I caught a lot of flak from my last blog post among my networking groups. There are a bunch of World Ventures representatives in almost every group that I meet with. Heck, they’re so saturated that, often times, there are upwards of three representatives at a time.
My error in my last blog post was lumping them together with a bunch of other MLMs. It was incorrect of me to do so. They are a far larger and more comprehensive company than any of the other ones I mentioned.
I’ve sat down with no less than four World Ventures reps in many, many situations and have compiled an in depth review of their company, their products, and whom they are a good fit for and in what situations.
Dreamtrips
At the heart of World Ventures’ business model is their dream trips. These are trips offered at often significant discounts to World Ventures members and representatives.
The allure of these trips is a curated experience in stunning destinations with purportedly excellent accommodations. I say “purportedly” because I will not sign up to check it out myself, the reason why will be spelled out later.
These trips are things like a $69 per person five day cruise, a $570 per person 3 night stay in an all inclusive resort, or other various offerings. They say that there are hundreds offered at any time, ranging in price from $70 per person to over $700 per person for all sorts of events. Without signing up, though, one is unable to see the actual offerings. I’ll be basing my illustrations on a seven day, six night Caribbean cruise with Holland America.
Airfare is not included in Dreamtrips prices. Dreamtrips are also separate from any other travel booked through a representative, which will be touched on shortly.
Points
When one signs up with World Ventures, one pays $200 and gets 200 “points” to use towards the purchase of a Dreamtrip. One also pays an additional $55/month and receives the 660 points on their year anniversary. The catch is that not all Dreamtrips are able to have points applied and, when they are, only a limited amount of points are applicable towards that trip.
If this point system reminds you of airline vouchers, that’s because it’s extremely similar. Airlines are infamous for giving vouches as compensation for delayed, canceled, or otherwise messed up flights. These vouchers are good only for the airline awarding them, and cost extra money to be used.
Perks
When one signs up for World Ventures as a rep, one gets a website that allows their friends to book airfare and trips through them. They then receive a small commission, paid in “Rovia bucks”, from each sale. These Rovia Bucks can be applied to trips the representative takes, whether for airfare, Dreamtrips, car rentals, non-dream trips, or anything else.
In order to earn Rovia bucks, the rep has to have their friends use their own personal site rather than any other major indexed flight site out there. They have to be diligent about reminding their friends, clients, and family. They have to be the first point of contact rather than Google or any other search engine, as it’s all but guaranteed that they won’t show up in search results.
Another perk is that the representative or member can earn Rovia bucks from online shopping. This kickback ranges from 0.5% to 15% depending on what’s purchased and from which site, but usually stays around 2-7%. These are on major stores, such as Best Buy.
Refunds
World Ventures guarantees you the lowest price with their Dreamtrips. They promise that if you find a lower price deal for the same dates with the same accommodations and the exact same features within, depending on who you talk to, 1-7 days, they’ll give you the trip and refund 150% of the price you paid.
They also promise that if you book a flight through them and the price drops, they’ll refund you the difference. They don’t offer the stipulations for that unless you ask, but I’ll give them to you in the next section.
Seems great so far, though, right? Wait for it.
The rub
By now, you are probably thinking “Woah, Eddie, this is too good of a thing to pass up…you must be insane.”
Well, let’s piece a few things together, things often overlooked.
First off, the Dreamtrips are World Ventures people only. This means you have a lot of company people travelling with you. They’re going to be on your plane, in your hotel, on your beach, in your pool, in your bar, in your restaurants, etc. If you are going to relax with the family, you will most likely have to travel elsewhere for quiet and solitude.
Also, if I know MLMs, and I do know MLMs, your upline will pressure you to network and talk with other representatives there. You’re supposed to take pictures with their now-iconic “You should be here” signs, which really is just to make your friends on Facebook jealous and sign up with you. That makes your trip a business write off.
I like to travel to get away with my wife. If we want to party with people, there are no shortage of options with people who we actually like, rather than cohorts from a company we represent.
Second off, trips that aren’t Dreamtrips aren’t covered by points. This means that if you want to take an Eastern Caribbean cruise with a certain line on a certain date, if it’s not offered as a Dreamtrip, you either have to change what you want or pay for it separately.
