Is InteleTravel a Scam or a Legit Travel Biz Op?
There’s a good chance you stumbled across InteleTravel in recent times. With this company, you can not only get travel discounts but also make some dough with their biz op. So, if you wonder if it’s any good, read on to find out.
InteleTravel could be on your mind because of your wanderlust. Who wouldn’t want discounts/coupons on travel, hotel, and other expenses and potentially save thousands?
In this review, we will take a closer look at the popular travel business opportunity and share if it’s legitimate or a scam. It’s always a good idea to do some research of your own before joining a system. This way, you can avoid scams and find the right products.
In a nutshell: Is InteleTravel legitimate? Yep, it is.
In this Review, You’ll Learn:
- What is InteleTravel and how does InteleTravel work?
- Products and services offered by InteleTravel.
- Pros and cons of joining InteleTravel as a travel agent.
- Is InteleTravel a scam or a legitimate business opportunity?
- InteleTravel reviews and travel agents’ experiences working with InteleTravel.
- How does InteleTravel compare to other travel agencies?
- Is InteleTravel worth the investment?
- Our best recommendation for earning money from home.
What is InteleTravel and How Does It Work?
InteleTravel is one of the very first travel companies to allow travel agents to become their own bosses. The company was launched in 1992 by James Ferrera, a co-founder and the current president of InteleTravel. Since then, they have gained quite some fame for their products and services.
In simple words, InteleTravel lets you become an independent travel agent and work from home! No experience or qualifications is required!
As a travel agent at InteleTravel, you can access exclusive travel deals that save you a decent amount of money on vacations. InteleTravel also gives you a commission on every travel sale you make, whether for family, friends, clients, or even yourself! Some of their competitors include Evolution Travel and World Ventures.
To understand how they operate, definitely check out the following video:
Products and Services InteleTravel Offer
This MLM company doesn’t have its own products. They, however, have partnered with a dozen legit travel companies that do. Following are some of their associated agencies:
- Cruise – Viking River Cruises, Avalon Waterways, and many more.
- Airlines – Alaska Airlines, British Airways, etc.
- Vacations – Travel Impressions, Disney, etc.
- Hotels – Sandal Hotels, W Hotels, GoGo Vacations, etc.
- Car Rental – Avis, Budget
- Travel Insurance – Travel Insured
If you sign up with the company, you will get instant access to the following:
- Exclusive travel vouchers/discounts
- Custom travel booking website
- Customer support
- Competitive travel rates
See Related: Can You Make Thousands With iPAS2 or Is It a Scam?
Cost of Becoming an InteleTravel Agent
It’s not free to join. You’d have to fork out some money if you wish to get started as an independent travel agent at InteleTravel.
The enrollment fee for InteleTravel is a one-time payment of $179.95. This fee covers the cost of getting started as an agent and includes access to InteleTravel’s training and support materials. Furthermore, there are two monthly fees that you’ll need to pay as an ongoing agent.
- The first is a monthly fee of $39.95. This fee covers the cost of maintaining your InteleTravel membership and accessing the company’s booking platform.
- The second monthly fee is $19.95. This fee covers the cost of InteleTravel’s planned marketing program. This program provides you with access to marketing materials and support to help you grow your business.
In total, becoming an agent at InteleTravel will cost you $179.95 upfront and $59.95 per month.
See Related: Things to Sell to Make Money
InteleTravel Compensation Plan
InteleTravel’s compensation plan is pretty much easy-to-understand. It operates as a multi-level marketing (MLM) structure in partnership with PlanNet Marketing.
So as an InteleTravel agent, you can make money in two ways:
1. By Selling Travel Packages for Commission
InteleTravel agents can make money by selling travel products and earning a commission on every sale they make. The initial commission rate is 70% of the commissions. But it can go up to 80% based on travel agents’ performance and sales volume.
Simply put, you earn a commission based on a percentage of the commission that InteleTravel earns for selling discounted tour or vacation packages. Why?
You see, InteleTravel is a travel booking MLM company that connects travel companies with independent travel agents. And as an InteleTravel agent, your job is to promote and sell travel packages from these partnered companies.
