HadesNL

to write that your son can be an issue while you want your Hyatt Lifetime Globalist attainment event to be memorable just sounds strange as a new parent ...

- just do the Hyatt Lifetime Globalist attainment event another time or delay it properly so everyone can enjoy it and all are ready to enjoy it. Has attaining this godlike status + event build up so much merit that it warrants leaving (spouse + ) son home?

- If he wrote the plan was surely to take a babymoon/mini-moon combo with the lifetime event with son, i can fully understand this.

oliver2002

VFTW also drew a lot of flack when he started posting his experiences of travelling with a child. The 'travel with child' angle faded quickly after that. As mentioned before, addressing the 'travel with kids' market at the same time with the 'aspirational couple/single travel' segment is rather difficult. Writing about how your keep a toddler comfortable while taking a speed boat to the overwater bungalow in the seychelles/maledives/bora bora might be cute but the majority of his audience either won't travel to such places with kids or doesn't want to read about kids logistics.

HadesNL

oliver2002 : you are right, that makes sense - it must be just a phase
I shan't be surprised evermore so i'll leave it like that.

Matt4200

I read this article and thought it was a fun concept.

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/...st-hotel-stay/

For those who have achieved Lifetime status where was your stay that went over the threshold and gave you the status, was it a memorable stay and why?

For those who are thinking of Lifetime status or are close to hitting it do you have any plans to make that stay special?

I think it’s a great discussion for the community.

JetAway

Lots of filler posts lately-"How to..." Fatherhood must be taking its toll.

hockeystl

American Express must've increased the affiliate fees on 9/1. Today's shameless post pimping the AmEx Delta Reserve and how it gets Sky Club access. Lots of beautiful pics of the club. Not a single one showing the overcrowding or massive waits to get in. Not a mention in the puff piece.

Raffles

Unfair. What is astonishing about OMAAT is how little filler there is, given the 365 day publishing schedule and the content volume.

I mean …. I employ two staff, only run 3 articles per day and I think our % of recycled stuff is higher than Ben (and done for necessity due to travelling, staff leave etc).

coleslaw

I would recommend you avoid VFTW if you’re not a fan of filler posts, click bait, highly biased articles, etc. It’s the Fox News / The Sun of points and miles blogs.

cova

I agree - sort of dry - and no personality posts. I have started looking at TravelCodex. Scott Mackenzie (and others started at the same time as Ben) and Ben made it big with personality (ie buying everyone drinks at an FTU event). But Scott now has a lot of good co-writers and his site is looking good. VFTW is pretty much Gary's inside connection to AA and Jon.

A few years back - Ben was having guest posters - but that stopped - I don't even see any direct posts by Tiffany Funk anymore. She may be writing many of these - but not getting any credit.

I suspect Ben's good days are gone. As a gay father of one child - he should be planning for a sibling to the boy. Almost all gay couples I know - that have children have two. Some public figures with two for example - Anderson Cooper, Chance Seales (of Newsy), Elton John, Neil Patrick Harris, etc. Kids that grow up as an only child have a different bringing up - and it the parents are gay - it is harder for a single child.

HadesNL

The post of

9 Reasons To Apply For IHG Premier Credit Card

has returned.
Today sat 3 sept 2022, with 0 comments

According to OMAAT - search it appeared actually two months ago earlier.
It had 6 comments then.

So it seems IHG-affiliate Premier Credit card has at least the appearence of every 2 months in their contract.




If you decide to repost an affiliate creditcard post exact word for word / same photos each time,
it would seem smart to keep the conments.....
Unless IHG is not paying for this ..

You can spot that comments are kept on the reposts about Capital 1 (spark/venture/lounge etc.)

And ofcourse the next in the cycle of reposts is the always equal charming post:
IHG Premier VS IHG Traveller card (show down / which is beter)

It becomes noticable that there is a certain cozy predictability
Most enjoyable for a memory jog

danielflyer

Why are there so many tragic stories on OMAAT lately? It’s really disturbing to see more new stories about plane crashes than actual coverage of how to use points or airline products.

It’s in very poor taste to use what happened in Conakry today as clickbait without adding any meaningful discussion or genuine condolences for the victims.

josephstern

I actually feel like he's trying to build up a library of reference posts for SEO purposes. He goes through each 'category' and tries to make every variety of a post based on it these days, and then moves to the next category. Seems like all of that is to draw eyes from new Google searches, and not draw interest from regular readers. It's just too basic and bland and formulaic.

I'm still amazed by the volume he and his team pump out - but I do wish more of it were about interesting travel and not as much of this dull stuff.

diburning

Maybe he's just pumping up the amount of news articles so that he can go the TPG route where they try to pass off their marketing as journalism.

JetAway

I’ve actually found a lot of useful information on TPG. It’s like “Pravda”-you just have to know how to read it.

cova

I suspect he will sell OMAAT (like TPG) and focus on running the points.me - booking engine - it that becomes successful (which is tbd).
Expertflyer and airline websites provide all that is needed by an experienced flyer. But there are a lot of non-savvy flyers that have trouble using their miles, hence businesses evolved to help you book rewards for a fee.

But with all the airline changes on their FF programs, everything is based on spending money and using credit cards. Distance flying doesn't mean anything these days except for lifetime status. There is not much to report on tricks for earning status. Hence, the bloggers just become credit card pushers.

If there is somekind of an event, all the bloggers just copy each other. For a new article - the post is just a summary of the news article. So the value of these blogs becomes questionable.

Seems like youtube and tiktok is where the action is for people that like to follow reality stars.