One of the many positive aspects about being a part of YTB is the generous heart’s I’ve seen from the field and our Founders. It’s my firm belief that the more you give – the more you will receive. While the idea of giving (in the form of tithing 10%) was something that was instilled in me growing up – the concept of service and giving has broadened since I started my journey with YTB.

I might dive into the topic of “giving” more on Thursday – but in the meantime I wanted to get the word out about a program that both YTB and we have given to over the last couple of years.

The following came from our YTB Travel Network President:

From the Desk of J. Kim Sorensen

I am reaching out to you with a special request. You may already know YTB Travel Network supports a charity group called Flags4Vets. F4V is a not-for-profit organization that hosts flag ceremonies in different areas all over the United States. Once they have completed a flag ceremony, they place those flags on the graves of U.S. Veterans in that area. We are teaming up with them and sponsoring two events a year, one on Memorial Day and one on Veterans Day.

We are asking for your help. We are in need of volunteers to help with a fund raising program. We need what we call “Geographical Location Coordinators.”  YTB Travel Network has taken on a large project by choosing to support and back a charity that’s near to our hearts. This is an organization that helps us to remember and recognize our fallen heroes like U.S. veterans, law enforcement officers and firefighters by holding fundraisers at local venues such as Wal-Mart, local grocery stores, churches and many others.

If you or someone you know are interested in volunteering or you just want more information please email Kari Stone at kstone (at) ytbtravel (dot) com

The website is: www.flags4vets.com — check them out and thank you all again, have a great week!

Kim

Please do what you can for this organization and our veterans. Without them, we might not have the freedom and the choice of working in MLM that we enjoy today.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

Do you remember the outrage a year and a half ago when the CEOs of Ford, Chrysler, and GM flew to Washington, D.C. in private jets to ask for $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy? Not that selling off private jets would have covered the $25 billion these guys were asking for – but it would have been a nice start.

It’s unfortunate that we see this kind of arrogance and greed in the Corporate world. Millions of people were laid off from thousands of companies while big wigs like these CEO’s live in the lap of luxury. You saw very little about any CEO taking a pay cut during the turmoil this country went through during the latter part of 2008 and 2009. Instead, they cut out the jobs of average American’s while keeping their pay and perks intact.

Most CEO’s have a lucrative bonus plan in place – including the Founders of YTB. The difference between our Founders and the CEO’s of other companies is that Coach, Scott, and Kim’s bonus is based in part on the performance of the company. Some based on pay or salary, while another chunk is based on stock options. Unlike other CEO’s or companies (like the Big Three in Detroit) our three founders forfeited 355,000 shares in options each of the last two years because the company didn’t meet the performance goals they wrote down to achieve that would trigger each bonus.

In case your wondering – that’s called accountability.

While there were some riffs about the forfeiture of options from critics, I would have loved to see the outrage over actual shares being awarded. It’s one of those “damned if you do – damned if you don’t” scenarios we enjoy from Zealots who flip flop depending on how it furthers their own agenda.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, the fact is our Founders aren’t the type who take big pay days when the company isn’t performing as promised. The buck stops with them so to speak – which goes back to their AL Williams days as “Reps”. (Not to mention its just good business.)

To further illustrate our Founders desire to create a healthy, viable company they’ve restructured their compensation based on overall performance rather than acting like the fat and happy Executives we see in traditional corporate models. The company announced the new pay structure in a press release on Tuesday:

In order to ensure the Company continues its best practices related to executive compensation, YTB is transitioning to a performance-based incentive compensation program. Effective for the 2010 fiscal year, certain Company executives are entitled to incentive compensation if the Company achieves growth in the number of Business Owners at fiscal year end compared to the beginning of the fiscal year; if the Company meets or exceeds certain financial objectives established at the beginning of the fiscal year; or if the executives meet or exceed certain personal or departmental financial and budgetary objectives established at the beginning of each fiscal year.

