I have been with Inteletravel for 2yrs now and it's the best move I've made. I only wish I'd started sooner. The support group and trainings are vast. The large community really helps with whatever you need. I started out signing up for my personal benefits but once I saw where I could take this as a business I just kept going. It's been a snowball affect for sure.
I got my start with InteleTravel back in 2020 due to a referral from my husband's coworker. While I got started in this career path at a horrible time of COVID Travel, InteleTravel was not as helpful as I was hoping it would be. I ended up putting more money into the company than I was getting out of it to only find out that I had been signed up for a MLM. I would not refer this host to anyone that is looking to start or grow your business or primary career. If this is not your primary income, it is a easy to use choice.
I love working with the company. All companies have good and bad things. Yes, they were delayed to answer queries but it was for a few weeks when we hit a growth spurt to the company. However, they responded with hiring to meet the need. The support has been phenomenal. They offer so many touchpoints to help you grow and love the Inteletrips to learn in beautiful destinations. This company provided all the tools and access to what has helped me be successful in my business.
I have been with InteleTravel for almost 2 years. I literally started just before the pandemic hit. I have an UNBELIEVABLE support system that kept my chin up and helped me get all the training and confidence to sell travel. Just to be clear, InteleTravel is NOT an MLM. We are a Host agency that is partnered up with Plannet Marketing to offer people more earning options IF YOU choose to do so. You DO NOT need to be a rep or recruit. I am a TA and absolutely love working for them. I have so much training available at my finger tips, wonderful marketing material to help me advertise, great support to answer any question big or small or direct me to someone who can. As any job, people may come across others that many not be fond of or enjoy. We are a HUGE company that offers many opportunities . In my time as a TA I have now reached all of the levels InteleTravel has earning top commissions. If you want to succeed, you will. I have never had an issues with customer service or getting paid.
HI Monica!
Thanks for sharing your experience with Inteletravel and leaving a review, we appreciate it!
I want to step in and just clarify one important sentence in your review for site viewers. We classify Inteletravel as an MLM hybrid because of their close relationship with their marketing branch, PlanNet Marketing.
The thing I want to make clear is that while you do NOT need to recruit if you join Inteletravel, you DO need to join the MLM side of the company, PlanNet Marketing, in order to join Inteletravel. Meaning that you have to be in a sponsor's downline on the PlanNet Marketing side of things in order to join Inteletravel.
Feel free to drop me a note with any questions! stephanie@hostagencyreviews.com
I've been with Inteletravel for five years. My only complaint is with their customer service being slow and you have to keep on top of them. But I've never encountered good CS in any company I've ever worked for, in and out of the travel business.
Sure I pay a monthly fee, but it covers upkeep and hosting of my website, and my back office. It also covers the millions of dollars of marketing available to only Inteletravel agents. And the training is awesome, sure there's a lot of training, but not all of it is required.
You don't *have* to be a Clia member, it's optional. You don't *have* to do any of the "builder" options either, but it does enhance your business to do both.
I've never been denied booking with a vendor as a result of being an agent with them. They've never withheld money from me. So, I'm not sure what the other reviewers are talking about when it comes to those things.
And I don't care that I had to sign up through someone who is in the MLM side of the business. So what? They make a few bucks off my bookings. It's not a big deal, just like any other home business; Tupperware, Avon, Tastefully Simple, Pure Romance... I could go on. They all earn money off their "team". I've never been forced to join the MLM side of things, it was offered to me but I declined. More power to those that want to do that part of it.
All of the outside vendor training that I've had, they seem to love Inteletravel agents. They even have special private facebook groups for us which have been invaluable, especially during the pandemic where the vendors phone wait times are excessive! I was quoted a six hour wait time once to speak to a rep, but was answered within minutes on the facebook group.
Everyone treats us well, except other agents - who are anti anything to do with home-based, or who are anti-MLM's.
I totally support anyone who works in the home-based industry (in travel and out). It's mostly people that are needing supplemental incomes in the home for their families. I won't knock anyone for that. There are worse things they can be doing.
