Is there a World Ventures travel scam going on? First, let me introduce myself: My name’s Eric, and I have wanderlust. There. I said it.
The whole purpose behind me creating this website was to create revenue online so I could travel. And that’s why I looked into World Ventures. Is World Ventures a a legit way to make money online and see the world?
Most people nowadays are very careful about getting involved with anything that has those three little letters in it’s branding: MLM. Multilevel marketing (also known as Network marketing) has a negative stigma associated with it because people instantly associate it with pyramid schemes.
So how does this travel club with a network marketing compensation plan stack up? Is it just another scheme? In this World Ventures Review I’m going to show you what World Ventures is, how it works, how much it costs, and if it’s worth it.
World Ventures Travel Scam – Is This a Legit Way to Travel & Earn Money?
Watch my World Ventures video review below and see how much you’re really paying for your Dream Trips. I’ll cover both the customer side and the business side and whether each are worth your time and money.
So What is World Ventures?
World Ventures is a privately held company with active Independent Representatives and members in 34 markets. In business since 2005, it operates as a travel club with a network marketing angle for recruiting.
According to the World Ventures website they are the leading direct seller of vacation club memberships.
World Ventures has a customer side and a representative side.
With every MLM business, there must be a product to make it legal. The product with World Ventures is the membership. The pitch is that as a World Ventures customer you’ll save money through discounted pricing packages & enjoy curated Dream Trip experiences.
As a World Ventures representative, you can potentially earn money by selling memberships and also recruiting a team who does the same. You’ll get commissions based on not only your membership sales, but your team’s sales as well.
If you’ve ever participated in any MLM or network marketing business plan, then this should sound very familiar to you. It’s network marketing 101.
How Much Does World Ventures Cost to Join? (Customer Side)
There are several tiers to the World Ventures membership as a customer: Titanium, Platinum, Gold, and Standard. The two most popular are Platinum and Gold.
The costs to join World Ventures are as follows:
- Standard Membership – $99 Initial Membership Fee + $31.99/monthly
- Gold Membership – $279.98 Initial Membership Fee + $56.99/monthly
- Platinum Membership – $479.98 Initial Membership Fee + $99.99/monthly
- Titanium Membership – $999.99 Initial Membership Fee + $149.99/monthly
You might think these packages are a bit expensive, and I would absolutely agree.
As a Platinum member, for example, shelling out $500 along with a recurring $100/month is steep. But, there is a way to remove the monthly premiums. It involves referring 4 others to join as World Ventures customers.
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Get 4 Pay No More!
You may have noticed the “Get 4 Pay No More” banner across the top of that pricing breakdown. This means that if you refer 4 customers to World Ventures you no longer have to pay your monthly dues while they stay active.
In my opinion, this is the only way to become a customer that gives you true travel savings.
For example, if in your second month you refer 4 customers who decide to join, then, starting on your third month, your monthly premiums are waived! This will continue as long as those customers you referred stay active.
What Do You Get For Your Monthly Travel Premiums?
Every dollar of your membership premiums convert into World Ventures DreamTrips points to further discount a vacation package.
$1 = 1 DreamTrip point. So if you’re a Platinum member paying $99.99/month this means every month you are accruing 100 World Ventures Dream Trips Points that you can use to reduce vacation package pricing.
However, these DreamTrips points aren’t available to you until your year anniversary, and if you leave before one year you lose them.
You do start with some DreamTrip points that you can use right away. As a Platinum member you’ll have 300 DreamTrip points you can use right away, and as a Gold member you’ll have 200.
Is that a little bit confusing? Don’t worry. Let me show you how it works with this Australian DreamTrip I took in March of 2017.
This is an example of a World Ventures Welcome DreamTrip. 4 days and 3 nights in Melbourne at a luxurious resort hotel with a full day Great Ocean Road excursion for $399. Also included is a daily buffet breakfast, 1 lunch, and 1 buffet dinner. Pricing is per person, minimum 2.
Take a look at the bottom left corner of that photo above for the Australian DreamTrip. You see that sticker in the bottom left? It says “Apply up to 100 Points”.
