to expand the breadth of our businesses, strategic acquisitions such as that of YTB Travel Network of Illinois will further support our objectives."

Bob Van Patten, President and CEO of YTB International, Inc., also commented, "After a thorough search, we found a strategic partner to manage the content and travel sites of our business owners. The Agreement allows YTB to focus both on marketing of the travel program opportunity, as well as YTB's new product offerings, which include Ganovia Coffee, Spider Mobile Marketing and Suklaa Personal Care Products. Giving Sixth Scott the ability to manage the content of the travel sites is a positive for YTB and site owners; both companies can focus on their individual expertise increasing the likelihood of future growth."

But apparently the word to the masses is that they are now able to sell the IATAN cards again. This came from a Director to her downline and specifically talks about the IATAN card. I wonder if IATAN is aware of this?

Everything you love about YTB Travel Network is about to become so much more! Now, you'll have access to an entirely new level of business with a travel company led by industry veterans - First Travel Alliance. This means more commission opportunity for you worldwide! Here's what to expect over the coming weeks!

Everything you love about YTB is staying exactly where it is! You'll have all the commission percentage opportunities, group booking access, and a fabulous customer facing booking engine (which will be getting a new look!).

For those of you who choose to be sellers of travel, you'll have access to even more travel vendors including all the major cruise lines, tour operators, hotels, airlines and charter organizations, best in class package deals, and even vacation home rentals! And, you’ll book these vendors through your industry-leading agent only booking system! (No more commission claim form to fill out or various usernames and passwords for vendor specific booking engines!)

The new travel company will take training from great to extraordinary! With their specialized, in-depth training, we can show you exactly how to be successful—even if you have limited experience in the travel industry! This new training program allows you to become even more knowledgeable in cruising, hotel properties, tour companies, and even destination specialists from some of the vendors who aren’t currently available to you.

Plus, it's more than just travel training. We'll be showing you how to market your business, when to sell what, how to use CRM and client data, as well as sales techniques to create a more profitable business!

Being a part of the travel industry as a travel professional has its perks. And as a member of the new travel company, you'll have access to more of them! They are accredited with IATAN, and those who meet certain commission requirements may be eligible to receive an IATAN ID card. With this, access to FAM trips, inaugural cruises, and ship positioning cruises where available is all a possibility!

We're also working on an optional A-List program for our top producing Travel Agents. The new travel company has programs that provide travel services to companies across the country. This program would give you access to process bookings generating more commission income for you! More details on this program are coming soon!

This is just a peek at the amazing things coming soon to all of our RTAs and Travel Agents! Get Ready! It's a whole new world of possibility at YTB Travel Network!

No one seems to know who this "Sixth Scott" is (and the "Scott" thing is not unnoticed), but we are digging in to see who is behind it and the "access" to $1.2 billion dollar sales companies.

If I had to venture a guess, this will ultimately be another shady deal that will implode like Rez Connect, and all the others.

Whoops He Did It Again

2011-10-26T10:26:00.003-04:00

A while back, FH Partners loaned YTB a lot of money through the assumption of the mortgage when their bank failed. YTB defaulted on the loan several times and ultimately was able to sell the K-Mart/World Headquarters to pay off FH Partners.

But, they filed suit against CCMP as well for non-payment of some additional loans. CCMP is the little private company that is owned by Coach Tomer, and Kim Sorensen. It is the same one that built the $8million dollar Statue of Liberty and has been used as a means to funnel some money from YTB (a publicly traded company) to a private entity controlled by the founders. You can read about the $604,000 that the Sorensen and the Tomers failed to pay here.

Now the loyalists will say that it is all a misunderstanding. But apparently a COURT OF LAW feels otherwise. Just last week, a judgement was entered against Tomer, Sorensen and CCMP for more than $818,000.

JUDGMENT ENTERED IN FAVOR OF PLTF FH PARTNERS LLC AS FOLLOWS: AGAINST CCMP INC IN THE TOTAL JUDGMENT OF $439,427.31; AGAINST JAMES L. TOMER AND J KIM SORENSEN IN THE TOTAL JUDGMENT OF $379,237.95.

And in yet ANOTHER suit, FH Partners just won a judgement against Great River Enterprises. But this is just peanuts--$67,000:

Amt $50000.01, Plaintiff FH PARTNERS LLC , Defendant GREAT RIVER ENTERPRISES LP#1 , JUDGMENT IS HEREBY ENTERED IN FAVOR OF PLTF FOR A TOTAL JUDGMENT OF $67,014.55. INTEREST WILL CONTINUE TO ACCRUE AT THE STATUTORY RATE OF 9% PER YEAR UNTIL THE JUDGMENT IS PAID IN FULL.

