Joystar: News Flash
- From: "John Sisker" <jsisker@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:03:06 -0700
To Whom It May Concern:
We received this press release from our host agency of Joystar Travel
Network thought it may be of interest to this newsgroup as well.
Happy sailing...
John Sisker - SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY (sm)
(714) 536-3850 or toll-free at (800) 724-6644 & (Agency ID: 714.536.3850)
www.shiptoshorecruise.com
Travelstar, Inc. Announces Shareholder Letter From CEO William Alverson
ALISO VIEJO, CA--(MARKET WIRE)-April 24, 2008-- Travelstar, Inc. (OTC BB:
TVLS - News), announced today that the following shareholder letter was
released today by Chief Executive Officer, William Alverson.
April 24, 2008
Dear Travelstar Stakeholder:
Since we launched our host agency in the third quarter of 2004, we have
realized constant rapid growth. As I have said before, our goal is to be
the largest, most profitable seller of complex travel in the world. A lofty
goal, to say the least but, when you take a moment think about what we have
accomplished in just three short years, and look at the world of opportunity
that is just waiting for a bold company to want it badly enough, it becomes
clear that together we can do this.
In 2007, I am proud to report we again experienced significant growth.
Joystar, our host agency model, continued to fire on all cylinders with
sales over 76,000,000. Agent growth was strong with membership revenue
increasing 106% to over $529,000. We continue to attract professional
agents to our network with our strong value proposition.
To accomplish our goal we must continue to invest and innovate on behalf of
our travel agents, suppliers, and travelers. In 2007, we continued to
invest in infrastructure, we built new capabilities and we invested in our
Company-owned brands, www.VacationCompare.com and www.Travelstar.com. We
also began developing our own wholesale tour products under the Starlight
Vacations brand.
We expect the investments we made in 2007 to accelerate our top line
bookings, provide us with high revenue margins and drive membership growth
creating significantly stronger cash flow. We will begin to realize these
benefits in the back half of 2008.
I would like to provide color on our investments and explain some of the
positive changes we have made in our internal controls and accounting
procedures. This will give you insight to our financial performance and
meaningful year over year comparisons.
Our technology platform is the foundation for scalable growth. In 2007, we
invested another $400,000 in technology and $126,000 in property and
equipment. This primarily consisted of servers, a VOIP phone system and the
capitalization of certain software development associated with
www.Travelstar.com and www.VacationCompare.com.
Throughout 2007, we designed and implemented the processes to enhance our
commission processing as well as internal controls and financial reporting
capability. It is quite an undertaking to track the tens of thousands of
complex travel bookings made by a network of virtual travel agents. We
automated our confirmation process, introduced direct deposit for our agents
and affiliates, and increased the frequency in which we pay them.
On the financial reporting side, we made decision to take a 25% reserve
against our revenue. We did this because we wanted to be conservative in
our accounting to investors and because of the nature of the complex leisure
travel business. As our agents will tell you, there is a lag time of three
to six months from the time the booking is made, to when we receive the
revenue from our supplier partners. Additionally, we modified when we would
recognize certain revenue.
We believe our conservative accounting practices to be in the best interest
of the Company and its stakeholders and it takes us one step closer to our
goal of being listed on the AMEX. However, the changes seriously impacted
the year over year comparisons in our recent 10K filing because of the
reserves and the fact we did not recognize certain revenue.
Gross Bookings
To give you a better idea of the growth we experienced and understanding of
the impact our new reporting procedures had on gross bookings, if you were
to apply the same methodology to 2006 results, our 2007 gross bookings would
have represented a 56% increase year over year.
Revenue
Prior to 2007, we recognized supplier overrides (bonus revenue paid to us
retroactively by our preferred suppliers for reaching sales and growth
levels) and certain group travel revenue in the period the bonus was
triggered. In 2007, we changed this and now recognize the revenue when we
receive payment from the supplier. If we were to apply the same accounting
methodology to 2006, our 2007 revenues would have increased 58% compared to
the prior year.
It is also very important to note that our override revenue goes directly to
the bottom line. That is, we do not pay any commissions to our travel
agents on this revenue. All of the revenue positively impacts our bottom
line and increases our accounts receivable.
Another growth measurement is the fact that inclusive of the conservative
accounting changes, our Accounts Receivable grew to $3,510,118 in 2007 from
$2,701,253 in 2006.
