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Is Evolution Travel a Scam?

Is Evolution Travel a Scam?
WFHR EditorWFHR Editor
19 min read

Last updated: November 28, 2024

It’s an entrepreneur’s ultimate dream to make money while traveling. One Las Vegas, Nevada-based business op named Evolution Travel says you can travel and make money simultaneously.

Is it a scam or a legit program? We explore the business opportunity and reveal its features in this evolution travel review.

What is Evolution Travel

Evolution Travel Company Profile

Evolution Travel was founded in 2015 by David McCovy. It claims to be a home-based travel business, and you get access to required training, customer support, and additional help with closing sales. They say their training can help you make money online while you travel.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding the travel agency, but at the root level, it’s merely an MLM company. The company doesn’t have products of its own either. They provide travel discounts, vouchers, and various packages on Hotels, Flights, Park Tickets, and Car Rentals. If you come across PlanNet Marketing, you’ll know the two have a striking resemblance.

Evolution Travel has partnered with Archer Travel Group to provide specialized travel/tour packages. The company offers a membership through which you can become an agent and promote the company as an independent distributor.

Can You Make Money When You Join Evolution Travel?

Yes, you can. There are a few ways:

  1. Either sell the travel packages as a distributor.
  2. Recruit people under you and get them to promote the program.

In either case, you must sign up as an agent, which will cost $30 one-time and $69.95 recurring monthly. This professional travel agent package is expensive if you think about it. Most legitimate programs don’t charge you a dime and are free to sign up as an affiliate.

As an independent distributor, you get 90% commissions from travel package sales, which include a WordPress website, video training, and discount coupons, which you can use on your next trip.

However, recruiting isn’t something most people enjoy. No one likes to always pitch people and push them to join a program. The company even encourages you to list your family members and friends so they can be ‘pitched’ at one stage, which is a bad idea.

Most agents rely on deception to get sales and share false incentives. This is not true for everyone, though. The program relies on recruiting to generate revenue, which is a red flag, and it’s just a matter of time before the FTC takes action against it.

Is Evolution Travel a company that produces its own products?

To begin with, Evolution Travel does not have its own products. This firm is affiliated with Archer Travel Service. The former offers Evolution Travel vacation packages, discounts, and coupons.

So Evolution Trip is recruiting new members and providing them with Archer Travel Service discounts, coupons, and travel packages.

The Archer Travel Service booking search engine appears to have been integrated into Evolution Travel’s platform. Evolution Travel agencies and clients may now use this booking search engine to find cheap flights.

Here are some of the benefits that Evolution Travel agents enjoy.

evolution travel agent perks

Who Are The Evolution Travel Partners?

Evolution Travel Sign Up

Evolution Travel and Archer Travel Service have collaborated with some of the travel industry’s biggest names to bring you even more savings, travel packages, and offers.

Here are a few of their current trip companions:

  • Disney
  • Southwest Vacations
  • Universal Studios Florida
  • Carnival Cruise Lines
  • Cruises by Royal Caribbean
  • United Vacations
  • Beaches
  • Sandals

What Roles Do Professional Travel Agents Have?

Travel Agent

When you start as a Travel Agent, the first lesson you will learn is how to compile a list of people you believe could be enthusiastic about the opportunity or about traveling in general. Then you’ll contact those people and tell them about Evolution Travel.

Most Evolution Travel agencies attempt to recruit employees. But that’s not all; now comes the tough part.

Pyramid schemes are MLM companies that focus on recruiting rather than product promotion. You should be aware that those who join Evolution Travel may not make a significant profit.

However, some Evolution Travel reviews claim that the membership is worth the money if you are a regular traveler. It may also be an excellent source of income for individuals who enjoy traveling.

See Related: Is InteleTravel a Scam or a Legit Travel Biz Op?

How does Evolution Travel Work?

Become a Travel Agent with Evolution Travel

Evolution Travel offers members a home-based travel company and provides training and assistance so they may market their travel bargains and sell travel packages.

