Just Picture It Now

Enquiring minds want to know! Keep us posted!

I was a travel agent for 15 years and left the industry 9 years ago when all of our commissions were being cut. I swore I'd never be a travel agent again because of the instability of the industry at the time as well as the agencies themselves. After 15 years, making $31,000 a year, I was told I had peaked at my career and couldn't make anymore money.
Since then, I've gotten my real estate licsence, which in Georgia, is another scary industry.
I joined YTB a few months ago and I'm extremely impressed by the company and am motivated to make way more than $31K a year!.
I think the problem with people who are in the retail industry is that they are the hangers-on of the "way we always did it" belief. They are travel snobs and don't want anyone else in their territory. They already suffer from the commission cuts and if they have survived this long, they feel threatend by YTB where anyone can be a travel agent. I kind of laugh, myself, at my friend calling herself a "group cruise expert" because she's booked 2 cruises. But where's the harm? We get training, certifications and have a great company backing us up. If anybody can book on the web anyway, why not get in on the action?
I hope RCI gets over their snobbery and lets us continue to generate income for them as well as us.

I am the travellingman the devoted YTB defender on the website of scam.com and have noticed a lot of animosity of YTB coming from misinformed people who base rumors on fact.

A lot of gossip led to a lot of gossip led to rumors led to lies. The rumor mill is accusing YTB of being a card mill. It's kinda like the pot calling the kettle black but not exactly. In this case, we have two different pots. One is a mlm pot and the other a non-mlm pot. One a pot of water (blowing steam) and the other a pot of oil for lubricating a well-oiled travel machine. The two don't mix. It's amazing how much of this is heresay and the high levels of leadership moving on the hearsay information and basing major business decisions on he said she said.

The overblown issue is summed up in one little package: "The instant RTA" credential. It's not really about the abuses of FAMs people are spreading rumors about (that's minor). Primarily, this is about combining the "instant travel agent" ID card with the mlm business model which the non-mlm independent travel agents determined is an unfair advantage. The "instant agent ID card" is not the reason YTB makes the non-mlm independent travel agents feel inferior. YTBs increasing success and growing popularity in the travel industry is putting fear in their heart and we are seeing their desperate reaction to try to stop YTB. The non-mlm independent travel agents see the handwriting on the wall: in a few short years, YTB will have millions of knowledgeable, professional independent home-based referring travel agents booking their friends, family, and associates travel and are afraid that somehow YTB will affect their bottom line. They are right. It will. That's what the internet has done. YTB saw it coming and caught the wave of change early and is now riding high on top of the wave.

YTB is so successful because the training in YTB is second to none. In my opinion, it is the BEST part about YTB (well, except for the Copyrighted Compensation Plan). YTB has just launched an eCampus to provide travel training courses in addition to the weekly travel training calls, the immense archive of past calls, and the Certification classes which are free to attend. Not to mention the other incredible vendor training available in your back office. Trust me, YTB offers more than I will ever be able to know about travel.

Travellingman

Hi Doug,

thanks for all that you do in finding all of this information and putting it together in one place. I have been searching everywhere daily looking for updates on this "Royal Mess".

My name is Chris, and I've been with YTB almost a year now.......I'm barely into my power team and I'm only beginning to realize the fruits from my efforts. I love this company and what it offers me and everyone.....I want us all to succeed!

But this current situation has me worried. I'm not sure what our company is doing about this. From what I've read so far, I don't think we have much of a shot with Royal Caribbean right now. I'm not happy about that, but I can live with it and move on. However, I also recognize that some of the criticisms that I've read ring true and I'm concerned that other suppliers may follow suit. Lines are clearly being drawn in the sand.

One of the criticisms that rings true is that we have alot of newbys that don't know alot about the travel industry. I can't tell you how excited I was to learn about the new e-campus Travel Training that we have just started. Only to be shocked when I saw that YTB wanted $29 for the first (of 10) courses. I'm very good at seeing the "big picture". To take all 10, I'm assuming I'd have to pay $290. I greatly appreciate the Coach's philosopy of "if it's not right, don't do it". This isn't right! I wouldn't have thought it was right before the RC situation, but feel even more stongly about it now. I have paid the %29 for the first couse, and I though it was well done and informative. These courses should be FREE and REQUIRED of all RTA's! Of course, that would cost the company 20-30 million in budgeted (i'm sure) revenue over the next year or so. I can only imagine how many will choose not to take them due to the price. As a company, we need to have our people as eduated as possible. This would help our image in the industry as a whole......it would also help us sell more travel as a company.
One of our biggest strengths as a company is also a weakness in light of the current events. It's pretty easy to grasp the marketing side of the business quickly, and that's also where the big money is. It takes a lot more time to learn the travel side of things and there is less reward. New recuits naturally gravitate toward the marketing side, yet expect the perks and benefits from the travel side. Most people usually start our busines putting in 2-10 hours per week. They want bang for the buck.
I think we as a company need to shift our marketing away from the perks of the travel industry. We have a great company and business model for anyone. Getting commissions on our own travel and getting many, many tax deductions as well make this a great opportunity without the unearned individual perks. I for one would be more than willing to give up my opportunity at some perks, in order to allow those selling the most travel to enjoy them

It would also be awesome if Carnival would come out and publicly support what we do as a company. Not sure that will happen though. I just hope all of this doesn't turn out where suppliers have to choose sides. The reality with Royal Caribbean is that we have 13 million in sales with them so far this year. At our current accelerating growth (we double in size about every 8 to 9 months), we might hit as many as 1 million RTA's by the end of 2009. Travel sales will increase by the same proportions. RC may be giving up as much as 130 million for 2010 from YTB. We have a great company, but we are neither perfect, nor are we a finished product yet. I'd like to get some good ideas as to how others think we can best improve given the latest news.......in hopes that our leaders will listen.

Hi Chris, I am a RTA with YTB. I read your comment about training should be "Free". This is your business and it takes money to make money. These trainings are offered so that we can increase our skill level and should not be free. Just look at all of the traditional businesses around you. Do you think they are running their businesses for "Free". I don't think so.