WorldVentures MLM: Pyramid Scheme or Money-Making Opportunity?

 

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably heard about WorldVentures. 

They’ve been making waves on the Internet selling this “dream of vacation ownership without having to be a travel agent or plan a single trip.”

The thing is, I’ve been an entrepreneur and online marketer for a few years now, and I know that stuff like this doesn’t make sense. So, I finally gave in to my stubbornness and decided to check it out.

Want to know if it is worth your time and money?

Read on this WorldVentures review to find out!

What is WorldVentures?

World Ventures was founded in 2005 by Mike Azcue and Wayne Nugent as a travel club with a multi-level business model (MLM).

Since then, they’ve helped thousands of people travel the world. They’ve unlocked opportunities for people who want to get out, have fun, meet new people, and be free.

The corporate website states that its mission is to create more fun, freedom, and fulfillment through travel, entertainment, and opportunities. 

Who Created The WorldVentures MLM?

WorldVentures was founded in 2005 by Wayne Nugent, a long-time entrepreneur with experience in direct-selling who has been labeled as “The Mary Kay of travel”.

Wayne has consistently been in the top 1% of sales representatives in the direct-selling industry, and he has led several companies to produce more than $2 billion in sales.

As an executive, his years in the United States Marine Corps established his “will to win” and his desire to operate as a Service Leader. On a daily basis, Wayne continues to participate and advance the operational capabilities of the WorldVentures team.

6 reasons to avoid

• You’ll get a low-investment return on this business model -as with most multi-level marketing companies. 
• Their compensation plan is unrealistic and unsustainable in the long-run. 
• They don’t pay you with money, but with points (“cruise-dollars”)
• You’ll have to wait a couple of months before being able to use those cruise dollars.
• They’ve been accused of being a pyramid scheme multiple times. 
• They have a huge focus on making money through referrals (which isn’t profitable)

How Does It Work?

WorldVentures is basically a membership subscription with an initial sign-up fee and recurring monthly payments. Every dollar gets you DreamTrips points, which you then redeem for reward trips. You get cheaper options on the deals you want.

In addition to those affordable travel packages, you get access to special DreamTrips events and free transportation. 

You also earn points by referring friends, and you get DreamTrips points for every friend who signs up.

WorldVentures Overview: Membership Plans

There are four main types of memberships you can join:

Dreamtrips

This WorldVentures membership costs around $99.99 and includes exclusive discounts on group travel and personal bookings.

DreamTrips Gold

This membership costs around $199 and offers access to member discounts.

With this, you’ll get as well a 24/7 concierge during travel, an exclusive restaurant program, entertainment discounts, an exclusive online store, and net rates.

DreamTrips Platinum

This WorldVentures membership costs around $299 and includes all the benefits of the Basic and Gold membership.

It also includes an exclusive presale of DreamTrips packages, exclusive DreamTrips, 50% more DreamTrips points and additional support services.

DreamTrips Titanium

This membership costs $999. The Titanium Membership was introduced in August 2019.

It’s a top membership that gives you exclusive and select travel experiences.

Titanium Members will have access to the best destinations, tours, hotels, cruise lines, chartered yachts, private jets, luxury villas and homes, exclusive events, and more, all with a personalized touch and a perfect compromise. 

This membership also includes early access to DreamTrips and special Titanium Signature trips selected just for them.

What’s the WorldVentures compensation plan?

You can join the company as a customer, just to get the discounts offered by the different WorldVentures products. 

But…

You can also join as a promoter to generate profit by sharing the business with others.

It all boils down to this:

Refer friends

If a person who’s just a WorldVentures customer refers another person to join the company, they receive 100 points for a DreamTrips Gold package and 200 points for a DreamTrips Platinum package.

Those points can be redeemed within the DreamTrips portal for trips or services.

To become a promoter, you must pay an initial fee of $19.99 and a monthly cost of $99.95.

WorldVentures uses a cyclical binary payment system that offers at least 11 ways to earn:

1. Direct commission

The company will pay directly for each referral that a representative brings to the company with Gold or Platinum membership, $20 and $50 respectively.

2. Personal sales

If a representative manages to bring in at least three new representatives with any of the packages in less than 30 days, they’ll earn an additional $100 bonus.

And $50 of Training Dollars that can be redeemed towards entry costs to WorldVentures events.

3. Wings

When a representative brings four new members directly to the business, they’ll be exempted from paying monthly travel membership fees while they remain active.

It also provides the chance to earn a $400 travel bonus if you join four new representatives within 28 days of enrollment.

4. Cycles

In this bonus, the work that’s been done in the binary begins to be applied. 

Every time the organization generates three sales on the right and three on the left, a cycle occurs, which pays $100.

Closing weekly cycles increase commission volume within WorldVentures.

5. Lifestyle

Each time a new WorldVentures executive and their team achieve milestones set by the company, the representative will receive a bonus.

Depending on the volume of the team, you can receive bonuses ranging from $200 to $1,000.

6. Travel dollars

Every time a representative manages to close the sixth cycle, WorldVentures pays them $100 with which you can pay for a travel package or the entire flight or hotel night

7. Dreamcar

This bonus pays an extra monthly bonus ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 per month for car payments, depending on the executive position.