When you make a sale, InteleTravel earns a commission, and you, as the travel agent, earn a commission from that commission. This is referred to as a “supplier commission.”
The supplier commission rate may differ depending on the partnered companies. But, many of InteleTravel’s leading travel companies offer agents a commission between 14% to 28% per transaction.
See Related: Best Weekend Side Jobs
2. By Earning Commission from Recruiting Agents in Your Downline:
You can also earn money by recruiting more agents to join your downline and earning a commission from their sales. This is just like other MLM companies, where agents can earn a percentage of the commissions generated by agents working under them.
Simply put, when you bring in new agents and successfully sell them the ‘Independent Travel Agency Business’ (known as ITA sale), you receive a $50 direct sales commission. This commission is the same amount you initially paid when you joined as an agent. There’s no limit to the number of $50 Direct Sales Commissions you can earn!
But it doesn’t stop there. When someone you enrolled through an ITA sale goes on to sell an ITA to someone else, you earn a matched commission of 50%, which is $25. Plus, for each active ITA member per month, you receive a fixed compensation of $4.
Furthermore, as you build your team, you achieve different titles with various benefits. For instance, a Gold Builder is a Rep with nine or more active ITAs, while a Director is a Gold Builder with 100 or more active ITAs in three or more legs. These titles come with higher commission rates and extra bonuses.
See Related: How to Get Stuff for Free
Earning Potential and Challenges with InteleTravel
InteleTravel has been going strong for nearly 3 decades now. However, if you’re interested in the biz op side of things and want to make money with it, don’t have high hopes just yet.
As we mentioned above, InteleTravel utilizes the multi-level marketing business model to sell discounted packages & tour packages. They definitely have good products to offer! I mean, we could always use travel discounts!
People often overspend when they get packages through an agent. The company tackles this problem very well. They say their goal is to simplify the process and also provide a lucrative online business opportunity for people interested in earning with the program.
But as far as I’ve researched and read travel agents’ reviews, the earning potential with InteleTravel is very limited. Plus, most of the InteleTravel reviews mentioned that agents have to work really hard to grab clients and succeed on InteleTravel.
See Related: Proven Strategies for Boosting Your Income
Pros Cons of Joining InteleTravel as an Independent Travel Agent
As with any other business opportunity, there are both pros and cons to becoming an agent at InteleTravel:
Pros
1. Flexibility and Autonomy
One of the biggest advantages of becoming an InteleTravel agent is the flexibility and autonomy that it offers. As an InteleTravel agent, you have the freedom to work from anywhere and set your own schedule.
You can also work as much or as little as you want and can take time off whenever you need it. This makes it an ideal opportunity for those who want to work from home or have a flexible work-life balance.
2. Exclusive Travel Deals and Discounts
As an agent at InteleTravel, you have access to exclusive travel deals and discounts that are not available to the general public. This means that you can offer your clients unique travel experiences and competitive prices that they may not be able to find elsewhere.
InteleTravel has built relationships with the top travel suppliers in the industry. These include top airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and more. These suppliers offer special rates and packages exclusively to InteleTravel agents. This way, you can pass on the savings to your clients, making travel packages super affordable!
You can offer your clients discounted rates on luxury cruises, all-inclusive resorts, or first-class flights. You can also get many other exclusive perks as an agent at InteleTravel. For instance, free room upgrades, spa treatments, or dining credits, etc.
See Related: How to Get a Remote Job
3. Training and Support:
Another great thing about InteleTravel that most travel agents have praised in the reviews is their training and support program. They offer a variety of resources to help you become an expert in today’s billion-dollar travel industry.
One of the key features of their program is the online courses and webinars. These educational resources teach you about different topics related to travel. For instance:
- How to sell travel packages?
- How to market yourself as a travel agent?
- How to provide great service to your clients?
And much more. You can learn at your own pace and from the comfort of your own home.
The company also provides ongoing support to help you grow your own business. This includes travel agent certifications, booking resources, and partnerships. They want to make sure that you have everything you need to be successful as an independent travel advisor.
4. Networking Opportunities:
The inteleTravel community is a great online venue for agents to network and share insights. It helps agents to ask questions and seek advice on negotiating their salary, compensation, etc.
