Earlier in the week, Travel Agent's George Dooley reported on the California Attorney General's filing of a complaint against YourTravelBiz.com (YTB) for an alleged pyramid scheme. The story has remained a hot topic among travel agents and within the industry. See for yourself in some of the comments we have received on our website thus far.
Several have spoken out against YTB
On August 6, Anders Bailey commented:
"It is a shame that we, as professionals, have allowed our industry to become so weak that M.L.M. scams can prosper. Everyone reading this needs to contact their local network TV stations with News Departments as well as their local papers and have this action reported an explain the benefits of using a travel professional instead of a "Friend" selling you travel. If you have three, four, 10 or 20 travel agents you know in your area have them contact the News Departments too. This could be national headlines tomorrow if we all start calling. The "travel associations" we support do not have clout with the News Media. The News Media will not report on just a Press Release, they want to hear from YOU! Let’s start making the Travel Agent Profession a respected profession, act today!
Also on August 6, Maxine Foster said:
It's about time someone took action against YTB. I applaud the CA AG. I only hope more states
follow. YTB is a pariah in the travel industry. Companies such as YTB hurt our reputation and our
integrity.
Others have voiced resilient support of YTB
On August 7, Angela commented:
I started off with YTB and from there I've learned how to sell travel and make commissions for
my own home based travel agency. I was never mislead by YTB. I received the promised 60 percent of commission from travel I booked. Now I am constantly taking classes through CLIA in order to stay certified, and now I get 100 percent of my commissions and I get the recognition for the sale, not YTB. That is the difference. When I joined YTB I knew I was not in the game for the network marketing side of the company. I only wanted to sell travel, which I did and was paid accordingly. There is a $49.99 a month charge for the maintenance of the website which I needed to get rid of and I did. Just by becoming a member and registering my travel agency with CLIA. The money I spent monthly for the YTB website now goes towards my CLIA membership. YTB opened the doors to all of this for me. I just took it all to another level. I can't complain.
Also on August 7, [email protected] said:
I am a CRTA with YTB and I've been paid for all travel booked on my site. I couldn't help but notice that it seemed like all the negative postings about this article were done by "Travel Professionals". I understand that it would be difficult to accept that your career may be obsolete but like a previous poster said, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! I'm also a Funding Specialist with YTB and I am building my business by helping non-profits increase their funding by taking advantage of the travel industry. This is a blessing to any non-profit since after the site purchase, every other service to help the org is totally free to them, and they pay the same price as every other RTA. A pyramid scheme would exist if YTB paid for simply signing someone up without selling anything. They pay nothing to sign someone up as a REP. Every RTA should have known what they were PAYING for - they bought a business!
Indeed, the importance of this ongoing story within the travel industry remains significant, to say the least. We encourage are readers to continue sharing their comments to keep the discussion going. Please share your thoughts and experiences regarding YTB and the legal action pending against them by commenting below or on George Dooley's first report or follow up on the matter.