Nothing like taking personal responsibility and holding yourself accountable for the overall health of your company now is there? If our Founders and Executives don’t perform to acceptable standards – they’re not paid that handsome bonus other CEO’s are paid. Instead they created an incentive to meet or exceed goals which could compensate them above and beyond their previous pay structure.

Because YTB is a public company obviously all this was filed with the SEC and you can find details of the new compensation package along with a breakdown of objectives that are now required from the Executive Team. Compensation now rides on and includes the growth of business owners (or IBC’s), cash flow and available cash on hand, bottom line earnings reported to stock holders, and other discretionary objectives for each department.

Based on the Press Release that was issued – and the terms of the new compensation that were filed with the SEC – simple logic would have you conclude that the Founders and Executives are at the very least willing to do their part for the overall health of the company.

That being said – not everyone who read the filing was able to comprehend or discern what went down. In a very comical and incredibly bizarre “Google Alert” – some jack ass laid claim that our Founders could be getting ready to resign after landing a sweetheart deal.

I’m not kidding – our self-proclaimed “YTB Expert” thinks you can quit (or resign) AND collect severance to boot. His focus – a two year deal that’s structured under the old compensation package that he claims will enable Coach, Scott and Kim to ride off into the sunset. While they haven’t resigned (yet) according to this dolt – we all need to be cautious of this severance stipulation.

Typical.

For the record, the clause he didn’t “copy and paste” on his blog stated otherwise:

Accordingly, a beneficiary under no circumstances would receive any payment under the Program if he left YTB without good reason or was terminated for cause.

It’s not that a clause like this is really necessary. Can you imagine walking into the Boss’s office sitting yourself down and stating “I’d like to resign – what kind of severance can you offer me?”

You’d either be thrown out and most likely fired “with cause” (for being stupid) or suffer the brunt of company jokes for years to come. (Again – for being stupid.)

You might be wondering if this idiot wrote this out of desperation or due to sheer stupidity. While I’m certainly not a mind reader and I hate having words put in my mouth (like he does with me) I’m pretty certain that this zealot thinks we’re the suckers due to the growing number of YTB’ers (including myself) that make it into his “Dumbass Den”.

In his own arrogant and self-righteous way, our lack of intelligence can’t possibly uncover the obvious error because those in MLM aren’t smart enough. We’re beneath the almighty professionals who pick – poke – and pry at anything and everything our company does.

On the other hand: If you think Coach, Scott and Kim have even the slimmest chance of quitting and having the Board of Directors approve a single dime of the two year severance package that was written – you DO belong in a “Dumbass Den”.

Likewise, for those who are reading up on the internet about ZamZuu or YTB at this time – go back to Tuesday’s article and the statement that John is helping us weed out those that aren’t intelligent or responsible enough to uncover fact or truth. Seriously – If a big old red flag doesn’t come up warning you that nobody gets a severance package when they resign – how could they even be considered a viable prospect?

See my point?

Are his statements ridiculous, absurd, bizarre? Sure they are – that’s what we’ve all come to know, but not quite love about John. But trust me, there’s no way you’re going to convince an arrogant pompous ass like John Frenaye that he’s wrong. His ego is just too big and overpowering to allow anyone to knock any logic or sense in that brain of his. (That – or there’s just not enough room down there.)

At this point, the best you can do is smirk (or laugh out loud like I did) and be thankful and grateful that you’re not as desperate (or stupid) – nor are you likely to run into anyone who is because John’s pretty much got a lock on weeding out any bottom feeders for us.

Instead, turn it around and be thankful. If for nothing else – for ability to read and comprehend the English language.

Then you can move on and be thankful that our Founders are willing to do what it takes to provide a viable, profitable, and respectable business opportunity for those of us who see things for what they really are.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

Word must be spreading in the Travel Industry about YTB Travel Network’s Sale-a-Thon webinars. I can’t think of a single reason why it wouldn’t. It’s incredibly cost effective, (in fact it costs the supplier nothing but a little time) it provided suppliers a potential to reach thousands of viewers in one shot, and also enables the supplier to educate clients on the features, advantages, and benefits of thier company first hand.