The community is made up of travel advisors from all over the world, creating a diverse and supportive network. One of the benefits of this community is the opportunity to network with other travel agents. You can share your experiences, get the inside scoop on jobs, and collaborate on projects. Learning from expert agents can help you expand your knowledge and grow your business.
See Related: How to Make $1000 a Month in Passive Income
Cons
1. Initial Investment and Ongoing Fees
Becoming an InteleTravel agent is not free. You’d have to fork out some money if you wish to get started as a travel agent. The enrollment fee is $179.95 one-time, monthly $39.95, and planned marketing’s $19.95 monthly.
This would set you back by $179.95 once and then $59.95 monthly. This can become a financial burden for struggling agents.
2. High Competition and Saturation in The Market
The travel industry is highly competitive. I mean, why not when it is worth 5.8 billion U.S. dollars?
There are thousands of independent travel advisors, club store travel departments, and travel MLM companies competing for clients. This can make it difficult for new agents to stand out! You will need to be creative and proactive in your marketing efforts to succeed in this industry.
3. Limited Earning Potential
This is somehow related to the above con. As the industry is very competitive, many new agents fail to make notable sales during the first few years in the industry.
Your commission is based on a percentage of the travel you book. As a result, your earning potential becomes limited by the number and size of bookings you make.
Typical network marketers only make a couple of hundred dollars a month. This should give you an idea of how hard a new travel agent has to work to make some good income with InteleTravel.
See Related: Best Instant Paying GPT Sites for Quick Earnings
4. Time Investment:
Being an agent at InteleTravel means that you are your own boss. You have to plan and organize everything by yourself. This includes booking flights, hotels, and activities for your clients. It takes a lot of time to do this.
However, sometimes clients might cancel their trip or change their plans. InteleTravel doesn’t give any money back to the agent if this happens. This can be a big problem for the agent because they may have already spent a lot of time and resources planning the trip.
Also, sometimes things can go wrong during the trip like a flight being delayed or luggage getting lost. The travel agent has to be ready to help their clients deal with these problems.
5. High Turnover Rate:
InteleTravel has a high turnover rate. Many people who become travel agents with InteleTravel don’t stay for very long. This can make it hard to build a team of active agents, which is necessary for long-term success in network marketing.
6. Negative Reviews:
InteleTravel has received mixed reviews from both customers and agents. Some customers have reported issues with booking and customer service. And some agents have reported issues with commission payments and support from the company.
See Related: OpinionInn Review
7. MLM Business Model:
InteleTravel operates as a multi-level marketing company. So, agents can earn commission not only on their own sales but also on the sales of agents they recruit into the program.
Some agents have criticized travel MLM businesses for their pyramid-like structure and the potential for exploitation of lower-level agents.
Customer Reviews and Feedback
There are dozens of negative InteleTravel reviews. They’re all about bashing the program and are probably from people who didn’t have a very good experience with it.
From what most people say, the company offers good support as well. That being said, if you’re interested in making money through the biz op, don’t expect to rake in thousands.
Most people are not good with recruiting since MLM is not for everyone. The average network marketer only makes a couple of hundred dollars a month, if that gives you an idea.
