What’s wrong with Travel Weekly’s inclusion of YTB in its 2008 Power List?
Maybe a better question is: What’s not wrong?
Travel Weekly bills itself as the “National Newspaper of the Travel Industry” and “the most influential B2B news resource” for the travel industry and travel professionals. Whenever it singles out a travel business, it lends it credibility and legitimacy.
As a tribute to the influence of Travel Weekly, when you go to the YTB International site, you are greeted by this statement, “YTB International, Inc. was recognized as the 26th largest seller of travel in the U.S. in Travel Weekly’s 2008 Power List…”
Clearly, the marketing department at YTB understands the importance of their company being included in the Power List by Travel Weekly.
Before that, Travel Weekly had singled YTB out. But not as a power player.
In October, 2007, it reported that RCCL ended its relationship with YTB (registration required). RCCL operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises. Travel Weekly reported that RCCL concluded YTB was a “card-mill business” which sold ordinary consumers access to benefits designed for travel agents.
In November, 2007, it reported that Perillo Tours stopped taking bookings from the YTB Travel Network. Travel Weekly reported that when Perillo Tours saw Royal Caribbean stopped doing business because they considered YTB a “card-mill,” they decided to have a look at their own YTB bookings. Perillo found that “90% of the travelers and booking agents were the same person.”
Also in November, Travel Weekly noted that IATA canceled YTB for violating accreditation standards. It reported that IATA said YTB, and three other companies, engaged in “improper lending, subcontracting or hiring to a third party of an IATA numeric code by agencies.”
In May, 2008, soon after YTB triumphantly announced Bob Dickinson, former CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines would be joining their board of directors, Travel Weekly broke the news that he wouldn’t accept the position after all.
What’s especially curious to me about YTB’s inclusion on their Power List is that after analyzing YTB’s financial statements, YTB seems to be really in the travel franchise sales business, and their travel sellers really didn’t do much travel sales as “agents.”
For example, as I reported earlier this year, looking at YTB’s financials, one area which stood out was travel commissions. In 2007, only 38 percent of YTB’s members made any travel commissions, and those who did had a median income from commissions of just $39.
Considering those numbers, you have to wonder just how much travel sales did YTB really do, and are their agents actually “agents?”
Much has happened since YTB’s inclusion in the Power List earlier this year, and Travel Weekly has been there to report it.
In August, Travel Weekly reported that the State of California sued YTB, charging the company operates an illegal pyramid scheme and engages in deceptive business practices.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown said, “Today’s lawsuit seeks to shut down the company’s unlawful operation before more people are exploited by the scam.”
Travel Weekly also reported that the State of Illinois had been investigating YTB for some time and offered to work with California in their suit against YTB.
Also in August, Travel Weekly reported that YTB has had a second class-action suit filed against it. The second suit, like the first, filed earlier in August by two of its former agents, charges YTB operates an illegal pyramid scheme in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
It gets better.
This past week, I saw Travel Weekly’s 2009 Travel Preview Virtual Tradeshow, set to kickoff on December 17th, will feature YTB President, J. Kim Sorensen, in the discussion of “The Profession for 2009 – What Proves You Are A Travel Pro. A discussion of Credentials and Validation for Travel Agents.”
Based on the conclusions of RCCL, Perillo Tours, and others, and my own reading of YTB’s financial data, I think one has to question the inclusion of Mr. Sorensen in any discussion of the “Credentials and Validation for Travel Agents.”
Moreover, I think we all have to ask if Travel Weekly’s inclusion of YTB on its Power List and in its Travel Preview makes sense, for “the most influential B2B news resource” for the travel industry and travel professionals.
