Have you heard about World Ventures?
It’s the hippest global travel club that offers members-only discounts and lavish world-class vacations! With their exclusive DreamTrips membership, they guarantee big savings, amazing holidays with friends and family, plus the chance to make some extra cash!
RELATED: Why travelling overseas will be so much easier in 2019
What Is WorldVentures?
Have you ever wanted to earn a decent pay while on vacay? WorldVentures Holdings claims that you can! Founders Wayne Nugent and Dan Stammen started the company because they believe travel is an essential part of life. They both had multi-level marketing (aka MLM) backgrounds and paved the road to fun, freedom and fulfilment.
How Does It Work?
Simply put, it’s a membership subscription with an initial sign-up fee and recurring monthly payments. Every dollar gets you a DreamTrips point. As a customer, you collect these points to get Reward DreamTrips. They basically act like discount coupons to get cheaper options on the deals you want.
Besides affordable travel packages, you get access to special DreamTrips events, free transportation, upgraded accommodations, fun excursions, the hottest destinations, and more! You start earning points by referral and it’s called “sharing your membership”. In return, you’re given DreamTrips points for every new friend that signs up.
Seems easy enough, right?
Types Of Membership
Gold Tier
You pay a one-time fee of AUD$295 and pay AUD$74 monthly. This gets you 200 DreamTrips points which you can use immediately. For referrals, you get 100 DreamTrips points for every new active member.
Platinum Tier
You pay a one-time fee of AUD$443 and pay AU$148 monthly. This gets you 300 DreamTrips points that you can use any time. You get 200 DreamTrips points for every new active member you refer.
The Reality Of DreamTrips
As great as DreamTrips sounds, there’s a catch. Although you do get an initial amount of DreamTrips points after signing up, you can’t use any of your earned DreamTrips points until you’ve reached your anniversary. When you finally hit the one-year mark of paying monthly fees, you can only use a limited amount of points for anything you buy. If left unused, any collected points will expire annually.
Always remember that airfare cost is not included! The advertised rates are for a minimum of two people because the prices hike up to almost double for single travellers. This is probably why they encourage you to travel with friends and family instead.
Joining The WorldVentures Biz
If you aren’t satisfied with just the membership, there’s the option of turning it into a personal business! There are two sides to the WorldVentures coin: the customer side and the representative side. It’s entirely optional to become a WorldVentures sales agent, but anyone can apply regardless of background or experience. In fact, they do seminars, workshops, and even boot camps as training for all the reps – but you need to pay for those too!
You start making money through commissions and reaching sales targets. There’s a complicated compensation plan to show how lucrative it can get as more people sign up, and yes, it looks a whole lot like a pyramid scheme.
Representative Business System
Called RBS for short, this is what they call the business side of WorldVentures. To become part of their ‘One Big Team’, you pay a one-time fee of AUD$590 and a monthly payment of AUD$177. For every platinum sale, you get the payout of roughly AUD$74.
Once you’re all set, they even hook you up with your own website! All representatives get paid through an ewallet with a back office login. There’s also an online alternative using their payment portal via Paylution Visa card.
Refer Four And Pay No More
If you get at least four people on your team, WorldVentures completely waives the monthly fees! Take note that if any of your referrals drop out, you’ll get charged as usual unless you replace them with new active members.
The Process Of Cancellation
If you want out, you can cancel any time by getting in touch with their customer service department. Be warned that there have been rants about it taking too long and some cases wherein they actually failed to give refunds.
Is World Ventures A Scam?
While it isn’t totally a scam, the business model counts as multi-level marketing where most of the money is made at the top. It may be tempting to think you can recruit an unlimited amount of members, but it’s been proven that network marketing is not sustainable in the long run. In WorldVentures’ most recent annual income disclosure statement, it was revealed that as much as 80% of representatives made no money at all!
The WorldVentures Foundation
This organisation regularly holds outreach programs for local communities and rural areas. As part of the immersion experience, travellers become what they call ‘voluntours’. This is probably the best part of their campaign to prove that they aren’t just all about the money, but is it enough to clear their reputation?
Reviews, Lawsuits & Investigations
There have been mixed reviews and many complaints from those who experienced working with WorldVentures. While there are a few success stories, there are enough bad ratings to raise concerns. Recently, there was a class-action lawsuit filed in California. They were also placed under investigation for unpaid commissions in some countries they operate in.
There has been some controversy surrounding their legal legitimacy in Brazil since it isn’t listed under their authorised list of offices. They’re losing their appeal in Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Norway as doubts in MLM companies continue to rise.
How Big Is World Ventures Worldwide?
With over half a million members all over the world and more than 120,000 global representatives, it’s business as usual for WorldVentures. Present in over 40 countries, they recently expanded operations to France, Singapore, and Mexico among other cities. MLM businesses are legal in Australia and they’ve got at least 10,000 members and counting!
Conclusion
While it may save you a bit of money to use World Ventures for travel, it would cost you a lot more to start selling for them. Making money off DreamTrips memberships involves very real risks that greatly outweigh the benefits. Get-rich-quick schemes are everywhere but don’t let the numbers fool you. The struggle is real in the world of multi-level marketing, so if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
RELATED: The mistake costing Aussie travellers hundreds
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
