Trust Earned Travel - what is this?

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My goodness, has the world really turned this cynical.
I have no idea who "Marketing for the Assoc. Altraverse is the "straight" side of Purple Roofs." that Gillumhouse refers to in one of the above posts is but let me tell you about Trust Earned Travel (tet.org).
TET.org has been around since 1997 but only really active in the last couple of years as a result of funding by a "philanthropist" with no ties to the travel industry. Having written that, he loves to travel and this is a passion he has as to helping out other travelers and pointing out travel service providers that do not treat the traveling public correctly and "rewarding" those that do. TET.og has no revenue (as a result of it being a free service) but is operated through his main business activity.
The e-mail Muiford quotes that is at the top of this post is one that is sent out automatically when someone contacts us to see if a travel service provider is a TET Seal Holder. We can't tell the travel service provider that gets the email the name of the person making the inquiry for two reasons (a) we don't know without researching the original request; and (b) our privacy policy (please go to
www.tet.org/about.php
and click the link "privacy") prohibits us from sharing that information consistent with the policy, since the person was not filing a complaint against a Seal Hollder (thus researching would be a moot exercise) . They simply inquired Seal Holder status.
Since we cannot do that, let me do this for the purpose of this board - it would not be in violation of any privacy information to direct you to some websites that are Seal Holders since by posting the Seal on their websites as it is public information as to their being a Seal Holder. So, to just to pick an arbitrary number - here are a dozen that I grabbed from our database (I put the URL that they provide us as to the location of the Seal) - scroll their page and the Seal is posted in whatever convenient location the webmaster determines. Click any of them and it will take you to a report page on the travel service provider.
www.allaboutturkey.com/tours.htm
www.alpineoutfitters.com/
www.bath-corsham-bedandbreakfast.com/
www.gettingaway.com/
www.locandaelfi.it/
www.mrhh.com.au/
www.selfdrivesa.com/
www.ticacabins.com/
www.turquoisebayresort.com/
www.villasneardisney.net/
www.winecountryfarm.com/
www.classicalaskacharters.com/about_us.htm
I hope this sampling is of help to you. You can click the Seal on any (or all) of the webpages and it will take you to a report we keep on our servers related to the travel service provider. Seal Holders are also permitted to submit articles about their general geographic area and that is published on our site along with full acknowledgement of the author and his/her website.
Here, for example, is one that we just published
www.tet.org/submit/explorerkenya.php
I encourage you to spend some time at
www.tet.org
and look at our "mandate" in the About Us section as well as reviewing the For Travelers section and For Businesses section. And, finally, try doing some keyword searches. We update our index of data once a week so things submitted in this last week get updated on Tuesdays to be included in the search results.
If, ultimately, your cynicism abates, and you would like to become a Seal Holder, you can complete the application at
www.tet.org/join.php It is free - no charge. Nada.
Finally, Muirford, maybe we should be putting Copyright 1997-2008 but we have been changing that copyright date each year so it's current.
Jeff.
Hi Jeff and welcome to INNspiring.com.
jeff said:
The e-mail Muiford quotes that is at the top of this post is one that is sent out automatically when someone contacts us to see if a travel service provider is a TET Seal Holder.
Where is the form on the TET site where people can inquire about B&B's that are not already members and trigger this automatic unsolicited email?
.
swirt said:
Hi Jeff and welcome to INNspiring.com.
jeff said:
The e-mail Muiford quotes that is at the top of this post is one that is sent out automatically when someone contacts us to see if a travel service provider is a TET Seal Holder.
Where is the form on the TET site where people can inquire about B&B's that are not already members and trigger this automatic unsolicited email?
I tried to find that too so I could look up my own business and generate the email. But, no forms. There is only a contact email and REALLY, I can't see a guest going thru all the trouble of contacting TET in order to contact me when my email address, phone number and calendar are all over my website. The guest could certainly follow TET's own instructions to question the business owner as to why they would not sign up with this worldwide business organization. Haven't had that happen yet.
Actually, the only time I've ever heard of this group is when the emails come in from them.
 