My experience with Inteletravel has been a very good one. I have read the reviews and have to say that CLIA isn't a requirement and neither is building a team/organization via Plannet Marketing. Plannet Marketing is a separate business and although you may only become an ITA with Inteletravel through the marketing company; a person doesn't have to. In fact; my team is mostly ITA's only. They didn't want to build a team and they don't have to. My team work together on training, supporting each other's trips, and we work together on issues. For those who do invest on the marketing side; the ITA's help them as well because they WANT to. With any organization or host company; the success of your business is what you put in and what you get out of what is being offered. As an ITA; you don't have to change your buying habits or even the suppliers you liked/worked with BEFORE becoming an ITA. Although Inteletravel provides training in which you can complete on your own time; they also have webinars that are held three times a week and are very helpful to agents. There are no quotas, no one to micromanage your booking activities or speed. You can book travel as you see fit to meet your schedule. I also say the review about hold times with customer service. If you look at the date of the review; it was during the peak of Coronavirus. We as a country AND the travel industry were dealing with a lot. With over 60K active agents all trying to call customer service about cancellations and getting advise to tell our clients; you can expect long hold times. Hold times were just as long with suppliers as well because EVERYONE was dealing with the crisis at the same time. I didn't regret my decision to invest in my business in 2018 and still don't regret my decision to purchase my ITA business with Inteletravel in 2021.
My experience with Inteletravel has been very good! The fact that Inteletravel has chosen to have a marketing plan that is based on a multi-level marketing (MLM) business structure is an exceptional one. This marketing structure gives brand new agents an instant personalized support system. As I was just beginning as a travel agent, I found this support system extremely helpful as I was navigating through the vast world of travel. Now I take pride in helping other new travel agents by pointing them in the right direction as they start on their journey of entrepreneurship. The Inteletravel host agency provides endless support and training equally for all of its agents. And that was confirmed by their having received a Magellan Award for support and training in 2019. We have bi-weekly trainings that include proven market strategies and foundations skills to help us to grow our travel business. We have travel agency partner training twice and week, industry-specific marketing training through Ensemble, and live regional trainings (now on ZOOM) throughout the year and the most comprehensive national convention event annually. We are also provided free marketing and sales tools, as well as additional customized marketing supplies that can be purchased at a very reasonable price. We have an extensive first-class marketing program through our consortium, Ensemble Travel Group. And as a business owner, the keys to getting your business started with a sure foundation is training, support and marketing. Also, Inteletravel holds E&O insurance for all of its agents and supports us up as we learn. Inteleltravel takes care to partner us with the top travel brands and negotiates high commissions. I am certain that most of these host travel agencies take a substantial amount of new agent money before, they can dream of making a profit. Inteletravel makes it possible and even probable that brand new agent, without any business experience at all, will make a profit in their first year by providing them with a framework and specific steps to take to achieve that goal. And the goal of every travel agent should be to make a profit.
Inteletravel’s proven marketing structure supports the entrepreneur and empowers individuals that use word of month marketing, which has been proven time and time again to be the best marketing strategy. Inteletravel made a decision to put the agents first and in exchange for that generous act, they have become a very profitable host travel agency selling over $800 million in travel sales since they chose to apply the MLM business model as their marketing strategy, and $40 million since March 2020 in the midst of the worldwide pandemic. Inteletravel pays out on average $2.6 million in travel commissions per month to its agents. They also have the highest level of compliance and ethical expectations to ensure that its travel agents represent the travel community in a professional manner at all times. Our president and co-founder, Mr. James Ferrara sits on the board of CLIA which is just one example of the respect he and his company has in the travel industry.
So, with that said I still can only give Inteletravel 4.5 stars because every company has room for improvement and Inteletravel is no exception. Inteletravel has experienced massive growth over the past four and a half years and continues to be innovative and is fully dedicated to creating the best experience in travel possible for any serious travel agent.
