kokonutz

The tax implications of bloggers accepting free travel as well as the ability of bloggers to write off travel expenses as a business expense were discussed in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/exter...-paid-fly.html

And as others have pointed out, even on award tickets and stays, a trip to the Maldives will incur significant travel expenses.

That is one of the jobs. Another is to help posters like you find information and discussions as I just did in this post! ^

Tiki

Interesting thread! I took a walk down memory lane. I was in the Maldives in 1996 and stayed at the Full Moon Resort, had to dust off the old albums to remember that. It seems that resort is now the Sheraton Full Moon and has been renovated but back in the day it was a more budget property. I was the only single there, it was my birthday and they saw that on my passport and surprised me with a cake! I spent the whole time diving. It was nice but nowadays there are other places I would rather go to.

eponymous_coward

Yes, artificial ones at Mandalay Bay...

Alternately: Cancun. AKA "South Texas".

84fiero

I guess the Maldives represents an easy way for some bloggers to tout their expertise, since it's perceived as ethereally luxurious and so difficult to reach. And makes a quick and exciting set of pics to entice readers, especially newbies.

I don't have any great desire to visit. I like to relax on vacation, sure, but I usually want to see and do things more so than what the Maldives has on offer. And when I do want a 100% chill out and lounge vacation, there are better options IMHO. But to each his own in that regard.

At one time I did some research before deciding if it would be on my list of desired destinations. I found some aspects of the country, and the tourist infrastructure, very much a turn-off. I didn't save links to everything but some quick googling will locate things for anyone who wants to investigate and come to their own conclusions.

While the country seems to be making an attempt to develop tourism carefully, the overwater bungalows in particular gave me pause. There have been studies that show the unnatural shading over shallow water can have adverse impact on marine life, and the long-term effects aren't yet fully known. I recall that preservatives from the wood leaching into the water, and construction/maintenance disturbance on the environment are a concern as well. Sure, no country is perfect when it comes to ecological issues, but on balance, it felt like there was a much more immediate impact from my visiting there as a tourist...and as I said, no real compelling things to draw me there anyway.

The Maldives also has less than stellar human rights practices. Public practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden by their constitution. People have been arrested and deported for bringing in reading materials on other religions. Islamic-law vandals destroyed a bunch of Buddhist and Hindu artifacts housed in their national museum.

There actually was a recent case this year, where a teenage girl was raped by her stepfather, who was also accused of murdering the baby that resulted. At the time I read the article the stepfather was arrested and awaiting trial. The girl was quickly sentenced to 100 lashes and several months of house arrest, for the crime of engaging in premarital sex.

Not saying it's the worst country out there, or unsafe for average tourists, but for me I'd rather not patronize the country, all things considered. It would be nice if the well known bloggers/fans of the country used their platform to perhaps shed some light on or at least encourage debate on certain issues, rather than blindly using the country's storefront image to push credit card signups.

restonva

I never heard of the Maldives until joining this community. It sounds beautiful but so are a lot of more accessible places like the Carribean. If the over water room is the goal, aren't there places in Roatan, Honduras where you can do that?

DC777Fan

I'm going to the Maldives in January for the same reason I prefer to vacation in SE Asia for our once yearly "big" (10+ hours in the air) trip: It's really far away, and the time difference means nobody from home can bother me with business.

That's a HUGE part of being on vacation for me. As the owner of a small business, I do have to check in and answer questions of the acting-GM when I'm gone, but that's 20 min in the morning and 20 min before bed... very tolerable. Knowing that I'm totally free the rest of my day is invaluable and something I could never do in the Bahamas or even in Hawaii.

ma91pmh

This thread and the original post (note I use the word POST not POSTER) is a bad example of the kind of pure-anti-blog nonsense that fortunately has not been that typical of EMPR but certainly very typical of a certain core that simply don't like anything because it's on a blog. The original post itself is just a thinly veiled dig at Mommy Points rather than any substantive discussion of any external mileage or point resource.

FlyFasterFlyFarther

Since Flyertalk's official forum moderator and forum Ambassador post to this thread (note, I am not referring to individual posters but to roles), it is not much of a surprise that this is what the forum has become (note further that I am not writing anything about specific moderator action or inaction either, I call no-bansies!!!, which blogs censor comments indeed...)

kokonutz

I thought it was a fair question. I mean, Bali, for example, used to be a destination that a lot of FlyerTalker went to to prove their travel mettle. Never mind that it just so happens to be the Australian version of Honolulu.

Anyway, if you don't like the tone or the tenor of the forum, feel free to change it by posting in a manner you'd prefer to see. Bashing those who you perceive to be blog-bashing likely won't move in that direction! @:-)

ma91pmh

I have always said that Bali is just (for me) the Australian version of Ibiza. Guess that shows my European roots. But I remember cracking up when Lucky said his advice to award booking clients wanting to go to Maldives was to suggest Bali. I mean ...!??! It's like someone wanting to go to Honolulu and someone suggests they try Jersey Shore or Myrtle Beach It sure seems to upset some of the old hardcore around here, but Maldives for me is heavenly, and I never took any credit card money for saying so and I will continue to extol it's immense virtues.

And I appreciate the DCA political charm, must be in the water, but I think even you Koko realize this thread is just venom - which is a shame as most of the discussion has been far more civilized than I originally thought would come here (much of which I will put down to the fact that 2 or 3 of the serial posters in the old MilesBuzz! thread-basher threads seem to have stayed away for some reason)

oliver2002

My colleague commented once that he thought Hawaii was just like the Canary islands when he finally got there.

As to the tenor of this thread, it mainly is due to the fact that the the MommyPoint blog USP/brand is/was price sensitive travel for families with kids, clearly staying distinct in the realm of flying WN to see Grandma in KS or the Mouse in FL and not premium travel to an aspirational destination.

Times change and brands reinvent themselves (take for example Dove, then even have products for men theses days! ) and in this particular case the blogger has explained her standpoint in a candid relaxed way which is a great example on how this forum is supposed to work. (?)

ma91pmh

Er yeah right... just connect the dots between your statement below and the OP above. Frankly it's like you are talking about the price of tea in China and the OP is an observation about mouse-traps from Mexico. I am struggling to find one common strand. The OP is a venomous rant at a certain blogger with plenty of CC digs. The other is an attempt to say that said rant has something to do with brand evolution? I gotta say nice try. Maybe someone buys it

oliver2002

OK, I forgot the OP post of this thread. Mea culpa. Mixed it up with the tweets and TBB chatter on the topic.

ma91pmh

kind of sad that there is such a thing as tweet and tbb chapter on the "topic"

kokonutz

Ah, that may be how you perceive the start of the thread...but how do you perceive the thread as a whole!?

Because I think it's a pretty civil and enlightening thing. ^

To the overall point, I do think there is a sense of blog-bashing among some. But it seems to me to be far more of an undertone than a prevailing current.