Carnival, Princess, and Pleasant Holidays are all companies who have hosted multiple webinars with YTB Travel Network in the past because quite simply it works. (Why else would these others come back for more?)

Globus may be a new company to the growing list of suppliers and vendors that have joined YTB for these fun and informative events, but they’ve been around for more than 80 years. Their “family of brands” include not only Globus, but Cosmos, Monograms, and Avalon Waterways with itineraries covering Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. They also offer several varieties or flavors of tours to meet the needs and demands of today’s traveler. From fully escorted tours, premium, independent, or river cruise vacations.

Clearly, there’s something for everyone.

Because of their vast array, Thursday nights Sale-a-Thon will offer the largest variety of tours and destinations YTB has to offer to date for one Sale-a-Thon. The live event kicks off at 8:00 EST, with rebroadcasts at both 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm right on your computer.

YTB Travel Network President Kim Sorensen will be hosting this event with Bob Black from Globus Thursday night right from our booking engine. A full list of the sales offered can be downloaded here.

With Globos being the largest tour operator in the business, they also have the largest number of “guaranteed departures” – meaning, there’s no worry about your dream vacation being canceled due to a lack of minimum bookings. Avalon Waterways also has the newest and most innovative fleet of riverboats in the industry. (We’re not talking paddle wheels here.)

If you’ve been thinking about a guided tour or want to head out on your own with an independent tour to do your own thing, you need to check out this Sale-a-Thon tomorrow night and see for yourself what Globus “Family of Brands” and YTB has to offer.

It will cost you nothing but an hour of your time, and you just might find the perfect destination and price for your next vacation.

Hope to see you online tomorrow night!

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

During my second full year with YTB, the company launched what was known as a Regional Travel Training. The tour hit several of the major markets around the country where vendors and suppliers came to us, instead of requiring us to come to them. At the time, YTB had grown to a size that enabled suppliers to hit strategic cities in conjunction with YTB to offer information, support, and additional training for the field.

I remember sitting in the large audience at the time, taking notes, and thinking that YTB was well on its way to being a major player in the travel industry. It’s not that vendors don’t do this kind of training for other large Host Agencies, they do. But they don’t do it for just any Agency. (Maybe a BDM would, but not the President of the Company.)

The trainings inspired me to research more about the companies that spoke during the day and what they had to offer. I left with new tools and ideas on how to promote my travel business. Because of the training put together, I knew YTB was serious and I needed to get serious. It tools were always there, I just needed to take the time to go do it.

What also impressed me during that day was how excited the suppliers were about being with us. I’ve seen it for years. YTB happens to be a real breath of fresh air for most suppliers because of our passion and excitement. I remember seeing a vendor just last year up at Red Carpet who just raved about our Company. I believe the exact words were “Completely blown away”. It was such a shame to see that sour because Travel Professionals couldn’t accept the partnership. Anyone who actually catches our enthusiasm and passion are soon trashed by this group who’ve never seen or experienced the passion or enthusiasm they see when it comes to travel.

Remember Robert Dickinson? If you don’t, I sure do. (Wrote about it here.) That was another example of someone who saw the vision of YTB and was excited about being on YTB’s Board of Directors only to suddenly “decline” less than 24 hours later.

Regardless of the number of times I’ve seen individuals or companies pressured or harassed to drop YTB there are companies who see the fears and phobias that traditionalists have about MLM’s and support us anyway. (They’re just a little quieter about it publicly to keep from being spit at.)

If you want to know more about how vendors really feel about our company, go watch some of the videos in the Media Center in your back office. (Sorry, you’ll need to log in to see it.)

Or, you can show up at one of this year’s Travel Training Roadshows that kicks off this weekend in Costa Mesa, California.

