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.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Sort of…

This morning I brought attention to a blatant accusation by one of the better known critics of YTB that they were paying off CLIA. Apparently “The Spin Master” has obtained the following confirmation from Jim Smith, CTIE via an e-mail correspondence from CLIA. I will quote from “The Spin Masters” blog and do believe this correspondence to be accurate.

“Contrary to what was posted on your blog and for the record – when it comes to CLIA certification, membership and all related programs – the rules are the rules for everyone. There are no exceptions.”

Interesting that Mr. Smith references the blog itself and not YTB or the Travel Compass. You would think that if he agreed with “The Spin Master” he would have made reference to YTB misleading or misinforming the general public as the “The Spin Master” appears to state.

Instead, we see another absolute refusal to take any responsibility in what was posted or insinuated. No, that appears to bounce off him and land squarely in MY lap.

I have to wonder if Mr. Smith himself was the one who corresponded with YTB directly when YTB posted a PDF of the new CLIA Requirements in both the 9/18 and 9/25 issues of the Travel Compass. A PDF of the new requirements can also be found in the Travel Portal under “Breaking News” as of the last several weeks for those that might have missed either of those issues.

And apparently, someone has. ;-P

Both the publication and secured access to the Travel Portal are intended for those of us who are members of YTB. Why this company correspondence is now blasted all over the internet with its own little twist in an effort to warn the general public or to promote and/or slander CLIA is rather arrogant. CLIA does have strict rules in promoting its membership, and I would have to agree, the rules are the rules for everyone.

There are no exceptions.

Its quite clear what was posted on “the blog” was an insinuation that YTB acted like “politicians sliding in a little pork for their constituents” and/or YTB “slipped and showed a little pork”.

But alas, as we so often see from these overly obsessed and arrogant mud slingers, the message sent by Mr. Smith and CLIA just doesn’t seem to register.

You can picture it now, a 5 year old with his hands over his ears yelling “Blah Blah Blah” just after he was caught red handed with both hands in the cookie jar.

Ohhhh…Coleman…where are you when we need you buddy?

“Too Funny”

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

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.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

WARNING: The content, topic and links in this post are not only inappropriate for children, but may also be extremely offensive to women. (And males with even an ounce of integrity or ethics.)

I’ve personally been called a lot of things in my life. I have also been ridiculed and scorned buy a group of individuals who are obviously upset I am involved with a company who is changing their industry without their permission. I don’t particularly mind the attention or ridicule; I’m a big boy and can handle anything that comes my way. If I didn’t like the heat, I should stay out of the kitchen.

Picking on me is one thing, but picking on an innocent, respectable, nurturing, woman, Mother, and Minister is another. With Mothers Day coming just around the corner, I’d like you to think of your own Mother for a moment. More than likely, if I or anyone else ever met your Mom, she would be much like the Mother I was introduced too some time ago. You can read about this Mother and Minister from her bio, and you like me, you would think that she is quite remarkable. As a Minister, you would believe that she is an honest, responsible individual with not only an understanding of the word integrity, but someone who lives with integrity and truth on a daily basis and certainly knows right from wrong.

However, she has one fatal, glaring blemish on her bio; that of being associated like me as a YTB RTA. That blemish makes her fair game to not only be called out, but publically scorned, ridiculed and dragged through the mud on a blog and forum by a bunch Thugs.

On Friday, April 25th, once former “friend” and “colleague” in the Travel Industry, John Frenaye posted an absolutely horrid article that called out this woman and accused her of being a liar. The post went on along with some 69 comments on Friday and Saturday until the comments got so out of line, even he closed them. Accusations ran ramped the entire day, as it so often does on the cesspool of bandwidth, that this Mother and Minister is someone without morals, ethics, or a shred of credibility simply because, like me, she’s proud of what our company has been doing in our industry. John and his band of Thugs used not only very belittling and demeaning language, but John himself used a very graphic picture of a child extruding his middle finger, giving this woman, Mother, and Minister “the bird”. Would you show your own mother the bird? We at one time assumed that John wouldn’t, but that idea or belief has now been proven wrong.

How anyone could get so emotionally charged concerning such an apparently innocent and non threatening woman may be in question right now, but evidently, John being the crazed, obsessed, and paranoid individual he is took exception of a post this woman made concerning YTB merging with a 27 year old company based outside of Clarksburg, West Virginia, American Destinations. Since this crackerjack Journalist couldn’t find a verifiable source to substantiate the post; that in his mind was justification to use a foul and offensive picture and words to match to drag this Mother through the mud.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of being introduced to John Frenaye, be truly thankful. He claims to be some sort of “New Breed” of Travel Agent and Journalist, and has been published over the years, and thus has gained the respect of a few followers and co-workers in the industry. As of late, John has lowered his Journalistic efforts and has spent an increasing amount of time researching (cough) and posting daily on his hideous blog of what he has found digging up what he considers “dirt” on our company and its Independent Contractors. I’m sorry, make that “RAT’s”, and no, that’s not a typo for RTA; it’s what he and his Goons call us. (Professional, don’t you think?)

