Not many have. I've yet to try the place in question, or Otoko. Life without referral fees is difficult! I have been to Uchi twice though since moving here. Seems Gary doesn't get north of UT or south of Oltorf though, based on his favorites. He possibly hasn't visited Peached since they moved to Burnet, judging from his list of places. Good for me, keeps him away from the spots I like :cool:.

Also, recommending a $150 sushi place isn't exactly difficult. It had better be good for that kind of money.

Not sure why he bashes the DC sushi scene, either. DC is thick with everything from strictly traditional joints to places that do haute sushi. I dropped over $150 for 2 people at Kaz sushi last Friday night (mmmm...tuna nigiri with Italian black truffle!!!).

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I am confused. Is GTL actually suggesting in his post on eight great Marriott redemptions that the Marriott Courtyard in Melbourne, Florida is on the doorstep of Miami? Actual quote from the article: "You’ve got access to Miami beaches."

Well, yes, yes you do. About 180 miles away. Closer would be any of the theme parks in Orlando, the speedway and beaches in Daytona, the theme parks and beaches of Tampa, the beaches, including Sanibel and Captiva, near Ft. Myers, football at the University of Florida in Gainesville (although Tallahassee and Florida State fall outside this distance), and even the golf courses at the TPC south of Jacksonville at Ponte Vedra--although lovely downtown Jacksonville is 10 more miles beyond the radius from Melbourne that would include Miami Beach.

It would be like talking about the access Austin gives you to the nightlife of Houston.

What you talkin' bout Willis?

Sure, my home here in Dayton, Ohio provides "access" to Miami beaches (after a ~20 hour drive).

:D I guess GTL needs a refresher geography class...or a map?

Or maybe he's just getting in sync with some of the ULCCs who fly to airports far from the metro area that they advertise as the destination...but even then I don't think Ryanair or the like would stretch things that far, would they?

Actually for closer "access" to Miami beaches, one should choose the Bahamas where Freeport is "only" about 112 miles away!

While neither are exactly in my top 10, I'd take the Melbourne area beaches over Miami, personally.

He claimed 99$ fares to Europe some time ago (never mind that they were one way barebones fares US East coast to KEF), but shame on you if you go for clickbait...��

Gary is NOT one of those people whose dogs are annoying on the plane. Most people don't even know he has a dog when he travels with his.

Cute doggy though! We need more pics of the dog on the plane instead of Gary in PJs.:)

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.

As a thought leader myself, I thought I would pass along this interesting read on Thought Leaderyness:

https://marketingcraftsmanship.com/2...hought-leader/

So here are 7 signs that you’re not cut out to be a Thought Leader:

You call yourself a Thought Leader.I apologize; but I could not resist...

Do as kokonutz says, not as kokonutz does ;).

An eighth sign is that you have not converted to the metric system and still call yourself a thought quart instead of a thought liter.

@:-) ^




;)

Today's Article: 10 Things I Love About My Chase Ink Cash Card

Correct me if I'm wrong here... but there seem to be some major mistakes in this article. He said he values the points at 1.9 cents apiece, but that's not accurate. It's 1.0 cents apiece. You can't place a value above 1.0 cents UNLESS you have a Sapphire or Ink Plus to transfer the points to.

He is also linking to an article "I value the points at 1.9 cents apiece", but in the article he gives no backing to how he came up with that valuation. What an idiot!

Also, am I wrong here.. but the $95 you pay for a yearly fee (which most get waived at least every other year by calling the retention line) is because you get the Visa Signature benefits?

He does say "...1.9 cents apiece when paired with a premium Chase card like Sapphire Preferred..." since you can transfer the points earned with your Ink to CSP.

I'm guessing the 1.9 cents is based upon transferring UR points to airline programs and some sort of average cash "value" of flights that could be redeemed for award tickets, or something like that. Not sure he really explains it though.