Same ol’, same old…
After looking around the internet the last few days, I’ve come to the conclusion that not much has changed since I went off on my Super Bowl run. While it was nice to get away, move off in another direction, take a break and actually enjoy myself, I see that some are still stuck in a rut. While there is always something going on in this industry, there are certain people you can count on for dragging their feet, kicking and screaming bantering about the same ol’ same old.
If you’ve been following the industry with me, we know how much turmoil is going on in the industry right now. Sure the economy has a lot to do with some of the issues going on and only the strong will survive. (Some might even thrive in this environment.) Back in November Liberty Travel decided to close a number of it’s poor producing Agencies, and while it’s CEO is adamant about leaving on her own terms, Cathy Pelaez will resign at the end of the week. Mid November Cruise Value Center closed it’s doors overnight, leaving cruise customers without a lifeboat to rescue them. And Friday will also be the last day of full operation for TripTailor and Vacation 59, as Sabre closes it’s wholesaling business.
US Airways posts a $220 million loss, Continental reported a loss of $96 Million, and JetBlue lost $49 million. Car Rental companies are being sued after filing bankruptcy and with the credit crunch slashing new car orders. Royal Caribbeans profits fall 98%, and Starwood drops by 46%.
Joystar is yet another black eye in the industry these days after it’s Agents file a petition for “involuntary bankruptcy”, and cruise lines have to fight courts in order to switch bookings to other Agencies so the agents can actually get paid. And while both myself and Travel Weekly wrote about an agent who broke into IHG system, stealing more than $163K in hotel bookings, we find yet another North Carolina Agent who stole some $512k from NCL, and $70k in chargebacks from Blue Sky Tours.
So what’s the problem you might ask?
Isn’t it obvious, it’s MLM.
It never ceases to amaze me how some people can be so obsessed about an issue that they can’t gain a proper perspective of the entire industry. MLM is the only model that has any type of issues like we have referenced above and if they rid the industry of this pariah, everything will be hunky dory once again. Depending on their mood, or possibly what position suits them at the time, they will either proudly accept or deny the role of “MLM Expert”. If challenged or called out by someone such as myself about how little they know, they deny it, as referenced in the comment section of my ariticle concerning IHG last week.
“I never professed to be an expert except in my own travel business.”
I have no idea who John is trying to kid here. He’s been attempting to tell me how things are since October 2007 here on this blog, while both myself and time has now shown that his comments some 16 months ago were certainly proven wrong. Along the way, we’ve seen posts like “Black Gold”, and one of my favorites from the industry itself, “The Cookie Jar”. And through it all, he just keeps coming back for more embarrassing moments while his followers hold him up in honor and appear to be proud of his antics of flipping the bird to Christians, and having links to other blogs with explicit titles and a niche subject matter concerning animal intercourse.
Pure class if you ask me.
What’s even more astounding is how blind the industry is concerning how clueless, foul and dirty this man is. As sad as it is, the industry does consider him an expert. I have not yet decided or figured out if the industry is either proud of his antics, or just so desperate about their own situation, that they simply look the other way whey he strays out of bounds like he does. (Based on what I’ve come to know about cynics and zealots, I tend to favor the latter.)
I’m only aware of one blog, board, or forum that John doesn’t have something to say about either YTB or MLM. That one forum would be WAHM and based on the subject of Work at Home Mom’s, I’m thankful that he at least knows his sexual orientation. However, the rest of the internet is fair game for this snake as he slithers all day long from site to site, and posting and promoting his hideous blog. This promotional tactic of linking back to his blog he uses, is ridiculed as sleazy when someone like myself would do the same, but for him, he’s obviously above reproach since his cause if more important than mine or YTB’s.
And now, oddly enough, just after denying his self proclaimed expertise, he’s elevated his own mind to writing about the MLM model in both TRO and getting his buddy George Dooley to post an article in Travel Agent Central. The basis of the article is not an actual warning about supporting MLM’s but the “hidden costs” of dealing with MLM’s.
It’s a been a topic of conversation for some time and try as they may they keep on promoting this bogus notion that YTB costs them money. The problem with this idea is that one of the sheep that follow John actually works with a supplier that’s offered on YTB’s booking engine. What’s comical about this relationship is that the employee that works for Pleasant Holidays calls himself “No Moron Here” but he keeps on contradicting what John is attempting to promote. It’s fun to read and I wrote about what his employer has told him in the past about his own misconceptions and fears about our company. We got a glimpse of what suppliers are actually saying behind closed doors some time ago. For as much whining this guy does about MLM’s he was told point blank that he didn’t have a say in who his employer does business with.
“The MLMs don’t bring in enough business to worry about them.”
“We don’t treat them the same way as our traditional agencies.”
“We will take their bookings (money) and supply them our product.”
“Stop worrying about them.”
“You are not to discuss the MLMs with the agents or agencies.”
Since his misconceptions have been cast aside, he lowered himself to forming relationships with other zealots who are just as clueless, angry and bitter as he is. The problem however, is that once again, he’s given incredible insight concerning the truth about supplier and MLM relationships. Take a look down towards the bottom of the comments section and what this employee from Pleasant Holidays wrote.
I guess a buck is buck and when they don’t have to put any money into YTB, they can still scrounge a few bucks off the so few bookings you morons place.
