Influencer-backed travel-agent side hustle criticised

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes · Last updated: 3 October 2026

Influencer-promoted schemes tying PlanNet Marketing recruitment to InteleTravel bookings have left some recruits paying sign-up costs and monthly fees while earning little. As first reported by The Guardian, seven people who signed up said they struggled to make money after paying InteleTravel joining fees of about £150 and monthly access costs of £30 to £40, or, in other accounts, £32 a month plus smaller sign-up charges. The material shows PlanNet Marketing charges about £14 a month for representatives and pays roughly $4 (about £3) per active recruit, while PlanNet’s own disclosure lists average annual earnings of about $40.

I was making no money on the travel side,

Mark*

How the InteleTravel–PlanNet arrangement works and what it costs

InteleTravel sells access to a booking platform and regulatory support to people who want to act as independent travel agents; recruits told the Guardian they paid a sign-up fee of about £150 and monthly access fees of £30 to £40, though one recruit described paying about £100 to sign up and £32 a month. InteleTravel’s website offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and a “first-year profit guarantee” that requires advisers to meet contract conditions such as completing a year of adviser status and booking one completed hotel stay every quarter.

PlanNet Marketing is described on the InteleTravel sign-up page as an “exclusive enrolment partner” and sells a separate representative role. PlanNet charges its own monthly fee—about £14—and pays recruitment rewards: roughly $4 (about £3) per new active travel agent plus referral bonuses and rank-based payouts as a recruit’s downline grows. InteleTravel’s commission model pays agents about 70% of the supplier commission, and the material gives an example where a £10,000 booking generates £1,000 supplier commission and about £700 to the agent.

Why recruits say recruitment, not holiday sales, became the focus

Several people who joined as travel agents say recruitment was pushed as the quicker route to income. One recruit, Mark*, described doing long days for about 18 months and making only a handful of sales, saying, “I was making no money on the travel side,” and that the PlanNet rep who recruited him encouraged him to recruit others instead. Another recruit, Claire*, reached a leadership rank after recruiting about 100 people that PlanNet said guarantees a minimum monthly income of $1,000 (£754), but she says she never received that amount and was making about $800 a month after recruiting roughly 150 people.

PlanNet Marketing’s own annual income disclosure undercuts the recruitment-promise narrative: it shows average annual earnings across representatives of about $40. Several recruits described spending on business cards, flyers and a website; one nurse, Shelley, said she paid a £142 joining fee and estimates her total profit over roughly two years at between £500 and £1,000.

How influencers and the pitch target specific audiences

Influencers such as Yasmin Hadlow and Vicky Pattison promote the opportunity to large online audiences with messages like “Normalise working from anywhere” and promises of income while travelling. Hadlow leads a team of more than 100 agents, and the material shows some recruiting accounts specifically appeal to mothers, people on maternity leave and people with chronic illness as target audiences for a remote travel-agent role.

PlanNet Marketing’s public guidance instructs representatives to promote the income opportunity rather than discounts or travel perks and to keep the representative role separate from the travel-adviser role. The recruits the Guardian spoke to said the scheme was sold as low-risk and flexible, but that practical support after the initial guarantee period was limited and that managers sometimes directed them to training videos rather than hands-on help.

Company responses and what recruits say about outcomes

InteleTravel told the Guardian that no guarantee of continuous profit exists for self-employed advisers and that joining fees fund licensing, insurance and booking systems. PlanNet Marketing’s vice-president of compliance, Amanda Restivo, said the two companies are separate and that people are not required to enrol with both; she added that making substantial income requires personal effort and dedication. Those statements are the companies’ own explanations of how the model is intended to work.

Recruits told the Guardian they were often steered toward recruitment and that many who joined did not stay: one former director said more than 700 people came through her team over two years and most left because they were not making money. The combination of sign-up costs, monthly fees and the low average earnings figure PlanNet discloses is the core tension recruits describe.

Cases for and against change

The bottom line

The material shows a clear gap between the way InteleTravel and PlanNet Marketing are promoted by influencers and the financial outcomes reported by recruits. Upfront fees of about £150 and ongoing platform costs of roughly £30–£40 sit alongside PlanNet’s separate £14 monthly representative fee and small recruitment payouts of about $4 each. PlanNet’s disclosure of average annual earnings of about $40 is the starkest single figure: it undercuts influencer claims of easy income for many recruits and makes the companies’ guarantees and disclosure practices the key levers for any change.

What to watch

• Watch whether PlanNet Marketing publishes more granular earnings data beyond the average annual figure of about $40; no date has been set.
• Watch whether InteleTravel clarifies or revises the conditions for its first-year profit guarantee and the 30-day money-back process; no date has been set.