The Global Resorts Network offers a luxury travel membership at plush resorts all over the world while simultaneously enrolling you in a home marketing/sales Internet business. It's not a fly-by-night get-rich quick scam--it's been in business for more than 23 years--but conceptually its difficult to grasp immediately. They sell two levels of membership: As of 2010, Gold memberships last three years at $1,495 and lifetime Platinum memberships cost $2,995. That entitles associates to vacation for a week at costs that are a fraction of what they might otherwise cost. What makes it complicated is that you're purchasing not only the opportunity to vacation at bargain prices but also a sales program. In other words, you've just bought into participating in a home business that sells Global Resources Network.
Controversial
Critics have likened the Global Resorts Network to a Ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme, except they are actually selling a product, which is luxury vacations at discounted rates. For an associate to make money, you have to start sending other people on vacations. That means they become associate members too, you become their sponsor and make residuals on their sales and residuals on those they sign up.The more people you sign up and the more people they sign up, the greater the residual commissions for everyone.
Veiled in Secrecy
The particulars of the program are closely held. Two things can be said with absolute certainty. One is that some people are making money. Secondly, before you can find out any of the "secrets" to making such wealth, you must pay them $40 for an "application kit." The company's sales information maintains that the payment is to separate the buyers from the tire-kickers. It could also be part of the marketing allure but it also makes them money. If only 10 percent of 100,000 people send money for the application kit, that's $400,000 the company reaps. And if only 1 percent of that 10 percent sign up for the three-year plan, that's $1.5 million and you haven't even gone on vacation yet.
How it Works
The company is not running a Ponzi scheme or the Better Business Bureau would have a substantial log of complaints (and they don't) and the Federal Trade Commission would have shut them down long ago. GRN enters into bargain basement agreements with timeshare companies, resorts, owners of villas and hotels for an untold number of accommodations. No timeshare, resort or hotel posts 100 percent occupancy 100 percent of the time. So that limits certain locations to certain times of year. The vacationer may not get exactly what they want at a specific time. That's one limitation of the program. One associate couple in 2008 claims to have taken a Hawaiian vacation for under $500 for a week, including airfare. At regular rates the vacation would have costs seven times that plus the airfare.
Home Business
The company teases prospective associates along with just enough information to encourage a person to ante up the $40, from which you will get a glimpse of the program. There is website support involving the Reverse Funnel System, which is apparently proprietary. The idea is to attract vacation browsers using special keywords that aren't revealed, apparently, for less than $1,495 membership fee. There are other start-up costs, as well. Global Resorts Network charges a monthly website fee of $100 and from $29.95 to $300 per month for three tiers of marketing, depending on which marketing systems are employed.
Commissions
A certain percent of people browse the Web who want a plush vacation and also want to start a home business. Even if it is only one-one-thousandths of a percent of 1 million people sign up, you earn $1,000 commission for each sale. The more people under the sales associate, the more residual commissions you earn from their sales. The more people they sign up, the more residuals those associates earn, as well as their sponsor. In a sense, everybody becomes their own pyramid, reaping residuals of those selling trips and signing up new associates.
