Today, I heard that the Rhode Island Attorney General has shut down all RI-based YTB agents. I hear that the AG is in discussions as to how to bring YTB into compliance with the laws of the state that they have seemingly been skirting for a while. I only know of one RTA site, and it is indeed shut down and redirects tot he YTB Business Opportunity page with no mention of being able to book travel. Emmanuel Travel.
I wonder how many YTB agents are in Rhode Island, and I wonder what the current spin is on that?
25 comments:
What you may have heard is that a number of States, (Rhode Island included) now requires two separate payments when you sign with a home based business such as YTB. The payment process splits the initial fee into two seperate monthly payments. Other States include Connecticut, South Carolina, and South Dakota, and this requirement is industry wide, not just YTB.
It went into effect over a year ago.
Currently YTB has 646 RTA’s in Rhode Island, and as you can clearly see, we are still booking travel.
http://www.ytb.com/galaxyexpresstravel
Nice try though. ;-p
Let's see a retraction, John! Or are you just going to leave it up there when there is absolutely no truth to what you are saying??
Knowing you, we will see the big headline stay and a small retraction. You're getting desperate, John!
No anonymous. This is something going down in the last few weeks. This is coming from the Dept of Business Regulation and it has to do with licensing agents. Agents are required to be licensed.
I am waiting on a confirmation from the AG. It is curious as to why a lot of the RI RTA sites have all of a sudden had their booking links taken from them
Anonymous, I have some questions for you, which I'm sure you won't answer.
First, why is it when a YTB person responds on this blog, they always are "anonymous"? If you're so proud of being YTB, put your name.
Second, what "law" in RI are you talking about? Give us the exact code. Legitimate home based agents in RI that have been queried about this have no clue as to what you're talking about.
Third, can you give us examples of some of the 646 YTB agents in RI that are still booking travel? All the sites that have been seen have no booking capabilities, such as the one cited by John in the original article.
Link to Department of Business Regulation in Rhode Island, Travel Agent page:
http://www.dbr.state.ri.us/divisions/commlicensing/travel.php
and link to Regulation 12:
http://www.dbr.ri.gov/documents/rules/comm_licensing/Refiled-Regulation-Travel-12.pdf
First, why is it when a YTB person responds on this blog, they always are "anonymous"? If you're so proud of being YTB, put your name.
It’s “Joe Travel Agent”…Happy?
Second, what "law" in RI are you talking about? Give us the exact code. Legitimate home based agents in RI that have been queried about this have no clue as to what you're talking about.
No I suppose you wouldn’t know what we are talking about. People like you do nothing but spread rumor and hearsay. Actual facts and documentation always come second to you cats.
Third, can you give us examples of some of the 646 YTB agents in RI that are still booking travel? All the sites that have been seen have no booking capabilities, such as the one cited by John in the original article.
Like I said before…why bother, you don’t look at what’s right in front of you face? You pick up that we have 646 RTA’s, but completely miss the link to the RTA who’s booking travel below it?
In case you don’t know or are too lazy to look it up 401 is the only area code for Rhode Island. You guys are killin’ me with all the doom and gloom about YTB and card mills. It’s no wonder you’re not selling any travel, to busy making up bogus stories on what’s wrong with YTB.
Well, Joe Travel Agent, isn't it nicer to have a name, and not to hide behind anonymous?
Second, since I don't live in RI, but in LA, I'm curious as to how the law reads, and as I said, there are some RI home based agents that don't know which exact law you're talking about. This is an opportunity for you to educate people.
Third, the one listed in the first comment has it's booking link there, but there are many, many more that have had their booking link disabled for some reason. Show us some more that are still active. There is always the possibility that there truly is something going on, that booking links were supposed to be deactivated, and one was missed.
And, prey tell, what does telling us that RI only has one area code, 401, have to do with anything? LA has 5 area codes. Should I list them for you? 318, 337 225, 985, and 504. Now, do you know what parts of the state they belong to?
Why don't you use these opportunities to school us on the wonders of YTB instead of sniping at someone who has asked legitimate questions?
Why is it that you make all these outlandish claims and then it’s up to us to disprove the rumors?
You post ONE link to a site in Rhode Island who doesn’t have a booking engine and that’s suppose to prove that Rhode Island has shut YTB down? Oh, that’s right we’re just suppose to “believe” that there are many many more. I could show you hundreds of sites that don’t have a booking engine both inside and outside of Rhode Island. It doesn’t prove jack in terms of what Rhode Island has or has not done.
A developing story that you still have no clue what it consist of and while sharks like you swim around throwing around more accusations based on ziltch, nadda, nothing.
Go take a look in the mirror, that’s egg on your face.
