Hodo Global Review: Retail viability of $308 access to travel discounts?
Hodo Global are based out of Texas and operate in the travel MLM niche.
As per the company’s website, Hodo Global is headed up by CEO John Hammack.
Of note is the Texas address provided on the Hodo Global website belongs to bHip Global, a company owned by Terry Lacore.
Terry Lacore first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as co-founder of Rippln.
Rippln was a disaster from the get-go, with the company eventually collapsing nine months after it was first announced.
Prior to Rippln, Lacore was the subject of a securities fraud investigation by the SEC in 2008. Lacore settled and paid a $50,000 fine.
John Hammack (right) cited himself as a co-founder of Hodo Global on his LinkedIn profile.
Hammack and his wife have made a name for themselves in the MLM industry with Ambit Energy.
As recently as June 14th, Hammack was still appearing on Ambit Energy affiliate training calls. Hammack’s Facebook profile cites him “starting work” at Hodo Global on June 15th.
Read on for a full review of the Hodo Global MLM opportunity.
The Hodo Global Product Line
Hodo Global market TripSpin, a subscription membership that provides ‘special negotiated guaranteed pricing and savings on trips, travel, vacations, and more‘.
TripSpin itself appears to be accessible via an app (Hodo Connect), through which TripSpin Rewards can be obtained.
TripSpin rewards ‘can be redeemed for FREE trips, travel, vacation, products, and more‘.
TripSpin retails for $308 and then $88.88 a month ($48.88 a month in Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico and the Philippines).
The Hodo Global Compensation Plan
The Hodo Global compensation plan pays affiliates to sell TripSpin subscriptions.
Direct commissions are available with residual commissions paid out via a binary compensation structure.
Hodo Global Affiliate Ranks
There are eight affiliate ranks within the Hodo Global compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- 1 Star – maintain two TripSpin subscription sales (1 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $200 in weekly binary commissions
- 2 Star – maintain four TripSpin subscription sales (at least 1 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $400 in weekly binary commissions
- 3 Star – maintain six TripSpin subscription sales (at least 2 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $600 in weekly binary commissions
- 4 Star – maintain eight TripSpin subscription sales (at least 2 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $1200 in weekly binary commissions
- 5 Star – maintain ten TripSpin subscription sales (at least 3 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $2400 in weekly binary commissions
- 6 Star – maintain ten TripSpin subscription sales (at least 3 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $4800 in weekly binary commissions
- 7 Star – maintain ten TripSpin subscription sales (at least 3 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $7200 in weekly binary commissions
- Ambassador – maintain twelve TripSpin subscription sales (at least 4 on either side of the binary team) and have earned at least $9600 in weekly binary commissions
Hodo Global affiliates are also required to maintain the following TripSpin Rewards qualification criteria on a rolling six month basis:
- 1 Star – 2000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 6000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 2 Star – 4000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 12,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 3 Star – 6000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 18,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 4 Star – 8000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 24,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 5 Star – 10,000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 30,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 6 Star – 12,000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 36,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- 7 Star – 14,000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 42,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
- Ambassador – 25,000 personal TripSpin Rewards points or 75,000 downline TripSpin Rewards points
Upon gaining a new rank, a six month grace period on TripSpin Rewards qualification applies.
Retail Commission Qualification
In order to qualify for retail commissions, a Hodo Global affiliate must
- either purchase a TripSin subscription or sell at least one subscription to a retail customer within 4 weeks of joining or
- generate 500 BV
Once qualified, a Hodo Global affiliate maintains retail commission qualification by generating at least 50 or 25 BV a month (corresponds with $88.88 and $48.88 monthly TripSpin subscription fee).
MLM Commission Qualification
To qualify for MLM commissions, a Hodo Global affiliate must
- sell at least two TripSin subscriptions (one on either side of the binary) and
- generate at least 1000 TripSpin Rewards points every six months (six month grace period)
Retail Commissions
Hodo Global affiliates “pass up” the first retail commission they earn to the first retail commission qualified affiliate in their upline.
In turn, they also receive pass-up retail commissions from affiliates they and their downlines recruit.
The initial pass-up retail sales commission is $15 and then $4/$2 a month.