More Directors Flee YTB Again

2011-10-25T16:20:00.001-04:00

History has a way of repeating itself. Several years ago, in YTB Vesion 1, several Directors flew the coop. Bill Hoffmann, Kent McLaughlin, Ron Head, Ron & Phyllis Bush, and many more all left when the promises told never materialized or withered away. Come to think of it, Candy May is nowhere to be found.

A while ago, we told you about the departure of Jerome Hughes and Katrina Greenhill. Well, they also took a number of Directors with them as well--just like it happened in the past. Melissa Boston, Phyllis Nash, and LaRease Rivers have all flown the coop as well. And these guys are a large chunk of change for YTB.

Now what is interesting is that the #3 guy in the YTB MLM is Chris Cokely. He was brought on as the "Dean of YTB" and has been doing the dog and pny show with Coach and Scott for a few years. Chris is a close friend of Jerome Hughes and Jerome was the one that brought Chris into YTB. The word on the street is that Chris is planning on joining Jerome in his new venture. But for now, he sits squarely at the side of Coach and Scott.

I imagine that the next financial report (due out in a few weeks) might have an impact on Chris's decision.

And speaking of unkept promises, the "new program" that will allow YTB to sell "all" travel vendors is still on hold. Hmm, I wonder what the stumbling block could be?

YTB Terminates Director & Circle Of Champions Member Jerome Hughes

2011-10-12T12:25:00.001-04:00

Jerome Hughes, the Networking Hero of the 2011 YTB convention have been terminated. It is not surprising that a high producing Director will eventually see through the scheme and move on to future opportunities. Bill Hoffman did it. Ron Head did it. And many others also moved on when they realized what was happening. Of course, YTB does all they can to protect the scheme (ala the Wizard of Oz) and has issued a statement:

To our valued YTB Members,
It is with great regret to announce the termination of former Director Jerome Hughes. At the end of the day, our biggest responsibility in YTB is to you and your YTB business. Jerome violated his agreement with us, and for that we had to do what was necessary to continue providing a wonderful opportunity and protect each and every one of your businesses.

You may have heard about a call tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. This is NOT a YTB call. Be advised that this call could be filled with inaccuracies and misinformation. There are many rumors that have been brought to our attention. Please rest assured that these are false. If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

YTB is here and will continue to provide an avenue for you to find success. We are proud to be in business with all of you and are looking forward to our future together!
Your YTB Team

Hughes was partners with Katrina Greenhill and were featured in this YTB official prsentation:

YTB Advises Reps Of Stock Price Increase

2011-09-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

Someone (YTB, Sales Director, interested party?) placed telephone calls on Sunday night advising that the stock, YTBLA.PK would be increasing in price after a "blockbuster" announcement this week about a new partnership with a "billion dollar" travel company. We reported that this was coming on August 26th. They indicated that the press release would surge the stock to $0.40 and then shortly thereafter to $1.00 a share. The news was described as "the biggest news from YTB in the history of the company."

While this may be considered insider information--Martha Stewart anyone? It is likely signaling that they have signed the deal with a travel host (of sorts) to affect a workaround for selling the products of the companies that have terminated their relationship. In the cruise segment, YTB has been banned by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara, and NCL due to their questionable business practices.

It is unknown how these companies will react to this workaround. They may indeed embrace it, or they may stick to their guns.

The announcement is supposed to be made later this week. Currently the stock is traded on the highly volatile and risky Pink Sheets and is valued at $0.05. We will see.

World Ventures + YTB; Two Peas In A Pod?

2011-09-25T12:16:00.000-04:00

The following post (in its entirety) was taken from a new WorldVentures blog. As I read it, I kept asking myself if these tactics and shenanigans apply to YTB as well. I think they do--what do you think? Try saying "YTB" whenever you read WorldVentures and see if it isn't the same!

If you have just been given a WorldVentures presentation by an enthusiastic friend and you are wondering whether you should go for it or if you are already a member and after the initial excitement you are left wondering if you made the right decision because you have just found out things that have not been revealed to you in the beginning, read the information contained here as it might possibly save you a lot of time, troubles and hurdles that you don’t need to get into.

My goal here is not to make you hold back from joining or promoting the company, but to give you an honest and ‘behind the doors’ review, so that you might avoid the pain, humiliation, betrayal and loss that I went through, wasting a precious 1.5 year of my life and ruining my previous business, my reputation and some friendships to follow a fake dream that was sold to me wrapped in golden ribbons.