This means that you can apply 100 DreamTrip points to this trip. With those, this package gets discounted $100 from its total, making it now $349/ea. for a couple.
However, if you’re traveling solo, prices go way up.
When I changed the number of travelers from 2 to 1 there was a significant price increase from $349/ea. to $598. I was able to apply my 100 DreamTrip points though, so with that I was able to bring it down to $498 for the 3 night stay.
At that price point, I would say this is a great deal. However, you have to remember that you’re paying monthly premiums every month that need to be factored in.
As a Platinum member, for example, you’ve paid $1200 in premiums throughout the year. Taking 2 Dream Trips this year? Then don’t forget to add in the additional $600 per trip.
Additionally, World Ventures DreamTrips vacation packages do not cover airfare. Major bummer.
That’s a big one. Buying your airfare is the most expensive part of any trip and gets really expensive when you need to buy tickets for specific dates.
Another thing to ask: Is that “discount” I’m getting by applying my Dream Trip Points really a discount if I technically PAID for that “discount”?
There are some extras that are included with your membership. These are nice perks, but remember, you’re paying for them monthly whether you use them or not.
Gold Extras:
- Airport transfers, welcome receptions, hosts, excursions, and activities on DreamTrips with 20 or more adults travelers
- Exclusive travel deals year round
- Flight accident insurance
- DreamTrips Mall
- DreamTrips concierge
- Personal website
- Airport parking and limousine service discounts
Platinum Extras:
- All the Gold membership extras
- 7 day advanced booking access to DreamTrips
- Access to exclusive DreamTrip Platinum experiences
- Trip-specific upgrades on many DreamTrips, such as resort credits, room upgrades, lift tickets, green fees, spa discounts, culinary classes and more.
- Ability to use 50 percent more DreamTrips Points on DreamTrips
- Emergency evacuation services
World Ventures also has dining and entertainment perks. If you go out to eat or shop through participating merchants, portions of your purchases are credited to your World Ventures account for future travel.
Get 3000 Dream Points from your referrals in one year and World Ventures removes the limits for how many Dream Points you can use on any trip. In the Dream Trip example above, if I qualified and had 498 or more Dream Points to use, I’d be able to apply them all and get the Dream Trip without paying anything extra.
To accrue those 3000 Dream Points in a single year you would have to refer 15 Platinum memberships or 30 Gold memberships or a combination of both. Is it possible? Yes. Does that happen very often at all? No.
World Ventures Gold and Platinum Membership Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Discounted luxury stays available all over the world.
- Many of the Welcome Dream Trips available to brand new members have an on-site representative to help you with anything you need. They can suggest places to go and are really friendly and good at their job.
- You can use your monthly dues and enrollment fees directly to further discount most Dream Trips.
- The group dynamic is a fun one.
- Potential for free vacation packages if you make enough referrals.
Cons:
- Membership can be expensive.
- Airfare is not included.
- Discounted stays aren’t nearly as cheap for a single traveler. The Australian DreamTrip went from $399/ea. to $598 for 1 traveler.
- While there are plenty of trips you can book throughout the year, some go quickly and are unavailable.
- You don’t have absolute freedom when booking packages. You have to plan around the dates they have set, not your own.
- If luxury accommodations aren’t your focus, you can find much cheaper vacation packages, many including airfare, through Expedia, Priceline, or a travel agent.
- Unless you’re making lots and lots of referrals, you can never quite catch up to using 100% of your accrued DreamTrips points that come from your monthly dues. The cap on each package limits how many you can use.
The Business Side of World Ventures – Becoming a Representative and the Compensation Plan
While the business side of World Ventures isn’t a scam, it is multilevel marketing. This involves recruiting others to be members of your team. They in turn will also be recruiting, and so on. In my experience, MLMs and network marketing businesses just are not sustainable.
In addition to the membership fees you pay to join World Ventures as a customer, you pay an additional $100 to become a representative + an additional $10.99/month.