President and Founder Kim Sorensen will be hitting cities, including here in Atlanta later in March, to offer travel training from some of the industries most respected suppliers in the travel industry. It’s your opportunity to see for yourself why suppliers and vendors appreciate YTB Travel Network, and why we as a company should support them. They’ve all got some great product and the proper tools to help you succeed in the travel industry.

The biggest advantage I’ve found in Regional meetings like this is more face time with the vendors. Funshine is great, but it’s also very crowded. With the country split up into regions there are fewer people, giving you a better opportunity to ask questions, get additional information and develop relationships. Heck, I ran into one of the supplier from the first Regional Training a year or more later and she remembered who I was.

Check your travel portal for cities, dates, vendors and times and make one of these roadshows this spring with YTB. I can tell you from personal experience, it inspires me to this day when I get around other passionate travel agents with a hunger to learn and grow their business.

It’s there for those who want it – and I know plenty who want to build this side of their business.

So go out and get it – starting this weekend.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

I wanted to post something on Friday concerning Travel Weekly’s Preview 2009 and one presentation in particular. Before I did however, I wanted to make sure that what I thought I heard and my notes from the presentation were in fact accurate. So I decided to hold off until I could listen in again with the On Demand feature which is available for the next 90 days.

It shouldn’t be that big of a guess that the one presentation I was interested in was Thursday’s “What Proves You are a Travel Pro”. Questions were asked by agent groups looking for answers from association heads about – you guessed it, “credentials” as they explored just who should be recognized as a travel agent, and who shouldn’t be.

The presentation was kicked off with a brief presentation by Bob Sharak from CLIA, Kelly Chiusano from OSSN, Scott Koepf from NACTA, and Bert Rivero from IATA as they clarified their roles in the industry.

After the overview presentations, the Q&A started with Kim Sorensen who asked the first question to the panel. The question can be summarized in two parts:

With the industry in “a perfect storm” with agents and agencies closing down, what are these associations doing to not only attract but train new blood that enters the industry? Secondly, what type of training, qualifications and documentation should an agency provide for the new blood in order to guide them to obtaining the roll as “Travel Professional”?

We’ve documented here before, fairly recently as a matter of fact, that the industry as it stands is struggling. I’ve written about Liberty Travel closing a number of its locations, and Cruise Value Center closing overnight without warning. Those that are left have resorted to embezzlement, and defrauding airlines to make ends meet. Even the current leader in the Travel Industry is looking for a $3.5 Billion bailout.

Based on what we’ve seen in recent weeks, any illusion that the traditional industry is doing well, is just that; an illusion.

There’s no question in my mind that the industry is in dire need of attracting not only new blood but new ideas into this industry. To be fair, it’s not that the industry hasn’t changed, although it appears to be with a considerable amount of resistance. The industry does eventually adapt. (As I suspect it will with MLM’s.) Scott Koepf did a great job in summarizing all the changes with the age of internet bookings, cruise only agents, and home based agents who were at first frowned upon and met with resistance. Today, these entities are not only accepted, but respected.

The face of the industry has also changed from being viewed as an “Agency” to that of an “Agent”. I’m often asked by Traditional Agents how I maintain any type of bookings with all the negativity critics produce about YTB. The answer is simple; the relationship is with me, not YTB. When clients look to make a booking, they look at me, not my host agency. Pricing, service, and professionalism are a direct reflection on me, not my agency. You might want to read Chris Andersons, “The Long Tail” for better clarification on how our entire capital structure is changing in this way. Another reason why I believe YTB and Network Marketing is on the right track.

Even with this shift in capitalism, Agents and Associations look to be more concerned with complaining and how companies like YTB make them look. More importantly as we’ve heard time and time again, is their illusion that we only get involved to take advantage of industry without giving back in the form of travel sales. The solution for them of course doesn’t rest on their shoulders, but on the suppliers themselves. It’s suppliers who ultimately decide just who they want to do business to produce income and gain market share.

Especially with the current economic conditions.

So how do these Associations help the new person who wants to get involved in the industry?