Because you see, WorldVentures is pretty good at one thing: selling a dream. All the marketing, the spectacular videos of the ‘Dreamlife’, the photographs of dream locations with people holding the ‘You should be here’ sign (reps, becoming mascots of the company on social media to sell memberships) the smiling over-confident presenters who seem to be ‘gurus’ of personal development, wealth building and creating a 'Dreamlife' – I know because I was one of them – all of these have a goal to make you believe that this is the company that will indeed, easily and effortlessly make all your dreams come true!… and don’t get me wrong, some of those people you meet at the presentations are indeed amazing individuals who just bought into this dream like I did for a while, until I realized that this digging for gold had turned me into a restless unethical lair and an abuser of people’s good will and trust..

So here is how I became Marketing Director in WorldVentures (second level of income, earning around 5000 US per month) and then decided to give it all up, as this company insulted my values, my ethics and my integrity as an individual.

I was lured in after I met one of the top leaders of the company at a independent online marketing event. He seemed to live the life that most people can only dream of with money and time freedom and loads of vacations around the world as it was revealed to me on his Facebook profile. He talked about his 'travel club’ making it sound like he a magical travel agency which makes dreams come true and claiming that he made millions in 4 years of starting this 'Worldventures travel business'. So I was inclined to find out more….

At the presentation that I attended I got impressed and excited - I was at a strange point in my life and what they presented seemed to offer solutions to all my problems (it is designed that way, as I found out later, I had the profile of the 'ideal prospect' - vulnerable and looking for something new). I trusted the person who invited me and the people who were there, because they were amazing at giving presentations and convincing that indeed they did live a lifestyle of time and money freedom that we all dream of, so I jumped right in.

I decided that I was going to make it work, I was going to break all the records, get all the bonuses and create my desired residual income very soon. I pioneered in my market presenting this new concept, bringing in hundreds of excited people with me! In 6 months I was already a Director and on the top 0.03% of the income earners of the company (according to the official Income Disclosure Statement) and moving fast to the second level of Marketing Director. It was at that stage that it struck to me that things were not so good at it seemed.... It wasn’t easy, I had given up everything for this company and believed in it with all my soul and after I started earning my first cheque of ‘residual income’ I truly thought I had found freedom! But that is when the problems began, as I started seeing more clearly….

WorldVentures Dreamtrips : What they say at the presentations about the ‘product’ and what you actually get.

At the well crafted presentations, they tell you that the company is buying ‘in bulk’ and you are getting Dream Vacations at wholesale (ie lower) prices. That’s the first lie. After I enrolled all the elite of people I knew in my market, many close friends, business owners and marketers (I got really excited and people who trusted me believed in whatever I told them about WorldVentures) we all started finding out, that the vacations offered were not really discounted at all and were not happening so often as promised either.

Out of 50 'Dreamtrips' offered there was the odd 69$ vacation which they sell so strongly at presentations, but that sells out within 2-3 hours of announcing it and they just put it in the Dreamtrips list for the show! We were basically telling people to pay an enrollment fee of 200 US dollars and then another 700 USD per year, to belong in a ‘discount travel club’ which offered no discount at all, proven and documented by our research!

As my team was growing bigger and bigger and I was running from presentation to presentation, from training to training, I started receiving tens of upset phonecalls and e-mails every day from people who had done their research online or by calling the hotels as normal customers and had clear straightforward evidence that the ‘Dreamtrips’ did not offer any discount at all while most of the times, they are priced higher than the prices you can get online if you are expert enough in internet searches!!! I wasn't able to sleep well at night, my life began to look like a nightmare.

I initially began informing and forwarding the information found to my sponsor which is within the top 20 leaders of the company and the answer I kept getting was that me and the people sending these e-mails had negative mindset and that I should work on my mindset in this business, focus on selling, that they people buy because of me and because they want to start a business, not because of the Dreamtrips and a lot of ‘personal development’ bullshit, no discussions about the Dreamtrips prices, with the only occasional excuse that the company is new and it is still building relationships with the hotels! I started getting frustrated and confused at the same time.... I didn't get it: When I sell something I want to give true VALUE to people on what they are buying, I believe in ‘under promise and over deliver’ and what was WorldVentures making me do? Amazing presentations where we ‘over promised’ and then severely ‘under delivered’ – not to strangers, but to our friends and family...

At some stage around my 8^th month I was getting so many angry e-mails and phonecalls daily from people I had enrolled or people that my team had enrolled and my leader was acting so totally irresponsible and ignoring me that I decided to start forwarding some e-mails to the support team and the Dreamtrips management team to get some straightforward answers. Remember, the e-mails included EVIDENCE that the Dreamtrips were not discounted at all as promised at the presentations with links to websites or info that people from my team (Dreamtrips customers and reps) had gotten directly from the hotels.

And that was the first huge slap in the face: BLACKMAIL.