MLM compensation plans tend to be a bit confusing and convoluted with lots of bonuses and commissions popping up all over the screen. There are downlines, strong legs, binary organizations, sales credits, direct commissions, lifestyle bonuses, and to be honest it gets foggy quickly.
If you’d like to take a look their compensation plan to see what I mean, check out the video below.
But you know what? NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY IS IN THE COMPENSATION PLAN, THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS IF REPS ARE ACTUALLY MAKING IT. And that is where World Ventures Annual Income Disclosure Statements come into play. I’m going to warn you right now, they don’t look good.
World Ventures Annual Income Disclosure Statements
Take a look at the 2016 & 2019 World Ventures Annual Income Disclosure Statements below and you’ll see that not only has the number of representatives dropped significantly, but 80% and 85% of all reps DIDN’T EARN A SINGLE COMMISSION FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR respectively.
Final Verdict – Is it Worth it?
While there is no World Ventures Travel Scam going on, by their own documentation and numbers the organization seems to be trending in the wrong direction.
The only way I would recommend joining as a customer would be to travel as a couple and have 4 ready to join with you. This completely eliminates your monthly dues. If you’re paying those dues, it becomes pricey, and you lose all benefit of “discounts” since you’re basically paying for them.
There are better ways to make money online and see the world.
I love to travel. I’m completely addicted and that’s easy to see if you take a look at my Instagram feed (@batmantravels). I’ve found there are simple ways that anyone can use to travel for much cheaper without needing to pay any expensive membership dues.
One way is by simply using sites like Scott’s Cheap Flights for cheap flight alerts. When you’re able to fly for pennies on the dollar travel becomes so much easier, and there’s no membership dues to worry about.
As far as making money online, I recommend going with affiliate marketing instead of network marketing. It’s more straightforward, there’s no recruiting, no downlines, and it’s sustainable.
Check out my top recommendation for anyone looking to get started in affiliate marketing below. Create a free starter account with the training community that I call home. The training delivers and I’ve had nothing but positives from it.
Summary
I hope this World Ventures travel club review has shed some light on exactly how the travel club works and if it’s worth it. If you like MLMs and their compensation plans, more power to you. But if you want to see the world via a more straightforward way of earning money online then I think I’ve given you a good alternative as well.
Travel often? Check out my review for the best mobile wifi hotspot device for travel. Are you a World Ventures success story? Are you a customer who has enjoyed a Dream Trip? Do the packages and/or membership seem expensive to you? Be honest. Let me know how you feel in the comments below. I hope this World Ventures review has helped you out.
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I see you researched alot about the company, gave us an accurate review. The main things that you have to look in an MLM company are:
1. Quality of products (in this case you don’t have a real product)
2. Compensation plan, and the risk of the company to bankrupt
So in this case as you said the company is from 2005, which means 15 years have passed, why not another 15? If a person thinks that he is OK with the compensation plan, then why not?
What do you think is more important in MLM, searching for the all time best company (there is no such thing as the best MLM company of all), or having the right skills?
If this company can’t bankrupt and has a fair compensation plan (not good but I would still say it’s fair, knowing the industry they are in) and you have the skills of a good online marketer, why not start with them?
P.S. I’m not in this company, I’m just giving you my point of view and looking forward for your answer
You mentioned World Ventures not having a product. Their product is travel memberships. This is what makes the company legal. You also mentioned that since they’ve been around 15 years, why not another 15? I direct you to the annual income disclosure statement that shows the number of independent reps is dropping exponentially along with the percentage of reps actually earning a single commission dwindling from an already very low 20% to only 15%. Regardless of what a compensation plan promises, the income disclosure’s numbers tell the facts and the fact is World Ventures reps aren’t succeeding. This is why in my opinion World Ventures is not a solid business venture to undertake. Thanks for the comment!
Great post you have written here. I’m always one to shy away from pyramids, and this one seemed a bit too good to be true. I didn’t understand how people were saying it was cheap. lol. Your video was all I needed to see. I think people almost forget about the monthly dues they’re spending. I’d just rather save and use these to book my own trips! Thanks for the tips!
