Before I joined, I googled it for an hour. Here’s what I found.
I want to talk about the travel business I’m part of — but I want to do it properly, because I think most people in this kind of business do it wrong. They lead with the opportunity and hope you don’t ask too many questions. I’m going to do the opposite.
First, the uncomfortable word: MLM. Multi-level marketing. I know what you’re thinking, because I thought it too. Pyramid schemes dressed up in motivational quotes. Women hustling their friends. Products nobody actually wants. I’ve seen it. I’ve rolled my eyes at it. I understand the scepticism completely.
So when InteleTravel and PlanNet came across my radar, I didn’t get excited. I got my laptop out.
Here’s what I actually looked for
Is there a real product? Yes — travel. Actual, bookable, ABTA-protected travel. InteleTravel is one of the largest home-based travel agency networks in the world. The product isn’t the opportunity itself, which is the tell-tale sign of a scheme. The product is travel, and the opportunity is built around selling it.
Where does the money actually come from? Commission on travel bookings, and — through PlanNet, the marketing arm — residual income from building a team of agents. That second part is the MLM element, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But here’s the difference: the commission structure is based on people selling real travel, not on endlessly recruiting. Recruitment without product sales is a pyramid. This isn’t that.
What does it actually cost? There’s a modest startup fee and a monthly cost to maintain your agent status. I looked at this carefully. It’s not nothing, but it’s not the four-figure investment some MLMs ask for. I ran the numbers against realistic commission projections before I committed to anything.
What do other people say? I read the forums. I read the Reddit threads — yes, the critical ones. I read Trustpilot. What I found was largely positive about InteleTravel as a travel provider, with the usual mixed bag about the income side that you’d find for any network marketing business. Nobody was reporting that it was a scam. Several people were quietly making it work.
Could I do this without it ruining my integrity? This was honestly the biggest question. I’m a writer. My reputation is built on honesty and trust. I wasn’t prepared to attach my name to something that would require me to be pushy, misleading, or relentlessly promotional in a way that made my skin crawl.
What I concluded was this: I can talk about this opportunity the same way I talk about everything — honestly, with the caveats included, and only to people who are genuinely looking for what it offers. I don’t have to perform enthusiasm I don’t feel. I don’t have to pretend it’s made me rich when it hasn’t yet. I just have to share what it is, clearly, and let people decide.
So. Is it for you?
Probably not, if you’re looking for fast money or a passive income that requires zero effort. It takes time to build, like anything real does.
Possibly yes, if you love travel, you’re already thinking about additional income streams, and you want something with a low barrier to entry that you can build at your own pace around everything else you’ve got going on.
I’m building it as one strand of a wider portfolio — alongside my writing, my memoir work, and Curated. It’s not my whole identity. It’s one honest part of a bigger picture.
If you want the details — the real ones, not the brochure version — just ask. I’ll tell you what I know, what I don’t know yet, and what I think you should consider before deciding anything. That’s the only way I know how to do this.