Even if that cruise is offered, the best offer I saw was for $679/person for a 7 day trip on Holland America with up to 200 points being applicable towards the cruise. That is 200 points total applicable, not per person. You can easily get that same cruise a week later for $499/person ($80 less than what it would be per person with points reducing the price).
Thirdly, the airfare rate guarantee only refunds you whatever is left over after rebooking fees. Those very fees which often are higher than $150. This means your airfare, if you do any sort of due diligence with price hunting, will hardly ever be refunded.
If you decide to represent and sell them, all the costs of training are on you. There are, indeed, costs. World Ventures is well known for requiring many conferences (which you pay to attend and travel to), videos, and other expenses.
There are advantages to selling World Ventures, however. Once you recruit four people, you pay no more fees for your monthly membership (they’ll be pulling in over $220/month from the people you recruited and have collected at least $800 in initial fees from them, also, remember how you are extremely likely to have leftover points at the end of the year — they profit heavily off of you and the people you would recruit). They also claim that you can earn money off the people recruited by the people you recruit. This only happens, though, once you have about 30 people working under you.
Good luck figuring out how they count those recruits and how you will actually earn their compensation. Their hierarchy is infamously confounding. Their payout structure is superbly obfuscated. When they describe it in a presentation it sounds simple, but to look at the actual breakdown is a wholly different experience.
This product is likely to only be a good deal for someone who is at the top of a decently sized distribution chain. Any savings realized on a Dreamtrip will likely be lost in unredeemed points and airfare.
There are plenty of World Ventures reps who will tell me that I’m dead wrong, and they’ll undoubtedly cite a $69 5 day cruise.
That cruise still costs airfare, and doesn’t let you apply any points towards it. It’s still a week off work (which costs money), and the chances of successfully booking this cruise after it’s announced are slim to none. Yes, they announce the cruises to the entire team, and they sell out within an hour or two. Plus, it’s a $69 cruise…if you want the savings, you’re tied into the date, port, cruise line, and itinerary.
If that cruise is the only trip you take, you’re paying a total of $69+$200+$660. That comes out to $929/person (not including airfare) for a cruise which you could otherwise have for $499 in most cases. For many people, that will be the only trip you take that year.
I would love to address how much the average World Ventures representative makes, but they don’t have any easily accessible documents detailing that. What I can tell you is that less that 30% make a profit, and likely less than 5% make more than $,1000/year. Part of this is on par with any MLM structure, but a lot of it is due to the actual company.
Alternatives
So, what is a more financially logical way to do travel?
Obviously, there are sites like cheapoair.com. There are economy airlines that aren’t accessible by third party searches, like Southwest Airlines.
There are great deals to be had just by calling the hotel or cruise that you want. LivingSocial and Groupon have plenty of travel deals, and those often give you a six month window to make your trip, rather than a set date. In addition, you get to travel in peace and quiet or with as many friends as can join you on that trip.
What about those other perks, like points for shopping? Well, why pay $660/year for the ability to earn points to travel when you could get a credit card with a $150 annual fee for even more points, points which can be used for things both travel and non-travel related? Heck, some debit cards offer this and for people with decent to good credit, they may qualify for these cards without an annual fee.
Finally, for almost anyone in their 20’s, they could start a decent retirement fund for $55/month. For someone in their 30’s, they could work their way out of debt and, using the tools I listed above, still travel affordably. For someone in their 40’s and up, the same story applies.
I know that many people with World Ventures will lambast me as someone who “doesn’t get it”, but the problem is that I do get it. That’s fine. I hope you learned something, though, and I hope you enjoyed this post.
Thank you Eddie! Very insightful! Appreciate you taking the time to lay out the details. I’m sure you will hear about it from their reps, but you’ve made irrefutable points which I’m sure they will not discuss.
I have been a member of DreamTrips for over 3 years and have been on several DreamTrips as well as used the booking engine for flights, hotels and rental cars. Happy to share from a MEMBER perspective not from the outside!
Really not interested. The data I pulled together is accurate and the last thing I want on my site is another shill for this MLM.