It allows people to operate from home and sell discounts and trip packages in exchange for commissions. Both parties benefit, but Evolution Travel is the winner since they save millions of dollars by employing network marketing. This is because only their members do the job.

Evolution Travel services

It is essential that you grasp the items that the firm you want to work for sells. This way, you’ll know what to expect if you successfully become a member.

Evolution Travel offers travel savings, hotel reservations, and multiple vacation packages. According to my findings, it partners with Archer Travel Group, which has its own booking engine.

The firm does not have any items. Instead, they sell coupons, travel discounts, and vacation packages. 

These services are the following:

  • Hotel Reservations
  • Flights
  • Car Rental Tickets
  • Theme park, sporting events, and concert tickets

Aside from the advantages these provide buyers – brokers can also gain in the following ways:

  • Free Cruise
  • Travel destinations
  • Travel Agents Discounts
  • Cash and Merchandise Rewards
  • Trips for familiarization

Evolution Travel is not the only company that provides these services. In truth, a significant number of other MLM companies perform these activities.

Here are a few of the most well-known travel MLMs:

  • PlanNet Marketing
  • iBuumerang 
  • Goodlife USA
  • Jifu Travel

They all declare and claim to be unique, exclusive, and exceptional.

In reality, they are all doing the same thing but using various marketing tricks and platforms to make it appear that they are unique.

How Can Evolution Travel Help You Make Money?

Evolution Travel Ad

If you enjoy traveling, you’ll appreciate the opportunity to earn a commission on your private bookings for your family, friends, and acquaintances. But remember that the commission is self-motivated. To make it, you must hack it.

By white labeling its booking system, Evolution Travel collaborates with Archer Travel Group, a cloud-based travel agency. This enables them to offer their consumers vacation packages and discounts.

When your customers book via the Evolution Travel website, you earn commissions as an Evolution Travel affiliate. You will make a lot of money when you recruit new Evolution Travel affiliates. So here is a list of prospective commissions:

  • Travel Commission – 90% of all bookings are handled by Evolution Travel, with the remaining 10% handled by the Archer Travel Group. You can earn up to 80% of this, while the affiliate who recruited you (your sponsor) receives the remaining 10%.
  • Residual Commission – You must be seated at the big table to obtain this. The corporation contributes a portion of its monthly sales to a pool divided among top-level executives and high-ranking affiliates.
  • Leadership Bonus – To be eligible for this monthly bonus, you must have a Gold or Platinum level. Even so, there is a statutory time limit within which you can qualify.
  • Company Shares – Before getting 20,000 firm shares, you must also have a Gold or Platinum rank (for three straight months without failing or losing the rank’s status). Archer Travel Group gives Evolution Travel 80% of the chicken feed commission but not 80% of the booking fee.

What You Need To Know About The Evolution Travel Compensation Plan

Evolution Travel Compensation Plan Graph

Here’s a quick rundown of Evolution Travel’s compensation plan if you want to increase your earnings. To increase your income, you must move up in the MLM scheme’s rankings, just like in any other MLM company.

Allow me to clarify something. Within Evolution Travel, there are various levels. The higher you progress through the levels, the more money you will make.

Consultants are the title given to all new Evolution Travel professional travel agents. Executive Consultants are consultants who have sold three professional travel agent packages.

So here are the Evolution Travel levels and what you need to do to earn more:

Evolution Travel Compensation Plan
  • Consultant: When you buy your first Professional Travel Agent (PTA) package.
  • Executive Consultant: When you sell 3 PTA packages
  • Bronze Consultant: Sold 6 Packages
  • Silver Consultant: Sold 9 Packages
  • Gold Consultant: Sold 15 packages to silver consultants with 3 downlines.
  • Platinum Consultant: Have a downline of at least 300 sold packages.
  • Special Recognition and Incentives – Reach 3 Star Platinum, and you’ll be eligible for a Breitling watch. Consultants can also get a ring based on their monthly residual income. Assume your monthly residual income is $8,333. It qualifies you for a $100,000 ring. You are eligible for a million-dollar ring if your monthly income exceeds $83,333.