John spent an entire week, (assuming that he reads all YTB Blogs like he does mine on a daily basis.) attempting to find any type of documentation or verifiable source of what this woman posted as having any truth. He made a “quick call” to American Destinations, and sent several very demanding and demeaning e-mails to this Mother, Minister and RTA demanding proof of her findings. She simply responded that a Director had informed her of this information.

As it turns out, not only did a Director inform her, Director Jeanie Sharpless informed the rest of the company of this merger on a Company Training call on Monday, April 21, with the owner of ADI and former RTA Curtis Edwards and his son Nicholas, on a Company Conference call. (It is my understanding that Curtis and his family had to resign as RTA’s as their role with YTB has now changed.) These are recorded and archived in our back office, enabling me (and you) to listen to the call from Monday night. Many of you not only know of Jeanie, but respect and admire all she does for us in Training and educating us how to sell more and more Travel. ($414.5 Million worth of Travel in 2007) Are we to assume that Jeanie could be in fear of being labeled in the same category as Regina then? What about Curtis’s wife and Mother to Nicholas?

After listening to the archived Company call and then going back to this hideous post and reading the comments from these arrogant yet oh so shallow group of Thugs, I began to wonder who in their right mind would do something like this?

Vultures do this, wild dogs do this, hyenas do this, parasites do this, but human beings should certainly not be categorized in this class of life form who rip and tear into someone who they think is beneath them. But somehow, there it was, for the entire world to see, and being from such a low class of life, they appear to feel justified in their actions and accusations towards this woman, Mother and Minister because try as some obliviously made to defend and help Regina, not one RTA was able to provide the proof John felt he needed to inform him that her post was accurate and true.

Anything associated with YTB by the way is automatically either suspect or in question, no matter how valid or solid the information may appear to be. It’s MLM, and we MLM’ers are the problem, NOT someone like John and his Followers.

To me, and this is strictly my opinion, I have to question how anyone could be so obsessed and paranoid over our company to get them so constipated about who we are and what we do that they can’t find a strong enough laxative, cleanse, or enema to cure what ails them. After watching and dealing with s
uch arrogance and anger from this group for as many years as I have, I actually believe they truly enjoy their misery. Their anger and hatred towards anyone associated with our company, no matter what any individual’s motives are or how pure a human being may appear to be outside of YTB, if you’re in YTB, you are absolute scum.

While I understand that this class of life, especially John, feel justified in their actions, I have to wonder what single Moms would think of John’s post and graphic picture who have or are considering utilizing and purchasing travel services from Travels With Fred or his partnership with his Single Parent Travel web site and businesses. Did he ever stop to think how a Parent would feel about this post not knowing anything about YTB or this woman and Minister? Many people on the outside of his band of Thugs know nothing about YTB, although he is trying in vein to inform them. (With his false and misleading information no less.)

I’m betting he didn’t, but I’m also betting that the internet being the powerful source of research that it is, many single Mothers can and will Google John Frenaye and Single Parent Travel or Travels with Fred, and while they may not find the cesspool he calls a blog, (instead as of now finding something about the 10 Commandments of Travel??!!) they will begin to find this blog and post complete with a PDF copy of the post for download and a mirror of the blog’s source code as a copy of his handy work so the entire ordeal can be kept permanently for everyone to reference. (Just in case this post kicks him in the rear hard enough to relieve him of his apparent constipation.)

Again, I remind the readers how explicit the content of both links, as they are complete with graphic and comments but I firmly believe it may help his clients understand just what this man is made of. I think it’s only fair that John’s clients be allowed to judge on their own if John and Single Parent Travel might be a bad mix. Don’t you?

If they’re like me, or you, they would be terrified or at the very least ashamed to be associated with this filth, but not John, he’s standing by his convictions. He so certain this woman lied, and because she’s associated with YTB, anyone who finds this post will certainly side with him.

Are you as interested as I am to see how all this unfolds? Can you Just Picture It Now?

I wish I could express to John how badly he “stepped in it” this time. I’ve expressed to him personally when we actually communicated privately together how his anger, resentment, and obsession with this company have truly gotten the best of him. I’ve never been able to reach him in that regard, and now it appears that his unwillingness to listen could lead to some very unfortunate circumstances.

Going after someone like me is one thing, but going after a woman, Mother, and Minister the way he did with Regina is so far out of bounds, I can’t put it into words. (Imagine that, ME without words?!) I’m dumbfounded, stumped, and ashamed that I even associated with the likes of him and his band of Goons. This goes against every molecule, cell, and fiber of my being.

But that’s just me.

So, it’s come to this. It’s come down to me going public myself and saying to John, “Come here Boy…why don’t you come pick on someone your own size?”

By chance, you might be thinking that this Mother Regina isn’t capable of taking care of herself. Well, you might think again. I’m six foot and 215 pounds, and if my Mother who is five foot nothing found out that I picked on an innocent Mother and Minister the way John just did, she’d grab me by my ear, take me out to the back of the wood shed, and whip me with a long leather strap.

(Hmmm, anybody know John’s Mom?)

Dear John,

You owe this woman a public apology, and maybe you could even purchase and send her flowers for Mothers Day from her own web site if it you think it might help. But I don’t think your man enough… no make that human enough, to actually swallow that pride of yours and offer up something apologetic or sincere. You’re cold as ice buddy, and I have to question if someone like you even has a pulse let alone any remorse for what you have done to this Mother and Minister.

