"Travel Counsellors" - worthwhile or are the majority MLM victims?

[WednesdayWitch]

Have seen quite a few acquaintances setting up as Travel Counsellors, either after quitting/losing jobs or changing up their careers post lockdown.

I'm considering a long haul holiday at the moment, and would love to leave the arrangements up to someone else, as well as take advantage of hacks, tips and discounts that they may have access to.

However, red flags start for me, with their self-marketing. I appreciate this is something they need to do to get a fledgling business off the ground, but there are also calls for other people to come and train, 'mumtrepreneur' cues and it seems like anyone can do this with no training.

What's it all about, and am I better off planning something myself?

Any good experiences or recommendations?

Did this not just to be called a travel agent?

Never heard of them. I use a travel agent and am very happy with the service and the price.

It's MLM. Avoid.

You'd be better off going to your local high street travel agent, or somewhere like Trailfinders.

Not MLM - they are a tour operator and sell holidays. The agents work for themselves.

I briefly worked at their Head office years ago and can vouch it is a reputable company. I’m not sure where the MLM association comes from? A relative of mine has been a travel counsellor for over 20 years. She has very loyal customers who book with her year after year.

I have a couple of friends who do this and they are absolutely regular travel agents-nothing to do with MLM

I've used one. The advantage is that if they take the elements and put them together it is a package and you are protected differently for failures/collapses of airlines etc. I didn't use one a second time. They couldn't guarantee any standard of service for things like car transfers, and as I was traveling after surgery I was unimpressed.

We booked our honeymoon With a TC a few years ago and it was amazing. Didn’t have to worry about a thing, private transfers from
the airport and between different locations.
I’d highly recommend

It's very MLM vibes - the fact you can "recruit a team" and don't need to sell holidays to make money screams MLM to me.

I'd just go to your local high street travel agent, or do similar online with one of the reputable larger companies.

I'm not quite sure why fry are just travel agents? What's the difference? I did enquire with a local lady but i managed to put together the ge trip for over £1000 less than she quoted

It seems pretty much MLM to me.

I've used Travel Counsellors many times. Mines called Christine. She always gets me the best prices after I have shopped around. She's absolutely brilliant.

Not MLM I believe .
I have booked via them several times, for personal and work travel. I have found the service excellent . The TCs I have used have been very experienced travel advisors.

There are quite a travel MLMs that I have seen - I would be very wary about using one .

^^ *quite a few, that should have said...

I've worked in the travel industry for almost 20 years. Travel Counsellors are fine, they do a good job and in my experience they know their stuff. I think they are commission only, so no wage but the system is set up in a way that allows them to make a good living from their sales. My colleague's sister is a TC and there's never been any MLM vibes - no talking about building a team, she just gets on with it.

Inteletravel, on the other hand - that one really doesn't sound right to me. Serious MLM vibes going on. Lots of team building...

There is a pyramid scheme called PlanNet Marketing which is a recruiting device for “travel agents”. Money is made out of sign up fees, training costs, ongoing costs to stay active in the scheme, all paid by the would be “travel agents”. There was a YouTube made by one of their “top agents” where she confessed that she had made somewhere south of 70p and hour working with Inteletravel, even though she recruited a lot of “travel agents”. The people who make money (<1%) do it by recruiting “travel agents” not by selling holidays. The shop front of PlanNet Marketing is Inteletravel. This shady outfit managed to buy itself into ABTA.

Last time I checked Travel Counsellors were not MLM but because they were independent travel consultants they were getting tarred with the Inteletravel brush.

@dietcokelime this is not true of Travel Counsellors

You are either getting mixed up or spreading misinformation

Absolutely not MLM. The travel counsellor I’ve used has been amazing and always hit the ball out of the park with the holidays she’s out together for me! The best thing is I can send her what feels like an impossible list of requirements for a holiday and she somehow magics up the perfect place.

Sorry.

It's Inteletravel I was thinking of. They most definitely ARE MLM.

Yes indeed @KnittingNeedles, Inteletravel is a total scam. I can see why there are doubts about Travel Counsellors because some of the language and positioning on social media feels a bit MLM-y.

Very happy with Liz our Travel Counsellor. She put together an amazing holiday to Myanmar a few years ago for myself, DH and some friends and is doing the same for a trip to Japan in September.

I used a Travel Counsellor last year for a special holiday.
She was brilliant and organised everything. I'm not a very experienced traveller and she made it all so straightforward and arranged an upgrade in one hotel.
I would definitely use them again.

I used TC for a trip to Morocco a few months ago. The consultant was great however things fell apart higher up and pretty much ruined the holiday. I wouldn't trust then to book my holiday again.

I think MLM exist within that market but not all.

My friends wife recently moved into this role (on top of her day job) she enjoys sorting out and having access to cheaper holiday deals for her family! She enjoys it - she really only does it for her family and friends if they ask her.

How is a travel counsellor different to a travel agent?

How much do you pay them or are they funded only by commission?