One of the things I love about YTB is the industry recognition we’ve been able to attain. Of course, because it’s YTB, it’s also surrounded with what some might consider “controversy”. YTB has been a part of Travel Weekly’s Power List the last two years and there’s no reason to believe that we won’t be part of the annual publication again later this month. YTB has also gained recognition from Princess as a Top Agency Producer, Apple Vacations Platinum Award, and of course most recently YTB’s 4th Pinnacle Award from Carnival.

You might think it would be somewhat difficult to argue that YTB has made a significant impact as a Travel Agency. Unfortunately, some can’t get past the recruiting aspect of YTB Marketing to allow themselves to look at YTB as anything other than an MLM. Even more unfortunate, because they can’t look past that aspect of that business model, many have spent a considerable amount of time attempting to discredit or diminish YTB’s accomplishments as a legitimate Travel Agency model.

After all these years of awards and recognition, I’m no longer going to call this controversy however, I’m going to call it as I see it.

Nothing more than excuses.

Many thought that YTB’s first appearance in Travel Weekly’s Power List back in 2007 as the 35th largest Seller of Travel Services consisted of nothing more than “recruiting sales”. A variance of about $125 million between recruiting sales found in our SEC filings and travel sales reported by Travel Weekly. The variance didn’t matter much to critics. They only needed to come up with something to discredit YTB’s existence on the Power List.

When travel weekly came out with last years Power List with a jump to #26, Travel Weekly was kind enough to document that the numbers came only from direct travel sales, not referrals or any other nonqualified revenues.

The excuse we’ve heard in 2008/2009 is that half of the sales came from our RezConnect partners in New Jersey as “third party sales”. I’m hearing rumblings that excuse will also be put to rest this year in an attempt to educate and document keeping the spin from critics to a minimum. If what I’ve been told is true, you’ll realize just how little critics really know and understand about our company, the industry, and how Travel Weekly tabulates thier findings in this annual publication.

Travel Weekly has taken a considerable amount of heat over the last two years because they have accepted YTB as a legitimate seller of travel. Many have pointed fingers at Travel Weekly stating that Travel Weekly is being played for a sucker when it includes YTB in the annual Power List. Travel Weekly has given YTB an opportunity to respond to this criticism over the years, and has made several statements of thier own that YTB not only qualifies, but belongs right where it is on the Power List. There have been a number of articles which are linked to all over this blog from various travel publications that not only speak to YTB’s legitimacy in this industry as a Travel Agency but how productive our model truly is.

Most recently there have been attempts to spin, discredit, or excuse Carnival’s Pinnacle Award as nothing more than a simple recommendation from our BDM Ann Sedgwick. The fact that Ann was even asked via several e-mails and/or phone calls asking her to verify that this was in fact our 4th Pinnacle in as many years should cement how desperate (or just board) some critics are to find something they can use to take this recognition away. Ann, being smart, differed any questions to the Corporate Office and critics took the Corporate response and somehow twisted the response to mean that YTB’s Pinnacle was awarded based soley on Ann’s “recommendation”.

True, Ann did recommend YTB as a Top Seller in her area, which was then thrown into the mix to tabulate all agency sales from all BDM recommendations. All Agency recommendations were then selected based on certain sales criteria and ability to exhibit excellence in promoting and selling the Carnival product.

It’s getting harder and harder for critics to come up with excuses when there’s documentation like this that should stop them dead in thier tracks. Please note that I said “should” there, because in reality it doesn’t. They either move on ignoring any documentation, or attempt to throw out more questions in an attempt to take the focus of themselves. Nobody likes to be proven wrong and most will get extremely defensive when called out. You might consider it human nature, but from what I’ve learned over the years, getting defensive is nothing more than a “learned response”, much like the response they have towards MLM.

Monkey see…monkey do.