Furthermore, if you think you can offer up an apology just to get some sort of retraction or comment out of me, think again. You deserve every bit of what you have coming to you, and while Regina is a Christian woman who has forgiven you, you’re not going to be quite as lucky with me. I’ll still think you’re a “Tool” and you’re going to have to do considerably more than a simple apology or retraction in order for me to even entertain any idea of changing my belief that you are nothing more than the Coward, Fraud and Zealot that you are.

Just Picture It Now, I remind you that this woman you so blatantly attacked has the faith, character and strength to not only pray for you, but forgive you for what you have done. Kind of whittles down that big strong “man image” you try so hard to portray, don’t it?

I’ll leave you with this John…

I exchanged e-mail’s with Andy Cauthen earlier this week concerning your post and obsession over Hickory Travel Services, which by the way, you have absolutely no proof or documentation of. He has invited you and any of your other Thugs who care to up to the home office to discuss any issues you have with our Company. You have an open invitation to discuss directly with people who are responsible for and have lost complete control of rouge RAT’s like Regina Osei.

While I can’t promise, I bet they’ll even pick you up in the Company Jet. Not to show off, but to assure you that they’re on their way, since you are tracking every place this plane flies. This way you can be notified via e-mail just as soon as the flight plan has been filed.

Think about it…and if you’re man enough to take on someone your own size instead of a harmless, innocent woman, let me know. You know where to find me.

If not, you can go pound sand with the rest of your Goons. We’re taking over this industry our way, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it Pal.

To the rest of the good, decent, hard working RTA’s in YTB;

It is my belief that we need to send a very strong message to John Frenaye. Please excuse my French here, but John is so constipated the man thinks his shit doesn’t stink.

So, if you are as appalled as I am over John’s behavior, I invite you to let the general public decide if John’s business is worth patronizing and let the chips fall were they may.

And we’re going to do it the only way we know best. “Word of mouth advertising”.

If
you have a blog I want you to write an article about how appalled you are over this lame stunt of John’s and his attack on an innocent Wife, Mother, and Minister, you’re colleague in YTB. I would also recommend for rankings that you point people to this very post. (The more links to this post and site, the more likely it will be found on the first page of the search engines.)

http://travel-pro.blogspot.com/2008/04/dear-john.html

If you know how to use tags, or keywords in you blog please insert the following:

John Frenaye, George Dooley, MSNBC, Tripso, Travels with Fred, Single Parent Travel, JVE Group, ASTA, Travel Agent Issues, Brick and Mortar, Home Based Travel Agent, MLM and Travel a Bad Mix.

If you participate in forums and other message boards, please post how appalled you are concerning John’s actions and in both cases let it be known to your Company is the “New Breed” of Travel Agent. Which happens to be legitimate and respectable business and can be found at http://www.ytb.com/.

I realize that many of you are Christian’s and may like Regina and Coach, turn the other cheek and simply pray for John, and forgive him. Please understand that praying for him will also help John and I commend you for beliefs and those actions as well.

This is your choice, but I also believe that something needs to be done concerning the Cancer we have among us.

To Regina and her family;

I’m sorry about all this. I can’t control John and his actions. Nobody can. I can’t tell you how much I admire and respect your decision to pray for and forgive John. I do agree with you, he is a troubled soul, and he certainly needs the hand of God to help him through his troubles.

I want you to know that you are not only remarkable, but loved throughout this company. I truly believe that. YTB is like family to me, and you are certainly part of it.

Please accept my sincere apology and feel the love and warmth I have for you at this very moment.

In closing, I’m not sure if I will post the rest of this week. I need to at least take a shower after swimming in this mud and filth of John’s. I also need to work on letting the anger and resentment I have towards John right now go. Airing my beliefs and feelings here certainly helps. We may find the “documentation” John needs to make the retraction he claims he’ll make. If so, I might inform all of you.

If not, try to have a great week in spite of the tone it has started.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Well, I’ve finally pulled it off. I’ve just written and released my first book entitled “What the Critics Know about YTB“. This is a “tell all” book on how to handle the Critics, Skeptics, Cynics, and Naysayers out there who have nothing better to do with their time than throw a bunch of mud up on the wall to see what sticks.

I came up with the concept and “how to guide” very early on Sunday morning while reading, and when the inspiration struck, I knew I had to share this with everyone I could in YTB. You’ll find it in today’s monthly newsletter, along with some other news from the last month, travel training information, and other key events coming up. If you’re in YTB, and want to be kept up to date, please feel free to subscribe, I’d love to have you on the list.

I asked Tim & Georgia Dominey, two close friends and mentors who also happen to be Level 2 Directors with the company to write the “Foreword” for my new book and I’m making a copy available to you for today for FREE! I encourage you to take the time to read this book concerning what to do and what to say to those who are slinging mud. Many have found my message direct, to the point, and dead on concerning many of the issues and negativity being thrown YTB’s way with this step by step guide on how to handle the critics.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect today, as YTB filed its 2007 Annual Report with the SEC yesterday with a hefty $3.2 Million PROFIT for the year. Revenues increased a total of 177% over 2006 numbers. Other notable increases were Marketing Commission of $80.5 Million up 169% and Travel Commission paid to our RTA’s reached $13.4 Million, an increase of 174%.

