In the wake of RCI's decision to yank the privileges of "card mill" outfits,
I got spammed with an email from a group that purports to be lobbying more
big travel sellers to follow suit (see email below). Did anyone else get
this? I don't understand what is motivating this campaign--if I'm a legit
TA, why do I need to waste my precious time joining a grassroots
organization to cheerlead the big travel sellers for making a decision I
like? I am also trying to figure out where they harvested my address
from....

Clues?

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

      from

        Travel Agents Stand Together <saynomlmpetit...@gmail.com>

     to     saynomlmpetit...@gmail.com
     date   Oct 25, 2007 8:37 AM
     subject   It is time to UNITE as Travel Professionals

      As most of you probably heard, RCI has terminated their contract with
YTB and two other MLM (Card Mill) agencies. Since RCI has terminated,
Perillo Tours, and Celtic Tours have followed suit. We have been battling
these types of business models for a while now and on October 5th
established an online petition (
http://www.petitiononline.com/NOMLM/petition.html) to present to our
associations and suppliers encouraging them to do exactly what Royal
Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara have done this week.

      We have met with ASTA and Carnival and spoken and emailed with many
others in the industry attempting to get their backing. So far it has been
successful. OSSN, ARTA, ASTA, Carlson Wagonlit, American Express, among
others have all endorsed the idea.

      The main issues we see with the MLM model are as follows:

        a.. Suppliers allowing them discounts, free travel, FAMS, and other
perks merely for referring themselves and their family to a website
        b.. Suppliers paying top commissions from day one, when we have to
work years for a few points
        c.. The MLM companies idea of help to the consumer is to refer them
to the Travel Agent Only toll free number of the supplier
        d.. The solicitation of our clients with slick unethical and
misleading marketing materials
        e.. The solicitation of travel agents themselves to join their
"downline"
        f.. Consumers believing that they are booking with a "friend" and
ultimately it is being handled by an untrained person in a res center
        g.. The promotion of their business with the focus on "free travel"
and "traveling like an insider"

      Think about what you sell in a year and how valuable you are to the
suppliers. YTB has stated that in July 2007 they paid nearly $1M in
commissions. That seems impressive on the surface. But they had 106,102
"agents". Of that number, only 17,644 sold ANY travel to earn an average
commission of $57.05 for the month! (
http://www.ytb.com/downloads/RTA_Earnings.htm)

      We are encouraging any travel agent, supplier, or anyone sympathetic
to our industry to sign the online petition so we can send a clear message
to our suppliers and our associations. This is a grass roots effort and a
viral one. Please pass it along to anyone you know if you agree.

      Currently we have over 2000 signatures in a little more than two
weeks. This went live on the 5th. These 2000 signatures (as best I can tell)
represent over 1.25 BILLION in annual travel sales. We encourage you to join
us and add your name to the list. You do not need to identify your agency if
you do not want, but I do encourage everyone to include any designations you
may hold--CTC, CTA, DS, ACC, MCC, ECC. And feel free to insert any comments
you feel appropriate. Your email is NOT disclosed but the software will
verify it.

      One complete, we will forward this on to the suppliers who are
supporting these businesses and with a little luck, they will see that it is
cheapening the industry and in their best interest to follow the lead of RCI
and terminate these relationships.

      We appreciate your time, and I hope that you can help us out.  This is
a serious issue in our industry and it is about time that agents--the
legitimate ones, take a stand!

      The petition is located here
      http://www.petitiononline.com/NOMLM/petition.html

      If you are interested in discussing this in more detail, there are
some active threads on the private Travel Agent Only forums at
www.tripso.com/forum . You will need to register there and then send me an
email and I can get your permissions changed to allow access to the private
travel agent only section--they are not visible otherwise.

      Please consider supporting this petition. We need to speak as one
voice to the industry. RCI took the first step. Let's let our message be
heard as well. Please forward this to any of your industry contacts.

      Thanks and all the best-

      John Frenaye
      j...@jvegroup.net

      Travels With Fred
      Single Parent Travel
      MSNBC.com