Below, I have compiled a table of InteleTravel reviews from agents who have tried the program themselves:
Reviewer | Rating | Review Highlights |
Tina Arobone | 5/5 | – Success depends on hard work. – Grateful for not giving up. – InteleTravel can be a great host. |
Kerry Mabbett | 3/5 | – Disappointed with the low commission on bookings and the challenges with refunds for canceled holidays. – Received little support from initial upline but later found help from another individual. – Needed to be active on multiple social media platforms for self-promotion. – Success as an ITA may be challenging due to high competition. |
Serena | 4/5 | – Credits the community for personal growth, motivation, and a positive mindset. – Says negative reviews often come from those who didn’t give the business a fair chance. – Emphasizes the importance of putting in the work for results. – Encourages individuals to trust their instincts and take a leap of faith to experience the potential of the business. |
Claire | 1/5 | – Observes that most reviews come from agents focused on recruiting, not customer experiences. – Advises potential buyers to be cautious when considering joining MLM companies like this. – Says it is difficult to make a good income without years of experience |
Monica Dobrzanski | 5/5 | – Been with InteleTravel for nearly 2 years, and received incredible support and training. – Reached top commissions and never had issues with customer service or payment. |
Toni Watson | 1/5 | – Describes InteleTravel as a horrible scam. – Expresses frustration over unpaid commissions since November 30th, 2022. – Mentions the requirement to sign up with both InteleTravel and Plannet Marketing, costing almost $400. – Claims to have lost money with this perceived scam. |
Anonymous | 2/5 | – Describe InteleTravel as a virtual business where access to certifications, booking resources, and partners is provided. – Says you need marketing, sales, and business skills. – Responsibility to find and retain clients; no compensation for the time invested if clients cancel or book themselves. – Highlights the financial burden of monthly/yearly fees and the 30% commission deduction. – Complains about delayed commission payments, sometimes months after completing the work. |
Anonymous | 2/5 | – Joined in 2020 through a referral. – Unhelpful during COVID travel.Ended up investing more money than receiving from the company. – Discovered it was an MLM company and not suitable for the travel business or career growth. – Not recommended for those seeking primary income, but it may be suitable as a side option. |
So, Is InteleTravel a Scam?
No, InteleTravel is not a scam. The company is definitely legit. They sell real products (through partners) and offer handsome tour/travel discounts. They have also bagged a dozen awards over the last few decades.
With InteleTravel, you can either earn a commission on your travel package sales or recruit more agents under you. This MLM company doesn’t have its own biz op. They have partnered with PlanNet marketing and utilize an MLM structure.
They make up to 16% of every sale you bring. The remaining goes to the original provider. Out of the 16% InteleTravel gets, you’d get anywhere between 70-80% of the commissions. You can also grow your team by recruiting others.
See Related: Is Trunited a Scam or a Legitimate Biz Op?
Is Inteletravel Worth The Investment?
Based on my research, opinions on whether or not InteleTravel is worth the investment are mixed. On the one hand, InteleTravel has reported record-breaking sales in 2022, with over $529 million in travel sold.
On the other hand, many customers and agents have reported issues with customer service and commission payment delays. Additionally, some reviews suggest that only those at the top of the pyramid are making money.
Thankfully, there are legit (and more rewarding) ways to make money online. Affiliate marketing is our favorite business model simply because of the time and location freedom it can provide. Our top recommended training can help you get a jump-start if that’s something of your interest.
Definitely give it a go if you’re interested in working from home and want to earn on the side (and eventually bid farewell to your day job).
Click Here for Our #1 Recommendation
FAQs:
What is The Average Income For an Inteletravel Agent?
Unfortunately, I could not find an InteleTravel income disclosure statement anywhere on Google. So, I can not give an exact estimate.
However, the average salary for a travel agent at InteleTravel is said to be around $49K-$60K per year. And according to Indeed.com, the average hourly pay for an ITA at InteleTravel is $44.74 per hour.
Keep in mind that this is just an estimate and may not be the same for all InteleTravel agents. Why?
You see, agents at InteleTravel don’t get a set salary. They earn money by getting a commission on the travel products they sell. So the income of agents can vary widely depending on the amount of time and effort they put into building their customer base and making bookings.
Are There Any Inteletravel Scam Reports or Complaints?
While there are some complaints and negative reviews of InteleTravel online, the company is not considered a scam. The company has been operating as a legitimate travel host agency for over 31 years. They have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Most complaints are about InteleTravel’s customer service and commission payments. So, I recommend you do your own research and read reviews from various sources before deciding whether or not to join InteleTravel.
How Do I Quit Inteletravel?
If you decide to join InteleTravel but later find out that you don’t like it, you can cancel your enrollment within the first 30 days and get your money back.
To cancel, you need to write a letter to InteleTravel’s headquarters and tell them that you want to cancel your enrollment. You can send this letter through email or postal mail.
In the letter, you should include:
> Your full name
> Address
> Phone number
> Email address
> A statement that you want to cancel your enrollment
If you need help finding their contact information, you can look on the InteleTravel website.
Related Resources