After the pass-up sales, how many retail TripSpin retail sales are made determines an affiliate’s retail sale commission rate:
- one retail subscription sale = $15 and then $4 or $2 a month
- two to five subscription sales = $30 and then $8 or $4 a month
- six to ten subscription sales = $60 and then $16 or $8 a month
- eleven or more subscription sales = $100 and then $20 or $12 a month
I’m Qualified Bonus Pool
The I’m Qualified Bonus Pool is made up of $30 of every TripSpin subscription sold each week.
Hodo Global affiliates can earn a share in a share in the I’m Qualified Bonus Pool by qualifying for MLM commissions within 30 days of signing up as a Hodo Global affiliate.
A matching bonus on I’m Qualified Bonus Pool payouts is paid to the first 3 Star ranked upline affiliate who also has qualified for a share in the pool.
Differential Override
A $20 override is paid out on each TripSpin subscription sale made by Hodo Global affiliates.
- 4 Star ranked affiliates are paid $5
- 5 Star ranked affiliates are paid $9
- 6 Star ranked affiliates are paid $12
- 7 Star ranked affiliates are paid $14
- Ambassador ranked affiliates are paid $20
When a TripSpin subscription sale is made, the system searches the upline for a 4 Star or higher ranked affiliate.
Once found, a corresponding Differential Override payment is made according to their rank (4 Star affiliates are paid $5, 6 Star affiliates are paid $12 etc.).
If the first affiliate found is lower than the Ambassador rank, a payment is made and the system continues to search for a higher ranked affiliate to pay the remainder of the Differential Override out to.
Eg. The first affiliate found is a 6 Star ranked affiliate. The system pays them $12, leaving $8 still to be paid out.
The system then continues to search the upline for a 7 Star or Ambassador ranked affiliate.
If a 7 Star affiliate is found, they are paid $2 and the system searches for an Ambassador affiliate to pay the remaining $6 out to.
If an Ambassador affiliate is found, they are paid the remaining $8 and the system stop searching.
Residual Commissions
Residual commissions in Hodo Global are paid out via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting each of the initial two positions into another two positions each.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of new Hodo Global affiliates.
Subsequent levels of the binary team are created as required, with a binary team theoretically able to extend to an infinite depth.
Each week, Hodo Global tracks generated BV on each side of the binary team:
- TripSpin subscription sale = 250 BV
- $88.88 monthly subscription fee = 50 BV
- $48.88 subscription fee = 25 BV
A $50 commission is paid out when 500 BV is matched on both sides of the binary team.
A weekly cap of $30,000 applies to each Hodo Global affiliate position within the compensation plan.
Matching Bonus
A Hodo Global affiliate can earn a 10% matching bonus on binary commissions earned by their downline
The matching bonus is paid out down a maximum of five levels of recruitment as follows:
- 1 Star – 10% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
- 2 and 3 Star – 10% on levels 1 and 2
- 4 and 5 Star – 10% on levels 1 to 3
- 6 and 7 Star – 10% on levels 1 to 4
- Ambassador – 10% on levels 1 to 5
Lifestyle Bonus
The Lifestyle Bonus is a weekly commission paid to 1 Star ranked affiliates or higher:
- 1 Star – $150 a week
- 2 Star – $350 a week
- 3 Star – $700 a week
- 4 Star – $800 a week
- 5 Star – $850 a week
- 6 Star – $900 a week
- 7 Star – $950 a week
- Ambassador – $1000 a week
Joining Hodo Gloal
Affiliate membership with Hodo Global is $88.
An additional $9.88 monthly fee is payable after a Hodo Global affiliate’s first 12 months.
Conclusion
Beyond selling access to discounts on travel and travel-relates services, Hodo Global has nothing to do with travel.
The Hodo Global compensation plan revolves around the sale of TripSpin subscriptions, which alone is simply access to third-party discounts.
Any travel booked through a TripSpin subscription has nothing to do with Hodo Global’s MLM opportunity.
TripSpin Rewards is an attempt to encourage booking of travel and travel services through TripSpin, however this appears to be limited to rebates.
That said, TripSpin Rewards might just be key to ensuring Hodo Global doesn’t devolve into chain-recruitment.
As with all “access to travel discounts” MLM opportunities, the legitimacy of Hodo Global lies in its ability to market access to travel discounts to retail customers.