I actually got an e-mail from the headquarters that nor me or my team are allowed to call hotels as normal customers to double check prices with those offered on the Dreamtrips and that was a breach of rules and regulations and if I continued my research. They also made it clear that if I send any more e-mails to the very busy Dreamtrips team about the complains I was getting from my team on Dreamtrips prices and evidence with links from websites, I would be TERMINATED. Yes, that would be a reason for TERMINATION!!!! I was in total SHOCK! By that time I had spend 8 full months promoting the WorldVentures concept passionately I had almost reached Marketing Director level. My residual was increasing, but I wasn’t feeling well. I had just been Blackmailed for getting ‘fired’ because I wanted to be true and ethical to the people I enrolled. I badly wanted to give them the value I promised at the presentations, I wanted to give constructive feedback to the company to improve because I thought they didn't know what was happening with Dreamtrips prices, but I was clearly ‘ordered’ to stop giving them ANY feedback on their product! I was in denial, I didn't know what to do, I had already build a big team that I had a responsibility towards....

Then other things started becoming clear one by one:

1    The Big LIE that ‘You will have your own Business on the side’ – it is so unethical that they sell this ‘own your own side business’ concept at the presentations so strongly, that it makes me want to be sick. Being a WorldVentures rep you are not a Business Owner – you are an employee, maybe a highly paid one if you get to be in the top 0.01% and reach IMD, but an employee who can be kicked out of the door and fired at any time. During my time with WorldVentures and after my initial shock when I was blackmailed with termination because I send them EVIDENCE that 95% of the Dreamtrips were not discounted, I experienced the termination of their top UK Leader and their No1 USA Earner, both of which had build huge teams for the company, teams which of course remained with WorldVentures after the leaders termination (and hence, Worldventures saved their big fat salaries and also kept their teams or whatever was left of them!)

I saw those people working hard to bring into the company thousands of people, train new leaders and support the concept passionately, just to be terminated like normal employees, because of supposedly breaking ‘rules and regulations’, which by the way, is never concealed to the other members openly what the actual 'breaking of the rules' by those leaders entailed. You see, the WorldVentures rules and regulations are crafted in such way, that the owners of the company can wake up one day, ‘fire’ you from being a leader’ take all your team, never pay you again and they don’t even have to give you a reason! Its true, read the rules carefully and you will see what I mean. They can just decide that they didn’t like something about your behavior and just like that, poof! You’re gone!

2    ‘We want sheep and mascots’ mentality – WorldVentures does not really want you to have an opinion (hence you are a simple employee like in any other company). What they are looking for and what they are creating in their trainings is opinion-less sheep that the company turns into brainless brainwashed mascots. These mascots are reps who pay for Dreamtrip after Dreamtrip to promote the company by taking photos with the logos and slogans and post it on their profiles (note: if you are already a member, notice that 90% of the people who go to all the Dreamtrips are leaders who go there just to promote the concept and not actual members who pay to use the 'product'), thus building the WV brand with the illusion that they are actually building their own business (whereas they are just normal employees)

3    The Lie of long term Residual Income while offering a non sustainable product with no value. I have experienced firsthand how the top leaders have to work to maintain their status and trust me, that is not lifestyle freedom! The top 20 leaders and income earners of the company that I personally met at various trainings and presentations, are constantly on the road giving presentations and trainings, have barely bought a house and a car, all the vacations you see them posing are at work because this is where they spend time ‘bonding’ with their team (and they actually have to use those travel dollars) and nobody knows what they are really earning, due to the ever collapsing team. You see, as WorldVentures product offers no true savings, most people drop out within 1 to 3 months. On a rare occasion, someone will stick around to pay membership until the 6^th month maximum. After that they are long gone and you have to bring in new people. Since there is no actual physical product that people like and re-order, dropout rate in WorldVentures is so high, that you can have 5000 members in one month and 5 months after you have 500 unsatisfied complaining ones left (I have seen many leaders experience that too, it is common reality in this company).

4    Additional Costs for Trainings/Marketing Tools/Going to Dreamtrips profiting WorldVentures:

Not only you have to pay for Dreamtrips membership for trips which are priced the same or even higher than if you booked the exact same trip online or better through your travel agent who would take care of your flights too and treat you like a good valued customer, but you are bombarded every month with trainings (costing from 99US to 500 US), Marketing Tools that should be offered for free (ie 30 US per month to use a mailing system) and many more additional costs that WorldVentures uses to extract more money out of its reps and members.