Glad I could help! Thanks for the comment!
The first time that I heard about this world venture, it was introduced to me and my friend by her elder brother. I didn’t understand very well how it worked because he only skimmed through. Having read your review now, it gives a better understanding of how it works. I am happy that I went through your review. I don’t think I would like to join this after looking at the cons. Thank you
I’m happy you were able to make an informed decision. Thanks for the comment!
Hello Eric, thanks for sharing! I’ve been hearing quite a lot from a coworker about World Ventures but my gut told me to investigate further. The costs of the packages are quite expensive when you break down ALL the costs, and the Income Disclosure is quite eye opening. Thank you so much!
Very glad to help out! Thanks for the comment!
Your list of pros and cons was exactly what I needed. I think the biggest thing is that the membership can be expensive. My friend has been trying to convince me to join, but the numbers just didn’t add up. And you just don’t get any of the perks with the Standard Membership. Thank you!
Very glad to help! Thanks for the comment!
Can you tell.me more about Scots Travel. I have been trying to understand W V for a long time as most of my friends joined WV but am still reluctant to.What is the difference between the two especially the pros and cons.Would apoteciate your reply. Thank you.
Scott’s Cheap Flights is a free service that sends you email alerts when there are super cheap flights available to destinations you choose. It’s not a travel club or MLM like World Ventures. It’s just by far the easiest way to save thousands on flights. You can read my full article on Scott’s Cheap Flights here. Now, if you’re looking for ways to make money online to potentially fund future travels, let me direct you to my World Ventures vs Wealthy Affiliate article here. This is the exact path I took. Where World Ventures is about recruiting and downlines, Wealthy Affiliate is straightforward online training community teaching affiliate marketing and a real way to create revenue without the downfalls of MLMs. Thanks for the comment and question!
Is it possible to quite once you become a member of the world ventures, about the joining fee do they refund you if you have just joined and now you decide to quite
You can turn off future monthly installments, but you don’t get a refund. Thanks for the question!
Hi Eric,
Thanks so much for posting this review of World Ventures. I really enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I wasn’t sure if World Ventures is for me even though I have a friend who is always telling me to dive in. MLMs just aren’t for me though, which is why I wanted to do some more research on it. But now, I know everything I need to know. Thank you!
Keep up the great work!
Very happy to help. MLMs and network marketing businesses are 100% legal, but as a business model they just aren’t sustainable and the numbers prove it. Thanks for the comment!
I have a friend trying to get me started with World Ventures and this review confirmed my suspicions. Thank you! She keeps telling me what a great deal it is, but it’s too pricey! Your point about the flights you still have to buy is well taken. Add to that the work of trying to get people to work under you. Thanks but no thanks.
I gave it a full year myself to try and find the savings, and what I ended up with were points that I couldn’t use and couldn’t catch up to and trips that didn’t allow me to take advantage of cheap flights that I FULLY take advantage of now thanks to Scott’s Cheap Flights 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Hey Eric; If I sign up for world ventures can I take someone with me on vacation depending on where the club is going? Going to different places every now and again is always exciting for me. But I still like to have someone who I know before to travel with me. It’s the must recruit four other why some people would think of World Venture as a Pyramid scheme.
Dorcas
You don’t have to recruit 4 to be a part of World Ventures. The “Refer 4 Pay No More” promo is a way to have the monthly member dues turned off. You don’t have to be a part of the business side of World Ventures (which I don’t recommend) to be a part of the customer side. And yes, you can bring a friend. Most of the Dream Vacations are priced for 2.
Thank you for the World Ventures review. This whole point system seems to be very difficult to understand and very expensive if I compare with well organized all inclusive travels, and really to 5 star hotels. Thank you again for the informative article. When you take into account that you still have to purchase normally expensive airfare, the costs just don’t add up.
Thanks for the comment! I definitely find myself routinely saving hundreds of dollars by going through Scott’s Cheap Flights to get great flight deals. And by using a travel rewards card for accommodations, you can travel all over the world for cheap without any monthly travel club dues. Thanks again from the comment!