I am upfront about it. Where have I not been? I said that I had heard and was attempting to verify.
I posted the response from the AG and it was inconclusive but indicated that there indeed was something afoot.
If it proves to be a bum lead, then I will certainly recant, but till then, I am merely stating what I have heard and what I know.
Here ya go Joe...
http://www.ytb.com/Default.aspx?wa=shannontrips&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Your facts are not true. Can you prove that the site mentioned was a RTA or REP?
You guys don't understand, you can come to YTB for FREE and be a marketer - or you can come and pay a small Business opportunity fee and get trained. I train my group for FREE, is it work yes but it is also rewarding to help others, I am proud of YTB, I think there are the best in the field, how about you,just tonight November the 8th YTB the green people sold over 10,000 Cruises in one day!! You think we are green, I don't think so.
You be better of to learn from us, I teach you too,how to build bridges, come visit us I help you.
www.turn2ytb.com Lets Book Travel!
Harry Koenig
Port Saint Lucie, FL
"be a marketer", according to harry koenig.
That's exactly the point. YTB is a marketing company, NOT a travel company. Selling travel is a sideline just to keep them from being considered a pyramid scheme.
Hi this is Harry and I am NOT anonymous because I like YTB, we should help one another, some guys are out there behaving like cat's & Dogs, the travel business is huge, YTB is a great company I said on November the 8th we sold 10,000 Cruise Line Bookings, we was not finished counting, YTB sold in less than 24 hours, YES you see right 13,000 Cruise Line Bookings, how about you, how many Cruise Line Bookings did you have for the day? So why pick a fight with us, join us, then you are Not only local, with YTB you will be National & International soon.
Thanx Guys
www.turn2ytb.com
check out my web site,
Let's Book Travel & Cruises
Harry Koenig
Port Saint Lucie, Florida
I have not heard any reports on cruises sold. Tom Coleman was citing his "inside sources" at YTB claiming 50,000 midway through the event. Carnival on the phone was reporting 6983 as of midnight on the 8th.
So, I am not sure who to believe. If you kept on counting after midnight, your 10,000 might make sense. Congratulations.
But, the question that needs to be answered is how many bookings did traditional agents make with Carnival that day? How many did you PERSONALLY book Harry?
I suspect that YTB may have sold 10,000 (mostly certificates and NOT cruises), but traditional agents probably sold a LOT more than that.
Who is Tom Coleman? I am not anonymous, either. I know the comp plan for this company and haven't found any glitches as yet - and I've been looking for over a year. I am not in RI, but I am selling travel and so are all the folks I work with here in Colorado.
Billie Nigro
www.DollarwizeTravel.com
Just to comment, it takes time to count the amount of cruises booked for Carnival Cruise Lines through YTB... just as it takes a lot of time to count the votes during an election. If there's information missing in a booking, it can't count as a booking. FYI, the end resulting count was 18,000 confirmed bookings for 1 Cruise Line Industry (Carnival) in a 24 hour period!!! The whole travel industry has NEVER before booked that many in 1 day!!! YTB is a champion! YTB is a great asset to the travel industry!!! Those PINNACLE AWARDS weren't given to YTB for doing nothing! Get off YTB's back and go find another ENRON to shut down!
Also, for the record... YTB travel agents are highly trained by their vendors!!! Our vendors love us, because YTB generates sales for them! The vendors supply the product. YTB just provides an outlet for the product to reach the customers. if YTB wasn't legit, YTB wouldn't have any vendors!!!
Hmmm... Let's define "Pyramid"
If you think of a pyramid, you will see one person at the top and a bunch of people at the bottom. The bottom people are stuck on the bottom working for pennies while the guy on top gets richer! Hmmmm, I just defined most of Corperate America!!!
YTB is an opportunity for everybody to succeed! The members make money by helping others make money, and our customers get great deals on great vacations!!! It's a WIN-WIN!!! All in all, it's a boost for the travel industry!!!
I'm not only in YTB to succeed, but I am also here to help others become successful, and to book travel. I have customers, and they do book travel... from airfare to cruises!!!
Like "Proud to be YTB" said, "Get of YTB's back!!!!!!!" Ok, so I added a few more exclamation points.
I better quit my job! I'm definitely in a pyramid. My CEO, COOs, CFOs, vice presidents, directors etc ALL make more than me! I am definitely on the bottom rung.
Maybe John can do something for me!
Call the AGs of all the states!
Hi John,
I just visited your Travels With Fred website and it appears that you do the same thing that YTB does - you have an online travel booking website for people who like to book their own travel. I can understand why you are worried about YTB because YTB is in direct competition with online travel booking websites. Two things I don't understand are 1. Why don't you just join YTB (YTB has a great travel booking website)? 2. Why are the "traditional" travel agents so upset? YTB is not in competition with them. YTB is not the enemy. YTB's market are the people who are already booking online - not the people who use "traditional" travel agents.