Actually not all of your data is accurate. I encourage everyone to do their own research and not take the opinions of a “blogger” ?
Your email address’ domain came up as invalid, which is interesting. I am curious, though, as to what part of my data is incorrect. I’d be happy to make any corrections.
Your data is shit Eddie
[Note from Eddie: Michael made it so I’m unable to reply. He has failed to produce anything other than ad hominem attacks]
The problem with ppl is they liKe to bash world ventures without even being a member to each is own WORLD VENTURES HAS BEEN GREAT AND I FIND MYSELF SAVING ALOT OF MONEY AND GOING ON MORE TRIPS THEN EVER B4 BECUZ WV MAKES THAT POSSIBLE
Please tell me where I’m wrong with my data.
you need to go back to school and pay more attention to grammar
Onya Yay
I just read your post after posting mine . To many people think they know everything about it and have never been a member.
Not having a go at you Eddie but you are a bit off on your conclusion
Prove me wrong.
You keep telling me I’m wrong, but you don’t show me how.
Its interesting reading your blog. :). I am a wv rep and i must say there are things that worry me about it. As for most Mlms they apparently hide stuff and i dont undetstand why that has to be. I think everyone has the responsibility to do due diligence especially when it wull affect some one elses life.it can only do good for the whole industry. Also things like MLM needs to work for the “little people”, Who are looking for something to change their lives and make it better. Thanks for your comments. 🙂
If you look at the data I referred to, you’ll see that MLMs set 99% of the “little people” behind where they were before they joined.
Not one to get involved in online blogs but couldn’t resist here…
Problem with any MLM business is often the people, since the company/products are promoted by independent people/reps within their networks (aka. Network Marketing). Bigger the company, harder to control a consistent & honest message. Many people get into Network Marketing for the wrong reasons thinking it’s “Get Rich Quick” or easy money. It’s not, you have to put in the work but the benefits are there. If they weren’t, WV/DreamTrips/Rovia wouldn’t be winning the awards they are, the company wouldn’t be growing at a rapid pace, and you would have people complaining about the value of the trips they actually went on (which they’re not) versus details/cost they haven’t even experienced themselves.
I am a new 2016 WV member who did extensive research prior to joining for I make $100K+/year so the value had to be there on the trips for me to even consider let alone share with my peers. I agree quoting a $69.00 cruise isn’t the way to market this wholesale travel club. Now it could be possible if it is a Welcome DreamTrip and you could apply points, but many try to OverPromise and then under-deliver. Welcome DreamTrips are further discounted trips offered to members if they book a DreamTrip within their first 90 days. Why do they often shave $100 off trips for New Members? Answer is simple. WV wants you to take a trip and experience the value. If you don’t, it’s a matter of he said she said on blogs like these. The value of the product/trips don’t lie for anyone who is willing to sit down with a straight shooting WV rep and have them walk through various trip options. Price them out like Eddie did here to compare… I’m confident you’ll like what you see. Price them out EXACTLY with what the trip includes. What Eddie doesn’t talk about is what’s included in the DreamTrip price… It varies based on trip but the ones I’ve seen packed with value are the following examples: Airport Transfers, Broadway Show tickets & Ellis Island lunch in NY, Swimming with Dolphins in Mexico, ATV Tours in Costa Rica, Hotel Room credits up to $175/room, etc. – These add ons are where I saw the biggest value and are what heightened the “EXPERIENCE” of taking a trip.
The value is the ability to tap into the buying power for 1M+ members. This is the Costco of the travel industry, but even Costco doesn’t give you your monthly cost back in “Costco Dollars” to be spent at the store. Nor says, “Tell 4 people about this, and if they join you don’t pay anymore but still get those Costco Dollars (that we don’t offer)”. This business/concept is not rocket science. Is Costco for everyone? Of course not. Is WorldVentures for everyone? Of course not.
I respect Eddie taking the time to try and put together an unbiased opinion here but the focus of this post seems to be “Worst Case Scenario” of WV and DreamTrips as well. If a couple hundred dollar decision isn’t worth the “Worst Case Scenario” of you paying for a membership, not showing 4 people but getting your fees back in travel points, and then not taking a trip and actually USING the product, thus wasting your money…. then yes don’t sign up. Just like any Network Marketing product, the ones who succeed don’t convince people to join, they just share what they have. My mentor, who doesn’t pressure me to do anything but rather has helped me become a better version of myself so I can help others do the same, told me day 1… Some will, Some won’t , So what.
