Travelada provides no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

Instead, the company purposefully dodges providing what should be basic due-diligence information;

Now it’s not really about who we are, is it? In reality, Travelada is really all about you.

The Travelada website domain (“travelada.com”) was first registered back in 2011. The domain registration was last updated on April 18th, 2018.

Unfortunately the Travelada domain registration is private and provides no ownership information.

A corporate address on the Travelada website is actually that of K&E Travel.

K&E Travel are based out of Florida and run their own “Independent Travel Agent” opportunity.

It would seem that whoever is behind Travelada has signed up as a K&E travel agent and repacked the service as Travelada.

 

Update 28th December 2018 – It appears a lot of information has been deleted from the Travelada website over the past few months.

Archives reveal that prior to deletion, Travelada cited Mark Elie as its President:

As per Elie’s Travelada corporate bio;

As President of Travelada Mark has the work ethic and knowledge to take the company to a level of success like no other.

Mark’s vision is far-reaching. He believes Travelada will exceed everyons’e expectations except his.

Mark will be integral in helping Travelada grow and making sure that we have the best we can offer in the travel industry.

Despite Elie heading up Travelada, in a comment left under this review he claims he is ‘not involved in Travelada in any way.‘

We’ve brought the inconsistency between Elie’s non-involvement claim and the facts to his attention in the comments below. We await his reply. /end update

 

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.

Travelada Products

Travelada sell $49.95 a month travel memberships. Travelada travel membership provides access to a “private-label booking platform”.

Through the platform Travelada affiliates and retail members can book discounted hotels, cruises and travel related services.

Travelada do not disclose who their booking platform provider is on their website.

Based on their relationship with K&E Travel however, it seems pretty obvious they are Travelada’s platform merchant.

The Travelada Compensation Plan

Travelada do pay commissions on retail travel booked, however most of the compensation plan is geared toward affiliate recruitment.

To qualify for MLM commissions a Travelada affiliate must generate 50 PV a month.

PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by a Travelada affiliate’s monthly fee payment and retail membership sales.

Retail Commissions

Travelada affiliates receive a $25 commission on the sale of travel memberships to retail customers.

$25 is paid out each month for the life of the retail travel membership.

Recruitment Commissions

Travelada pays recruitment commissions 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 first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

At the end of each day Travelada tallies up new affiliate membership fee volume on both sides of the binary team.

Affiliates are paid 10% of volume generated on their weaker binary side.

Leftover volume on the stronger side is carried over the following day.

Note that there is a $5000 cap on weekly recruitment commissions paid out.

To qualify for recruitment commissions, a Travelada affiliate must be up to date with their monthly fees and recruit at least two other affiliates who are also up to date with fee payments.

One final note; I’ve classified Travelada’s binary commissions as being recruitment-based due to their description of what is paid out:

The Dual Team is derived from a dynamic structure that compensates you for effectively generating membership volume within your entire organization and motivating your downline to do the same.

Dual Team Bonuses are earned on qualified membership purchases made by those within your Dual Team structure.

Retail Travelada members aren’t placed in the binary, so the only volume paid out appears to be that of recruited affiliate membership fees.

Matching Bonus (recruitment commissions)

Travelada pay a Matching Bonus on recruitment commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Travelada pay a 10% Matching Bonus on recruitment commissions paid on up to ten unilevel team levels.

How many levels the Matching Bonus is paid out on is determined by the following qualification criteria:

  • recruit and maintain two affiliates and receive recruitment Matching Bonuses on up to two unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain four affiliates and receive recruitment Matching Bonuses on up to four unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain six affiliates and receive recruitment Matching Bonuses on up to six unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain eight affiliates and receive recruitment Matching Bonuses on up to eight unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain ten affiliates and receive recruitment Matching Bonuses on up to ten unilevel team levels

Travel Commissions

When travel is booked through K&E Travel’s discount platform, Travelada receive a commission.

The company shares 48% of that commission with affiliates through a 2×20 matrix.

A 2×20 matrix places a Travelada affiliate at the top of a matrix, with two positions directly under them:

These two positions form the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each.

Levels three to twenty of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Affiliates are placed in the 2×20 matrix via direct and indirect recruitment.

Travel commissions are paid across the matrix when travel is booked under affiliates placed in its twenty levels.