As an Evolution Travel PTA, you can earn money in two ways. First is marketing other companies’ products, as Evolution Travel does not have its own product line. Instead, it provides travel deals and tour packages from affiliated hospitality companies. These include hotel, cruise, car rental, and event discounts.

The second way to profit from Evolution Travel is to become a professional travel agent and recruit others to join your downline. Every successful sale made by your team members earns you a commission.

Things To Consider About Evolution Travel

Is Evolution Travel accredited by the BBB?

Evolution Travel BBB Rating

If you trust only BBB-accredited businesses, you will be displeased to discover that Evolution Travel is not BBB-accredited.

The screenshot below shows an A+ for Evolution Travel’s BBB Ratings. However, despite having customer reviews, these are not used in the calculation of BBB Ratings.

Despite meeting the requirements, Evolution Travel has yet to be accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

Is Evolution Travel a Pyramid Scheme? 

what is a pyramid scheme

The most concerning issue about Evolution Travel is that it could be an illegal pyramid scheme. But no. The Evolution Travel program is not a pyramid scheme.

Members of the company make money by selling their travel tickets and bookings. And they don’t have to focus exclusively on recruitment to make money.

Even if this is the case, it is advisable to inquire whether Evolution Travel is a ploy for a pyramid scheme. Let’s find out what a pyramid scheme is compared to legitimate marketing.

According to the FTC, pyramid schemes are hard to recognize right away, but they all have one thing in common: They promise people a lot of money in exchange for recruiting them to join their program.

If you read the definition of a pyramid scheme and then look at Evolution Travel again, you will agree that it is highly likely to be one.

Expensive Business Venture

Paying a $30 one-time fee is acceptable, but charging $70 per month is not (in my opinion).

For $70 per month, you’ll have access to your Evolution Travel back office, where you’ll receive some basic training, support, and updates. Evolution Travel is overpriced and does not provide anything worth paying $70 for.

Maybe it’s worth it at first because you’ll get some training and support, but why would you pay $70 a month for that? They have regular webinars and updates, but nothing worth $70 monthly. I have no intention of paying $70 per month and losing all of my friends in the process.

Success is rare with Evolution Travel.

Yes, you read that correctly. Success is difficult to achieve if you are a member of Evolution Travel or any MLM company. Notably, between 72.5% and 99.9% of MLM members lose money.

These companies have sales quotas that require members to sell a certain number of products to receive commissions. If they cannot, they must purchase the products for their own consumption.

This is why MLM members spend a lot of their own money before they can recruit anyone into the company.

This Kind of Business Scheme is Unsustainable in the Long Run

With the popularity of travel industry websites like Skyscanner, FareCompare, Booking.com, and Agoda among millennials and Gen Zs, the Evolution Travel business scheme will not be viable in the long run. Perhaps this type of business will appeal to more affluent boomers who still want lavish adventures and handy, albeit traditional, vacations.

This, however, does not appeal to the younger generation, who are frequently on a tight budget, prefer to backpack across Europe or Southeast Asia, and seek unique experiences.

Mixed Reviews About Evolution Travel

Evolution Travel Feedback
Evolution Travel Negative Feedback
Evolution Travel Positive Feedback

Evolution Travel is almost identical to Paycation, which went bankrupt in 2014, the year before Evolution Travel was founded. Many people lost money on Paycation because they paid their service charges without generating commissions or rewards. David McCovy’s involvement in both systems may not reflect well on Evolution Travel’s future.

Pros About Evolution Travel

  • The founder is a Business ExpertDavid McCovy is the founder of Evolution Travel and a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He is an expert in the Multi-Level Market domain and was a top member of other multi-level market companies prior to establishing Evolution Travel.
  • Perfect for regular travelers – Evolution travel is advantageous and very beneficial if you travel frequently. It is ideal for businessmen who travel frequently or if you enjoy taking vacations every now and then.
  • Established reputation – An MLM has a 5-year average lifespan. And Evolution Travel has been in business for five years. They also don’t appear to be slowing down. It means that there is a good chance that this company will continue to exist in the future.
  • Good PartnershipsAlthough Evolution Travel was founded in 2015, it partnered with Archer Travel Group, a very experienced travel company founded in 1952. So it’s a good sign that they’ve partnered with one of the industry’s pioneers. Mr. McCovy, the founder of Evolution Travel, has also founded two other multi-level marketing companies, Paycation (now known as TraVerus Global) and 5LINX.

