The following was an RTA's initial post to a travel agent forum. No one provoked, prodded or otherwise instigated the poster; it just started this way without too much benefit of knowing anything more than what was told in a recruitment presentation.
Brick and Mortar Agencies will be like dinasours soon enough. The INTERNET will WIN, more and more are booking on the Internet each and every day. Why don't you pick on Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity or even the Airlines who will book travel packages, they are taking a hugh amount of business away from the "Brick and Mortar Agencies".....MLM's whether its travel or something else they work and we work and we make money. Get a life Brick & Mortar Agencies, stop your crying and complaining, this is Business and Travel is Big MONEY and you all know it to be true. It's a big Pie and I want a piece, if you have a book of clients good for you, so do I.
(PS. I have done plenty of Traveling over the last 23 years, to many places, so yes I am an expert, I always travel first Class and at the best locations. So I have plenty of knowledge and can share that personal knowledge with those who want the information. its not ROCKET SCIENCE.... Its a VACATION!!!!).
What I find very interesting is that the RTA feels that the traditional agents feel threatened by competition. That simply is not true. We feel threatened because of her last paragraph.
The poster has traveled. Therefore he or she is a travel professional.
The poster could not be further from the truth and this is exactly why we say that MLM is bad for the industry. I have said it before, but it bears repeating--if I sell a watch on eBay, I am not a jeweler.
This poster is so ill prepared to assist his or her "clients" when something goes wrong. I have also heard that the support offered by YTB to their own agents is lacking as well, so how can a client get any type of reliable professional service from a situation such as this?
This further demonstrates ignorance of the industry--which seems to be the norm. One director (in comments to the Crystal/Carnival post) seemed dumbfounded that commission on a cruise could exceed $1,000. He still doubts it I believe! I venture to say that most RTAs are unaware that Carnival pays more than $100 commission.