But it is getting harder and harder to keep up with their charade. The law suit that was filed in California to shut YTB down turned out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors when it was all said and done. (We are still in business in case you hadn’t heard.) Law suits happen. It’s part of being in business, especially when you change an industry the way YTB has. Heck, take a look at what happened to Expedia a couple weeks ago when they got slapped with $184 million judgment. Makes YTB’s $1 million settlement look like chump change.

But nobody talks about Expedia, nor is there any fear of Expedia going out of business. Most of Expedia’s clients wouldn’t have a the first clue about a judgment like this. (Why would they even care?) But with YTB, somehow it’s different because of the phobias surrounding MLM. Yet, in all the years I’ve been booking travel with YTB “MLM” has never been an issue. Why? Because I don’t recruit clients, and based on two years worth of Income Disclosure Statements, neither does the rest of the company. Recuriting is reserved for about 10% of the entire company based on the facts and documentation.

Most in YTB sell travel provided by the supporting documentation in Travel Weekly, and awards from Carnival, Princess, Apple, and also supported in our own Income Disclosures.

Thus the “controversy” that still surrounds YTB and it’s business model comes to a close. I can’t tell you how long we’ll have to endure the “excuses” in an attempt to make it look like “controversy”. About all I can tell you is that there is enough documentation out there right now to expose the controversy for what it really is.

Time will tell. For myself however, I’ve made the transistion and need to call this spade a spade.

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UPDATE: If you were on the Thursday Night Training Call with Ann Sedgwick last night or if you read the Travel Compass sent out last evening, you now know that BookCCL.com is open for YTB RTA’s to register once again. (Even if you did not have a previous booking or group already registered through their site.) Registration is reserved for RTA’s who have taken the appropriate training and upgraded from the Associate position who now qualify for the 70% commission level.

Instructions can be found in either the Travel Compass or in this weekends Newsletter sent out for Just Picture It Now Newsletter Subscribers.
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If your read Monday’s article, you knew that I was up in Wood River for Red Carpet Day Tuesday. I enjoy these events because I’m able to actually see many of the organization face to face. I get a chance to look people in the eye, instead of talking with people over the phone, or corresponding via e-mail. Events such as Red Carpet, Convention, and other local meetings are important to me simply because like the documentation I have here, seeing the energy, the excitement, and passion in someone’s own eyes completes who we are and what we do.

Now that the company has overcome the allegations in California that some claimed would put YTB out of business, (the California AG’s and critics goal by the way) Wood River was a buzz.

Seeing is believing. I’m sure there will be those who simply take what they read in the media, blogs, and forums for face value. If you want to believe that YTB is banned in California, shut down, or has ended, you’re free to do so. As we move forward, and people see that YTB’s still around, still making headlines, and obviously still operational – I would imagine that it would only cement that critics aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed.

The same type of myths were planted on the internet surrounding YTB’s relationship with Carnival Cruise Lines. Attempting to state anything other than a very solid and stable relationship with the World’s Most Popular Cruise Line has been considerably more difficult to spin however. There’s been plenty of evidence over the years that Carnival not only enjoys, but values it’s relationship with YTB. Most of the evidence is private in the form of e-mails to the field directly from Ann Sedgwick, or the Saturday morning training calls she conducts on the company conference call number. Other evidence is available for everyone via several Sail-a-thons with Carnival and Princess who promote their product during these events.

Critics, as always, will persist however with their own agenda. Attempts have been made to make it look like our relationship with Carnival will soon fall like it did with Royal Caribbean. A few months ago, we decided to revamp and clean up the BookCCL.com accounts. Now that we have a Home Office staff large enough to handle the volume, YTB took on more responsibility asking Associates and TSO’s to call our own Travel Department for any Carnival related questions and bookings.

One of the overzealous critics who’s been on the “24/7 YTB Watch” found a segment in our internal communications and decided they could spin it to mean something else. This new twist with the company’s correspondence to the field is a perfect example of what Andy Cauthen talked about when they distort your response to their own agenda, and render your intentions worthless.

