Originally Posted by Astrophsx

Some bold claims being made about not ever asking for free handouts. I think it has been pointed out that his contributors have taken free handouts without disclosing. I know Daniel had a trip to the Middle East and didn’t disclose that they were free stays on each review. Also begs the question if he asked for free stays or the hotels reached out to him. He doesn’t seem to have a significant following. So he either asked or the hotels offered it to OMAAT.



At the end of the day Ben may not directly ask for a free stay, but he has been know to frequently reach out to hotels prior to his stay to let them know he will be gracing them with his presence and how “excited” he is to stay with them. Not as bad as pandering for free stays, but typically those suite upgrades cost more than the basic rooms. So in my opinion he is still playing the social media influncer game. An unbiased review would be him using an alias and also using a secondary social media account to reach out to hotels when things go wrong as to not get preferential treatment.

Maybe that is why some choose to call them trip reports vs hotel reviews? I think Ben is talented and I enjoy his content for the most part, but I think the hotel was in the right to call out the behavior.