You know, I looked for this list last week and didn’t see it. Then mid-morning yesterday, it dawned on me that it might be out this week. After writing about this Power List the last 4 years (because YTB has made the list all 4 years) I can go directly to the URL without even needing to look it up. I’ve enjoyed the publication (I enjoy it all year long actually) and it’s fascinating to see the chess match that goes on in the travel industry.

Ironically, Travel Weekly appears to see it as a chess match as well, but on a much grander scale – the last decade. There have been some new faces (like YTB) that have shown up in the last few years and others that have either gone completely out of business or have been acquired by or merged with other companies. (More of the latter from what I can tell.)

The biggest surprise to me was who knocked off the #1 and #2 positions the last few years. American Express and Carlson Wagonlit have had a lock on the the number one and number two spots respectively until this year. (American Express has had a lock on #1 since 1992, when the Power List first came out.)

Online giant Expedia jumped over both this year to take the number one spot.

Yep, online travel is now king.

The list also shrunk in size this year (from 61 total to 52) because – well 2009 was a rough year for travel. Bookings may have been up – but with prices cut in half to get people on board ships, into hotel rooms, and on vacation you literally needed to sell twice as much in order to even maintain your spot from last year.

How did YTB fair in all this?

Not too bad actually. YTB did drop from 25 to 29.

Considering the economy, the incessant and dysfunctional obsession from industry “professionals” about YTB’s MLM model and our fine group of ambulance chasers who can’t quite grasp the meaning of the word “NO” – 29 is actually pretty good.

On the other hand, most clients who book with YTB don’t know (or don’t really care) that there’s an MLM arm attached to the company. Technology plays a big part in that.

I’d highly recommend taking some time to read Travel Weekly’s cover Story “10 Years In Review” to attain their perspective on how technology has changed the face of travel. I’ve been writing about it for years here – but I’m just one of those MLM “Yahoo’s” – a newcomer to the industry who really doesn’t know how things work. (Or so some would have you think.)

Turns out that the internet and technology has not only changed the rankings considerably over the last ten years, but it’s essential in the growth and viability of the vast majority of the agencies who are still around. That’s not to say high touch and high service doesn’t continue to play a role like most of the old dogs would have you believe. (The ones who demand this type of service from YTB in order to legitimize the model.)

A total focus on high touch and high service however, would have certainly landed YTB on the outside of this Power List looking in.

Back in 2001 when YTB was founded, they saw a trend towards technology. Today, over $50 BILLION in travel was purchased online last year between Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, and Travelocity. While all four certainly produced top 10 rankings, Travelocity didn’t provide sales numbers and wasn’t included in this years rankings. (See “What happened to…” in the Travel Weekly report.)

Those who have embraced this shift and taken advantage of the paradigm shift from brick and mortar to click and order have done very well for themselves over the last ten years.

Those who haven’t? Well, you can now find them on various message boards, forums and some have even created their own blogs to bitch and complain about how MLM not technology has ruined their business.

Change is a little more difficult for some – and honestly, some may never come around. (I certainly wouldn’t count on it.) I wouldn’t worry about it however. They’re the ones who are faced with another Power List with the name YTB Travel Network in it for the forth year in a row.

Instead, embrace the technology YTB has provided with new an innovative ways of booking travel.

In fact, you can do that tonight if you’d like. Carnival will be featured once again on our booking engine with yet another “Sail-A-Thon” to wind down Carnival Month with YTB. It’s a live 4 hour blowout sale and you could get up to $160 Cash Back from Carnival if you book with us tonight.

Technology and travel…

It appears to be the right mix if you ask me. ;-P

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I don’t know if any of you are old enough or maybe you’ve caught re-runs of The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71, CBS) but after receiving a certain package, the term “Black Gold” kept running through my head. (For those of you who might not have any clue, it means that I struck oil. ;-P)

It came to my attention that I have two stragglers in my midst who just don’t want to admit that Candi May is who she says she is. Both of them have been extremely vocal about claims they have proven she isn’t who she says she is.

Now mind you, neither one of these stragglers have been able to provide a single shred of documentation to verify their claims. (We just need to take their word for it.) They claim to be “in the know” about all sorts of matters and they also have “insider information” that they hand out like it was candy with a little slip of the tongue.

I’m going to be dividing this information into two sections and I’m going to be asking some questions of these two people directly who I believe need to come up with some answers and documentation of their own. I’m getting really board with the words which have nothing backing them up.

Our first straggler, John Frenaye has been extremely public about reacting to news in one of his daily ramblings about YTB that a “Travel-Pro” has made the switch to YTB with his own spin and twist on things. John doesn’t limit his views to just his blog. Ohhh no, you can find him all over the internet and one of his favorite watering holes happens to be Scam.com and he was busy trashing Candi May there as well. (I don’t have the time to or energy to check the Travel Weekly Forum, Yahoo and Google Finance boards, or some of the other “holes” he posts on all day every day.)

Now the claim is that John has “insider information” and “contacts” at Carlson Wagonlit that disproves that Candi May was ever approached, invited, or for that matter even contacted by Carlson Wagonlit to be a part of their company. (He claims to know the CEO.) And from conversations he’s had the story is, “the only “Candi” they have in their system of prospects, was a “Candy” from Michigan.”

About the closest I got to any type of documentation from John was a copy and past from an e-mail from Roger Block which stated, “In the system, we have a Barbara May but she is from Memphis. Don’t have a clue who you could be referring to.”

Now I was told by John that “It doesn’t get any more credible than that.” but after viewing a signed document from Roger Block to Candi May I would have to respectfully disagree. I’d also have to wonder how Linda Fox obtained Candi’s information, complete with address, to Fed Ex a Formal Agreement to Candi if there was no record of a Candi May in the Carlson system.

One other strange piece of documentation I found was this Agenda concerning dinner at Bucca de Beppos after the “Advisory Board” took a tour of HQ up in Minneapolis. It’s my understanding that John seems to think they wouldn’t do something like this. (Carlson wouldn’t actually fly anyone up or take them to a restaurant they don’t own themselves according to him.)

But the real kicker that makes me scratch my head was this document that I’d like some answers to. (Doubt I’ll get…but…) As part of the “Franchise Advisory Board” that Candi was in fact a part of concerning the acquisition of Travel Professionals International, she was handed a document of Agencies that were “terminated” in 2001 by Carlson Wagonlit.

Now I don’t know about you, but the word “terminated” doesn’t sound very good. I have to wonder what the terminations were for. Did they do something wrong? Did they not make any money for Carlson? Or were they just fed up with the owners?

Maybe John can shed some light on the subject since Universal Travel owned by John happened to be on this list of terminations.

Come to think of it, maybe we need to change the channel from “The Beverly Hillbillies” to “I Love Lucy” just to hear Ricky tell Lucy, “You got some splanin to do…”

Now I know all this begs the question as to why Carlson Wagonlit ever tried to recruit Candi May to join their company. Based on all unsubstantiated claims, comments and posts by John and Martha to try to discredit her, one would think that she’s just another MLM’er who will do and say anything to pick your pockets.

I’ll be back either tomorrow or Friday with a little more documentation that I’ve acquired to answer some of “Maxine’s” questions and shed a little more light on just why you can’t trust a word she says either.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

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Do You ZamZuu?