TRVL operates in the discount travel booking MLM niche.

The company operates as TRVL Ventures International and is based out of Georgia in the US.

Heading up TRVL are co-owners Spencer Iverson (CEO), Mark Sterling (COO) and Jonathan Green (CLO).

Spencer Iverson first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar in 2017, as founder and President of Nspire Network.

Nspire Network marketed negative ion period pads.

By late 2018 Nspire Network had collapsed. The company was eventually sold off to Wakaya Perfection (now Mfinity Global).

Iverson had another crack at period pads in early 2020. Jewel Sanitary Napkins marketed a range of graphene insert pads.

Jewel Sanitary Napkins are still in business (albeit with a dead website), although Iverson seems to have split.

BehindMLM next came across Iverson in September 2020. Iverson had had enough of period pads and was now pushing forex training as President of Epic Trading.

BehindMLM marked Epic Trading as a $99.99 a month pyramid scheme. Initially focused on forex, Epic Trading has since expanded to cryptocurrency.

Epic Trading’s website is still up and, as of December 2021, Spencer Iverson is still cited as President of the company.

Mark Sterling appears on Epic Trading’s website as Vice President of Sales. Jonathan Green is Epic Trading’s Global Master Distributor.

Either there’s been a recent exodus of Epic Trading corporate, or TRVL is being run in parallel.

If there’s any official integration between Epic Trading and TRVL, it hasn’t been publicly disclosed.

 

Update 13th December 2021 – Mark Sterling has been in touch to advise:

None of the owners, me, Jonathan Green or Spencer Iverson have any association with Epic any longer.

We all separated on amicable terms and wish Epic, the management team and all of the customer base continued success.

Why Sterling, Green and Iverson still appear on Epic Trading’s website as active executives remains unclear. /end update

 

Read on for a full review of TRVL’s MLM opportunity.

TRVL’s Products

TRVL markets a $49 a month retail membership.

In North America, Australia, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China, the membership goes by Daydreamer.

Outside of these countries the membership is sold as Globetrotter.

Both Daydreamer and Globetrotter memberships provide access to a travel discount booking engine.

Such to the extent there’s any difference between Daydreamer and Globetrotter, they aren’t disclosed.

TRVL affiliates, who pay up to $499 and then $129 for membership, receive access to additional travel related services.

TRVL has three tiers of affiliate membership, each of which also provides access to the discount travel booking engine:

  • Weekender – $179 and then $79 a month
  • Explorer – $299 and then $99 a month
  • JetSetter – $499 and then $129 a month

TRVL’s Compensation Plan

TRVL affiliates earn a $10 commission per retail DayDreamer/GlobeTrotter membership they sell.

The MLM side of TRVL pays on recruitment of affiliates and their ongoing payment of monthly fees.

TRVL Affiliate Ranks

There are thirteen affiliate ranks within TRVL’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Affiliate – sign up as a TRVL affiliate
  • Ambassador 1 – recruit three affiliates
  • Ambassador 2 – recruit six affiliates
  • Ambassador 3 – recruit nine affiliates
  • Sapphire – not disclosed
  • Ruby – generate and maintain 15,000 GV a month
  • Emerald – generate and maintain 25,000 GV a month
  • Diamond – generate and maintain 75,000 GV a month
  • Blue Diamond – generate and maintain 200,000 GV a month
  • Black Diamond – generate and maintain 500,000 GV a month
  • Crown Diamond – generate and maintain 500,000 GV a month
  • Blue Crown Diamond – generate and maintain 2,500,000 GV a month
  • Black Crown Diamond – generate and maintain 5,000,000 GV a month

GV stands for “Group Volume”. Group Volume is sales volume generated via the sale of TRVL memberships:

  • the sale of a Globetrotter or Daydreamer retail membership generates 25 GV
  • the sale of a Weekender affiliate membership generates 50 GV
  • the sale of an Explorer affiliate membership generates 75 GV
  • the sale of a Jetsetter affiliate membership generates 100 GV

Note that no more than 33.3% of required GV can come from any one unilevel team leg.

TRVL’s public compensation plan also mentions “additional rank requirements”. These are not disclosed.

Referral Commissions

TRVL affiliates earn a $10 commission per DayDreamer or Globetrotter membership they sell to retail customers.

Recruitment Commissions

TRVL affiliates earn up to $150 in commissions per affiliate they recruit.

  • recruit a Weekender affiliate and earn $50
  • recruit an Explorer affiliate and earn $100
  • recruit a Jetsetter affiliate and earn $150

Residual Recruitment Commissions (signup fees)

Recruitment of a Weekender, Explorer and Jetsetter affiliate generates $30, $40 and $50 in respective residual recruitment commissions.

TRVL pays residual 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.

When a TRVL Weekender, Explorer or Jetsetter is recruited, $30, $40 or $50 is paid upline based on rank.

Weekender recruits

  • the first upline Sapphire receives $5
  • the first upline Ruby receives $5
  • the first upline Emerald receives $5
  • the first upline Diamond receives $4
  • the first upline Blue Diamond receives $4
  • the first upline Black Diamond receives $3
  • the first upline Crown Diamond receives $2
  • the first upline Blue Crown Diamond receives $1
  • the first upline Black Crown Diamond receives $1

Explorer recruits

  • the first upline Sapphire receives $6
  • the first upline Ruby receives $6
  • the first upline Emerald receives $6
  • the first upline Diamond receives $5
  • the first upline Blue Diamond receives $5
  • the first upline Black Diamond receives $3
  • the first upline Crown Diamond receives $3
  • the first upline Blue Crown Diamond receives $3
  • the first upline Black Crown Diamond receives $3

Jetsetter recruits

  • the first upline Sapphire receives $7
  • the first upline Ruby receives $7
  • the first upline Emerald receives $7
  • the first upline Diamond receives $6
  • the first upline Blue Diamond receives $6
  • the first upline Black Diamond receives $6
  • the first upline Crown Diamond receives $4
  • the first upline Blue Crown Diamond receives $4
  • the first upline Black Crown Diamond receives $3

Higher ranked TRVL affiliates earn lower tier unpaid residual recruitment commissions.