  • all Travelada affiliates receive travel commissions on the first five matrix levels
  • either purchase and/or sell a travel service to a retail customer every 90 days to qualify for travel commissions on up to seven matrix levels
  • either purchase and/or sell three travel services to retail customers every 90 days to qualify for travel commissions on up to ten matrix levels
  • continue to pay the monthly $69.90 affiliate fee to qualify for travel commissions across thirteen matrix levels
  • recruit and maintain three fee-paying Travelada affiliates to qualify for travel commissions on all twenty matrix levels

An alternative twenty-level matrix qualification can be achieved by ‘having an active TACP‘ investment position.

Coded Bonus

The Coded Bonus covers a Travelada affiliate’s first twenty recruited affiliates.

A Coded Bonus is paid out on the recruitment of a Travelada affiliate’s first, fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth recruited affiliates.

The second, fifth, seventh and fourteenth recruited affiliates are “passed up” to the affiliate’s upline (whoever recruited them).

The third, tenth, fifteenth and twentieth recruited affiliates are placed into an Advertising Co-op Pool.

After a Travelada affiliate has recruited twenty affiliates, the Coded Bonus allocations above repeat.

In addition to earning the Coded Bonus on affiliates they recruit, a Travelada affiliate’s downline also passes up their second, fifth, seventh and fourteenth recruited affiliates.

In this manner it is possible to theoretically earn on an unlimited number of downline recruits.

Note that Coded Bonus amounts are not disclosed in the Travelada compensation plan.

Matching Bonus (Coded Bonus)

Travelada pays the Matching Bonus via the same unilevel compensation structure used to pay recruitment matching bonuses (refer to Matching Bonus (recruitment commissions) above).

Travelada caps payable Matching Bonus unilevel team levels at ten.

The Matching Bonus is paid out as 10% of Coded Bonuses earned by affiliates across these ten unilevel team levels.

How many levels a Travelada affiliate earns the Matching Bonus on is determined by their recruitment efforts:

  • recruit and maintain at least three affiliates and receive a 10% Matching Bonus on up to three unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain at least seven affiliates and receive a 10% Matching Bonus on up to five unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain at least ten affiliates and receive a 10% Matching Bonus on up to seven unilevel team levels
  • recruit and maintain at least twenty affiliates and receive a 10% Matching Bonus on all ten unilevel team levels

Note that recruited affiliates must continue to pay their monthly affiliate fee in order to count toward Matching Bonus qualification.

TACP Package Returns

Travelada affiliates invest in TACP packages on the promise of a specified but not publicly disclosed return.

Travelada also fail to disclose TACP package investment costs on their website or in their compensation plan.

Joining Travelada

Travelada affiliate membership is $99.85 and then $69.90 a month.

Conclusion

On the surface Travelada presents itself as your typical travel niche MLM opportunity.

Commissions are paid on retail membership sales and booked travel, however most of the compensation plan is tied to recruitment.

That alone would be enough to write Travelada off as a pyramid scheme. But for the company’s anonymous owners, that’s not enough: Travelada also extends into cryptocurrency and securities fraud.

Before we get into that though, an explanation of how a typical travel niche MLM opportunity works and how Travelada stacks up.

As previously stated, retail commissions in Travelada are generated via $49.95 a month membership sales and travel booked by retail members.

Note that one retail membership sale is not enough to meet the 50 PV MLM commission requirement.

An important point to make but ultimately moot, seeing as an affiliate’s monthly $69.90 fee payment will satisfy the qualification criteria.

When isolated, these parts of Travelada’s compensation plan are legitimate. Unfortunately however that’s now how MLM compliance works.

The rest of Travelada’s compensation plan is tied to and focused on recruitment.

All of the residual commissions have recruitment quotas. And the one commission that has qualification tied to retail bookings, travel commissions, can be overridden by an affiliate’s own purchases, recruitment or TACP investment.

In fact focusing on retail sales will only unlock ten travel commission levels.

To max out travel commission levels recruitment or TACP investment is mandatory.

Given the majority of commissions paid out through Travelada are tied to recruitment, this reduces the MLM opportunity to a chain-recruitment scheme.

I also want to take a moment to address Travelada’s baloney pseudo-compliance.

At the footer Travelada’s compensation plan is the following “legal disclaimer”:

No commissions are paid for the act of recruiting. Compensation is earned only when a sale of our product is made.

Any purchase of any our products or services are completely optional, no ITC is required to sell or purchase a membership, product or service.

Travelada’s website details one affiliate membership option for $99.85 and then $69.90 a month, which includes access to the discount booking engine.