Explanation of memberships & business side of WV can be found on: [redacted by Eddie — not backlinking anyone]
WV is only good for an incredibly narrow demographic of people. Regardless, I stand by my article wholly.
Is WV paying you?
They haven’t been paying their reps their commissions, residuals or dream car/house payments. They aren’t paying their vendors.
They haven’t been paying their top reps since March of 2017 and the rest of their reps since October of 2017.
Check out the reviews on Glassdoor from the corporate staff. Open talk of bankruptcy, many C suite people leaving in droves. Monthly layoffs of hundreds of employees. Leaderless, rudderless corporate offices. Employees telling people interviewing to run away. Corporate staff telling would be reps not to join.
They are about to fold, and all of you are going to lose whatever you put into the company.
But don’t worry, Wayne and Marc will be fine. They’ll take your money and be the top level of a new MLM.
Suckers.
Hello. I am from Asia….. and I could not remember how I ended up here in this blog… but..
[quote]
“What I can tell you is that less that 30% make a profit, and likely less than 5% make more than $,1000/year. Part of this is on par with any MLM structure, but a lot of it is due to the actual company.”
[/quote]
This is definitely wrong (lazy to go through other points). Nothing is easy, in this world at least. Many who joined WV probably thought it is gonna be easy money, but it is not. Not even close to being easy, but WV provide trainings (you mentioned that), and free videos (via YouTube), and if REAL effort is poured into building ones’ organization in WV for 2-3 years, he/she will definitely be successful, or at least having a substantial amount of passive monthly income for the rest of their lives.
Why did I say so? Do I have evidence? Well, I do not have them right now. Reason is leaning towards privacy. I just joined a month ago, and I am now earning more than $300.00 a month now. That is $3,600.00 a year. Obviously, I am not part of the 5% of those you mentioned because I have seen with my own eyes that my mentor (someone from Singapore who joined this platform 1.5 years ago) is earning approximately $1,700.00 as weekly commission. She did not want to show me her monthly residual income tho, but she is in Director rank as of this moment, almost reaching Marketing Director, which means she earns minimum of $5,000.00 to a maximum of $10,000.00 per month without doing anything. Plus, there are people above her who hit ranks called IMD (International Marketing Director), earning $1,900,000 a year. I think there are only 10-15 of them throughout Asia. Maybe less, but I’m not sure how many are there in the western countries.
Well, I know anyone and everyone can say anything via Internet, but I really think you should revise your article/blog. Yours is since 2014, and it is the ending of 2016 now. Many things has changed in the system. You can look for ‘WV compensation plan’ on Google. Might help you understand a little more on how to earn cash via this platform. About DreamTrips…. Maybe next time when I unknowingly ended up here again.
Cheers man.
Sorry, I know RMDS here. They work 60-80 hour weeks, due to having to keep up with the churn.
Even though they got the BMW and are in the .01% of WV, they still put in about two times the hours of a regular 40 hour a week employee, except, that unlike you slaves who work for nothing, the 40 hour a week guy that you like to laugh at actually gets a check from his employer in a timely, scheduled manner.
Not like you losers who are not getting paid by WV.
And what do you say about getting shafted by WV regarding the Empower fiasco?
As a rep, don’t you love when corporate offers a platinum membership to ex Empower reps at $99 plus monthly, when corporate makes you sell the exact same package at $399 plus monthly?
Undercut by your own employer.
Oh, and those new ex Empower people? They have lower member numbers than a person who’s been making 3 or 4 years of sales for WV, so the brand new guys, who haven’t sold a thing for WV are higher in the chain than the people who have been doing the selling for the last 3 or 4 years.
Suckers.