What cements this as bogus is what I said in my first reply to this. I got this peron's e-mail, not with my addy for the B & B but with the addy as Marketing for our State Association. So what guest asked about that inn that does not exist? We are almost 100 inns! HE confused 2 sentences as one.
 
from the TET website
"F.A.Q.
Q. What if I don't see a Trust Earned Seal at my potential travel service provider?
A. You should ask yourself and then the travel service provider: Why wouldn't they participate in the only worldwide Seal program specifically designed to educate and protect travelers? A Travel Earned Trust Seal on a company's web site (which you can click to verify) is your only means to know that the company agrees to comply with the rules and standards of conduct that Trust Earned Travel has established. There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?
From time to time, TET may link to web sites that we determine may be of interest to our visitors or have paid us to place such links or advertisements.
TET does not guarantee the accuracy of information found on the Site. Your reliance on information found on the Site is at your own risk."
 
from the TET website
"F.A.Q.
Q. What if I don't see a Trust Earned Seal at my potential travel service provider?
A. You should ask yourself and then the travel service provider: Why wouldn't they participate in the only worldwide Seal program specifically designed to educate and protect travelers? A Travel Earned Trust Seal on a company's web site (which you can click to verify) is your only means to know that the company agrees to comply with the rules and standards of conduct that Trust Earned Travel has established. There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?
From time to time, TET may link to web sites that we determine may be of interest to our visitors or have paid us to place such links or advertisements.
TET does not guarantee the accuracy of information found on the Site. Your reliance on information found on the Site is at your own risk.".
So what if this came from their site. Still a rip off! Who are they for heaven's sake and why would we trust them????
devil_smile.gif

 
from the TET website
"F.A.Q.
Q. What if I don't see a Trust Earned Seal at my potential travel service provider?
A. You should ask yourself and then the travel service provider: Why wouldn't they participate in the only worldwide Seal program specifically designed to educate and protect travelers? A Travel Earned Trust Seal on a company's web site (which you can click to verify) is your only means to know that the company agrees to comply with the rules and standards of conduct that Trust Earned Travel has established. There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?
From time to time, TET may link to web sites that we determine may be of interest to our visitors or have paid us to place such links or advertisements.
TET does not guarantee the accuracy of information found on the Site. Your reliance on information found on the Site is at your own risk.".
So what if this came from their site. Still a rip off! Who are they for heaven's sake and why would we trust them????
devil_smile.gif

.
my point was look at how they say "why wouldn't they participate?" and "There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?"
i never heard of them before this thread and the tone of their site rubs me the wrong way. like there must be something 'wrong' with a business that does not participate or comply
 
from the TET website
"F.A.Q.
Q. What if I don't see a Trust Earned Seal at my potential travel service provider?
A. You should ask yourself and then the travel service provider: Why wouldn't they participate in the only worldwide Seal program specifically designed to educate and protect travelers? A Travel Earned Trust Seal on a company's web site (which you can click to verify) is your only means to know that the company agrees to comply with the rules and standards of conduct that Trust Earned Travel has established. There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?
From time to time, TET may link to web sites that we determine may be of interest to our visitors or have paid us to place such links or advertisements.
TET does not guarantee the accuracy of information found on the Site. Your reliance on information found on the Site is at your own risk.".
So what if this came from their site. Still a rip off! Who are they for heaven's sake and why would we trust them????
devil_smile.gif

.
my point was look at how they say "why wouldn't they participate?" and "There's no cost to the business so why wouldn't they comply with this recognized program?"
i never heard of them before this thread and the tone of their site rubs me the wrong way. like there must be something 'wrong' with a business that does not participate or comply
.
I agree 100% The tone is presumptuous but I think it is really intended to scare people into joining.
 
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