So while John attempts to convince everyone that YTB costs suppliers money, a supplier himself provides a rather unique Freudian slip and let’s the cat out of the bag that suppliers don’t hire YTB, suppliers don’t provide Co-op advertising to YTB, and suppliers only pay YTB for what YTB produces. That’s my friends is a model that suppliers NEED in an economy such as this, and the smart suppliers that actually get that concept such as Carnival Corporation, Globus, Trafalgar, MSC Cruises, Apple Vacations, Disney, and many other preferred suppliers reap the rewards of our business model. I can’t remember the last time Pleasant Holidays was even mentioned in a Travel Compass, a training call, or at Funshine. They do sit on our site, but nobody pays any attention to them because nobody from the company is promoting their features, advantages, and benefits. In all honesty, how much would it cost the company to get on a conference call the we provide, or hop in front of a camera for a video that we produce?
But no…they would rather spend thousands with a bunch of struggling Agents who demand co-op dollars in order to promote them with no guarantees of any return of their investment, when one call, or webinar would drive traffic and sales to help thier bottom line costing them virtually nothing.
I know this type of promotion from John frustrates many of you in YTB with the false claims and misrepresentation of our company and our model. I don’t know why he does it either, but you have to take it with a grain of salt, and be thankful that the truth about our model is known by the suppliers that not only understand our model, but support us. For those who don’t, they end up on the sidelines like NCL and eventually end up looking for answers somewhere else, when the diamonds in the rough are right under their noses.
Some may never get it, but with the Convergentware upgrade released late last year, some already have and many more will realize very soon just how powerful our model really is. As YTB continues to expand this solution to cruises, tour opperators, and other offerings with direct connections, trust me, thier eyes will be wide open and there will be very little anyone can do to promote otherwise.
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Tags: John Frenaye, Travel Agent Commission, Travel Agent Issues, Travel MLM, YTB Travel Network
February 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Doug, you have outdone yourself this morning. I do have one question, is my “buddy George Dooley” the same George Dooley you discussed in your August18, 2008 blog post where you said:
Back in November I had the pleasure of speaking with George Dooley in an interview concerning Travel MLM’s. I was impressed with George’s open mind and his willingness to not only listen, but his sincere desire to understand the MLM business model as it applies to Travel. He like me understands and recognizes both the Pro’s and Con’s concerning what YTB has done in the industry.?
February 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Yes, that would be him, and I wish more people would follow his lead.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
John Frenay sent me a message that you had mentioned me in your blog today. Thanks for promoting what I’ve been saying all along about MLMs and the suppliers. I do think you might want to correct your error and assumption that I work for Pleasant Holidays. I do not. I did work for them years ago when they were known as Pleasant Hawaii and had not expanded to other areas. Since you get most of your information from John’s blog and Scam.com, I would assume that you have read my posts about Pleasant Holidays. I don’t believe that P.H. even has area reps any longer and hasn’t in a few years. That is one reason that they don’t do trade shows or put on any events for agents.
Since you always like to be right and seldom are, I just thought I would correct your misinformation. We do share the same opinion about Pleasant Hoidays though.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Thank you for yet another example of a supplier who doesn’t spend a dime to work with YTB. Honestly, I just don’t get why John keeps on harping on this issue.
You’ve given us tremendous insight on the supplier side. Maybe if John actually talks to more suppliers like you instead of discussing the issue with other Agents we might finally be able to put this issue of his to rest.
Can you pass that back up the line? I think we might be on to something!
I stand corrected on the Pleasant Holidays.
Now if I may correct you about your comment that YTB collects marketing materials, puts their stamp on it and then sells those materials to the field, we can call it even.
The truth is, when I need marketing materials from a supplier, I go directly to the supplier, not YTB. They’re free to us as well.
You’ve been a tremendous help here however in understanding the YTB/Supplier relationship.
Thanks again!
PS – Before you contact John, his name has an “e” on the end. (Frenaye)
February 4th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
“Now if I may correct you about your comment that YTB collects marketing materials, puts their stamp on it and then sells those materials to the field, we can call it even.”
Absolutely not. YTB charges the RTAs for brochures in addition to shipping them out. You are correct when you say that they are free from suppliers. My employer does not ship brochures to YTB because of stated reason of reselling them. Our brochures are not for sale. That is why YTB and all of the other MLMs were cut off.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:27 am
8th Comment Down
No Moron Here said:
Like it or not, that statement is incorrect. I have an office full of catalogs, brochures, and tri-folds from vendors and suppliers sorted by type and by vendor, with a smaller selection in the trunk of my car. YTB doesn’t stock your vendor materials and never has.
I would like to thank you for your attitude adjustment here and following the rules and decorum of the form. (I realize how hard that is when your far more comfortable being angry and bitter.) I would also like to thank your for the additional hits and links from both Scam.com and Pleasant Holidays. (Nice traffic from Pleasant Holidays by the way!) It’s my hope that someone at Pleasant Holidays may find the time to actually take me up on my suggestion of getting on a call or in front of a camera and inform us of how we can discover their features, advantages, and benefits of their wonderful product. See, if you just point us in the right direction and we’ll do the rest.
We don’t focus on problems here, we find solutions on how to co-operate and make things better for everyone involved.
Other suppliers that understand our model and follow our suggestions get an incredible bang for their buck with thousands promoting their product and service at little or no expense. (Of course you and I know how little expense there is.) This minimal expense turns into sales, which everyone apparently needs right now, and a much better ROI than any other method they currently use.
Again, thank you for your help in this. You have provided great insight and contacts for us.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:14 am
[...] clarification, here is the excerpt in question as written back in early February. So while John attempts to convince everyone that YTB costs suppliers money, a supplier himself [...]