Basically WorldVentrures makes a huge additional income on its trainings, although I have to admit, most of them are pretty good and entertaining and there are people who do enjoy paying for those trainings because they get some value in the friendships they make and the shift of mindset in spending a weekend in a room-full of positive minded people who are looking to change their lives. However, what people don’t realize is the cost of producing that training vs the proceeds of the company with the very high participation fees, gives WorldVentures a pretty good additional profit for each and every training! (out of which, of course you don’t get any commission, even if you have campaigned your whole team to attend and if you are a leader, you are asked to be one of the trainers for free!).

5    Unethical Training guidelines for approaching prospects

The training on how to invite and ‘close’ leads goes against any ethical business practices. Members are encouraged in the training, not to tell their prospects what the invitation is about and to push them to sign the form giving their visa information right after the presentation, before they have the chance to ask too many questions!

They are basically masters of psychological pressure and brainwash. There are many ethical and proper ways to invite a friend to come see a presentation about something that you are doing without you acting weird and hiding things, putting your friend and yourself in an uncomfortable position. It is also unethical to practice tricky pressure techniques with your friends to get them to sign in to something they have no real clue about what it is (after the first 30 minutes of presentation, where they only present their own version of what they want you to see) and without giving you the time to think about it and ask questions.

6    Presentation style: creating fake enthusiasm and pushing for the sale.

Again, what I am mentioning above. Reps are encouraged at all the trainings to create fake enthusiasm in the room and push for the sale right after the end of the presentation, so that ‘too many questions’ are avoided. This goes against my logic of keeping some standards of ethics.

7 Constant Legal Issues of the company and bad media coverage – WorldVentures is going through legal issues sooner or later, in every country it enters. Have that mind that if in your market there hasn’t been yet negative publicity in the media about Worldventures and about how it has been sued for this or that, or for the fact that it is probably a Pyramid or a Ponzi scheme (I will get into that discussion in a future post), as there will probably be something soon. Are you ready to handle it? This will mean losing a big portion of your team every time this happens, losing a lot of respect from friends and family, being laughed at and rebuilding everything from scratch every time (most of the time leaders move from State to State or from country to country to sustain growth as markets are crushed and burned out) until the company builds in all the markets it could enter and totally collapses. I personally prefer to spend my time and effort more constructively on other projects.

After one by one all the above points revealed themselves to me, I felt so ashamed of having dragged in WorldVentures with me, so many amazing people which were also left disappointed and wondering how they didn’t see it coming! I even had my wife sign up, who is the quiet type and shy at giving presentations and she had been so supportive that she had already spend around 1000 US in membership fees from her hard earned salary within a year, although we didn't really need a second membership as a couple.

I totally lost interest to promote it and realized that the only person I can truly count on is myself and what value I have to give to the society as an entrepreneur. I didn’t want to be that fake mascot of an unethical company anymore….

I am now making money in a different business model, I no longer get angry customer phonecalls, I no longer get insulted for unethical behavior that I wasn’t even responsible for.

Who is WorldVentures good for?

It wouldn’t be fair not to add a paragraph about the fact that some people do indeed enjoy paying that 1000US/year WorldVentures membership for while, either because they have been lonely before and they found a fun group of people to go travelling with (because Dreamtrips offer no privacy, on the contrary they are group vacations where you interact with other members at parties, excursions etc) or because they enjoy all the ‘personal development’ training and bonding with other members that happens at the trainings. These are the 10% of people who stick with the company for more than a year as reps working hard on building teams and swear by the value they receive.

And yes, I did attend a couple of very nice Dreamtrips which were memorable experiences and did see some great friendships being formed in WorldVentures that's why I am keeping this blog anonymous, as many of those people who are still in WorldVentures and enjoying it, are my friends and I truly respect them as individuals. I wouldn't go to them and try to change their mind by giving them the information that I wrote here, because it is my story, it is up to form their own experience with the company.

If WorldVentures makes some people happy and fullfills their life purpose, I am not the one to tell them that they are wrong, it was just the wrong project for me for all the reasons described. For them, it might be their true life purpose to promote this company or it might be a journey they have to go through, to learn and grow like I did.

Or like me, some of these people have spend so much effort and time to build big teams, they have put so much trust and time in WorldVentrues, that they would hate to admit 'defeat' and admit to anyone (especially to friends and family who made fun of them in the beginning) that WorldVentures isn't really what they thought it was when they started, they are now too deep in and dependent on it, to make any decision to quit if they decide like me, that they don't feel comfortable with the product not delivering what it initially promised or if they find that they disagree with certain policies and procedures.

For me quitting and going on to start ventures which were true to me, was liberating, because I realized that with WorldVentures I wasn't giving the value I was promising to people. For others, quitting might show defeat to all their friends and family, so they do what they gotta do to prove what they have to prove to whoever they want to prove it...

So Is WorldVentures a scam?

