IATA terminates YTB Travel Credentials IATAN Your Travel Biz

[Koolkev2978]

Thanks Mark, You definitely answered many of my questions! I attended a YTB recruiting meeting and I had alot of red flags questions flying up and didn't want to make a scene at the meeting. Thanks once again,

You made it very clear and understandable!!! Cheers

[Demain8]

good video reveal the inside scoop

[MarkEwing33]

Yes. It is true that YTB has even lost their law suit to appeal the courts ruling. They have now been ordered to recall all the membership cards, etc.. with the lost IATA number. It looks like IATA is gone for good.

[mymobilephonepaysme]

scary i think mlm is safe people should go after wall street big time lost more money there i trained people in sales yellow pages people are scared to talk to people and lack discipline to learn so they dont succeed whether it is sales in the job system our mlm however when a company relies on 3rd parties to carry out services that can be a problem waiting to happen looks like ytb should sue the provider that messed up those peoples travel arrangemnts

[DeucePrez]

This video was posted a year ago and the last comment was given a month ago (i.e. in June 2008). In Travel Weekly, June 16, IATA denied YTB's petition to regain it's IATA number.

NEWS FLASH: A vast majority of their RTAs think that YTB's "still in the process of re-applying for their credentials"....

I feel sorry for the RTAs....

[MarkEwing33]

Yes, it is true that YTB lost their appeal to regain their IATA credentials. They have even been ordered to recall all of the membership cards that have the IATA number on it. YTB is not going to get their IATA number back.

[MarkEwing33]

The purpose of this video is to talk about the reason IATA terminated YTB's travel agent credentials.

As far as stats go, the numbers are posted on YTB's own website. You just have to get past the "spin" and do some number crunching. YTB's numbers are very typical of most MLM companies. It is also very typical for any small business. However, with most mlms your success is determined by these numbers. Not by the profits from the sale of the product. That is the major problem.

[MarkEwing33]

An RTA just contacted me to tell me that she got her credentials through YTB, and she assumed that these where "the" credentials. Fact is that all you get is your membership card to YTB. These are not travel credentails. They then charge you more money to get set up with CLIA, and they can't give you an IATA number, because they were terminated by IATA. Your YTB card is just a YTB card. You work under them for them, and pay them for the privilage.

[joshbtravel]

Still doesn't address the issue that owning a traditional (or any) business puts the odds of success equally against you, so what's the difference. Either way, YTB does things to protect RTAs againtst attrition: 1) The most frequent non-travel bonus comes from new signups ($50 up front); 2) the $1000 bonus is given for every new set of 6 RTAs in the power team (even if they later quit); and 3) the number for the 100 RTAs needed for the $10,000 bonus gets 'locked' in sets along the way.

[MarkEwing33]

What's your point? This doesn't have any thing to do with the IATA issue. IATA won the court case, and YTB isn't getting their IATA credentials back. The rest of what you are talking about is part of the problem. YTB is an MLM and most of the money is made from recruiting (over 80% of their profits). Your comment just verifies the fact that YTB is more about recruiting than it is travel

[lehomo]

pyramid scam! pyramids are illegal!

[tsquickgt]

Be weary of the snake oil salesman who tell you about "all those millionaires" in ytb. ytb has 74 directors in the WHOLE company. They have an attrition rate of 80%! Of the 106 thousand ytb reps active in 2001, they now have about 7,200 that stay active with the company for longer than 12 months...steer clear.

[joshbtravel]

Compared to the failure rate of traditional small businesses, I don't see why someone should care about the attrition rate of a network marketing company. All true business owners expect to beat the odds of failing in the first year, no matter what the odds in the industry are. The other 80% obviously expected the company to do the work for them...there's no such thing.

[MarkEwing33]

One very good reason to care about the attrition rate is the fact that you need to have people duplicating your efforts inorder for your business to grow. If you have only 2 percent of the people in the business really duplicating, then you have to recruit at least 300 people to get the six people you need to get to director. AND...those two people have to recruit at least 300 people, and so on and so on. You would need hundreds of thousands of people to get rich.

[joshbtravel]

Oops, posted my other response generally (please read though). Just a quick note about the math... 80% attrition would mean needing 30 to get 6 (6/.2=30) and 500 to get 100 (100/.2=500). I think you misplaced a decimal. Those numbers aren't that bad considering you likely made a minimum of 1500 (30*50) and 25000 (500*50) respectively even if the 80% quit later. Most MLMs have a high attrition rate (or die-back), so do you just have a beef with MLMs in general?