It should be noted that while only commissions are paid to our RTAs’ booking of travel services are reflected as a component of our revenues in our financial statements, YTB also keep track of the aggregate “retail value of all travel services” that are booked by our RTAs (which directly impacts our commission revenues). The value of such travel services increased 83.7% in 2007 to over $414,000,000, from approximately $225,000,000 in 2006. (Placing bets currently on how long this $414 Million will be spun into “fees”. Hummmmmmm)

This also marks three straight profitable quarterly reports and 2007 marks the first full year of profitability! Whoo Hooo!

In anticipation of our positive Annual Report our stock is also up considerably yesterday afternoon with 1.19 Million shares being traded after critics, cynics and naysayers had left us for dead.

I put this quote just below my dedication in my new book which I just love.

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”
~ Samuel Langhorn Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, May, 1897 in a note to the New York Journal.

Speaking of the stock we are now current with our periodic reports under the Exchange Act; so we intend to have our common stock quoted on the OTC-BB once again and to thereafter apply for listing on a national securities exchange. AMEX would require a price of no less than $5 per share from my understanding.

And if all this STILL wasn’t enough for ya’ll, it appears that Mr. Kim Sorenson is firing back a couple shots at IATA through YTB’s legal department.

In a Travel Weekly report YTB has asked the commissioner for the U.S., James Johnstone, for clear permission to continue using its numeric code number, which was assigned by ARC, with the understanding that YTB agrees not to represent itself as an IATA agency. Kim Sorensen was also quoted that making the code available to contractors was “the same as what any host agency has done.” By implication, he raised the question: Why was YTB terminated when others were not?

In documents filed with the commissioner, YTB offered its answer. It accused IATA of enforcing its standards belatedly “as a pretense to quash competitive activity.” Please note the article next to YTB fight against IATA as the travel agency commissioner in Canada declined to uphold BNW’s termination there, while IATA said it “respectfully disagrees” with parts of the commissioner’s decision. However, IATA said the decision “makes crystal-clear that no person or entity has the right to display the IATA numeric code or IATA’s trademarks and service marks on in-house ID-cards or other credentials.”

Sound familiar?

You Bet!

Do you think you might be able to either sell some Travel or maybe put someone in the business based on all this good news?

Me too! Let’s “Get ‘er done!”

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

I’ve gotten several comments, private e-mails, and even some phone calls concerning my falling out with John Frenaye. It appears that I’m now the brunt of some criticism and poking which I will take complete responsibility for. I’ve released the need to blame, complain, or justify my current situation. Most people apparently would want to worry and obsess about what is going on with a company that they aren’t even involved with. About all I can say at this point is this…

“Thanks for sharing”.

The Spin Machine known as “MLM’s and Travel: A Bad Mix” has just gotten way too low for my intellectual level. I had mentioned before how comments and questions were merely thrown out to cast doubt and spread rumor about our company. It’s a trick and tactic Anti-MLM Zealots use to keep us in YTB on our toes and busy deflecting and defending nothing more than lies and rumors started by them.

These tactics became way too obvious for me when accusations were thrown up concerning our Carnival Pinnacle Awards. The spin was made that YTB was not only not awarded the Pinnacle but the question was all of the sudden thrown out concerning the Awards dating back some 3 years. When I posted published pictures dating back to April of 2005 and another set of pictures from the 2007 National Convention and recalled more than 12,000 witnesses for our most current award, the blatant way these pictures were simply ignored and the way accusations were pointed back in my direction just got a little too childish for my taste.

The final straw for me was when John tried to defend his position by twisting words to insinuate that I was calling a High Level Executive with Carnival a liar. That’s when an image formed in my head and I just called a spade a spade and made it known in no uncertain terms that I was insinuating that it was John Frenaye who was the liar.

What a waste of my valuable time, talent and energy.

I now have to let this go and trust that like everything else that’s been thrown out there to cast doubt and rumor will eventually come to light and set the record straight. Truth always had a way of doing this with our company, and I believe it’s partly due to Coach and his relationship with his Higher Power.

An RTA forwarded me an e-mail from Ann Sedgewick (the one in the two sets of pictures with Kim Sorensen.)

YTB was presented with Carnival’s Pinnacle Award for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. (The awards that were presented in February 2008 were for 2007).

We gave YTB their award in October 2007, presented by Vicki Freed. We actually gave it a little earlier than normal because of the FUNSHINE event in Orlando and so many RTA’s in attendance. Normally, it would not have been presented until February.

Thanks,

Ann N. Sedgwick
Business Development Director
Carnival Cruise Lines
3655 N.W. 87th Ave. Miami, FL. 33178-2428

Based on the font and Ann’s signature in the e-mail which matches all the e-mails I get from her, it’s authentic. I would imagine once the Home Office renovation is complete, all these awards will be prominently displayed. If anyone would like to invite our Traditionalists to a Red Carpet Day to take their own pictures, feel free.

One other note that I found out yesterday as well is that YTB will need another case for Apple Vacations. Business Development Director Sandy Meyer made a special stop at the YTB Edwardsville office to present YTB with the Platinum Apple Award for 2007. Our second year in a row, and an upgrade from Gold for 2006.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to help give some people this clue they need to help them with their perception of YTB and MLM’s. No matter what we do, no matter where we are ranked, no matter how many Travel Awards we have, I just get the feeling someone, somewhere will say “It’s just not good enough”.

