After a period of silence, it seems that some travel suppliers are in step with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s crackdown on alleged "card mills." 

Perillo Tours quietly stopped taking bookings from YTB Travel Network, a multilevel marketing travel agency, and IATA canceled four U.S. agencies for what may be similar reasons.

IATA said it canceled the agencies for violating its regulations forbidding the "improper lending, subcontracting or hiring to a third party of an IATA numeric code by agencies."

Agencies in the card mill/multilevel marketing categories are among the targets, but IATA declined to name the canceled firms.

IATA said it was so concerned about the integrity of its programs and proper care of its numeric codes that it hired legal counsel in September to assist with its investigations. It said a worldwide investigation was continuing and could result in cancellations in other countries, as well.

Steve Perillo, president of Perillo Tours, said that when he read the news of RCCL's move, he decided to have a look at YTB bookings for his firm. He said he found that "90% of the travelers and booking agents were the same person. ... I wondered what kind of a game this was," he said.

"I would love for all agents to take our tours," which can mean price reductions of up to 50%, he added, "but this is not the idea. It is to support agents to learn and sell the product, not to use this for their own travel discounts. The specter of this is growing, and this is abusing the privileges of sellers."

Kim Sorensen, YTB's CEO, has vigorously asserted that his firm is not a card mill, that the YTB card is merely an identifier.

However, at Perillo Tours, ID cards per se are not the issue; Perillo said it was simply that "when our staff hears a valid IATA number, they book."

Perillo Tours has not formally notified YTB yet, Perillo said, but the letter will go out soon.

The amount of business was "not huge. We are a niche operator," he said.

Perillo said he had found about 20 bookings over the last six months, "nothing that would make or break us. It is the principle."

As to other YTB-like firms, Perillo said he was studying the situation. "I don't want to act rashly. I need to find out what others are up to."

Sorensen, however, accused Perillo of "just piling on for publicity. We have no relationship with them. Some of our [referring travel agents] may have booked some business with them but not to my knowledge. Our two companies have never communicated. It is easy to sever ties with someone that doesn't sell your product," he said.

While RCCL did not name YTB, Sorensen acknowledged to Travel Weekly last month that RCCL had severed its relationship with YTB. The effective date for termination was Nov. 9, he said, adding that his efforts to meet with RCCL on the matter came to nothing.  

To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine Godwin at ngodwin@travelweekly.com.