This hinges on whether a non-affiliate is likely to pay $308 and then $88.88 or $48.88 a month for access to discounts.
Personally I think that’s an extremely limited market and most definitely a hard sell, with TripSpin subscription coming in at $1285.68 annually.
Right off the bat, a retail customers would have to save (not spend) over a thousand dollars annually to justify a TripSpin subscription.
On the surface, whether TripSpin is retail viable or not doesn’t appear to be an important factor for a new Hodo Global affiliate to consider.
New Hodo Global affiliates can self-qualify for commissions by purchasing their own TripSpin subscription. Payment of the TripSpin monthly fee then qualifies them for retail subscription sales.
MLM commission qualification is then just a matter of recruiting two affiliates. Get them to do the same and it’s quite possible to qualify as a 1 Star affiliate and be making $150 a week.
TripSpin Reward criteria doesn’t kick in for six months, so all that’s needed is self-funded qualification and recruitment.
After six months though the TripSpin Reward criteria might pose a problem. Hodo Global affiliates not interested in actually using their TripSpin subscription to book services are going to have a problem.
They need to generate TripSpin Reward points if they want to remain MLM commission qualified (and/or maintain rank).
This is where retail TripSpin subscriptions become important. Retail TripSpin subscription customers have no other reason to fork out for a subscription other than a genuine desire to book travel at a discount.
That travel generates TripSpin Rewards points. Affiliate-booked travel and travel services also generates points but it’s a risk. With retail customers, you’re guaranteed they’ll book something (otherwise why they paid over $300 and continue to pay a monthly fee for access escapes me).
In this sense Hodo Global affiliates are encouraged to drive retail TripSpin subscription sales. The viability of the subscription as a retail product however remains something I’m not entirely convinced about.
As a prospective Hodo Global affiliate, ask yourself if you’d fork out $1285 for access to travel savings each year.
Whatever your gut reaction to that proposition is, is probably what you’re going to face when you market the TripSpin subscription to non-affiliates.
Update 29th October 2017 – A few days ago Wealth Generators announced they’ve acquired Hodo Global.
Wealth Generators is pleased to announce that Wealth Generators and Hodo Global have combined their collective distributors and certain contractual licenses to increase sales worldwide.
Wealth Generators and Hodo have entered a contribution and exchange agreement whereby Hodo distributors and contracts will be transferred to Wealth Generators in exchange for equity ownership.
Wealth Generators gets Hodo Global affiliates, Hodo Global management gets ownership in Wealth Generators.
Who buys all these travel mlm things? Are any of them actually legit?
The whole premise seems ridiculous with the amount of big name travel sites out there.
As always its never about the travel but always about the awesome income plan and magical numbers of recruiting anyone that has a pulse.
You get to travel with your new found wealth you gain. Sell the dream and get others that do the same.
Shhh you thinking too hard if you think its about the travel go back and look at the comp plan repeat till you feel the need to recruit others.
(mind control complete)
I’m actually saving money with TripSpin…. The money people spend going through a traditional travel agent is ridiculous… Thanks HODO.
I booked a hotel stay for 3 night stay via a friend’s tripspin account, and it is way cheaper than other travelling website.
Thank u tripspin! I had no problem check in and had a wonderful experience!
Not worth spending $308 of your own money to access though, right?
Therein lies the problem.
lol. wacky scammers.
I paid for subscription, actually there are 2 price structures, first is the free tripspin membership where the prices are 2-10% cheaper than agora.
The paid subscribers get to access to the much lower hotel rates up to 30% saving compare to agoda, plus access to cruise and flight discount.
On whether worth it or not, well it depends, if you or your family travels a lot you will definitely save a lot and you also had the opportunity to earn reward points by referring friend and they make any purchase.
The rewards point then can be use to redeeem hotel etc for yourself or convert it into cash on VISa card provided by HODO.
A friend of mine joined a MLM company wanting to become a travel agent. Her sponsor had no idea how to sell travel. But one thing she kept telling my friend “You must recruit”.
This is what Pyramid schemes do. They have no interest in selling Travel they want you to recruite even more Travel Agents.
Why would you want to do that because they become your competition in the travel business.
I heard that Hodo Travel is defunct and closed. They were big in Asia with a big line of people but even that seems to have stopped.