What was initially intended to strengthen our relationship and features was spun as Carnival distancing themselves from our company. They no longer wanted to work with the uneducated Yahoo’s who only want to recruit and pretended to be a Travel Agency.

It was also speculated by critics some time ago that the Home Office created an elaborate story about the Carnival Pinnacle Award. YTB first earned the award back in 2005, and there was a press release and pictures taken of Kim Sorensen and our BDM Ann Sedgwick. The story went that nobody could confirm the 2006 or 2007 award because there wasn’t any press release or additional pictures to match up. Truth of the matter was that over 11,000 National Convention attendees saw the award being given in 2007 and about another 6000 witnessed it down at Funshine in Orlando later that same year. Because one critic said he couldn’t confirm it with Vicki Freed at a trade show, (who I’m sure had a reports of past awards available at that very moment) the rumor was that YTB was blowing smoke.

Some can’t bring themselves to admitting that their mode of confirmation might not have been the best way to document the lie they wanted everyone to believe. But like most of what we read, there was no further documentation, not further verification, and if we wanted to prove them wrong, it was up to us to clean up their mess.

Just like the settlement agreement in California, we need to stop trying to prove to everyone who is right and who is wrong. Remember, when you get into a fight with a pig, you both get dirty, and the pig loves it.

Let our years and our status with Carnival speak for itself here. Type up a support ticket, ask them yourself what’s going on. Anyone who took the time to type up a support ticket or call the Home Office to end the myth that Carnival no longer wants YTB calling or booking through BookCCL.com found out it was a maintenance issue rather than the hand slap critics wanted it to be. Those who had existing bookings and groups through the site were immediately granted access once they submitted a support ticket with proper booking numbers. In addition, many of us have developed relationships with Team Carnival who are always a pleasure to speak with.

On Tuesday, 1500 Website Sellers and Website Owners witnessed Ann Sedgwick not only hand Kim Sorensen a Pinnacle Award, but also heard her say it was our fourth year in a row. She then took time to speak with all of us at Red Carpet about how YTB DOUBLED our production over 2007′s numbers. Kim’s goal in 2008 was to be the number one with the number one, and while we didn’t quite make that number in 2008, if we keep pace with the growth we have, we’ll attain that honor as well.

I can’t think of another supplier or vendor who has more clout, more pull, more credibility in the Travel Industry than Carnival. Disney, who we also work with comes close, but Carnival is one of the largest, most respected leaders when it comes to public perception and respect. They’ve provided hundreds of training calls, a number of ship inspections, semiars at sea, and have been able to provide a very solid solution to the “issues” Travel Agents have concerning FAMS and discounted travel. This five minimum booking policy with each vendor has been compnay wide for over a year now, so why critics still have an “issue” with us getting discounted travel, I couldn’t tell you. To me it’s just further validation that critics simply want to shove their own illusions down everyone’s throat and ignore what YTB is actually doing in the industry.

I’ve been telling you for years about critics, their illusions and their agendas. Andy Cauthen chimed in last week when we saw how our settlement with California was spun by these same critics and the media. It appears the our CEO, Scott Tomer also agrees with how lame the misinformation, myths, and lies are that’s thrown out there to distract everyone from what’s really going on with YTB.

I’ve got to ask you at this point…

Do you know any of these critics personally? Do you have any clue who many of them even are?

They wanted California to shut us down. They want Carnival to dump us.

Do you think it worked?

Then why on earth do thier illusions about who we are and what we do even matter?! Like California, and Carnival, the myths and the lies are catching up with our critics and the tide is starting to turn.

There is more we need to overcome and prove wrong. The battles are far from over. With California and Carnival as the latest examples of why people need to dump the self importance of the overzealous critics, you need to do what I do when I read the lies, the spin, the missinformation created to distract you.

It’s three simple words and it goes like this…

“Thanks for sharing”.

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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