I pulled out and am re-reading Joe Vitale’s “The Key” currently. I remembered a quote from my first reading concerning “The Law of Attraction” that I just loved. Many naysayers will tell you that “The Law of Attraction” doesn’t work. It’s all a bunch of hocus pocus. That’s like saying “The Law of Gravity” doesn’t work simply because the ball you dropped from the roof didn’t hit your intended target or mark. I attracted these comments and accusations towards me just as sure as the ball hit the ground, but neither hit exactly where I wanted it to hit.

This experience has been a real life lesson for me with our Traditionalist. Here I am trying to attract people who for a myriad of reasons want to join a home based business or YTB and I’m directing my attention at a blog and people who absolutely detest the model, founders and company. On the other side of the fence, our Traditionalists are blaming, complaining, and condemning how unprofessional, untrained, and classless YTB is, and what do you imagine they find more of? What you focus on expands and there is no way to get around that. (Believe me, I’ve tried.)

A couple years ago I read the book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind “. I also participated in his “Millionaire Mind Intensive” twice, once as a participant, and once as a volunteer. I remember reading some of the testimonials before I went to the first seminar and was myself skeptical about just how good this program was touted as being. (Nothing can be THAT good…right?) It was one of the most remarkable weekends I ever experienced and it was no mistake that less than a month later I qualified for Coach’s Corner and was heading for Director before I got my attention and focus distracted by our Traditionalists last October.

A couple of things I want to share with you that I learned. One, I often hear that we in MLM have been “Brain Washed”, and when I hear that, I think of two words, “Thank God”. Yes, my mind has been washed of all the limiting, false, negative, self defeating beliefs that I have been told my whole life. My mind has been cleansed and I make no apologies for allowing others to help me do that. (Including Harv Ecker and Joe Vitale.)

I can think of another “cleansing” for some of our Traditionalist, but that’s another topic and I think there may be one or more MLM’s out there that can provide the product I’m thinking of to help with the constipation they have concerning our business model.

Two, fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real. Things are never quite as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Look at what was being said about Royal Caribbean and the onslaught of suppliers that were going to cut off YTB. Look at how loosing IATA hasn’t affected your ability to sell or get paid on Travel. All that hoopla with doom and gloom 5 or 6 months ago, and yes, I fell for it too. Looking at YTB today with some 50,000 new RTA’s, our expansion into Canada and the Caribbean, other suppliers like Carnival and Trafalgar coming to bat for us, it looks to me like YTB is stronger than ever.

I can’t wait for June 23rd when the 2008 Travel Weekly Power Rankings come out to see how far YTB climbed up the list.

My final point is this for those of you in YTB. I had a personal conversation with Kim Sorensen a few months back. He told me that when he, Coach, and Scott were building AL Williams back in the 80’s, they were going through the same issues YTB is having right now. Traditional Insurance Agents were saying and doing the same things Traditional Travel Agents are doing to YTB right now. The similarities are remarkable. While I have not read this book in it’s entirety but I did find a chapter which I think everyone in YTB needs to read Chapter 15 to help put our current situation into perspective, and how we can learn from the lessons of the past.

In closing, I don’t know how much I will be posting for the time being. I have a number of things I need to do for me, including clearing and cleansing many of these limiting believes that Traditionalists are trying to shove down my throat. I’ve overcome this garbage before, and have been bitten by snakes many times before. Sometimes it can be difficult to step on their heads when they’ve got them buried in the sand.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

If you’ve been following along with me over the last several weeks, you know that I’ve taken on a HUGE task of answering all of John Frenaye’s questions concerning YTB. John has been unable to find adequate answers to questions he’s posted towards the end of 2007. Yesterday morning I attempted to answer question #10 in his looooong list of questions. That being; How many RTA’s drop out in a month or a year. John has stated that he fears he would NEVER know this answer.

When I answered John’s question yesterday I didn’t answer it correctly as John was able to point out in a comment made directly after I posted. I’ve always tried to admit when I’m wr…wroo…wro (NUTS) I’ve been “inaccurate” in any statements that I happen to make. My purpose is to be open and honest about what I believe to be true, and I also attempt to document as much as I can to help you verify that what I’m talking about to help you form your own opinions and conclusions. It’s never been my intent to mislead anyone in this business, ever.

Yesterday, when I spoke of the “drop out rate” in YTB, I was speaking of Reps, and John correctly stated that he was looking for RTA’s who have dropped out of our program. There are key distinctions between the two positions. A “Rep” in YTB only sells “Travel Agencies” or “Booking Engines”. There is no fee required to become a Rep, and we do have people who sign with YTB as a “Rep ONLY” with our company. Some sign at first as a Rep in hopes that they can sell Travel Agencies to make enough money to eventually upgrade to the RTA position. While this certainly isn’t impossible to do, it is very difficult to sell something that you don’t personally own yourself.