This agency has been withholding commission payments to me for over 8 months- making it impossible to leave (they said if I left I'd never get paid out!). I have been on and off the phone with support for months and I still haven't gotten paid for a large group booking for last October. The 3rd party confirmed with me they paid Inteletravel back in October- zero excuse for this delay. I worry about their financial stability. I am beyond frustrated and simply want to get paid my commission and break all ties. Do your research before choosing a host agency- there are some really good ones out there!!
I joined InteleTravel on February 17, 2020 & unfortunately had to come to the decision that due to the Coronavirus pandemic that I had to cancel. I missed the 30 day refundable period by literally one week as I was preparing my household for the quarantine. The cancellation request was submitted on March 24th and completed but my refund request was denied as “I missed the 30 day window.” This speaks volume on this company and is sad that in a time when the world is facing such a financial hardship and so many other companies are understand and assisting their employees &/or customers that this Multimillion dollar company is not making exceptions.
The President of the United State put the country in a State or Emergency which caused me to come the decision of cancellation, if I ever thought about signing up or knew anyone thinking about signing up I’d definitely urge them not not. This company is A pyramid scheme and only looks out for the people on top.
I have been in Inteletravel for over a year and am very happy with it. I honestly don’t know why it is labeled as an MLM because it isn’t. Inteletravel uses an MLM company, Plannet Marketing, to market and sell their agencies but Inteletravel itself is not an MLM and is a separate opportunity from Plannet Marketing. I have never been denied a booking—we work with all the major suppliers and I have been able to book amazing trips for my clients using our consortium as well. We have access to direct mail marketing pieces, thousands of hours of training, our own branded booking engine and commissions are paid on time in my experience. It is true that customer service has had issues but I feel that they have been dealing with their growing pains well. The wait times have gone down to normal times and they added a chat feature to their website that has helped tremendously. Inteletravel has grown very quickly in the last year and I think they had some natural growing pains. The administration there is knowledgeable and the company itself has been around for 30 years so they are established and have a presence in the travel industry. I would recommend them to anyone wanting to start with a company that gives options for any niche and the clout of an established brand. I recommend you research your sponsor and be sure to get on a team that will support you and answer your questions so you don’t have to depend on corporate to get your questions answered. That said, the company has a great Facebook page for agents and customer service answers questions usually within 24 hours if you email. And of course, you can call if need be as well. This is a great company with a reliable and experienced team of professionals leading it.
Hey Sandra!
First off, thanks for the review and sharing your experience. I wanted to chime in and let you know why we consider Inteletravel an MLM hybrid. When a host agency partners with an MLM (like the Inteletravel / PlanNet Marketing relationship) we classify that as hybrid model since the host has an MLM branch.
Even if the host agency members don't feel they are being pushed to join the MLM branch, we feel the host's decision to partner with an MLM is an important thing for prospective agents to be aware of. With Inteletravel, it's especially relevant to know because at the moment, you can't join Inteletravel without having a sponsor and going through the MLM side of the company.
And since the vast majority of MLM members don't make any money from the venture---we get this from the income disclosure statements the companies publish---we put an alert at the top so our readers can read up on how MLMs work and see if it's a good fit for their business goals. (This is not to say that Inteletravel does not have producing agents, as I know there are producing members, but the numbers show that a vast majority of the members do not make an income.)
-- Steph
I just read the review from above and disagree with the one star. I have been in this industry for 9 years. I don’t know everything because we learn new things everyday but I know quite a bit. Number one with Inteletravel there is an option for you to do the rep side and if you don’t want that side you don’t have to get it. So if being a part of a company structured this way is what you didn’t want you really should have known that from the million of you tubes that’s out on the company. Coming from a agency that has quotas to reach and a lot of other requirements I have found Inteletravel to be a blessing it maybe that you don’t have the sponsor that you needed to lead you in the right direction. Reach out to your sponsor director and see if they can assist you with more help. Thieves way Inteletravel is ran is great and coming from 8 years of outside experience this really is a wonderful opportunity for you.