This is for you to judge after reading this article and doing your own research. I am long gone for all the reasons I described and I pray for my friends who are still in this company promoting the concept, not to find themselves one day in the streets with no team and no money, having to rebuild their life after WorldVentures would have broken their dreams.

Rochester High School Travel Agency Joins MLM

2011-09-19T08:40:00.002-04:00

A recent article in Travel Weekly highlighted a "travel agency" formed by some students at East High School in Rochester, NY. The program is sponsored by the National Academy Foundation’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy.

And powered by, wait for it, YTB. The article goes on to explain how the "agency" will teach the high schoolers the information they need to work in the travel industry. However, YTB is merely a booking engine--just a private labeled Orbitz site.

The administrator of the program, Jim Spawton, claims to be working with Marriott Corporation to arrange internships for these students. Apparently Spawton is unaware that Marriott does not recognize YTB as a legitimate agency and does not offer their FAMtastic rates, etc.

However, encouraging young people to become involved in travel is laudable. But as this blog has pointed out time and time again, the programs offered by YTB are more focused on recruiting and other products such as coffee, girdles, and picture frames. I am surprised that Spawton and the National Academy Foundation’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy did not look into other more legitimate hosting arrangements that would give them access to all the suppliers (YTB is not allowed to sell Royal Caribbean products and they have lost their IATAN accreditation), provide then real training, a booking engine that did not actually COST the school money, and much higher commission rates and splits. The article in Travel Weekly does not indicate Spawton's association with YTB, but it is a good bet that he is a representative in the Multi Level Marketing Program and by enrolling the program into his downline he will be profiting.

Perhaps a better life lesson for these students would be to investigate the various options available to them and make a presentation to the school explaining their choice.

YTB To Regain Ability To Sell Royal Caribbean Brands

2011-08-26T23:08:00.001-04:00

After being cut off for questionable sales tactics, the Royal Caribbean brands are reportedly poised to give YTB another shot.

The cruise line did not quite come begging YTB as YTB indicated they would. It took several multi-million dollar lawsuits from two attorneys general along with mandates that they change their business practices before Royal Caribbean would even consider it.

Someone close to the negotiations has told us that this move is somewhat of a "probationary" trial to see if indeed YTB has changed their methods of business.

Unknown to many in YTB, the company was able to bypass their blackball from Royal Caribbean by running the business through a related company.

We were told that the final details were being worked out along with the conditions under which Royal Caribbean will accept YTB bookings. Barring any last minute glitches, YTB may be able to sell Royal Caribbean brands again by October 1, 2011.

YTB Loses Again In Financial Report

2011-08-15T08:46:00.003-04:00

YTB has released their 2Q 10-Q Financial Report and upon a cursory review, it does not look any better.

The net loss for the fist six months of the year was $2.6 million compared to $903K last year.
The net loss for the most recent six months was $356K.
YTB's assets have increased from $15.6 to $17.2 million.
But their liabilities have increased from $1.3 to $7.6 million.
$3.7 million of assets are notes receivable.
YTB has once again changed the terminology to prevent comparisons from previous quarters.
YTB (once again) no longer seems to be separating travel commissions despite their assertion that travel is back.
YTB continues to lose people. In December they had 33.7K people and by the end of June they had 25.6K. This is 44 reps per day. This is a net figure.
To stem the losses, they are re-releasing the travel program. Become a travel agent for $199 and a monthly $49.95 fee.
To further stem the losses they are trying to charge people $50 per month to hear advice from Coach Tomer.
They instituted a $3600/month guarantee, but it is predicated on following ALL activities stipulated by the company, which undoubtedly includes buying the travel agent program, the Coach Tomer advice program, various marketing materials from their privately held sister company, and travel and expenses incurred to recruit.
YTB seems to be upping the use of their privately held printing company owned by Coach Tomer and Kim Sorensen.
YTB seems to finally realize that people are not buying travel from them with this statement:
The product sales and commissions revenue decrease is primarily due to a $1.0 million reduction in travel commissions resulting from a decline in the number of customers utilizing us as their travel sale provider in 2011 compared to 2010.
In June of 2010 YTB had $1.8 million in cash. In June 2011, they have $662K

Statue Of Liberty To Close For Year, YTB To The Rescue

2011-08-11T13:11:00.002-04:00

The Statue of Liberty is scheduled to close for up to a year for renovations this fall much to the disappointment of millions of tourists who flock to see the American icon.

However, travel company turned girdle company turned coffee company, YTB International has once again stepped up to the plate and decided to offer to million of tourists what they have been offering their representatives for years--a cheap knock off.

