The travel industry is 700 billion dollar per year industry. Yes, that’s billion with ‘B’. So it should come as no surprise that there are many companies that claim they can provide home business seekers a way to cash in on the huge opportunity this industry offers. YTB International is one of these companies. YTB claims to have around 73,00 reps that offer travel packages to customers at discounts similar to travel sites like Expedia, Priceline, and Travelocity. Additionally, reps can take advantage of ‘insider’ travel discounts for themselves and enjoy worldwide travel. Sounds good? Well, there’s more. YTB is also a MLM company that offers commissions to reps who recruit people into their ‘downline’. Still good? Not so sure now? You’re in good company. There’s a lot of pro and con opinions on YTB. I did my best to bring all sides of the issues to you today to help you decide if this is the right opportunity for you.
WHAT THEY SAY
The Pitch
YTB offers people the perfect opportunity to transform their lives by combining the powerful information – handling capability of the Internet with the world’s most dynamic product—travel—and the personal touch of independent, home -based business people.
How Do They Do It
The Company operates through three subsidiaries: YTB Marketing, Inc. (formerly YourTravelBiz.com, Inc.); YTB Travel Network, Inc.; and YTB Franchise Services, Inc. YTB Marketing, Inc. markets Internet Travel Centers ("ITC" or "ITCs") formerly referred to as internet travel websites, on behalf of YTB Travel Network by use of Independent Marketing Representatives ("Reps"). YTB Travel Network operates home based travel websites which book online travel transactions, collect payments, collect licensing fees, and pay travel sales commissions. YTB Franchise Services was formed in March 2009, to serve as the corporate entity to offer the proposed/ contemplated franchise offerings in the future for the Company.
Here’s YTB’s marketing video that illustrates what they offer (It’s close to 10 minutes long–you were warned):
How Does it Cost
YTB Marketing generally charges an initial fee of $449.95 for the setup of an ITC plus $49.95 per month for web-hosting fees.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT YTB TRAVEL
Ripoff Report:
Then you have to shell out an additional $175 for their training session to become an RTA(Representing Travel Agent) and that doesnt include a $50 a month website maintenance fee. You do the math how much do you think that comes out to? 675(initial $500 set up and $175 training fee cost) + $600(total cost)to maintain website for one full year paid in $50 installments)comes to about $1275-that’s a lot of money to invest into a business especially if you don’t have that kind of money.
If someone were to invest a total of $1275 over the course of 1 year in a business that can create a positive retrun on investment, I would challenge them to seek out other business opportunties, or even franchises that can claim the same low cost start up and maintenance. Franchises often require one to have a minimum of $25,000 working capital up front and can cost up to $1 million dollars for franchise liscense fees,plus monthly loyalty fees. (Examples – UPS, McDonalds, Jani King, Matco Tools, Jazzercise) – there are many more. I know this because I did the research. There is never a guarantee of success in any venture. Not even buying a name for $25 to $100K or more.
Know this…The bonuses are real. The profit sharing is real. the free 100% health care coverage is real. the 100.000.00 life insurance plan is real, the 1000.00, 10,000.00, 50,000.00, 100,000.00, 500,000.00, and 1,000,000.00 bonuses are REAL. Hey how cool is it to make enough extra money that you can give a third of your money up for taxes and the 2/3 left is more than enough to live on, what a blessing
YTB has been identified by Royal Caribbean and others in the travel business as nothing more that a MLM card mill. Pretty soon they won’t have anything to ’sell’ other than the pyramid opportunity. Watch this group like a hawk before spending money.
All of these business’ are sharing the same business model, it cost me way less to be a YTB rep than it did with my pizza business’ and the income potential is a hundred times better. Do I have to work, answer is of course. I tell people about the business, if the model makes sense to them, good if not, also good. What’s the beef? There were lot’s of pizza business’ in my areal some did great others closed their doors. Does this mean the pizza business is a rip off?
Scam.com
Look I don’t want to get bogged down into trying to determine exact numbers….. As has been posted its a pointless effort. I think you can just step back and say for at least the last few years:
Recruiting comisisons are higher than travel comissions.
Membership fees are higher than travel comissions.
Most RTAs don’t sell enough travel to cover the monthly fees.
Many people become an RTA but never sell travel.
Marketing commissions: 16,136,795
Travel comissions: 1,608,688
Total Comissions: 17,745,483
Travel Comissions: 1,608,688/17,745,483 = .0906 rounded to 9%. For the quarter, 91% of the comissions paid out were recruiting comissions. only 9% of the comisisons came from selling travel. There are a lot of people on here that are lying – go look for yourselves – the numbers are straight from YTB.