[MarkEwing33]

OK...so if you need to recuit 30 to get your six.... what happens after a year? Even 80% of your 6 will quit. So you will need to recruit another 25. I will guess that the percentage goes way up after a year. My guess is that the numbers would be close to 98% quit. Once again, your focus is on recruiting...not travel. If you like MLM/Network marketing, more power to you. If you want to be in the travel business, there are much better alternatives.

[tsquickgt]

Guys remember, There are good network marketing companies out there. Worldventures is a great company, with outstanding credentials and in good standing with IATA. Mark thanks for this great video, and yes people should do their due dilligence before investing their money. YTB is not a good business model or travel company. If you want to look into a travel network marketing company, go to worldventures, they have individual products and trips and braking $100M in sales in only year 3.

[MarkEwing33]

As with anything in life, there are good and bad... I personally don't like mixing my travel business with any MLM or Network Marketing business model. I don't know enough about Worldventures to know if they are any better than YTB. If what you want to do is sell travel from a website (which is way harder than it sounds) then you should look into host agencies. Some of them have free programs, and payout higher commissions.

[jmrubio]

how about GT trends? any idea about this? is this the same as YTB?

[MarkEwing33]

I don't know much about GT trends. If they are also mlm.... then they will probably have the same problems. I do not know if they have an IATA number.

[vainihminen]

I just read your ebook, great work, never seen such a professionally made ebook, for those interested in YTB or already in I suggest reading Ewings ebook. It has great information and great pictures, pictures are the reason I read book ;)

[chowe50]

Mark,

I want to invite you to Red Carpet in St.Louis. Let me know and I wil get you a ticket from Colorado. I have seen your school offering and it looks like you probably make a decent living at it. It would be a real Shoe-in for you to have YTB in your back pocket. It is time to turn off the negativity and let's join together. We all love travel!

Every company has its little bumps. Bring your expertise and let's join forces and help a bunch of people!

Charlie in Dallas

[MarkEwing33]

Charlie, I appreciate your positive attitude, and your kind offer. However, YTB is not a benefit to me or my travel business. YTB sells websites that I can get for free from various host agencies. I also have my own IATA credentials, and get to keep 100% of my commissions and profits. With YTB, I would be giving up 40%. The only thing that I would gain with YTB is the money from recruiting people into the MLM, and I am not wanting to turn my travel business into a recruiting business.

[MarkEwing33]

I also don't feel like taking on the issues that YTB is having in the travel business. For example, I like having IATA credentials, and being able to work with people like Royal Caribbean. YTB would only bring a bunch of negative aspects to my business, and my customers. It is unfortunate that YTB is having these issues, and that they are the first intro that many people have to the travel business. I understand RTA's that want to put a positive spin on things, but these are serious issues.

[GOJETCRJPILOT]

sir this upset I am personally friends with the Tomer family and i did show this to them and they very upset by this as well

[MarkEwing33]

This video was not made to try to please the Tomer family.

I made it for the people that are trying to do their due diligence in YTB before they invest their hard earned money.

[MarkEwing33]

Today it was announced that YTB lost their case to try to regain their IATA number, and that they have been told to recall all id cards that have the IATA number on them. This is not good news for YTB. The only shiney moment is that it was confirmed that they could still maintain the ARC number. The total loss of IATA could have damning implications for YTB in Canada.

[moochie1971]

Thank u for this post. I am taking a look at YTB & this is VERY valuable info.

[MarkEwing33]

YTB's traffic has dropped considerably in the last year. You can check out YTB's traffic rankings at Alexa dot com. If they are growing...why is their traffic dropping so fast? Aren't you a "click to order" business? The statistics show that YTB is loosing traffic volume... a lot of traffic volume.

[MarkEwing33]

The question is: what do I have against YTB? The answer is... watch my youtube video called "Consumer Alert: Is YTB a scam?"

[MarkEwing33]

For the record, I am not associated with ANY of the travel mlm or network marketing businesses.

[MarkEwing33]

Once again... please beware of YTB reps that tell you that the IATA issue is "non-issue". Ask any travel professional about the importance of this issue. Call IATA and ask them about it. Do your own homework.  Consider the source of the information.

It is obvious from some of the statements made by reps that some of them will say anything to part you from your money.

[MarkEwing33]

I am continually amazed by the statements made by YTB reps in an effort to try to put a positive spin on current events. They must believe that we are all stupid. According to MLMSuccessPro (below), now none of the online agencies have an IATA number. REALLY?! Let me guess. Did your upline tell you that to make you feel better? Or did you make that one up all on your own? And if you don't care to be a travel agent... why did you join YTB?

[MLMSuccessPro]

Prove to all you mislead Traverus has a valid IATA number!