While the real statue will cost $27 million to repair, YTB has offered to blow the dust off of their fake foam statue and offered to float it on a barge adjacent to Liberty Island. Instead of the iconic torch, the fake statue will fly a flag that says "Bring me your tired, your poor and your gullible for $100 a month."

YTB featured this statue in their 2008 convention just prior to being sued by California for $25 million. YTB paid a reported $8 million for the fraud to a privately held side company owned by Coach Tomer and Kim Sorensen.

There is no word if the National Park Service has accepted YTB's offer.

Did The TravelPro Just Quit?

2011-08-04T11:43:00.002-04:00

It seems that a mere 5 days after the TravelPro proclaimed YTB was back with a vengeance, it seems he will be stepping away from the Baptismal font filled with Kool-Aid.

In a post today, the TravelPro announced that he will be moving onto a new opportunity and will be stepping away from his "six figure" (he did not say if there was a decimal point in there or not) travel commission income from YTB to pursue another opportunity.

While he claims he is not quitting, and goes on to laud the YTB program, my guess is that it is a foot out the door. But having seen the way YTB will go after former recruiters in court, I am sure he is being as diplomatic as possible.

Time will tell. He says he will not be updating the blog about YTB too much as he wraps his hands around this other "six figure" opportunity. Stay tuned!

Federal Class Action Suit Reinstated Against YTB - Zam Zuu

2011-08-02T04:30:00.000-04:00

Travel Pulse is reporting that a Federal Court has overturned a District Court decision and remanded the case back to District Court. Initially, the District Court judge dismissed the case saying it belonged in a state court.

A three judge panel has determined that Murphy (District Court Judge) was wrong to dismiss it and was wrong to discharge any out of state plaintiffs since they were indeed harmed in Illinois. The "discharged" plaintiffs are now free to re-join the suit against YTB - ZamZuu.

The suit charges that

The defendant corporations have taken over half a billion dollars from their unsophisticated customers, selling them on the dream of cheap travel and million dollar pay-outs when the only way that plaintiffs and their class could make a net profit was by recruiting others to join the illegal pyramid scheme.

While over half of the its customers received no travel commissions at all, the directors of YTB International, Inc. each paid themselves multi-million dollar salaries while also siphoning tens of millions of dollars from their publicly traded corporation to privately owned corporations that they owned and controlled.

While it remains to be seen if this suit has any teeth--it has been through the wringer for sure--one thing is for certain, it will certainly consume valuable resources from YTB in terms of time and cash to defend.

The cash position of the company was poor last quarter and an updated financial report is due any day now (convenient how it comes out AFTER the convention) which will shed some light. YTB made several very risky deals in selling their home office.

YTB-Zam Zuu Convention Recap

2011-08-01T11:07:00.003-04:00

Here are the key points from the convention.

Thanks for paying for the Z-Kits, it helped us out with our cash flow, but now that you realize they are not worth anything, we are discontinuing the program.
Thanks for paying for the $99 broker license to give away free websites. Now that you realize that there is nothing truly special about a shopping portal, we will be discontinuing the program. But thanks for the money, it helped with our cash flow.
Thanks for buying all the literature and promotional material from our "sister" company. It is now all outdated. Look for new and improved literature that you can buy.
We need $100 a month from everyone. So when we realized that no one was gonna pay that for Coach's Way, we decided to keep it at $50 a month. But we will put major pressure on you to pay a $50 premium to get more intense training from Coach. Bingo, we got our $100 a month. We are still not sure what Coach is training you to do, but hey, it's only $100.
We are going to be re-focusing on travel again. It seems that the whole shopping thing was not working out so we will try travel again and hope no one bothers to Google the name and see the problems. We also hope that no one realizes that we have just lathered, rinsed and repeated. Oh, and hopefully no one will see that bit of news on the class action suit.
We are not giving up on the shopping. We figure that some of you will still buy into it, so we have put our CEO's wife in charge of a new line of makeup for "women of color". She is the ultimate upline.
Oh yeah, and we no longer will be offering any cash back for shopping.

No go out and recruit!

Welcome To The Zam Zuu Convention 2011

2011-07-26T04:41:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I received an email from a few skeptical YTB/Zam Zuu people about the convention. I just wanted to share some of their concerns.

Chae Organics not a vendor on the convention schedule, but what appears to be a competitor of Chae, Sukkla, is featured prominently. Interesting enough, the presenter for Sukkla is none other than YTB CEO Bob Van Patten's wife! The incest continues!

Crystal Memories and Ghiada Girdles vendors aren't even on on the schedule. These two were very big vendors in year's past and Crystal Memories was the product that Kim Sorensen's side company started producing which resulted in yet another lawsuit from Diamond Ice--the original supplier.

