World Travel Holdings (WTH), No. 17 on Travel Weekly’s 2020 Power List, is making up to $1 million in commercial loans available to its Dream Vacations and CruiseOne franchise owners.
The stimulus plan — titled We’re There to Help, a name that was chosen to incorporate World Travel Holdings’ initials — has three prongs.
The first is the loan availability. To apply, franchisees must explain how they would use funds from WTH as well as submit a business plan.
Second, WTH is offering franchise owners help in securing a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, through part of a negotiation with WTH’s banking institution.
Finally, WTH has created the Cares Page, a section on its intranet where it has gathered financial assistance information from WTH and multiple other sources.
Brad Tolkin
In a statement, WTH co-CEO and chairman Brad Tolkin said the network is seeing “the biggest pent-up demand for travel in history” as well as “extremely strong bookings” for the latter part of 2021 into 2022. As such, he said, “We want to help ensure our franchisees can sustain their business for when this travel boom arrives.
“In spite of World Travel Holdings not qualifying for PPP funds due to our size, it was very important to us to find a way to provide additional assistance for the small business owners within our franchise system,” Tolkin added. “We know the future of leisure travel is bright, and we want to do our part and assist our travel agency franchise owners to be ready to meet this demand.”