Bert Rivero (IATA) wouldn’t take any responsibility to ensure agents are trained properly. IATA is designed for those who have already acquired not only the knowledge, but skill set to sell a minimum amount of travel in a calendar year. IATA seems to be more interested in educating suppliers on how much money they’re loosing because of “card mills”.

Bert may need to take a lesson from Gerry Cahill with Carnival, who produced a very sound solution that was brought to light almost a year ago to curb this perceived problem of “card mills” taking advantage of FAM’s without giving back to the supplier. Of course, the relationship between YTB and Carnival has flourished, even with the new requirements, which doesn’t match IATA or the Travel Industry agenda.

Kelly Chiusano was much the same, in that OSSN really doesn’t have a current structure in place to guide, train or educate the new person who enters the industry. It’s up to the host to provide this type of training and education. She did mention that the larger host agencies did have training and education in place to help bring them into the fold and help them become a professional.

It wasn’t until we heard from Scott Koepf from NACTA who I think was the first to really understand the question in its entirety, and does provide both training and continuing education for those of us who aspire to become professionals in the industry. It looks as if YTB may be on the right track now that it has an entry level with Affiliates, Referring Travel Agent, and Travel Agent program in place. Each of the YTB levels produce a better understanding, better commission splits, and enhanced privileges within the industry.

CLIA, was by far the best equipped to answer this question, and Bob Sharak did an exceptional job of explaining how their association works hand in hand with host agencies and individuals to educate and train both the new recruit, but the seasoned professional in the industry. Not only does CLIA provide various training experiences, from on line to more intimate classroom training. CLIA provides various levels of qualifications starting with a brand new Associate Cruise Degree (ACD) along with various Cruise Counselor levels which stars with Accredited (ACC), to Master, (MCC) and even Elite (ECC) levels.

Like Carnival back in January, CLIA has come up with its own solution to the Agent ID cards with new requirements that include training and minimum booking requirements in order to obtain the privilege of carrying their credentials.

Instead of complimenting and giving CLIA credit for these new requirements, critics (as they always do) tend to twist and create problems within a solution, and are now obsessing over a loophole they claim to have found. Instead of highlighting the loophole from our critics, I would instead suggest that you chime into YTB who will be providing an overview of these new requirements with CLIA on tonight’s “Getting Started Call” with Jeannie Sharpless. This way you’ll be guided with an overview of how to qualify the right way. (If you miss the call, you can find it archived in your back office.)

By following the guidance of both CLIA and YTB, who knows, you too could qualify for that elusive roll as a “Travel Pro”.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

Travel Weekly is certainly taking advantage of the popularity of it’s new online format with it’s second Virtual Summit slated for today and tomorrow. You know how much I love these types of events and enjoyed participating in the first annual Leisure Summit back in October. The current summit is the second of three scheduled in less than 6 months, and it appears that Travel Weekly may be on to something here.

The conference runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and attendance is free, and has all the trappings for being yet another blockbuster event. It’s riddled with mystery as industry experts look into their crystal ball and tell us what to expect in 2009. Preview 2009 also features educational seminars and keynote speakers with a superb agenda embracing valuable industry topics. Of course, not to forget the chance to mingle with travel agents and travel industry leaders and get a sneak peak of their products for 2009.

Both days will feature hosted chats with Travel Weekly’s award winning editorial team and access to visit pavilions from the industries leading suppliers. Educational Presentations will include.

• The 2009 Travel Consumer in the 2009 World Economy
• A Crystal Ball Session: Industry CEO’s Predict 2009 Trends. Featuring Travel Weekly Editor-in-Chief, Arnie Weissmann; Mike Batt, Travel Leaders; Steve Tracas, Vacation.com; Doug Bower, AAA National; and Lynne Biggar, American Express.
• How will Luxury Be Defined in 2009?
  Featuring Kristi Jones, Virtuoso; Jack Mannix, Ensemble; and Ignacio Maza, Signature Travel.
• Keynote: Peter Greenberg: Travel Talk on TODAY For 2009
• A Crystal Ball Session: The Cruise Market of 2009
  Featuring Brad Tolkin, Cruise One, Cruises Only and Cruise 411; Charlie Funk, Just Cruisin’ Plus and a Vacation.com agency; Roger Block, Cruise Holidays and Travel Leaders; and Jeff Anderson, America’s Vacation Center.