ZamZuu's big Nutraceutics products vendor was all the rave at the 2010 convention and this year is not on the schedule. This was a huge component of the $300 Z-Kits that were sold to the ~~gullible~~ independent business owners which guaranteed would jump start the road to riches.

Vendors are not the focus of the convention. Very few travel suppliers are in attendance, and the big push seems to be enrollment in Coach's Way for $100 a month.

It seems that YTB Zam Zuu is more concerned with recruiting (again) than with any products it may or may not sell. As long as money is collected for an intangible, YTB Zam Zuu will do well. It is even easier when the intangible (Coach's Way) offers tips with full knowledge that the masses will not/can not follow them. That way, the easy out is "oh you diod not follow the message like I told you."

What ever happened to being the largest distributor of product by 2020. YTB Zam Zuu was going to be larger than Walmart and Amazon combined. But now they are backing away from products? Doesn;t make sense. Or maybe it does for those who will reap the rewards.

If you want to replicate Coach's success, do not buy into his program. Learn to talk a good talk. Ingratiate yourself into several groups (ethnic groups and church groups are particularly vulnerable) and tell a good story. Then ask a lot of people to send you a little (relatively speaking) money every month. Make the sum large enough to make them think it has value, but small enough that most legal authorities will not consider bringing charges. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I know one YTB Zam Zuu rep who has been there for 5 years, has spent $8900 for the travel website, $1400 on the various guarantee your success programs, $6000 on attending the conventions, $3800 on attending other various meetings, $3500 on a "FAM" trip, and $1600 on various "products" that would guarantee his success. If you are with me, this is $24,200 in addition to the initial $449.95 to sign up. And he has yet to earn $100 in the program.

But you know what, Coach, Scott and Kim have earned plenty.

A Serious Question

2011-07-22T20:01:00.001-04:00

For most organizations, when they have an annual meeting or a convention or conference, the majority of the people involved are excited to attend.

Why is it with YTB / ZamZuu that they practically need to beg people to attend. I have received no less than 4 notices this week from various people encouraging me to attend and telling me what a great deal Zam Zuu and YTB is and how it will be even better if I pay Coach $50 a month.

Why can't YTB / ZamZuu attract their own people to their own conference without a last minute price reduction in the fee and the Directors all begging people to attend.

CLIA 360 sold out the week after the last one ended. The Travel Weekly and ASTA shows are always very well attended. Just not making sense!

YTB Still At The Bottom Of The Class

2011-07-19T04:09:00.000-04:00

Just a few weeks ago, the TravelPro was crowing about YTB being upgraded by the Better Business Bureau to a C+ rating.

Now, he has never accepted that the BBB might be a valued barometer of a company. That is probably because they always ranked YTB as an F. But now that it is a C+, he thinks they may have some redeeming qualities.

But not so fast. Now I am not sure if YTB was ever ranked at the C+ level or not, but as of now (June 23, 2011) they are ranked a solid F! So, what happened, did the TravelPro mislead his readers by saying that YTB was upgraded? Did the BBB make a mistake and erroneously give them a C+ and then made a correction? Or did YTB have a C+ and in the last month do something to have the BBB cut them back to the bottom?

If you read the complaints, they all follow a similar path. Product not as advertised. Misleading advertising. Refusing to refund after cancellation. Failure to pay commissions owed.

I guess it is a good thing they are getting out of the travel business--finally!

Only 4 Travel Vendors To Attend YTB Annual Convention

2011-07-17T11:53:00.002-04:00

According to a schedule published by YTB/ZamZuu, it appears that only four vendors will attending the annual YTB Conference next week in St. Louis.

Carnival Cruise Lines, Travel Guard, Holland America, and Epic Tours will be making presentations to the declining number of travel agents associated with YTB.

But on the plus side, there will be plenty of seminars on purses, coffee, air fresheners and the personalized products offered by Kim Sorensen's printing company.

Free No More

2011-06-16T20:12:00.000-04:00

There was a time when you could work real hard recruiting people into YTB and Coach Tomer would invite you to become a member of his Coach's Corner. This was all part of his goal to make 10,000 millionaires. He still has a long way to go. But he has found a way to maybe help him along on his way to his next million.

Coach's Corner is no longer a free honor. Yes, you can now pay to be a member of "Coach's Way". Now instead of mentoring you on how to become a millionaire by recruiting for free, he will do it for a one time charge of $50.

Now, most of the people who were with YTB and Zam Zuu before have left. Now Coach Tomer has a whole new flock of newbies to ~~bilk~~ mentor. I wonder if those few loyalists were averaging $1100 a year income on $1700 a year expenses will see the benefit! Certainly there are some that will buy anything this man says to buy.

But with a reported 30,000 new reps, that is a cool $1.5 million.