8. Dreamhouse

This bonus pays an extra monthly bonus that pays $3,000 at the highest executive rank in WorldVentures.

9. Residual income

Through the binary, the company generates credits that can generate up to $500 per month in the lowest executive rank, up to $50,000 in the highest rank.

10. Local DT

This form of payment gives representatives the opportunity to earn money when their customers make qualifying purchases at a DT Local store.

11. RMD and IMD travel

Upon achieving the rank of Regional Director of Marketing WorldVentures, you get an annual incentive for a fully paid trip.

How Does WorldVentures Compensation Plan Work?

Think about it this way: 

When someone sends you a message saying that you can be your own boss and that you can travel for free on a cruise, what they are trying to do – really – is to sell you a membership that promises great discounts for traveling the world. 

In the case of WorldVentures, these guys tell you that if you pay a monthly fee of $100, they’ll give you 200 “cruise dollars”.

These cruise dollars cannot be used freely:

• You have to wait at least 3 months to use them. That’s to say that before being able to spend a single cruise dollar, you’re going to spend at least $300 dollars.
• During the first year of your membership, you can only spend 60% of the cruise dollars. This means that for the $1,200 you put in, you’ll only be able to use 1,440 cruise dollars.

But this business scheme has a peculiarity: 

Not only do they sell you a product but they also raise money through a partner affiliation system.

The person who sent you a message on Instagram has a clear purpose: he’s going to try to get you to join WorldVentures as a “Partner Member” in addition to paying $100 a month. 

When you recruit a new member, the person who “recommends” you has a clear financial benefit: 

They earn between $50 and $150 for each referral. 

The figure oscillates because for the first member of the month they pay $50 and it goes up depending if more referrals continue to arrive (as long as they’re memberships of the same month). 

It goes up to a maximum of $150 and, when the month ends, it starts again at 50.

It’s somewhat complicated to explain, but I’ll try to exemplify it:

If you recommend 5 members, you won’t have to pay the fee of $100 per month (I mean the normal fee). 

Also, they’ll give you 100 cruise dollars for every 3 new members per month.

And, if you keep 5 members referred for at least 3 months they let you use 100% of the cruise dollars (during the first year you could only use 60%).

Sounds good, right?

Finally, and as if all that was said weren’t enough, you receive $5 for each monthly fee paid by members referred by the subscribers you brought, up to 20 levels of depth.

This is what’s called a business pyramid system.

And if it’s difficult to explain, imagine working on it.

Now, I don’t know how much REAL money these cruises can give you, but online billboards can make you go from $0 to $8k in a couple of months.

It’s way better than the MLM system because you don’t depend on other people and the profits are full for you.

Is WorldVentures Scam or Legit?

Well, I think the answer is pretty obvious. 

Such a “generous” compensation plan is financially unsustainable in the long term and constantly needs the entry of new members to support itself.

Why?

Well, because the business of WorldVentures lies in the affiliation of new members and not in the sale of a specific product (such as a trip on a cruise or an all-inclusive package).

So, you just have to use common sense and analyze the numbers.

At some point, many members will be able to use 100% of the Cruise Dollars -with which they would be paying 50% of the value of the trip-.

To this, add that they’re going to charge in a residual way for the member partners they have referred.

And, as if all this weren’t enough, they can get $200 free per month for travel.

That’s to say that WorldVentures would be financing them something like 80% of the value of a trip.

What company can sustain this over time?

Without going any further, in countries such as Norway the presence of WorldVentures has been banned for being accused of acting fraudulently.

In fact, the government concluded that WorldVentures was running an illegal pyramid scheme in the Scandinavian country and gave it two weeks to close all its operations and abandon business in the territory.

You need more?

WorldVentures Review: Final Thoughts

WorldVentures is definitely a controversial company that has made a lot of noise in the market since its inception in 2005.

However, it only began to resonate strongly, when its members began to flood social networks with photos on paradisiacal beaches or cruise ships and with direct messages of the type:

“Are you interested in achieving your financial independence?” or “Do you want to know how to get paid to travel the world?”

Everyone has their opinion but…

There’s no denying it: WorldVentures can be seen as a useful business with an expiration date.

Another point that cannot be ignored, from my perspective, is that in these pyramid business systems there are very few who recover the money invested.

Let’s not even talk about starting to earn money in a serious way to achieve the promised economic freedom.

Statistics: 

It has been proven that in these business schemes (replicated by Herbalife, Forex, etc.) it’s a very low percentage – less than 5% – that manages to make a living from this.

Of course, the exceptions are used by companies as examples to be able to sell more. 

Don’t be fooled: these are exceptional cases that in no way conform to the general rule.

Look:

If you still think the membership is worth it and wanna share it with your friends, you could definitely earn a few dollars.

However, if you want to earn more than that, in my opinion, you should go beyond your friends and family.

You should look at businesses.

Those immortal giants who feed on money.

Money that they’ll gladly invest in you if you’re willing to spend a few afternoons generating leads with ads for them.

That’s the best online business model, and the only way to get the financial freedom you want so much.