Profit
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2007 was $1,113,840 (.02 cents
per share) compared to a net loss of $11,128,689 for the year ended December
31, 2006.
Outlook
Our long-term goal is to increase complex travel bookings through our host
agency and new consumer brands. We have spent close to a million dollars
recruiting travel agents of the past three years. It has paid off in spades
with a strong network of professional agents and healthy recurring
membership revenue. This year, we plan to be very disciplined in our agent
recruiting and our brand advertising spending. Instead, we will grow our
consumer brands through revenue share agreements and other creative ways to
drive customer and agent acquisition.
As www.Travelstar.com our social networking site matures, we are confident
we will be able acquire customers much more cost effectively than through
traditional advertising channels.
Affiliate networks, revenue sharing, social networking and capitalizing on
the popularity and search engine friendliness of user-generated content are
where we will focus our efforts for the foreseeable future.
Because we assign consumer leads and customers to our expert agents, we can
deliver a brilliant customer experience and high conversion. Our consumer
brands complement our host agency business with higher margin revenue
without increasing our overhead. The consumer brands are a profit driver
for Travelstar and offer incremental revenue to the agents in our Joystar
network.
We believe investing in these types of value-added benefits for our travel
agents will drive expert agent recruitment more than traditional recruitment
advertising our competitors are clinging to. The competition for agents in
the host agency space has become noisy. We are climbing above the noise.
If it isn't already clear, all of the brands in our portfolio are
purposefully interrelated. In addition to long-term shareholder value, the
success of our travel agents and affiliate network are always top of mind.
We are committed to being the leader in developing the next generation of
travel sellers. We are constantly on the lookout for people who are
passionate about travel, have a willingness to learn and a burning desire to
succeed.
Part and parcel to this initiative was the recent enhancement to our
agent-mentoring program. The program rewards the industry's top cruise and
vacation agents for sharing their knowledge and best practices with new
agents. Benefits of being a mentor include higher revenue potential, new
customers and group leaders assigned to the agents.
No other host agency or supplier is taking these steps to ensure the success
of the travel agent community.
We expect higher year-over-year membership growth in 2008 and significantly
increased cash flow as we launch the new programs we have been developing.
We are especially excited about our new group travel affiliate program
aligned with Travelstar.com. We plan to take passionate travelers and
entrepreneurs and show them how they can make extra money and travel for
free promoting group travel. The possibilities are endless with this model.
We've designed it to be a fun, part-time opportunity. Our travel agents win
big with this one, too. All of our group leaders will be assigned to our
agents who will handle the actual bookings. This keeps it nice and simple
for the group affiliate because their only responsibility is to promote the
group and it ensures a great travel experience for our travelers as an
experienced agent is taking care of the details.
We're proud of what we've been able to accomplish in three short years of
host agency operations and with our performance in 2007. As always, we
remain committed to our hardworking staff, loyal agents & affiliates and our
shareholders who share in our vision.
Very truly yours,
William M. Alverson
Chairman & CEO
About Travelstar, Inc.
Travelstar, and its family of brands (www.joystar.com,
www.vacationcompare.com, www.travelstar.com, www.starlightvacations.com), is
one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing leisure travel agency
networks and a leading seller of cruises and vacation packages.
"Forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 may be included in this news release. These statements
relate to future events or our future financial performance. These
statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future
events or results. Travelstar, Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to
revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise. Please refer to the documents
filed by Travelstar, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which
identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ
from those contained in forward-looking statements, including, but not
limited to risks associated with our ability to (i) increase revenues, (ii)
obtain profitability, and (iii) obtain additional financing, changes in
general economic and business conditions (including in the online business
and! financial information industry), actions of our competitors, the extent
to which we are able to develop new services and markets for our services,
risks in connection with acquisitions, the time and expense involved in such
development activities, the level of demand and market acceptance of our
services and changes in our business strategies.
Additionally, forward-looking statements concerning the performance of the
travel and leisure industry are based on current market conditions and
risks, which may change as the result of certain regulatory, political or
economic events, a shift in consumer travel preferences, as well as those
risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which could cause actual events or
results to differ materially from the events described in the
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Shopping Kickbacks
- Next by Date: Re: One more Westerdam caribbean question -- beverages
- Previous by thread: RCCL ALERT
- Next by thread: Back from Westerdam caribbean cruise
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