RTA’s on the other hand sell Travel. (Referring Travel Agent) RTA’s are able to purchase a “Booking Engine” similar to Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia and sell cruises, air, hotels, cars rentals, tours, and other travel related items at comparable prices of the other highly advertised sites. The cost of owning your own “Booking Engine” is a one time setup fee of $449.95 (US) and a $49.95 (US) monthly maintenance fee for continued licensing, tracking, and marketing of you site through Steels and Deals. There are no long term contracts to speak of and participation with YTB Travel Network is on a month to month basis.

I had mentioned in my last post that when researching I found several sites that have dismal retention rates. If you Google “drop out rate for MLM” you’ll see percentages as high as 97%-98% all over the internet. John and others are counting on YTB following this percentage and that’s exactly why he asked, and precisely why he took me to task in stating RTA’s and not Reps with our company.

YTB is a publically traded company and because we are publically traded we do post financial statements for the public to look at and review. I mentioned in my last post that the answer John is looking for CAN be found in the financial statements filed with the SEC. However, John, like most who oppose our industry and company don’t take the time to actually learn what these financial statements actually mean and what type of information is truly available to make an accurate assessment of our company.

A quick side note: It’s very often thrown up in our faces that YTB is traded on what’s know as Pink Sheets, which is a lower class market and does not have the same requirements as AMEX or NYSE. While this is true, if YTB ever hopes to move to either of these top exchanges it would be in our best interest to have our current financials in order when we submit our application for approval to either of these exchanges.

In these financial statements YTB does provide both Active RTA’s and Site Sales. These numbers can be found in the 2006 Annual Report at the top of page 11, and for the purpose of this exercise we will also be posting numbers from a Quarterly Report which represents numbers for the first 9 months ending September 30, 2007. RTA numbers represent the number of active RTAs paying $49.95 (US) per month to YTB as monthly license fees. The site sales numbers represent the number of online travel store sites sold during each respective period. The number of sales, and the number of recurring monthly license fees paid, each directly impacts YTB’s revenues and expenses. As each new site is sold for $449.95 (US), marketing commissions are paid on that sale. Likewise, each recurring monthly license fee paid results in marketing commissions paid to the IMRs. As the number of active RTAs grows, the amount of our travel commissions revenue grows as well. Correspondingly, travel commissions expense follows suit.

For the purpose of this exercise, the only number not documented and accounted for are the RTA’s as of December 31, 2004. While I do not have an exact number, it is known that we did have approximately 8000 Active RTA’s at this time. (Ronda and I joined January of 2005 and this was the number quoted to us at the time we joined the company.) This is the only number not found on the financial reports provided.

To calculate the Retention (those who do NOT drop out) for 2005, 2006, and 2007 we are taking the active number of RTA’s as of December 31 and adding them to the total number of site sales of the following year. (8000 Active Sites + 22473 of Site Sales = 30473 Total RTA’s were ACTIVE at some point in time during 2005) We then subtract the total number of active RTA’s as of December 31, 2005 (21384 Left) from 30473 who were active during all of 2005, and this gives us the number of people who are no longer active at the end of the year and have “dropped out”. This number 9088 gives us the number of “drop outs” John is asking for, which would average 757 people who drop out per month. (9088/12)

The following chart is the results of the numbers found on the SEC filings.
While other MLM’s are tagged for retention rates of 2%-3%, YTB has an astounding retention rate of 70%-74% over a three year period of time! That’s absolutely ASTOUNDING for traditional business models let alone Network Marketing! Granted, the number of people who do drop out of the business rises year after year, which is due to attrition. (9088 for 2005, 20,635 for 2006, and 44,544 so far in 2007) But to have THIS kind of percentage of people still working the business is just going to blow the lid off what some of the Anti-MLM’ers “think” about our model.

I did e-mail John to let him know that he needed to be sitting down when he read this number, as I didn’t want him to hurt himself. (I know there are people that wished I had not, but if you really look at these numbers, believe me…it still hurts.)

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

When I first introduced everyone to John Frenaye back in October, I mentioned that I cut my teeth debatingreal honest to goodness Anti-MLM Zealots. If you’ve ever spent any time at all with the fine folks on Scam.com it makes some of our Travel Agents look like Saints. (Okay, Saints might be pushing it as you will soon find out, but you get the idea.) There are a couple of key features about Anti-MLM Zealots that I’ve learned over the years, which I need to clarify for everyone before we begin.

They selectively use evidence that supports their case and throw away (or ignore) anything else that doesn’t. They work by categorizing, separating, hiding, judging and condemning, attacking and rejecting. When they’re in trouble like they were with me, they try to distract everyone from all the good news, all the company and personal success of folks like me. They blow the whole situation out of proportion. By making a lot of noise, they think everyone will miss what is really going on.

I was first introduced to John back in August, after being sent an article he wrote about Travel MLM’s. Knowing nothing about John, I simply labeled him another one of the Zealots and wrote him off as “clueless”. I was then re-introduced to John here on my blog when he made the mistake of posting a few comments on my blog. I’m sure by now; most of you realize that I can certainly handle my own with anyone who attempts to promote myths and misconceptions about YTB. However, unlike most, I can also recognize, acknowledge, and admit YTB’s shortcomings, (few as they are) and to John’s credit, he has also recognized some of the benefits of YTB.

