Although I'm willing to carpet bomb GTL, I didn't see this article as classic clickbait. He highlighted eight properties within Marriott's redemption band rates that might be good values, especially for folks unfamiliar with the Marriott program--like Gary. Despite the potential to drop in credit card links, I think that is a totally valid subject for an article given that the Marriott/Starwood merger was complete.

But, as noted in my post, his selection of the Melbourne property, which could be useful for someone interested in a central Florida vacation that might include beach time (on the Melbourne and Cocoa Beach beaches), a quick trip to Orlando for Disney World/Sea World/Universal, and a cruise on one of the Disney cruise ships out of Cape Canaveral, is perfectly valid for a lot more activities than access to the beaches of Miami that are nearly 200 miles away. That tells me that I can't rely on all of the representations he has made about all the other properties he's highlighted.

As I've said before, Gary's an adult, unlike most of the other bloggers. He's held responsible jobs. Despite those good points, his research and analysis frequently fall short--and in this case, for no particularly good reason since he could have pitched the Melbourne hotel in a way that was equally, if not more appealing.

As the bloggers like to say, in the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that I know about the Melbourne area because of one of the best jobs in my life, a summer job working for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. No--not a rocket scientist (I think my posts make clear I'm not that smart at all)--but a great time that was the start of the travels in my life. I like to think that the travel I do now comes from the travel I did in that one summer.