There is one other element that will once again prove this to be a widely viewed event.

Controversy.

Much about 2009 is uncertain, but one thing unlikely to change is the controversy surrounding the ever-vexing question of just who is a travel professional. Travel Weekly has assembled the leadership of the organizations that hand out credentials — Bert Rivero of IATA; Bob Sharak of the Cruise Lines International Association; Kelly Chiusano of the Outside Sales Support Network; and Scott Koepf of the National Association of Career Travel Agents — and leaders of agency groups that have a vested interest in the issue of certification: Chris Russo of ASTA; Jan Miller of the Travel Institute; Andi McClure-Mysza of the Professional Association of Travel Hosts; and Kim Sorensen of YTB.

And now because of a name, a company, it appears that our traditional counterparts have have had just about enough concerning Travel Weekly not only asking Kim Sorensen and YTB to participate in this summit but the mere name of YTB should be banned from being mentioned in any Travel Industry publication. After the last summit in October and the “Meet The Press” style interview that was held, a number of articles surfaced condemning Travel Weekly for including YTB. One even went as far as compairing YTB to nothing more than a glorified AARP type program. In reality, the article was written to do nothing more than shame the publishers of Travel Weekly for providing the credibility to YTB who now has what it needs to succeed.

To look at this in a perspective that might state Travel Weekly is mentioning and including YTB because YTB IS successful would surely be considered blasphemy.

Instead, the attention, various emotions and frustration surrounding our company continues to escalate. The longer YTB continues to exists, the higher the emotions climb and the more heated the conversations and arguments get. Now, you have a document from the Attorney General that appears for the time being, to be backing you up. Yet here we are, 5 months after the initial filing, and the President of the MLM your attempting to run out of town is given a voice from “The National Newspaper of the Travel Industry”.

I’m sorry, but that’s got to be one of the most frustrating and awkward realizations staring you right in the face. A good reason for some to dig in their heals even further providing more resistance towards the one thing that if eliminated, would solve all your problems.

I’ve heard some won’t be attending the show simply because Kim Sorensen is associated with the program. In this difficult economic time, I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea, but it’s not my decision to make. Of course, I’m not emotionally attached or obsessed about a single issue, nor do I focus on problems. Solutions no matter where they come from are far more productive. I’ll take what I find useful, and use it. The rest can be left where it is without having to own any of it.

Seems unrealistic to some, I’m sure, but then again, most who feel that way have never even so much as tried. Much like the business model they are certain doesn’t belong in their industry.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? When did we start blaming everything and everyone else but ourselves for problems? I found a gem the other day, and come to find out that it’s not the lack of service, it’s not all the time we spend on the internet posting our opinions, it’s not because we forgot just who our clients are and what our customers actually want. And it certainly can’t be because our clients are capable of doing what we do for a living on their own through the likes of web sites called Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia.

No, it’s none of that. What it all boils down to is none other than Travel Weekly. Who knew?

Interesting that after a years worth of hammering suppliers to choke out the pariah of untrained and uneducated Yahoo’s to little or no avail, (Royal Caribbean, Perilo, and Celtic Tours were the only three that headed the pleas.) we now move to the media outlets and industry publications to what looks like a new desperate attempt, begging if you will, to stop promoting these blasted MLM’ers who are ruining their business.

It’s not the first time suppliers have turned their back on the traditional travel agents, suppliers need the business, especially in this economy. Speculation that it was the suppliers fault stemmed from the ASTA who took a stand against MLM back in 2005 going all the way to the FTC. The blame fell squarely on the backs of suppliers after their attempt fell flat. Today, the largest cruise line in the world has teamed up with the largest Travel MLM in the world to promote gift certificates to increase sales for both the cruise line and the agency in the 4th Quarter.

