Have you been approached by someone telling you that you can join a private program that can pay you while you travel the world? Have they talked to you about how “you should be here” living the #dreamtripslife with them?
While it all sounds great in theory, it’s not all as easy as it may sound. Honestly, let me explain to you how exactly their program works – and then you can decide for yourself if you want to invest your time and money with them or if you prefer earning your money some other way.
Update: In May of 2017 a Pyramid Scheme lawsuit has been filed against WorldVentures (company that owns and operates DreamTrips) in U.S. The case is still ongoing in 2020.
2020: There are 170+ of complaints about WV, you can read them here.
Update June 2019: Taipei prosecutors charged the US owners of WorldVentures Taiwan (operators of Dreamtrips) on allegations of running a pyramid scheme.
The person that approached you, probably talked to you about this exclusive “lifestyle” or “community” or travellers. They are probably very vague about it, but there is a promise of travels and vacations, for practically no money. Be careful – the person that approached you is probably a seller and only wants to make a commission off you. They are particularly active on Instagram, posting pictures of themselves #makingalivingliving as a #travelpreneur in exotic locations.
Dreamtrips works in a very simple way – first you have to become a member of their community to have access to amazing travel tours and discounts.
(the cheapest membership I found is an initial 250$, with a 50$/month fee. That doesn’t include any trips.).
Their products are the tours they offer. Here is an example:
It might look legitimate at a first glance – but as a person that has traveled a lot in the past, I urge you to consider the following things.
The person that is trying to sell you this program will argue that you will never have to pay the actual price in dollars, because as a member or WorldVenture, you can earn “Dreamtrips Points” to exchange for these trips. (Guess why they want you to sign up so bad? They want those points themselves!)
And what they’re doing is what you’ll be doing – pitching a lifestyle and an amazing opportunity to people through social media.
Dreamtrips is only one of the products offered by the company called WorldVenture. Other products are called Dreamtrips life, VolunTours and Luxury Dreamtrips.
World Venture is a “direct sales” company – in other words an MLM (multi level marketing). There are basically two ways you can make money using their program.
While I would not call WorldVenture and their products such as Dreamtrips a scam, I would not consider them a reliable way to make money online. Simply the high price of their membership you will have to pay every month are probably going to cost you more than you will ever earn. And their “exclusive” tours are simply not that great compared to non-exclusive travel tours, where you also have the complete freedom to shop around and compare prices with others.
While researching WorldVenture I stumbled upon a document from FTC (US Federal Trade Commission) where we clearly see that 99.97% of WorldVenture participants lost money in 2008. This means that out of 10,000 participants only 3 will actually make a profit. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would join an MLM with these odds.
There are plenty of travel tours you can promote online that do not require any subscription fees to join. This concept is called Affiliate Marketing (something I have been doing for the past 10 years) and you can absolutely earn money in the travel industry by promoting all kinds of tours and tickets to people online. You simply have to promote a good tour, and you earn a commission if someone buys! All without the risk of being stuck paying some kind of monthly fee. If you want to try it out, and become a real digital nomad and internet entrepreneur – it will not cost you ANY money but only some knowledge and hard work. Most of “tour websites”, airlines and hotels have affiliate programs and they are free to join.
When I started learning about online business possibilities I stumbled upon a training platform in late 2007. I decided to try out their training and I loved it. I built my whole online business with them and I am still an active member to this day. Their community is simply awesome, their training is constantly updated and very easy to follow. The best part? It’s completely free. The Starter account doesn’t cost a dime and doesn’t even require you typing in your credit card number. So yes, there are legit and reputable platforms that will teach you how to actually build a real online business.
If you have any questions please do use the comment form below.
Alex
Step by step course. No experience or money required.
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Alex I’m interested in legitimate travel promotion ideas, affiliations, etc., as you mentioned.
Can you point me in that direction?
Feel free to email me :)
Hi David.
Most airline companies have affiliate programs (of course all free to join). The same goes to most travel booking websites.
You can also look into affiliate networks such as Commission Junction, Rakuten, ShareaSale, they have several travel related offers you can promote ;)
Alex
Hi Alex
How do I join the affiliate marketing.
Hi Lawrence.
Affiliate Marketing is not a company but rather a business model. You can take my free affiliate marketing course.
I am trying to join just for the saving in packages . Alex can you tell me if this is a good Idea?
Hi Rosa.
I have heard several reports from people involved that there aren't really any savings.
You're better off using proper websites to find good deals on trips.
Damn it! Damn it! I already signed up... something told me when I looked at those horrible prices that it was a scam. I had already planned on dropping it but reading this information solidified my choice. $150 down the drain.
Hi Tiffany.
It's unfortunate that you lost money, however it happens to most of us at some point. I lost quite a bit of money to scams when I was first starting to learn about independent online work. I call it a lesson :)
Alex, if you’re gonna write about a company, first know how to spell the name of the company, based on what you wrote you never sat down with the owner or taken a tour at the corporate office which is offered! I have had much saving and experiences. Example; took an island trip we (6 of us adults) spent $132. each for 5 days all inclusive, got my airfare $100 cheaper through Rovia, it’s #1 booking search engine, we did the research and I could not get this experience anywhere else! We consumed $9,450. food, drinks, fine dinning! Do your research! This company encourages others to be their best, it’s constantly strives to give the best of trips, teaches members to be servant leaders; helping others locally and globally, the best part, co-create a world that people want to raise their kids in! Glad I said Yes!!
Hi, Theresa.
I almost missed your comment as your domain name comes up as SPAM/SCAM so your comment gets blocked by several services. I certainly do not meet the owner of the company in order to voice my opinion. There are numerous reports from people who joined WV (DreamTrips) and felt scammed, ripped off and manipulated. There is no denying that.