Everything you said is true and i give you much respect for such a good article. These people are mostly young and looking to get rich quick thanks to instagram and Facebook they think if they can dream it then its their destiny. I don’t feel sorry for them because most of them are so narcissitic and desperate to get rich in an easy way like wv promises . They can’t see the business is selling people a dream and hope. Its not sustainable and not a real business overall its much more into the bernie madoff side of business. It’s ok 5 years from now they will learn. The guys at the top will start a new scam , i mean mlm . while the people at the bottom either feel depressed because they didn’t try hard enough or they realize they were never all going to be millionaires. I have family in this cult , i meant business and its sad to see people believing in becoming millionaires before 30 when they aren’t even making 5k a year . I hope you save some people from losing money in this mlm. They all think they are business owners because they are contractors but a contractor is not actually a business owner……….
Your nearly right but still right of the mark .
I am a property developer that does ok putting it mildly . I am also a member of world Ventures which I think is great so I just want to give you a insight on my opinion as a member and like I said it’s only my opinion but it is from someone that has experience with the company not someone looking in saying how it is .
Firstly. it’s a v.i.p travel club so of course you can’t go on a trip if your not a member that’s the hole idea
Two . You don’t have to Sign people up and do that side of it . You can just travel which is great and I personally have signed up over 12 people that just do that . If you work it you can make money as well which is true because I make money . And yes if you get four people then you don’t pay your monthly and so on and so on. But the company makes more money down the line . Well that’s true to but that’s how they make there money and also pay up front every year for these cheap holidays . The members that go on the trips are everyday people just like you and me . Think about it when you go on a holiday you get on a plane and your not there by your self the plane is full of people. When you do a tour it’s full of people when you stay in a hotel it’s full of people so you see what I’m saying when ever you go on holidays there’s always other people and it’s just like dream trip holidays you go on a trip and there’s other members there other people if you don’t want to talk to them you don’t have to . World Ventures is a good concept which I really enjoy. Like I said I do well with property so I don’t need to sell memberships it I like it and i have had some amazing times and meet some awesome people . Before you say no talk to more people that are in there .
So first you call my data shit, then you tell me I’m nearly right.
My original assertion remains true.
Thanks for this. Is it true that only a small minority would be sucessful in property development?
Mate, there are many things in this post that are wrong.. don’t post shit that’s incorrect and get some facts straight first.
I’m open to hearing about the facts I have wrong.
Please list them out with references for corrections.
Are getting paid?
The only thing wrong in this post is WorldVentures itself.
I won’t be surprised if they close the company just before the upcoming Bootcamps and vamoose with all the money their EMPLOYEES paid for TRAINING (what real business charges their employees to be trained?)
I’ve been a member of World Ventures/DreamTrips for just more than a year. I didn’t get in it to get rich — simply wanted to travel to some 5 Star places at significantly lower costs. I have not signed on other people. Not sure that I will. We pay $600 a year, not $660. We enjoy the long weekend trips. I have yet to find this $69 cruise mentioned, so thanks for the tip!! As a member, I’m about to book a Chicago trip for $360 for three nights. Comparing the costs, the room rates advertised to range 310-349 per night. The trip also includes a dinner cruise, gratuities, jazz festival and more. I’m not in the club to bring others in. And as for traveling with other people, that’s true with any trip we’ve taken. We often find ourselves mingling with new found friends, so there’s no difference here. And if you want to stray from the group, you aren’t required to stay with other WV travelers. Go find a quiet corner and enjoy.
Well, I addressed all those points earlier.
Again, this article is a bit old now, and companies and MLMs do adjust prices, so that’s well within any margin of error.
I’m glad you didn’t join to get rich. There’s about a 2% chance you’d even make a living from it.
I am about to invest in this company and not sure if i should have a lot of doubts. I have read all the comments and still dont know. I dont want to go on these holidays i want to make money.. so how will that work. You will loose your points if u dnt go on holiday and even if its cheaper you will still need to pay for some things.
Scams aren’t investments.
Don’t join.
Hahahahaha! The real deal if losing money and hurting your friends is the deal you want!
Thanks Eddie i nearly robbed myself with this mlm thinking i was gonna make money.
It’s my pleasure! I’m glad you avoided them!
Hope I ain’t so late on this,
Any quick travel advise alternatives you can mention. That’s my main interest.
Look up a local travel agent for you. They’re pros and will be able to help you a lot more than I could!