Originally Posted by
Tiki
One could argue that the credit card bonuses are "free" and they can be IF you pay your bill off in full every month and don't accrue interest, if you don't mess up your credit score so you can't finance a house or car when you need one and don't get over your head into debt. Of course by the time you are hopelessly in debt, the blogger has taken their commission and is laughing all the way to the bank. These things need to be carefully thought through and not done on impulse.
Exactly!
Originally Posted by
Tiki
There are other ways to get cheap hotels besides the miles and points games and if your travel profile is mostly domestic USA for leisure or family trips to see grandma, you are probably better off with Priceline. People are getting everything from Days Inn to Marriott and you can choose what level you bid on.
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/for...s#.T675u9lRySo
I think priceline and hotwire are two areas most bloggers overlook because there is no payback for them. Also, a lot of status hounds ignore them b/c they want the biggest and best room possible so they generally overpay for a room to get upgrades or free breakfast. I have found that if I just save the money from the other room nights that aren't important and spend it on those upgrades I come out ahead far ahead.
Originally Posted by
Tiki
If some people crunch the numbers especially on domestic USA trips, they will probably find that they are better off buying the the cheapest ticket on Expedia and using the UR mall or a cash-back card to do so.
Usually, but no one wants to talk about it because that's no fun.
Originally Posted by
Tiki
Where some bloggers are failing both their readers and the FTers who do know how to play the game well is that they fail to point these out and have blown miles and points up to a level that can't be sustained by the average person. If you want to travel during holiday/peak periods, unless you can plan almost a year in advance, you will probably end up having to pay for your ticket as FF availability won't be there.
Most bloggers fall in to this category and should have disclaimers (like some do about the referral links) that the miles for a trip which they trumpet with a fawning trip report came from referrals or money generated off the website instead of what the average person could achieve. Most bloggers burn rate would far exceed what they could achieve. However, the perception they give to the average person is that this is normal.