I also have the benefit of experience with YTB. My last post regarded my 3 year Anniversary with YTB. I’ve seen, heard, and experienced far more than most in this company. When I joined the company in January of 2005, YTB was just over 8,000 active RTA’s. Because of this history, I happen to know a considerable amount about the company, and I would imagine that certain points I’m about to make concerning our company may not even be known to those in YTB. For this reason, I think I might have a unique perspective as to why John has been so frustrated in not being able to find some of his answer to questions he HAS posted on his blog several times.

I’m also going to call a spade a spade concerning some of the questions John claims he does not have the answers to just yet, and that’s the tricky part even for me about all this. I really like John, he’s extremely intelligent, and we have become good friends, he can still play a very clever devils advocate simply to promote his positioning that Travel and MLM’s don’t mix. To be completely fair and honest however, he does this because of his positioning and underlying belief that the two subjects “Travel” and “MLM” do not mix.

Travel for him and other traditionalist take a high level of expertise and service in order to work in the industry. As a promoter on the other side of the fence I do it too. I point to the $40 Billion in Travel that was booked by average consumers making many reservations right over the internet without any formal training what so ever. His job is to promote all that is bad about the YTB model (this includes ALL travel MLM’s), and my job is to promote all that is good.

To our credit, we have both been willing to recognize and admire what each brings to the table in this debate as individuals. I firmly believe that our friendship has enabled us to focus on the real issues concerning what’s happening in our industry, rather than on the person.

I wanted to set the stage before I got into these questions. You will notice that neither one of us resort to name calling, or belittling each other. He knows that I respect his position and ideals, as he respects mine. That does not mean that we agree with the perspective or position however, and there is a difference. We both have very strong convictions in what we believe, and each of us bring a considerable amount of personal history and experience in our fields to form these beliefs. We are grown men and can handle the criticism. If we didn’t feel we could, we certainly wouldn’t leave this type of debate and conversation as open for everyone to view as we do.

John has a very long list of questions which I have taken to task to answer. From the looks of it, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Oh, Yee of little faith…that’s what d
ocumentation is for! I’ll also be pointing out when these questions have been answered (and backed with documentation) here just to give you a little taste of how all this works. It’s a neat little trick the other side uses to keep doubt and discontent at the forefront. Trust me, it’s been going on for years, and while I don’t expect anyone to read through 2 ½ years of posts (July of 2005) in a single thread rehashing the same topic over and over without any resolution after 62 pages and 2460 comments. (Well, not entirely accurate. Some do get it and make that 2461.)

I have been able to show a very few what’s what. We do have one Zealot however who was shown the door, but then simply created another screen name and to start posting the same questions again just to save face. What’s so incredibly strange and sad at the same time for this individual is that he has not one lick of experience in either the Travel Industry or Network Marketing, and the subject of YTB controls his life that he is posting on average close to 4 times a day simply to trash our company.
While the thread on Scam.com has gotten boring and old for me, I do find debating the issues fun and while John certainly has a number of traits similar to Anti-MLM Zealots at least he’s intelligent and respectful. (Just like I’m a YTB Yahoo who drinks Kool-aid that’s intelligent and respectful.)

My My My…look at how far we’ve come.

Stay tuned…this should be fun!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

The final numbers for the Carnival One Day Sale were announced by YTB yesterday afternoon. While I had seen, and wanted to post about this release yesterday, I also was curious to see how some of our “Travel Agents” would respond to the news, and what kind of “spin” they would have before I started to write. To their credit, the response is admirable and while I certainly don’t believe YTB shocked the industry, we certainly did better than anyone expected when combined with the short notice and the assumption that we’re not a “Travel Company” per say, but a “Marketing Company” in their view.

On November 8th, YTB booked more than 12,000 cruise passengers through gift certificates, individual, and group cruises. If you recall the Cruise Lines International Association said its Oct. 17 World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) is expected to generate 17,852 bookings.

Based on what we now know about the One Day Sale, I’m going to direct you to John Frenaye’s response and perception concerning the take on YTB’s One Day Sale and how it relates to CLIA’s Worlds Largest Cruise Night. It happens to be consistent with the mindset and reasoning concerning our company, and John, to his credit, happens to be rather professional, and does provide documentation in an attempt to support his views. In addition, John’s perception of who we are and what we do illustrates perfectly what so many of our opposition keep telling people about YTB regarding how little Travel is sold through our RTA’s. These One Day Sales give us the best example that I can recall to actually compare apples to apples by using each of the numbers generated by the “One Day Sales”.

John writes:

“Based on the 130,000 Referring Travel Agents that participated, all things being equal, each would have earned 60% of the YTB commission or about $1.77 per Referring Travel Agent.”

John later states:

“So, 4,000 traditional agents produce 34,654 bookings (probably 70,000 passengers) resulting in sales of $43 million and commissions of $5.8million. This seems a bit more successful than 130,000 agents producing 6,000 bookings, resulting in sales of $2.4 million and commissions of $384,000.”

There are several problems with the statements above.

Two words mysteriously disappeared between what is actually reported in Modern Agent and what John is trying to convey. The report states 4,000 participating agents “and agencies”. In addition, the 34,654 and $43 Million being reported was not generated in one day, but between Oct. 15-31. The “One Day” or Oct. 17 World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) is expected to generate 17,852 bookings, which translate into an estimated $22.3 million in sales and more than $3 million in travel agency commissions.

