Travel Agent MLM

[FanofLeaves]

I’ve had a couple of old uni mates recently post all over social media that they are now ‘independent travel agents’. Loads of posts talking about their travelling days and saying things like ‘I’d love to help you plan a trip..’ etc etc. Lots of ‘busy mum’ chat like ‘wow can’t believe I can fit this exciting new venture round being there for my kids whenever they need me’ ‘cooked a roast, took my littlest to karate, cleaned out the guinea pigs, everyone’s in bed and now to work on my new business!’ like it’s relentless, easily 4+ posts daily.

from what I can deduce, it’s £200 start up costs and then you’re supposed to convince people to book a trip that you’ve researched etc? But it’s got to be an MLM right? They’re not now actual independent travel agents that make real money? They’re supposed to recruit into the scheme right and get people to pay the £200 start up? From what I can gather they just bungled a few bits together using various travel sites but claim they have ‘exclusive insights’.

I’ve no idea why it’s bothering me so much but I feel like I need to know 🤣 anyone done it? Or been involved? I could never as I’m far too lazy with my social media.

Please make sure you know exactly what you're signing up for - they don't have the best commercial terms. For example Inteletravel aren't allowed to discount the likes of Jet2, so will always be more than a customer could book for online. Most agencies have better terms and allow discounting. I'm fairly sure they don't have an agreement with TUI any more either. They used a B2B tour operator to try to compete but that was wound down by the parent company recently.
The mainstream travel industry works on very low margins as the large operators offer online booking discounts. If you sell tailor made, high end cruise, expedition etc the margins are much healthier - but customers spending big money demand expertise so unless you have some unique insight or experience you'll find it hard.

I promise you she isn't a director in any meaningful sense, you get director level in MLMS when you recruit lots of people. You are absolutely right that the people are the product.

Agree this is total rubbish
I have a friend who has training to be an “independent travel consultant”
we were delighted and asked if she could book us a deal in Milan last year, the so called deal was tripe and I got it cheaper myself!
friend is now flogging some kind of energy bill saver thing
i feel for these people who think that they will get rich quick but it is never the case and more often than not a struggling single mum just trying to make ends meet

This is from a recent article about them in the trade press. If you do the sums of the commission paid Vs the number of agents they have the story tells itself. 37000 agents (more than I initially thought) have earned 8 million in commission between them. So £200 ish each. Take away the monthly fees and it's a loss. Obviously there are a handful making plenty, but far more are making pennies or losing money. This are the figures released by Intel at their conference, so can be assumed to be correct.

I know 2 people who do it but purely use it for friends and family and friends of friends etc - they don’t recruit downlines - I fairness she has had access to some very good deals and enjoys doing it - it’s made her about £4K a year and some cheaper holidays!! I’m anti MLM big style but thirst least has served a useful purpose and she did say there was no pressure

It’s amazing how even seemingly intelligent, successful women get conned into this rubbish. I used to follow Sarah Cawood on Insta, (for you youngsters, she was a very successful MTV VJ and TV presenter in her younger years). She’s been sucked into some ‘luxury skincare’ MLM bullshit and posts endlessly about how great her skin looks and how fab her amazing team are and don’t forget to get in touch!!!! I’ve unfollowed.

@EnglishGirlApproximately - I meant to put director in inverted commas! I suspected it would be based on how many people she has recruited. The latest take line seems to be constantly saying she is making “will-able income”.

Will - able income and residual income 🙄. I get approached by them all the time on LinkedIn to see if I'd like to make money from travel - I have a reasonably senior role in a highly respected travel business, I'm not about to pack it in to be a boss babe!
I saw the MD of a very high quality destination specialist tour operator post last week that someone had tried to recruit him!

So, this is bollocks or… I mean no one earns that level of commission surely?!

Painful isn't it! 😂

Well yes you can earn high commission on a very expensive trip, but very few people are booking holidays at that price really. Most commissions paid to agents are between 8 and 15% of the cost, there are exceptions but that would be what most operators would pay. Then they need to pay their host agency, in this case Inteletravel, their cut which I believe is 40% if the commission. If you are an independent agent not under a homeworking banner your fees are less, when a host agency takes 40% it's generally because they do the admin, website hosting, ABTA membership etc.
But yes high commissions are possible. Agents who sell a lot of luxury and high end holidays are making very good livings.

Utter, utter, utter, utter bollocks.

She she tells you. I hope she's not exploiting anyone...

How many people do you know booking that type of holiday?

I keep seeing ones that say you can join and get a discount on your own holidays without signing anyone else up but no idea how that would work.

Aloe Vera, make up, white label weight loss snake oil, travel, coaching, supplements, it doesn’t matter what the product is because that’s just a cover for a system of endless chain recruitment, internal sales to the customer reps and sales of training and events to the customer reps.

One day these MLMs will be forced to reveal how much of their money comes from selling travel, aloe Vera etc to genuine customers who aren’t part of the scheme. Not much I should think. The money-making part of the travel MLM is PlanNet Marketing which is pure recruitment. It’s a scandal that an industry which research has shown causes 99.6% of those joining to lose money is allowed to continue with absolutely no real regulation.