Host Travel Agency on Steroids

Host Travel Agency on Steroids

Joystar Featured in AGENT@HOME Magazine

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Joystar, Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: JYSR) , A leading provider of technology, marketing and support services to travel sellers, and fastest growing agency in America with over 750 member agents is proud to announce that the Company was featured in the January's issue of AGENT@HOME Magazine.

"We are very proud to be featured in this respected industry trade magazine. AGENT@HOME's highly targeted subscribers -- home-based travel agents are the fastest growing segment in travel distribution and this quality coverage will surely help to increase Joystar's professional agent membership," said William M. Alverson, Joystar's CEO.

Highlights from the article written by James Shillinglaw, the magazine's editor, include:

Call it a host agency on steroids. In just the past few months,
Joystar has emerged from nothing... to become a potentially major power
in the travel agency business. It now boasts having signed on roughly
600 professional home-based agents in just the last few months, which
would make it one of the largest host agencies around.

Indeed, so far it has focused almost exclusively on attracting
experienced agents. At the same time, it has partnered with some very
major players in travel. It's a relatively new member of Jurni
Network, the Sabre-owned agency consortium, which itself is just a
little more than a year old, just months after dropping its
Vacation.com affiliation. Joystar also has professional affiliations
with ASTA, CLIA, OSSN, and IATAN.

But the key to Joystar's success will be in its home-based agent
programs. Under its Agent Advantage program, there are no startup
costs, monthly fees, renewal fees, or annual fees. It offers
100 percent of the commission for any three months, and 90 percent of
the commission thereafter. There's also a free consumer travel website
for all agents who sign up; a free "Agents Only" extranet; free GDS
connectivity; free membership to Jurni Network consortium; stock
options and retirement plans; aggregating sales volume to obtain
greater buying power and commissions; ARC/IATAN ticketing; free lead
and direct mail programs; and referral agents (the part-timers)
assigned to experienced agents.

The stock option plan, according to Alverson, is a unique proposition
that isn't duplicated by any other host agency. Joystar is a public
company (small cap) that went public last year. Alverson is the
primary shareholder. Since going public, the stock has traded in a
range from roughly 60 cents per share to $3.20. Professional agents
who sign up are immediately granted stock options, at the price of the
stock when they join, tying them to the success of the company.
Indeed, Alverson says that a few of his new home-based agents have
already made money on the stock.

Joystar hopes to add as many as 2,000 professional agents, who will
work with many more part-time salespeople. At the same time, Alverson
believes that some of those part-time agents will eventually become
full-time professionals. In fact, he says Joystar is developing a site
that touts the value of professional travel agents. It will generate
consumer leads for specialist agents.

For their part, those professional agents who have recently joined
Joystar seem satisfied, even though they recognize that the company is
still in its infancy. Amy Lipniarski, whose home-based agency,
Dreamscapes, is located in North Tonawanda, N.Y., just outside Buffalo,
has also been an agent for 10 years, the last two as a home-based
professional. "I was looking for a host agency and I liked everything
that they offered," she says. "I'm getting more support from them than
what I got from my local agency." She also cites the stock options,
the lack of startup fees, and the 100 percent commission for the first
three months as reasons for selecting Joystar. Debra Virani, a
home-based agent with Millennium Cruise & Travel 2000 in Suwanee, Ga.,
has been operating her business for three years, working through other
host agencies. "My main reason for selecting Joystar was to be able to
have people go online and book if they couldn't get hold of me," she
says. "I also liked the commission plan and the fact that you can buy
into the stock. Joystar was just easier. The service has been great.
My commission check came when they said it would."

Trudi Frank, a 15-year veteran agent with her own home-based shop,
Total Travel, in Las Vegas, says that she switched to Joystar because
it seemed a bit more innovative. "It just looks like a company that's
going to do some-thing and go somewhere," she says. Frank, who is also
the new regional director of OSSN's Las Vegas chapter, likes Joystar's
strategy of combining experienced agents with part-timers. "I think
having referral agents is a good idea, because there are people who
want to get into travel part-time," she says. "The more experienced
agents can help mentor the new ones. It also can be a lucrative
part-time business."



Joystar has two membership plans for hosting professional travel agents -- a free program that pays 90 percent commission and a fee membership that pays 100%. Both can be found at www.joystar.com/pro. The Company currently has more than 750 independent travel agency members, some of whom are host agencies themselves. The Company's goal is to have 1000 professional agents by the end February and 2000 by the end of the third quarter.

"Additionally, there are over 7 million Americans operating secondary careers from their homes. We are looking for people who, although they may not have any agency experience, possess the sales skills, business acumen and love for travel that qualify them to partner with us," says Alverson. Joystar will assign 'new' agents to the Company's professional agents who qualify and wish to participate in the Company's mentor program. "This will give a huge income boost to our members who are ex-owners and managers. They won't be limited by office space, either. Now, instead of having five inside agents working for them, they can potentially have 20 to 50 outside agents working for them."

The mentor program is free to experienced agents. Revenues are split three ways among the referral agent, the experienced agent and Joystar. Experienced agents are also welcome to recruit their own sub agents and referral agents and pay them from their 90 percent or 100 percent, depending on their membership plan. With the proper mentoring from the experienced agents, training from Joystar, and support from the industry, these new breed of agents will become true sellers of travel.

The two models are symbiotic. Because Joystar assigns new agents to experienced agents, there will be an increase in the amount of bookings and income for both agents (instead of signing them up and letting them go it alone). After six months -- or after gaining enough knowledge and experience -- the rookie agents can begin to make bookings on their own. If they desire to continue as a referral only agent, they will be permanently assigned to an experienced agent, and will share in the commissions generated.

To read the full article written by AGENT@HOME editor James Shillinglaw, please visit www.joystar.com/pro and click on the AGENT@HOME Magazine logo.

About Joystar, Inc.

Joystar provides online and expert travel services for the leisure and small business traveler. Through the Company's web site http://www.joystar.com/, millions of web-savvy travelers can research and book air, car, hotel, vacations and cruises. The Company also empowers home-based travel agents to operate successful home-based businesses. Joystar provides its independent agents with all of the training, tools and back office support allowing them to operate a successful full-time or part-time business. In addition to the most rewarding compensation plan in the industry the benefits of being a Joystar home-based travel professional include a free consumer website, Agent Only booking tools, stock options, and Solo 401K retirement plan.

About Agent@Home Magazine

Agent@Home magazine (unit of Performance Media Group, Inc.) is dedicated to the Home-Based Travel Agent. Home-Based Travel Agents, whether they are independent contractors or full- or part-time travel agency employees working from home, are the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry. As more and more travel agency locations are consolidating or closing their doors, the Home-Based Travel Agent market continues to grow rapidly. The Magazine reaches more than 15,000 Home-Based Travel Agents across the country -- providing the essential marketing, selling skills, technology, and travel product and destination knowledge that they need to be more successful.

Safe Harbor Act

Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the Company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control, including but not limited to economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company's operations, management team effectiveness, expansion strategies, available financing, market prices and recovery costs, government regulations involving the Company, facts and events not known at the time of this release, and other factors discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.

For further information, please contact William Alverson of Joystar, Inc., (949) 837-8101, walverson@joystar.com.


Source: Joystar, Inc.

CONTACT: William Alverson of Joystar, Inc., +1-949-837-8101,
walverson@joystar.com

Web site: http://www.joystar.com/


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