Thanks, unfortunately I have already joined with my 100 dollars,i have read all the comments and I believe its true and all about convincing people to join and earn a commission.
What you are taught before joining is different to what they teach you after signing up. I can not recommend my friend to join.
Thanks all for your comments
Hey Abel, it's unfortunate to hear that they got you.
Best of luck to you!
Happy New Year... was introduced just a few days ago but because I have been scammed before I don't really believe in all this and after reading all this comments I do believe I can never never be scammed again... and good luck to those who do join enjoy... thank you Alex
The new social media ploy for WV in November of 2018 is to flood Glassdoor.com with fake reviews from corporate employees. Unfortunately for WV, other employees and ex-employees are writing real reviews about what is going on there, including more confirmation that WV is in dire financial problems, owing reps and vendors millions combined. Also news that an investor has been found and will probably own the company by the end of the year. Here is part of one of the comments…
No review here could really do justice to the turn around this place has gone through in the last 3 ish years. suffice it to say we were at over 500k members and growing 3 years ago and are now around 180k…steady decline and no plan or end insight to turn things around at this point… other than opex cuts across the board. most importantly due to the triangle shape of the business model with less and less and less members willing to sign up on the mlm side and new competition in the mlm+travel space (former seniors here left to start their own travel mlm) the company is in dire straights financially and we are in a cash crunch that is closing around us like a vice. we managed to find an investor but there deal terms are so unfavorable to us they will likely own the company by eoy. less members = less travelers= less revenue=less employees=…well you get the idea. we are now facing yet another round of deep cuts and we owe huge sums to vendors, we are being sued on multiple fronts with reps/leaders claiming we are not paying their commissions (hint “worldventures lawsuit south africa” in search for fun reading) and when rawanda calls you a pyramid scheme and wont let you do business there its only a matter of time folks. i mean norway decided it was awhile ago, ps they are in the EU so who knows when that will spread. we pay more in legal fees than generally any other department gets…
look most people here are simply getting paid well enough to look the other way, but even they are jumping ship at this point. we had a new cfo for like a month before she was called by god to go somewhere else. she was like the 3rd ot 4th. similarly we are on like the 4th or 5th cto. like the third coo/ceo…all in the last like year. on the plus side though generally we dont have much to work on day to day so the hours are good. but to be sure anyone with any sense around here expects the doors could be bolted shut at any moment, either due to legal or financial problems. some have reverted to retaining only a paper-bag and minimal personal affects around the office just incase. folks it is going to be a really bumpy ride until the train comes to a stop.
Hey Rob! Are you one of the members at Dreamtrips/WorldVentures? I am very curious where the information about posting fake reviews on Glassdoor comes from.
Also it's a very interesting comment you posted. I assume it comes from someone inside the company. Could I possibly get a source for that comment? It's cute how they're calling it "the triangle shape" business.
Alex
Happy Holidays Alex!
I was a WV member and rep. I still know people who are in the program, trying to get their money back (doubtful at best at this point). The info on the Glassdoor fake posts come from the corporate employees themselves. If you read the reviews, it's mentioned a number of times that HR is actively getting employees to write false reviews.
The above comment comes from Glassdoor.com. I think it is on the second page of returns from the Worldventures Holding in Plano, TX entry.
It was written by a present manager at the Plano office. It is titled "180,000 reasons to run away" and is dated Oct 19,2018.
Sorry this took so long, I've had some other things to do recently.
Hello, I respect your opinion a 100 Alex, but what resonated with me in your "research" is the fact that you so call highlighted the so call "bad things" about this company or the industry for that matter, but you are out here promoting whatever "affiliate marketing" is, that is bad for business my friend. With that being said, I am representative of this company you took the time out to research and it has been marvelous for me thus far, while some persons are not interested in making money from this company, they do enjoy their DREAMTRIPS! And those who actually take the business serious are making serious money from it, I believe living in a 3rd world country such as Jamaica, this company has been a blessing, it has given us opportunities that many of us have not dreamt of, so please, I am imploring you to do proper research and keep updating your posts on stuff like this. All the best in your endeavors.
Affiliate marketing just like multilevel marketing is a kind of business and not a particular company. I think Alex was just trying to make a comparison between affiliate marketing and multilevel marketing.
Hi Ridani.
I base my opinion on facts, such as documents from FTC which reveal that 99.97% of WorldVenture participants lose money. I don't think there should even be an argument about this company or a business model.
The only reason I talk about affiliate marketing so much is because it's an amazing business model. It does not cost a single penny to join and you can work with most reputable companies such as Amazon, eBay, WalMart and many many others.
As you suggested, I do "update" my research from time to time but it seems like whenever I look at the news about WV or DreamTrips there is always a new lawsuit against these companies not paying out their pyramid reps. Should I go on?
will Dream Trips be responsible for your visa as a member or you need to secure your visa yourself.
Of course they will not be responsible for your travel. It's all on you.
World ventures are selling Flye card. What is the take
The Flye card has been a total disaster for WV and is one of the main reasons that WV is in such bad financial straits. After 3 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, the card still does not work as promised. It still cannot be offered to the public in it's condition. Reps got taken to the cleaners by WV yet again, with slick but untrue promises about the card (like the memberships themselves, they were supposed to sell themselves). Unfortunately, more people are going to Android Pay, Google Pay or ApplePay, which are free and run by reputable companies.
I haven't heard of Flye cards so I can't comment on that.
However the latest news I've heard is that a pyramid scheme lawsuit is files against World Ventures in the US! That's the important news.
Alex
Yes Rob, I am talking about the Melody Yiru case.
Is that the Yiru RICO case in Dallas Federal Court that you're talking about?