Travelada affiliates are required to purchase and maintain monthly fee payments to access the booking engine, rendering the “affiliate’s don’t have to buy anything” disclaimer a complete lie.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Various parts of Travelada’s compensation plan reveal the company is deep into cryptocurrency.

My first red flag went up when I came across the following in the travel commissions section:

Please note that commissions from the Hotel Benefits Hotel Booking Platform are received by Travelada 30 – 90 days after consumption of the booking and will be payable in DAC at that time.

This was the first mention of “DAC” anywhere on the Travelada website. And the company not providing any further explanation on what DAC was set alarm bells off.

In the matrix commissions section of their compensation plan, Travelada provides more information:

2×20 Travel Matrix Commissions calculations take place monthly and are displayed in your back office at that time.

2×20 Travel Matrix Commissions are then released to your internal DAC Token Ledger 7 days later.

DAC Tokens are readily convertible to the various cryptocurrencies available in your Back Office.

“DAC tokens” can only mean one thing; cryptocurrency.

Why is an MLM travel company through which travel is booked in USD paying affiliates out in a cryptocurrency token?

Yeah I have no idea either.

On public exchanges DAC corresponds with Davinci Coin. As far as I can tell Davinci Coin is a pointless shitcoin that never popped 2 cents.

It’s tied to some hokey South Korean exchange, something something sorry for your loss if you invested.

Travelada’s use of a random shitcoin seemed strange, primarily because I wasn’t able to peg down a reason.

It wasn’t until I got to the recruitment commissions that I was able to confirm what Travelada’s DAC was;

Dual Team Bonuses are distributed as Denelas which are readily convertible to the various cryptocurrencies available in your Back Office.

Denalas doesn’t seem to exist outside of Travelada, meaning it’s just some token shitcoin the company has created.

As per the above quoted paragraphs, Denalas is convertible via the Travelada back office.

This means Travelada is operating an internal exchange.

There’s no legitimate reason for Travelada to pay affiliates in Denalas. In fact the only reason to do so would be to keep real money paid to them by K&E Travel.

Denalas costs Travelada little to nothing to generate. They offload it onto affiliates as commission and bonus payments.

Actual payments aren’t made to affiliates unless they exchange Denalas through Travelada’s internal exchange, which is all manipulated by the company’s anonymous owners.

If Travelada unplugs and/or stops funding said exchange, affiliates are left with nothing.

Again, there is absolutely no legitimate reason for an MLM company to pay commissions in this manner.

In addition to wanting to screw affiliates out of as much money as possible, I suspect Travelada’s TACP investment positions are also tied to Denalas.

Just so there’s no confusion, here’s how Travelada spin their TACP investment offering:

The program targets to pay a minimum daily commissions five days a week until an ITC receives a pre-specified retirement amount on each TACP Package purchased.

Let me break down Travelada’s pseudo-compliance for you:

  • TACP packages = investment
  • minimum daily commissions = guaranteed ROI
  • pre-specified retirement amount = total promised ROI

Travelada affiliates invest in TACP package positions on the promise of daily returns, paid up until a pre-specified total ROI is paid out.

So why not just be upfront about how much a TACP package costs to invest in and how much is paid out?

TACP investment appears totally passive in nature, meaning it’s a security.

Travelada are not registered to offer securities in the US, which means the company is operating its TACP investment scheme illegally.

Anonymous owners, dodgy shitcoin token, illegal investment opportunity – yeah, you know where this going…

With a little bit of research I was able to dig up some specifics on TACP position investment.

Firstly that yes, Travelada are running the TACP investment scheme using their DAC tokens:

Secondly that TACP investment positions are paid out at a rate of 1% a day (five days a week) up to a total 200% ROI:

There’s also “Travelada Travel Tokens” integrated into Travelada’s compensation plan somehow, however zero details are provided.

To what extent K&E Travel are complicit in Travelada’s fraudulent business model I can’t say.

K&E Travel do appear to be a third-party merchant, however there’s no ownership information provided on their website either.

Regardless, Travelada will ultimately play out in one of three ways:

  1. affiliate recruitment will die, causing Travelada to collapse;
  2. the SEC will move to shut down the company; or
  3. K&E Travel will cut access to their booking engine, stopping Travelada from using travel as a front for securities fraud.

In any of those scenarios your money is stolen by Travelada’s anonymous admins and/or frozen by the SEC.

Points for expanding the MLM travel niche well-beyond the typical membership-based pyramid scheme model but, uh yeah.

Unless you like losing money, probably best to give Travelada a wide berth.