I wonder if "traditional" stock brokers make this kind of a fuss about people who trade online on their own E-Trade account! Isn't it time to just accept that the Internet is the most efficient way to do business for a lot of industries? There's plenty of travel business out there for all of us. Let's spend our time creating better ways for the future instead of attacking fellow travel agents as a way of desperately clinging to the old way.
Hi Julie,
I highly commend you for your added coments. Thank you highly for your support! This is a point I was trying to state all along. Proud to be YTB had many strong points... things I would have said myself as well as things I wouldn't have said. I can also see why he said them. At first, he was trying to make a point that YTB is a ligitimite company that is on the stock market. Never in history do you see a "scam" be accepted by the stock exchange... NEVER! Then people here began to personally attack him.
Let's put that all aside though. A company shouldn't be judged by it's stocks. It's time to look at it deeper than what you only want to see. It's time to open your minds. We allknow who Donald Trump is... don't we? Well, guess how he got so rich and well respected? NETWORK MARKETING!
In today's society, most people are used to working for someone and getting paid on a linear income... hours for wages. Those companied pay you what they think you are worth regardless how the economy is shrinking and the cost of living is growing. Is Wal-Mart going to give you a dollar raise because gasoline is going up? I highly doubt it! In many corporate companies, if you ask for a raise, they will let you go and hire someone else to do the same thing as you for less money. There was even an instance where someone asked for a raise, and the boss shot him!
Anyway, YTB is not a counterstrike to the "traditional" travel agents. YTB is the answer to the Travelocities out there. When you book travel on Travelocity, what do you get? You get a confirmation number. Well, wouldn't it make sense to earn a commission as well? YTB also has a great compensation plan! I don't work for YTB. YTB works for me. Now if you think this is about easy money, you are wrong. Just like any other travel agent, I have to go out and prmote my website to get business. YTB doesn't go after those who book through the traditional agents. YTB seeks out those who already book it online. Our prices are very comparable to other websites! YTB is so competitive with them that Travelocity, Hotels.com and Priceline all came to YTB to negotiate some sort of partnership.
YTB is nothing short of brilliance and people are recognizing it. As of today, YTB has 137,000 RTAs. That's 5,000 more than they had last week.
YTB is all about building a future for people in a market that couldn't even be completely stopped bt 9-11. YTB does offer outstanding training from itself and by the vendors enabling the RTAs to be highly knowledgable in their field of work. Yes, YTB is constructing a new home office and a university. Yes, we also have many tools in out back office to help train us.
It doesn't even bother me that our IATAN was suspended. I can still book travel, and contac the vendors to book travel for the not so computer savvy.So what if I can't take FAM trips. That's not what I am here for. My main concern are my clients. Travel is my business, and I treat YTB as a business.
A company is not judged by its stock? Where the hell was that lesson in my Economics 101 class?
Never seen a scam on the stock market? Hey Rip Van Winkle--Enron, WorldComm, Tyco--ever hear of those companies?
Trump made his money in real estate development and to a lesser degree a fine start from his father who started the business. And FYI, most of the Trump holdings are privately held.
Were you paid for the ringing endorsement of YTB? Did they raise your commission split because oil is over $100BBL now? If you are not going after traditional agencies clients, why are you soliciting them on ships? Why have some of your agents "crashed" B&M cruise events to hand out business cards? Why are you actively trying to sign up traditional agents into your model?
I think you are very misguided regarding the IATAN card. IATAN is not going to back down on this and YTB will gloss over it for sure. But this issue has started a LOT of conversations in the HQs of the suppliers and I suspect that many more will decide to align themselves with RCI and terminate contracts. And the ones that don't (which will likely be the majority) will re-evaluate the criteria--and you will all of a sudden find that most of what you use to sell the program will no longer be available. Then YTB will be a network of people serious about selling travel (like you) who are not in it for the perks. But at that point, it will be 17,000 members strong--not the 135,000 they claim today. Remember, a full 84% of the RTAs in the system (at least in July) sold nothing!
story of franchising and its impact on our economy. Armed with personal stories and real-world examples of how policies in Washington ultimately affect franchising, attendees will be ready with one more piece of important ammo: the IFA Educational Foundation’s study on the Economic Impact of Franchised Businesses.
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Ricky
Rhode Island Drug Addiction
I have read the article.But this issue has started a LOT of conversations in the HQs of the suppliers and I suspect that many more will decide to align themselves with RCI and terminate contracts.
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Synjones
Rhode Island Alcohol Addiction Treatment
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