A battle that I can only guess critics have resigned themselves to finally let go of.

Now that some have moved past the fact that suppliers just aren’t going to listen, the focus now turns to trade publications as they blast away at one of the most prominent and respected industry publications in the industry, Travel Weekly.

What was thought to be a fluke back in 2007 when YTB suddenly appeared on the pages of Travel Weekly’s Power List at #35 was dismissed as being nothing more than recruiting fees by those who needed to forgive Travel Weekly for their grave error. When news broke later in the year concerning Royal Caribbean’s termination of YTB, the company and its founders were suddenly catapulted to the front pages of just about every travel publication on the market. Most by the way praised the RCL move, as it was believed that this would be the first step in the avalanched of suppliers who would now agree that Travel and MLM’s are in fact a bad mix.

Instead of an avalanche of suppliers, what was found was more media coverage for Kim Sorensen who was named one of the 33 most influential in the travel industry and when you compare that to just 3 suppliers who sided with PATH, most everyone can see how lopsided that slap in the face was.

To add insult to injury the media coverage by Travel Weekly didn’t stop in 2007. While many critics speculated that Travel Weekly had “seen the light” and the nightmare of all this free publicity was now over, not only did Travel Weekly yet again document sales of $414.5 million in travel sales for YTB, but informed the masses that this speculation of “fees” were unfounded. No, the editors took the time to inform and educate critics when they stated that they check “numerous times” and $414.5 million are in fact “travel sales” not the “fees” that were being pitched.

Dag gummit!

I guess the final straw for these agents was Kim Sorensen being named to Travel Weekly’s Virtual Leisure Summit this fall. I could also speculate that this one name brought in a good number of participants who would have never given this new virtual summit a second thought if it weren’t for a name like Kim Sorensen being attached to it. Now I don’t know this for a fact, but I have to wonder just how big the smile were on editors faces over the frenzy this one name created all over the internet. If you know anything about marketing and media, they LOVE people and circumstances that go against the norm. That’s what makes it newsworthy. (I just listened to an audio from Joe Vitale, AKA: “Mr. Fire” yesterday that eluded to this very subject.)

If you find something that works, you keep doing it. A big reason why Kim will be participating in the upcoming “Preview 2009” December 18th and 19th. It’s got people talking all over the internet once again, as the article above pitches the show, and the buzz has also prompted Mark Murphy, President and CEO of Performance Media Group a competing publication to mention both YTB and Travel Weekly in its own publication.

What’s unfortunate is that Mark, like most who’ve never been involved in Network Marketing simply perpetuates more myths about the industry. He’s obviously unaware that A.L. Williams is no longer A.L. Williams, but now Primerica. Nor did he realize that this form of sitting across the kitchen table helped A.L. Williams gain the number one spot in Whole Life Insurance for 7 straight years.

Even sadder, and I see this all the time from ignorant (not stupid) people who don’t know any better. This use of the 2007 Income Disclosure Statement is almost always documented to show that all YTB does is recruit people into the business. I’ve yet to see any outsider realize that this document actually contradicts the very myth their trying to promote. Those I speak with who’ve heard this myth suddenly realize that this fear about everyone recruiting is inevitably washed away when they see that only 20% of the company actually recruits a single soul.

I don’t know if the ASTA was actually informed by the FTC about these recruiting fees back in 2005, based on how their pitch fell flat. I suspect the facts will come to light for everyone once again via California that it doesn’t cost anyone a dime to recruit new members into YTB. Some of our critics already know this as they may be counted in the 2008 Income Disclosure Statement as making squat. But that’s yet another story for another post for 2009.

In the meantime, well enjoy the press and the talk about YTB as it continues to make headlines and front page news for going against the norm and creating its own entity in the travel industry.

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!

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?