Astrophsx

I thought MMS did (haven't read that blog in a long time). Not sure if you count frequent miler as a major blogger.

Brian Kelly is an interesting fella.. His personality is too dull to branch out into travel TV (hence the thousands of $$$ they spent advertising his YouTube series to get each video from 4,000 views to 150,000+). With the link you provided and knowing that he purchased the ticket for the Residence out of pocket... I can't tell if he's an old man trying to go viral or if he is trying to put out the idea that he's now part of the elite crowd.

At least Ben is still active on Flyertalk and seems to keep in touch with the travel community.

ctownflyer

I don't read MMS, but heard from him in person (as well as several other bloggers at a Chase event I attended back when I had Chase links) that he doesn't.

Astrophsx

Interesting... and I was wrong, Ben actually isn't active on FT. He only posts a few times a year now. I'm assuming he is there lurking for price mistakes and other info though.

josephstern

I would put FM and this guy "Dan" out there as major bloggers who MS.

ctownflyer

I guess it depends on how you define major. I think only FTG, MMS, TPG, and VFTW still have direct Chase links for example.

FallenPlat

Some of us might sometimes be too nose-in-the-air for our own good, it would seem.

A few days ago I made a snippy reference to "the ghost of Hiram Bingham" in a comment about Ben's South American travels. A favorable comment, by the way. Well, today he posted about arranging a multi-day stay in Cusco; and the only reason anyone would do that would be to visit Machu Picchu.

Ok, so some of us have some crow to eat. I think I'll take mine en croûte. And you?

kokonutz

They were all doing it back when all it took was a Hilton Amex and a CVS. Heck, I was too.

But we collectively killed that golden goose too.

I'll still maximize earning by buying a Lowe's gift card at an office supply store to make a major appliance purchase through an airline portal. But the glory days of churning and MSing are well behind us all, bloggers included.

ctownflyer

Speak for yourself, just liquidated $5K this morning in 5 minutes despite being Serveless.

cruisr

Actually maybe he is trolling FT and this forum for ideas. IF so, Congratulations, you gave him an idea. BTW, I preferred the "regular" train from Cuzco to Aquas Calientes over the more luxurious Hiram Bingham train. I enjoyed being with locals and others from around the world which is something you don't get on the Hiram Bingham train. I also enjoyed staying overnight in Aquas Calientes. I hope he stays at the Belmond Hotel Monasatrio whilst in Cusco but as they don't have a points redemption program, I guess he won't. I did like that hotel. Sorry I went a bit OT.

Astrophsx

I'm heading back to Cusco next month for my second visit to Machu Picchu. I did the Starwood hotels last time. They are nice properties, but there are plenty of superior choices in the luxury range. Cuzco and the Sacred Valley aren't places where I'd spend much time at the hotel. I would also not have anything more than breakfast there.

You are right he's just giving the illusion that he wants his readers advice, just like he wanted their advice on if he should move to Seattle... when he was planning to move their all along because that's where his boyfriend at the time lived.

His advice is a huge waste if you ask me. There are some gems in that area as far as hotels and resorts and you are really limiting yourself by using hotel points or the 4th night free. We are going to rent a three bedroom apartment as the rates in Cuzco for a hotel are rather inflated for something nice and near the Plaza De Armas. I get that Ben is a miles and points blogger, but he purposely avoids telling the readers any option that won't get him some sort of referral income. In certain situations his advice/opinions can hurt his readers experiences when going to a bucket list destination like Machu Picchu.


It's too bad that he doesn't have a guest writer or someone on his payroll to write about this kind of stuff. When you stay at the Tambo Del Inka and take the Hiram Bingham you are 100% correct that he will do little to no interaction with the locals. The type of people we ran into at that hotel weren't the type interested in interacting with other travelers... or they were much older.. You put yourself into a bubble. I'd like to see Ben one day take some sort of bet and if he loses he has to do a whole trip in a hostel.

FallenPlat

Wow, I'm impressed with all the detailed knowledge. Way, way more than I have. Unfortunately, the closest I've ever gotten to Machu Picchu myself is the Peabody Museum in New Haven -- before they had to give all Hiram's loot back to Peru.

I sort of suspected I might've given Ben the idea. Maybe?

And I also rather suspected that a chain hotel in Cusco might not be the way to go.

I've always thought there was something rather odd in importing into the leisure-travel realm the "business" concept of chain-hotel staying. In much of the US? Sure. Elsewhere? Hmm.

JetAway

Unless he speaks passable Spanish (which he doesn't) he would have no interaction with the "locals" regardless of the train he took. Unless you are referring to simply sitting amongst them. In which case, at one time that was called "slumming it."

kokonutz

Didn't say it went away. Said the glory days are gone, a victim of the tragedy of the commons.

Good for you for working hard to get the scraps left out there before they, too, are gone. ^

ctownflyer

Fair enough. I wrote the pre-obituary a couple months ago, just can't link to it due to FT terms.
But the fat lady has yet to sing.

Adam1222

I think I was the first one to mention South America, and his post today doesn't make me eat crow for the same reason the people who pointed to 3 previous trips to South America didn't. The initial reference was in the context of Ben's three favorite cities, and the comment was that they were all in extremely service oriented cultures, as compared to the rich culture of South America that isn't as luxury service oriented. Now, Ben is going to one of the only places in South America with trying luxury hotel properties. Does that disprove that Ben prefers cultures where he can get a champagne breakfast, a Park Hyatt, and a spa treatment and a limo ride to the mall? Nope. And to preempt the accusation of jealousy, I've stayed in plenty super luxurious hotels. But my list of favorite cities does not correlate with fanciest, best service hotels.

As for why professional bloggers might not MS, 1) (not 100% legal) tax write-offs for buying miles or airfare, 2) the accounting for a business is more complicated and depending on size it might not be worth doing MS, and 3) since MS transactions often resemble unlawful activity, someone who is already doing something that is at best a gray area, I.e., writing off a trip with their lover as a business expense, might not want to draw further attention.