E.g. a TRVL affiliate recruits a new Jetsetter. The system searches upline to start paying the $50 residual recruitment commission out.

The first upline affiliate is a Blue Diamond. They receive $33 ($6+$6+$7+$7+$7).

This leaves $17 to pay out. The system searches upline for a Black Diamond or higher ranked affiliate.

This continues until the full $50 is paid out.

Note that any time an upline Black Crown Diamond is found, they receive the outstanding residual recruitment commission amount.

Residual Recruitment Commissions (ongoing monthly affiliate fees)

TRVL charges affiliates an ongoing monthly fee.

The company takes this fee and uses it to pay residual recruitment commissions.

TRVL’s ongoing monthly fee residual recruitment commissions are paid via a 3×9 matrix.

A 3×9 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with three positions directly under them:

These three positions form the first level of the matrix.

The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first three positions into another three positions each (9 positions).

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

Positions in the matrix are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of TRVL affiliates.

Residual monthly fee recruitment commissions are paid based on which membership tier affiliates recruited into the matrix signed up with:

  • each Weekender affiliate pays $4 a month
  • each Explorer affiliate pays $6 a month
  • each Jetsetter affiliate pays $8 a month

Monthly Bonus

TRVL pays a rank-based Monthly Bonus to Ruby and higher ranked affiliates.

  • qualify at Ruby and receive $1000 a month
  • qualify at Emerald and receive $2000 a month
  • qualify at Diamond and receive $5000 a month
  • qualify at Blue Diamond and receive $10,000 a month
  • qualify at Black Diamond and receive $16,000 a month
  • qualify at Crown Diamond and receive $30,000 a month
  • qualify at Blue Crown Diamond and receive $50,000 a month
  • qualify at Black Crown Diamond and receive $100,000 a month

Group Travel Commissions

If a TRVL affiliate refers a group of six or more clients to the company’s “travel affiliate partner”, they receive 20% of the commission TRVL is paid for that booking.

Quarterly Bonus Pool

TRVL takes an undisclosed percentage of company-wide revenue and places it into the Quarterly Bonus Pool.

The Quarterly Bonus Pool is a rank-based pool paid out quarterly.

  • Ambassadors each receive a share in 25% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Sapphires each receive a share in 15% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Rubys each receive a share in 15% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Emeralds each receive a share in 15% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Diamonds each receive a share in 10% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Blue Diamonds each receive a share in 10% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Black Diamonds each receive a share in 5% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool
  • Crown Diamonds each receive a share in 5% of the undisclosed percentage Quarterly Bonus Pool

Joining TRVL

TRVL affiliate membership costs between $179 and $499:

  • Weekender – $179 and then $79 a month
  • Explorer – $299 and then $99 a month
  • JetSetter – $499 and then $129 a month

The more a TRVL affiliate spends on membership the higher their income potential.

TRVL Conclusion

I feel like the travel discounts MLM niche has been played out. The collapse of the niche’s biggest company, WorldVentures, cemented this last year.

TRVL is more of the same. A discount travel booking engine, run by an undisclosed third-party, attached to an MLM compensation plan.

TRVL’s compensation plan is heavily geared towards recruitment, lending itself to TRVL operating as a pyramid scheme.

While TRVL has a DayDreamer/GlobeTrotter retail membership, it’s clearly not a focus.

For starters a paltry $10 commission is paid out on the sale of a retail TRVL membership. Weigh this against up to $150 on recruitment, plus residual recruitment commissions.

Next, TRVL’s compensation plan makes no mention of residual retail commissions.

TRVL might pay residual retail membership commissions, but they aren’t detailed – because again, retail isn’t the focus here.

Further emphasizing TRVL’s lack of retail focus is the lack of retail volume qualifiers for rank advancement.

Higher TRVL ranks need higher monthly volume (GV). TRVL’s affiliate membership volume dwarfs retail membership volume (25 GV retail vs. 50 to 100 GV on recruitment), meaning recruitment is the quickest way to rank advance.

As for travel commissions, retail or otherwise TRVL only pay commissions if group travel for six or more is booked.

That’s not an impossible bar to clear but it means the majority of travel booked isn’t commissionable. Well it is, but only TRVL will be receiving commissions.

If you want to verify your potential upline is participating in a pyramid scheme, ask them how much of their personal monthly volume is from DayDreamer/GlobeTrotter memberships. Based on their total monthly PV, work out what percentage is retail volume.

If it’s less than 51%, that affiliate is running their TRVL business as a pyramid scheme.

Considering, for reasons laid out above, retail isn’t a focus in TRVL, I’d be surprised if company-wide retail membership volume is anywhere near 51%.

The math behind pyramid schemes guarantees that when they collapse, the majority of participants lose money.

 

Update 10th June 2022 – Well that didn’t last long.

As per the above banner on TRVL’s website, they’ve been sold off to DreamTrips International.

DreamTrips International is the continuation of WorldVentures, after it was bought out after bankruptcy by the murky group Verona International Holdings.

SimilarWeb’s analysis shows traffic to TRVL’s website peaked in March before collapsing in April.

There was some recovery in May but I guess not enough to leave the business viable.