Did YTB Acquire American Destinations? Yes or No?

Recently, I posted a blog about YTB having acquired American Destinations, Inc. (ADI). As soon as I posted it, John Frenaye attacked me and told me "Nice Try. Now try telling the truth." I didn't understand his note, nor did I understand why he was accusing me of lying. In my confusion and because I did want to double-check my facts, I immediately took my blog post down to do further research. In my research, I listened to a YTB Getting Started Call where I heard Jeanie Sharpless and ADI Founder and CEO, Curtis Edwards talk about the acquisition. OK, I thought. It is true. So I reposted the original blog post.

Of course, the tenacious Mr. Frenaye in the interim had published a very nasty post about me being a liar on his "MLMs and Travel: A Bad Mix" blog, so the drama that I thought was over, had only just begun. To keep up the drama, John sent me several other nasty little comments that I refused to publish on my blog. After a while, I thought, this is stupid. Let me talk to him directly, so I picked up the phone and called him. I'd tried emails, but he never seemed to receive those. I later found out that I might have been sending them to the wrong address.

So yesterday, I called John and we had a very long talk: about YTB, the travel industry, our positions as RTAs, you name it -- we talked about it. After our conversation, John did apologize for handling the matter the way he did with me, and he posted his apology on his blog. I thought that was a nice touch. John seemed to understand that I was only posting what I believed to be true... not deliberately posting lies (as he had originally believed) so I could build my business.

I was glad that John and I had cleared things up between us, but that wasn't good enough for me, because I honestly wanted to know the truth about the rumored YTB acquisition of ADI.

In my quest for the real deal, I sent support tickets to YTB, contacted the company's travel support team, and emailed Jeanie Sharpless. After several days and several contacts made, here's what I found out:

Apparently, there was indeed an announcement made about the acquisition of ADI by YTB at the Richmond Travel Training event. According to Jeanie Sharpless, the announcement was made by YTB Travel CEO, J. Kim Sorensen, and the founder and CEO of ADI, Curtis Edwards, who was there to confirm it. The problem, however, is that while this merger is on the planning table and discussions between the two companies are taking place, and maybe they are even close to finalizing the details... TODAY, it is still in the planning stages, and the acquisition has not yet been confirmed. In the excitement of the possibilities of this merger actually taking place, it was announced. It probably shouldn't have been, but it was. You know how excited we humans can get about things. Anyway, since more legal work must be done before it is a DONE DEAL, for now, the answer to the question at hand is "NO" YTB has not acquired ADI... at least not yet. But believe you me... as soon as it is final (and let's pray that it will be soon!) I'll be one of the first to let you know!

John, in a very strange and dysfunctional way, has been a blessing. I'm sure he didn't intend to because he really is passionate about his disdain for YTB and all MLM travel companies. Still, he did force me to do my due diligence to ensure that what I was reporting was accurate, so... for that, I must say "thank you" to John Frenaye. I only wish he was not a hater of all things YTB. If that weren't the case, perhaps we could even be friends.

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Regina Osei is a successful mentor and coach who teaches her YTB Team members and other business owners how to succeed in business and how to market their businesses using diverse strategies and approaches both online and offline. If you are interested in starting your own online travel business and want the benefit of a mentor who is committed to your success, join our team today at http://regina.vacationmedia.net. If you have questions, e-mail me at: reginaosei@gmail.com or call 901-221-1630(1)