YTB is New Face of Travel
Monday, October 15th, 2007Our industry has been a buzz over the events of this last week. The Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) has successfully put the screws to Royal Caribbean International with a petition to make them choose between their collective group of an estimated 700 (and growing) Brick and Mortar Agencies or the handful of Multi-Level Marketing companies who sell travel via internet web sites. News came out on Wednesday in a Travel Daily News article with quotes from Chairman Barry Richcreek applauding Royal Caribbean’s decision to terminate it’s relationship with “a scheme which denigrates the stature and role of the legitimate travel retailer.
On Friday, news that Royal Caribbean had sent notice to J. Kim Sorensen, President of YTB Travel Networkthat RCCL will terminate it’s relationship with YTB effective November 9th, and the Retail Travel Industry has gone from a small grumble to a resounding roar. Travel Retailers all over the country are rejoicing over Royal Caribbean’s “choice” supporting them over MLM. The reality of this situation however is that this petition was an ultimatum. While I can only verify and document the $13 Million YTB has booked with RCCL, (no other MLM documentation is available as most are privately held) it’s still considerably less that numbers produced by our collective Retail Professionals.
For now…
Having access to some of the industry message boards and finding several articles from Peter Stilphen who fears that “The MLM referral agents are presently growing at a much faster pace than the serious agent and if left unchecked, will seriously dilute our professional travel status” and John Frenaye who dares you, in fact he “Double Dog Dares You” to produce proof of legitimate travel sales. (A quote I haven’t heard since the third grade.) The petition going around the industry currently makes claims that MLM Agents Cheapen the Industry and we find other Retailers needing to “unite against this blasphemy” wanting to “rid our industry of leeches”, and we are nothing more than “wannabes that embarrass them”. I’ve known for some time that comments and images like those above exist, and that I should consider myself one of the lowest life forms known to man. (I’ve yet to be able to do this however.) I partnered with 127,000 others in YTB who point people to a web site to book travel instead of the “professionals” who have petitioned suppliers like Royal Caribbean crying that yet another threat is rising up that once again divides a $7 Trillion pie into even smaller portions for them.
These Agents firmly believe they “provide a valuable service to their clients, and MLM makes a mockery of that.” While I’m most certain that these professionals do offer outstanding services in the travel industry I have a serious question for all those who have signed this petition.
Which one of you offered your professionalism, industry experience, and training in assisting the Millions of American’s who booked $40 BILLION in travel services last year with Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and Priceline? Did any one of you get a call at 2 AM in the morning while these “clients” were in their underwear surfing the internet booking these services? If you are equating selling travel services to rocket science or brain surgery, these big on line conglomerates certainly don’t support this idea do they? Currently only American Express Travel Services, Carlson Wagonlit, book more travel than Expedia, and BDC Travel, and Hogg Robinson Group, beat out a Roaming Gnome when it comes to selling travel to “clients”. (Check out the Top 10 Travel Agencies for 2006 sales)
It’s far too late to go after these conglomerates however, as they have already taken hold in the American public eye and habit, and these giants have far too much money for our Retailers who are clearly a dieing breed.
Problems first started to surface in the late 1990′s when American Airlines cut commissions to these professionals, only to have the rest of the Airline industry follow suit because the industry figured out that the technology and convenience of purchasing on the internet was increasing. Like most companies who look at the bottom line and profits for shareholders, the technology invested in on-line booking engines for Americans enabled the Airlines to cut these commissions to these retailers. As a result, hundreds of thousands of retailers with years of experience, training, and dedication to service were forced to close their doors.
Media Mogul Barry Diller sold all he had some years ago in television and film holdings to purchase Expedia for $5.2 Billion in hopes to “empower business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel”. Last year, Expedia booked $17.2 Billion in Travel Services and is currently the third largest agency in the country. I’m curious how many of the 6,600 employees with Expedia have the kind of experience, training and commitment to service our professional retailers have in order to produce that kind of volume. Even “The Donald” loves a great deal, and launched his own on-line GoTrump.com in 2006 to try to capture this growing market and industry.
Yet all the attention and focus this week has been on little ol’ YTB. Because of the Press released this past week, our friends in the Retail Industry are aware that YTB could very well break into the Top 20 overall in 2007 with $550 Million estimated in booking for the year. While they are pushing very hard to force other vendors into submission like they have with Royal Caribbean, their pleas will begin to fall on deaf ears.
Lines are being drawn in the sand as we speak, and some of our vendors will stay, and some will go. Carnival for example will certainly be a tough nut for the ARTA to crack since YTB has earned their prestigious Pinnacle Award for the last three years. Can you imagine THOSE headlines… “Carnival Terminates Pinnacle Award Winner YTB”?
What should we as YTB agents do to help? I’ve heard and read a lot of people talk about sending letters and making phone calls to voice their displeasure. I don’t blame you and honestly, I’d like to do the same.
However…
We need to be not only smarter, but stronger collectively than the ARTA. We can start our own petition in the form of SALES!
Yes, you read right…send Royal Caribbean more business. While I can’t verify these numbers for certain, it’s my understanding that YTB has another $2 million on the books since September 1st with Royal Caribbean. We have until November 9th to plead our case and if all 127,000 agents book just one cruise with Royal Caribbean in the next 20-30 days the sales volume would be astronomical. (You realize we have a direct link to Royal Caribbean on our Booking Home Page.)
So go ahead…I dare you. In fact I double dog dare you to book just ONE cruise for a future sailing with Royal Caribbean before the November 9th deadline. (Actual cruise sailing date of course would be at the clients choice.) Feel free to leave your comments here and join me in flooding OUR home office with this idea using support tickets to the Travel Department. You know very well Coach, Scott and Kim would LOVE it, and it’s high time we start supporting THEM for a change. This is OUR business and I don’t know about you, but I think it’s high time this industry takes a look at the NEW FACE of Travel.
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Doug & Ronda Bauknight AKA: TravelPro Travel Agent / Networker Phone: 678.458.5812 |
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