[MarkEwing33]

You are not even making sense. What? Are you in YTB... or are you trying to make YTB look bad? I can't believe that even a YTB rep would make the comments that you are making. Are you on drugs? Too much to drink? Or just having fun on youtube?

[MLMSuccessPro]

YTB does not claim to be a "Travel Agency" and I do not care to be a Travel Agent. We are Referring Travel Agents (RTA's) which means we refer people who are going to book travel anyways to our online website. No different than Expedia, Orbitz, etc... And remember, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Traverus does not have an IATA number and everyone still gets on the plane, stays in the hotels, rents a car, stays at the nicest resorts etc.

[MarkEwing33]

This is a perfect example of the crazy comments and false statements that YTB reps say to justify current events. They will say and do anything to continue selling people into YTB. They don't care to be a travel agent???... WHAT!???? This might be the most truthful statement made by a YTB rep this year! Amazing.... simply amazing! (and not in a good way!) Consider the source... MLMSuccessPro ???

[MLMSuccessPro]

Mark, why don't you approve all 4 of my comments I submitted on your video. This it typical of all Traverus RTA's, they will only tell you what they want you to hear. In this case show you.

Folks, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Traverus, they are not travel agencies don't let them mislead you to thinking they are. I'm crazy. We sell online travel. Traverus is not competition to YTB, Expedia is our competition. Don't let Traverus fool into joining a nobody.

[MarkEwing33]

WHAT?!!! For the record, I am not in Traverus. I am not an RTA. I am not in any of the travel mlm businesses.

And let me get this straight. YTB doesn't claim to be a travel agency...and yet you are a referring travel agent with YTB...????

And here is Expedia's customer support line 1-800-397-3342. You'd better call and tell them that they are not a travel agency... because they think they are... and you know better because your upline said so! Idiot!!!

[MLMSuccessPro]

Mark, I apologize for assuming you were a part of Traverus or an RTA. I am not trying to offend you.

Bottom-Line: The travel industry is changing from "Brick & Mortar" to "Click and Order". IATA and RCCL are still learning how to handle it.

We are RTA's with YTB not CTA's. We refer customers to our website; we do not make travel arrangements. Just like Expedia.

Again, IATA is a non-issue for Online Travel Sales. My customers book travel all day long.

[MarkEwing33]

The IATA issue is enough of an issue that YTB has their attorneys trying to regain these credentials. And for RTA's... IATA is what most travel suppliers, hotels, resorts, rental cars...etc.. want to see to honor travel agent discounts. So regardless of what YTB says or thinks, this issue should be of major concern to you. The termination of YTB's IATA credentials was a major statement by the travel industry.

[MLMSuccessPro]

Absolutely, The attorneys are working with IATA to re-instate our suspended membership. It is just a matter of time. Regardless, my online customers still get the best price for the same seat on the plane, the same 5 star resort, the same sand at their destination. This is true with or without the IATA credentials.

I am still curious, what do you have against YTB? What have they done to you?

[MarkEwing33]

The travel business is evolving. And online booking is a major part. That is not being contested. The issue here is YTB loosing it's IATA credentials, and the impact that this has on RTA's and YTB.

[MarkEwing33]

For the record: Non of the major online travel agencies have lost their IATA numbers.

[MarkEwing33]

Beware of dishonest YTB reps that tell you that this is not an issue. Do your own homework. Don't take their word for it. Go to the source. You can call IATA and/or go to their varification website at checkacode dot com and check on YTB's IATA number ( which was 14564793 ) Ask a travel professional who is not in YTB if this is a big deal. You'll be happy you did.

[padlockent]

I just used the number dealing with Disney Resorts.

[MarkEwing33]

Really?!!!! And how did that work for you? Did you get an agency discount. I doubt it very much! You see, there is no disputing this issue. You can go to IATA's verification website at checkacode dot com and check YTB's number ( 14564793 ) and you can see that it is not valid anymore. To say that YTB doesn't have an IATA issue is wrong. Very wrong. It is a lie. It is misleading. People need to know this before they spend their money. By all means, check this out for yourself.

[MarkEwing33]

If you really used this number with Disney, you need to know that it will be rejected once they check the number in the system. Check it out before you get your hopes up.

[oyemijo]

Excellent info! People looking into joining this YTB "opportunity" need to seriously ask themselves, does that sound like a solid rock opportunity? I don't think so.. They are little by little getting dropped left and right by vendors and now IATA. Without access to the travel agent discount cards issued by these travel organizations, YTB has really nothing to offer and will fail. Wake up, work hard, and come up with your own new legal technology or invention if want to be the next Bill Gates.