Cons About Evolution Travel

  • No income disclosure statement – Evolution Travel does not disclose its earnings. An income disclosure is a document that shows members’ earnings. It is intended to demonstrate that the company and its members are profitable. There is none in the case of Evolution Travel.
  • Hidden monthly costs – The fact that you must pay $70 per month for the subscription means that you have assured yourself that you will lose money even if you do not earn money. What MLM companies don’t want their members to know is that the members are their most important customers. This is because they continue to pay for monthly subscriptions regardless of what happens.
  • Costly Investment – If you’re a newcomer, I don’t recommend Multi-level marketing programs because they’re too expensive. And you might not get a return on investment if you don’t have any networking experience. The same thing could happen even if you have participated in similar programs. Nonetheless, it is an expensive opportunity because, in addition to the $30 PTA package, you will pay an additional $70 per month.
  • Evolution Travel MLM is Not BBB AccreditedDespite its A+ Ratings, Evolution Travel is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
  • Emphasis on recruiting peopleThe company’s stance still appears to have a strong focus on recruitment, as evidenced by how they ask new recruits to approach family and friends who may be interested in the business opportunity. This strategy is not a good one because most of the people you hire will fail unless you are surrounded by people already involved in the travel industry.
  • Pay-to-play system – On the one hand, it is reasonable for the company to charge a fee for members who use their brand, resources, and tools to provide travel services and earn money, particularly since Evolution Travel keeps only 10% of the commission. However, for members who cannot find customers, this $70 per month can be a significant financial burden.
  • You will not earn anything unless you have a customer base. – If you do not have many clients who trust your competency in arranging their vacation plans and will look for you when they travel, the only way you can generate money is by recruiting people. It is a more difficult path, as you must first achieve Gold Consultant status before your efforts will bear fruit. If you hadn’t left the company by then, it could take months, if not years.

Is Evolution Travel a Scam?

Evolution Scam is not a scam, but it does have a few signs of a pyramid scheme. Most of the money they make is through recruiting. You can definitely make money promoting the travel biz op, but the odds are stacked against you.

Then some recommend you stay away from the Evolution Travel scam, but that’s because they’ve probably had a bad experience as a distributor (for insert reason here).

If the FTC shuts them down, you will lose all your earnings in a jiffy, and it’s never a good idea to stick to programs that are all about recruiting. MOBE was one such program; the FTC took it down last year.

However, there is a legitimate way to make money online. The training teaches you how to start your own profitable online business, which is our top recommendation for working from home. It shouldn’t surprise you, but a real business will require commitment from your end. Definitely check it out if you’re ready to put in some work!

Click Here For Our #1 Recommendation

Evolution Travel FAQ

What is the cost of joining Evolution Travel?

Joining Evolution Travel as an affiliate member costs $299. To remain commission-qualified as an associate member, you must pay a monthly auto-ship fee of $69.99.

Is Evolution Travel a multi-level marketing company?

Evolution Travel is a multi-level marketing and direct sales organization. You may earn money through a multi-level compensation structure by promoting others to this travel firm. You should target those who enjoy traveling.

How Can I Terminate My Evolution Travel Membership?

Your Evolution Travel MLM membership must be canceled in writing. As an Evolution travel agent, you must handle the cancellation on your own. It cannot be done for you, nor can it be done for others.

Send an email to [email protected] to cancel your Evolution Travel jobs membership.

Who Is Behind Evolution Travel?

Evolution Travel’s CEO and founder is David McCovy. This firm is in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was founded in 2015. According to their website’s About page, David is a lifetime entrepreneur who has delved into several types of enterprises with varying degrees of success. Overall, David McCovy has become a household name in various sectors due to the success of his initiatives.

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