I know the opposition would like to lead you to believe that all 130,000 RTA’s participated in the One Day Sale to help the cause of YTB. If we are to assume that all 130,000 participated then we must also assume the entire Travel Agent Community participated in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night. I did some research, and found more than 20,000 ARC-accredited Travel Agency locations and Corporate Travel Departments. Since our opposition assumes that all YTB RTA’s participated in the One Day Sale, can we therefore assume that all Agencies and Agents participated in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night? Liberty Travel has 200 storefront locations, with 8 – 20 Agents per location, that’s a possible 4000 Agents from just one Agency. Just 10 Agents per Agency would consist of 200,000 Travel Agents overall.

Of course we couldn’t average everyone in the Industry overall, and I can just see the comments listed below now.

• Not all ARC Agencies participated.
• Not all Travel Agents sell cruises, some just do tours, some just do corporate, some just focus on all-inclusive vacations.
• Not all Travel Agents are CLIA certified and may not have known about the Cruise Night.
• You can’t assume that every Agency has a minimum of 10 Agents working for them, some are Independent.
• We only booked a few on that very night, but we did book some between Oct. 15-31.
• You can’t lump the entire Travel Industry together and divide it like that.

Oh…but of course I could, and I just did. The average Travel Agent will make just $11.50 in commission for their efforts in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night.

That’s all things being equal folks, but as you can clearly see, we don’t play by the same set of rules as everyone else. And I promise you, there will be people who will take John’s math and assumptions as fact and leave it at that. They don’t realize that the math actually used doubles (34,654 not 17,852) CLIA’s one day sales total, and divides in half YTB’s numbers from 12,000 to only 6000 and we are to believe that’s “all things being equal”.

Go figure.

In closing, I don’t mean to pick on John specifically. Like YTB, he just happens to be the most vocal of all the Traditional Travel Agents out there. With his industry connections in the media, he is far more capable than anyone in getting his views and opinions published in the press to promote his views. I will tell you that while John and I are on opposite sides of the fence concerning what is considered beneficial in our industry, we have formed a mutual appreciation for our difference of opinion. He has made very valid arguments in the past that I not only agree with but support. His perception of what YTB has actually accomplished with our successful one-day cruise sales event in November however happens to miss the mark.

For those of us who actually participated in YTB’s One Day Sale, I say kudos to you for your effort and responsibility in helping YTB in their efforts to let the industry know that we have stood up and want to be counted in the same fashion as everyone else in this industry. What we book we keep as our own. What is booked by any other Agent or Agency in this industry is not of our concern or part of our commissions earned. All things being equal, we are independent and we book travel just like anyone else.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

The calls and e-mails have been coming in droves over the last several days. News of our Carnival Sale was originally stated to be announced yesterday. A minor glitch has come to our attention which to my understanding has no bearing on our ability to sell or get paid on travel. (Nor does it lack the ability to be corrected.) This in turn has detoured our efforts with Carnival in announcing these numbers.

For those of you who truly understand the forces out there who have been slinging mud lately, certainly you understand. The rumors and accusations that I’ve seen been thrown around the internet are amazing, especially in light of the fact that there has been no definitive announcement made by anyone concerning anything. People “think” they know what’s going on and while some are calling for a concert from the Fat Lady, others who know what has happened realize, it’s a little naive to make assumptions without having all the facts. That has little bearing however, when you have an opportunity to point fingers and create your own story to advance the cause.

I don’t really know the proper word or phrase to describe the announcements made concerning YTB, both last Thursday, November 8th, and then again yesterday November 13th concerning YTB. Ironic, maybe. Coincidental, possibly. I think our good friend John Frenaye and our Petitioning Agents may consider the news “exquisite timing” however.

Therefore, the company has decided to keep a very tight lip as speculation and rumors continue to mount while YTB prepares to answer all the questions circling around the industry. While some of us wait confidently, unfortunately, at this time, I must take a back seat and allow my company to issue statements concerning the future growth and dominance in this industry. As an Independent Representative of the company, it’s not my place to speculate to anyone what our future plans are.

I will tell you this. Based on what I know, I personally feel not only very good about what will transpire, but confident that the company will answer in a way that is both accurate and meaningful in regards to just who YTB is, and how we will continue to play a major part in the Travel Industry for the coming months and years.

The first part of our answer has come this evening just after the market close, with news of our second profitable quarterly report in a row, with record revenues of $39.9 Million and our best profit to date of $2.1 Million. ($1.6 Million year to date.) All this, while we continue to grow and expand our infrastructure to support our valued Reps and RTA’s.

More importantly, Travel Commissions are starting to support the $226 in sales from 2006 on our SEC filings. I’m sure we will have those who botch these numbers throwing out figures from this filing that support their cause, while ignoring the growth of Travel Sales by those that that have been with this company for more than 9 months. I’ve seen these numbers and filings ransacked many many times over the years.

We may have to provide a special course on what these numbers actually mean for some of our guests here to enlighten them, but that’s another post at another time.

More news to come, I’m sure, and I believe based on the release of our quarterly numbers, it will be sooner than later.

Till then.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With