To me, this video seems to be backtracking a little bit. A few days ago, Jeff Scott said YTB was going away. Now, in this video produced for the "travel agents" they claim to be keeping it the same and have only sold the fulfillment part of YTB to Sixth Scott. Perhaps this is a backdoor method to re-gain their IATAN certification and access to the suppliers that have decided to not do business with YTB.
This will be interesting to see how it plays out as Scott Tomer concludes by saying that this acquisition was indeed all a part of the plan when YTB was founded eleven years ago.
If the video does not display, (YTB has it as "unlisted") here is the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4f25rq-99g&feature=player_embedded#!
Nov 9, 2011
Nov 8, 2011
YTB's Sorensen Confirms YTB Is Out Of Travel!
In an interview with Travel Weekly, YTB's Kim Sorensen has confirmed that "we won't be a travel company and won't have vendor contracts with anybody."
Sorensen continues and admits that travel was probably not the best product for YTB and MLM. He explained the newest venture for YTB. "We also sell gourmet coffee, business texting services, green energy products, other power agreements. We are vastly diversified now. We were very focused on travel back in the day."
What remains to be seen is what Jeff Scott of Sixth Scott, LLC will do with the dead wood that YTB refers to as their "travel agents." The agreement is structured based on existing agents coming over to Sixth Scott, but very few agents are productive--most simply sell their own personal travel as is evidenced by their sales and commissions. A YTB insider confided to me that there are less than 200 agents in YTB who produce more than $5,000 in sales per year. If true, Sixth Scott is paying nearly $40,000 per agent for a very mediocre agent.
Will Sixth Scott be willing to retain 30,000 people that buy inexpensive vacations every year or so? Will Sixth Scott be willing to maintain the liability of these same people calling themselves "travel agents" under the Sixth Scott/First Travel Alliance brand?
Will YTB be able to shift their existing independent contractors to Sixth Scott--or will we see a mass exodus? If there is not a MLM element to the Sixth Scott program, I believe there will be a mass defection since YTB has (since its inception) sold the travel agent program on a multi level basis.
One commenter to the TW story summed it up nicely:
Sorensen continues and admits that travel was probably not the best product for YTB and MLM. He explained the newest venture for YTB. "We also sell gourmet coffee, business texting services, green energy products, other power agreements. We are vastly diversified now. We were very focused on travel back in the day."
What remains to be seen is what Jeff Scott of Sixth Scott, LLC will do with the dead wood that YTB refers to as their "travel agents." The agreement is structured based on existing agents coming over to Sixth Scott, but very few agents are productive--most simply sell their own personal travel as is evidenced by their sales and commissions. A YTB insider confided to me that there are less than 200 agents in YTB who produce more than $5,000 in sales per year. If true, Sixth Scott is paying nearly $40,000 per agent for a very mediocre agent.
Will Sixth Scott be willing to retain 30,000 people that buy inexpensive vacations every year or so? Will Sixth Scott be willing to maintain the liability of these same people calling themselves "travel agents" under the Sixth Scott/First Travel Alliance brand?
Will YTB be able to shift their existing independent contractors to Sixth Scott--or will we see a mass exodus? If there is not a MLM element to the Sixth Scott program, I believe there will be a mass defection since YTB has (since its inception) sold the travel agent program on a multi level basis.
One commenter to the TW story summed it up nicely:
Interesting. So bottom line is - if you read between the lines - "our model simply does not work for travel" AND "it certainly was never going to work being run by people who knew nothing about selling travel" AND "we really screwed up early on by not training agents and not demanding any sort of professional behavior from them" AND "now we're going to focus on selling the kind of products MLM really works with - things people don't really need but perceive that they want".
So it looks like anyone who has hung in there with YTB TRAVEL will now be offered the opportunity to stay in but as an Independent Contractor and with First Travel Alliance. I have to assume there will be no more incentive in selling other people "travel stores" but rather that the only money to be made will be via the actual sale of travel.
Nov 3, 2011
And A Huge Selloff Of The Penny Stocks
Upon the announcement that Sixth Scott, LLC and Jeff Scott was purchasing YTB, the stock tanked (relatively speaking) from the 4 and 5 cent range down to the 2 and 3 cent range. While not a lot of dollars, it does represent a 40% drop in value of the stock that has been promised to soar.
The average volume of traded shares over a 3 month period is 85,000 per day. Yesterday saw 432K and today saw 233K
Nov 2, 2011
Introducing Jeff Scott
UPDATE: After our posting, Travel Weekly is reporting that this is indeed the Jeff Scott who has purchased YTB. While the Travel Weekly article states Scott was president and COO of Hickory from 2006 to 2010, his LinkedIn profile states that he served in tat capacity only from November 208 to June 2010.