I pay $49.95 on the 10th of every month. As long as I have 6 active RTA’s on the 30th, that $49.95 is then sent back to me on the 11th. Tiny little details like this make a big impact on how things are actually perceived in our industry and what constitutes a legitimate tax write off to the IRS.
I have a friend in YTB who has had poor results when he presents his travel agent card to the front desk in some of the nicer hotels. He, of course, was hoping for some type of up-grade or discount but he has struck out almost everytime he has presented it.
Some MLM travel agencies are called "card mills" reason is that they give a IATA card to everyone that joins the MLM, travel agents have to work hard to get that card, they have to sell $5,000 in vacations, trips etc plus a few other requirements to get their own bona fide IATAN number…. That’s one of the reasons I quit Traverus and YTB, they are an MLM and the cards are known as coming from a card mill. There are some vendors that will offer a courtesy discount with those cards just as they would a AAA card etc.
I am actully quite happy with YTB. I have gotten only good reception from vendors. No negative feedback at all. I find that YTB has alot of integrity.
We also have alot of training for new people. In fact a new training method was just unveiled on our websites today. I have learned so much. I’m in the process of planning a huge group trip right now. I will be earning my IATAN card soon enough.
Yahoo Answers
Q:Anybody had any success with YTB travel multi-level marketing program? I’m thinking about signing up.?
Only you know if YTB is right for you. I am in YTB and love it. Anything worth while takes time. However, all companies need a business plan even your own whether it is YTB or not. Try not to spin your wheels to the point of burning out. Work smarter not harder. If you love what you do and you do it right. The business and sign ups will come.
Look at the resources we have available.
I would never try to discourage anyone, but let me tell you this. I am in a mlm. My husband went and took a look at YTB. He came home excited and wanted to do this as his own mlm. The more we thought about it and researched it, we were able to get better deals on Orbitz. Now, if it is something you really want to do and truly believe in it, then go for it. That was just our perspective of it.
I joined YTB in Novemeber and had pretty good success. I quickly built a downline of 6 people. However I found none of my downline able to duplicate my success and the reason why is because of the $499 up front fee to get started. A friend introduced mme to Traverus Travel in March (www.glorytravel.biz), everything works same as YTB but mmuch better compensation plan (YTB is not even close), and best of all no $499 up front fee (just $119). There are many other advantages as well. Feel free to email me for more details.
I am finding that the money, unfortunately, is made thru getting others to join. I’ve not had success in that area. I have booked travel, but to make real money in that, you will need to find people who want to book cruises, and bigger vacations. The commission on an airline is only $3 per person, so you have to book ALOT of travel to make any money. I do think that if you find others who travel,and they wantthe travel perks, it might work. But, beware, their are conditions to the travel perks too. I don’t think it’s for me, and will probably be dropping it. I would look for a company who will refund your money within a specific time frame if you find that it’s not for you, and personally help you find customers. I found one who does that, and have been very happy with that.
Editors Opinion: Wow YTB got off cheap…… although nothing was said about how much they paid the AG’s office for costs (was it seperate)? They have had an Illinois AG Investigator flying back and forth and you will see the results of that. Now the question is about other MLM Travel Companies. Some I know have moved to only selling travel packages which is smart (more income = more customers).
- Requiring that YTB provide consumers with information in a clear and conspicuous manner about how difficult it is to make money by selling travel through YTB;
- Prohibiting the company from charging nearly $500 to recruit others into the scheme and requiring that new member recruitment be done using a free online demonstration;
- Limiting income from "downstream sellers" (e.g., people who have been recruited and who have become recruiters themselves);
- Eliminating perks and other incentives for joining; and
- Making it easier to quit.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
- My ‘Scammy’ sense buzzing like crazy.
- Is YTB Travel a pyramid scheme? In strict terms, I think no, but they are real close to the line
- I like the Facts Page on the website, like they are firing back at their critics
- I’m interested to find out about YTB plans to offer franchises. They claim its never been done in the industry.
- I’m wondering if this move to franchises is the 1st step in moving away from the network marketing business model.
- There was alot of stuff that I could have include in this post about YTB (both negative and positive), but for the sake of time I had to limit what I put in.
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My name is Dakim, I am the creator of the Home Business Private-Eye.com. I want to help you discover your true passion and then, help you to turn that passion into profit! 
The biggest problem with YTB is like you said the compensation plan is very close to being a pyramid scheme. If you take a look at the company’s financial numbers, its something like 80% of their overall revenue is coming from people purchasing those travel websites. I would love to know how many people own those travel websites that are not participating in the business opportunity.
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