Could this be the elusive Jeff Scott? This makes some sense. In April of 2008, YTB was supposedly in talks with Hickory Travel Systems to be acquired. The deal ultimately fell through.
But this LinkedIn profile does make a connection. This Jeff Scott was President of Hickory Travel Systems for a period immediately following the reported acquisition talks. He does seem to have travel industry experience as well. Hmm...
Experience
November 2008 – Present (3 years 1 month)Providing strategic direction and leadership to national travel investors, TMCs and travel providers. Maximizing ROI and productivity through solid analysis, creation and execution of plans.November 2008 – June 2010 (1 year 8 months)Responsible for creating, communicating and implementing strategic direction while overseeing the day to day operation of the network of over 2,800 locations worldwide in 40 countries. Managed call center activity of over 150,000 calls annually.
Business Challenge: Create a new consortia model that will endure the ever changing travel industry while maximizing stockholder value.
- Implemented immediate changes in staffing, finance, IT and operations to reduce cost and improve cash flow
- Created new product offerings to improve client dependency and increase customer base
- Increased Brand recognition through press releases and industry eventsMarch 2008 – November 2008 (9 months)Reponsible for overseeing the travel assets of American Leisure Group to position and secure the tranfer to new owners.Public Company; 201-500 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industryMarch 2006 – March 2008 (2 years 1 month)Direct responsibility for the AMLH travel division - Traveleaders generating $220 million in gross sales and over 250 employees. Stabilized and refocused employees, vendors and customer relations following the takeover of the business from previous management company.
Reduced cost through improved productivity and facility maximization with focus on efficiencies and employee utilization.
Refocused leisure marketing through on-line content redesign and joint vendor advertising
Negotiated revised both product and technology vendor agreements for the new company
Complete analysis of GDS agreements and responsible for conversion to SabreAugust 2002 – March 2006 (3 years 8 months)Complete responsibility for Cendant Business unit THOR - product and service provider to the Travel Agency community
- Responsible for company P&L, strategic direction and business development.
- Established pipeline planning, metrics and training programs for the sales team.
- Led team of employees through right sizing and change management to set future direction.
- Repositioned company into a growth business through sales focus increasing sales over 200% from 2002.
- Increased Hotel Program revenue results by 46% generating $2.2 in listing fees.
Improvement in transaction expense through contract negotiations posting a 65% savings.
Restructured THOR during the 2003 Iraq War and SARS travel downturn to show $658K positive shift in EBITDA for 2004.Privately Held; 5001-10,000 employees; Information Technology and Services industryApril 1990 – March 2001 (11 years)Responsible for department planning, scheduling, implementation and statement generation of activities from 14,000 customers worldwide for a $700 million limited partnership owned by three major airlines and employing over 3,500. Managed and coordinated plans for daily operations, established work priorities, vendor interaction/development and ensured customer inquiries were handled effectively while meeting cost, productivity and quality goals. Directed budgets of over $4.3 million with 10 direct reports and 70 employees.
- Designed and launched GUI order fulfillment system that improved processing time by 80% and reduced new hire training by over 50%.
- Reduced departmental resources by 25% through improved processes and system enhancements.
- Established e-business offering for customer orders through the Internet, creating 24/7 product ordering and real-time consumer updates.
- Initiated the Conversion Project Planner position to orchestrate fulfillment activity and improve satisfaction in the implementation of new customers.Jeff has 1 recommendation (1 co-worker) including:
- 2nd Doug Payne, CCTE, National Accounts and District Sales Manager, Worldspan
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; NWA; Airlines/Aviation industryMarch 1988 – March 1990 (2 years 1 month)
Could this be the elusive Jeff Scott? This makes some sense. In April of 2008, YTB was supposedly in talks with Hickory Travel Systems to be acquired. The deal ultimately fell through.
But this LinkedIn profile does make a connection. This Jeff Scott was President of Hickory Travel Systems for a period immediately following the reported acquisition talks. He does seem to have travel industry experience as well. Hmm...
Nov 1, 2011
Who Is Jeff Scott
Jeff Scott is the CEO of Sixth Scott, LLC and First Travel Alliance. Aside from that, not much else is known.
No one in the industry seems to have heard of him, yet YTB claims he "has access" to a huge portfolio of travel suppliers and is IATAN approved for easier credentialing of the RTAs.
Little by little, it will trickle out. It always does. But as the days go on, this "sale" begins to smell fishier and fishier!
No one in the industry seems to have heard of him, yet YTB claims he "has access" to a huge portfolio of travel suppliers and is IATAN approved for easier credentialing of the RTAs.
Little by little, it will trickle out. It always does. But as the days go on, this "sale" begins to smell fishier and fishier!
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