exoticfusion

More misinformation and not being truthful of current sign-up offers http://thepointsguy.com/2015/10/how-...-amex-for-you/.

LPDAL

Even credit card churning requires a respectable amount of income and a good credit score. You can't churn if your credit score is in the dumpster.

Also, there are certain things that are expensive that cannot be purchased with miles or points. One simply has to bite the bullet and pay for them directly; how do you pay for a new passport with miles? A visa to visit a country that requires those sort of endorsements?

One cannot live on miles alone. But it is constantly implied by Brian, Lucky, and whatever else affiliate credit card ad billboard blogs that if you manage to get 50 airline credit cards, free luxury travel is guaranteed. Nowhere is it mentioned that miles are extremely inflated, are losing value rapidly, and unavailability of redemption rates is skyrocketing. They can dress the blogs up however they want, but they are solely to push credit cards for the commission, and nothing else.

Brian was bankrolled for those trips, especially the Etihad Residence one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the average quote price for a one way ticket in that suite is $40,000, which is way over the line limit of many (most?) credit cards.

I'm sorry, but all of these trips are comped, every single one of them. With no other source of income it makes zero sense for anyone to be traveling around the world in international first class and staying in five star hotels weekly for "free". Sorry, nobody has to agree with me, but as I said before, if it doesn't make sense, it isn't true.

-LPDAL

Astrophsx

No one took a trip in the Residence. The Editor-in-Chief of TPG "reached out" to Etihad's team for early access and a tour of the Residence. When he submitted the image to social media he conveniently left out that it was a tour and gave the impression that is how he was traveling. The article on TPG did mention that it was just a tour. The reason I posted the photo was in response to the comment that they are not pretending to be anything that they are not. The photo has been used several times without the mention of the tour.

LPDAL

That was one blog post.

All of these first class trips and five star hotel stays are comped. I'm never going to believe that they are free. Believing he receives this loot for free defies even the most basic of human logic.

Bottom line is that these blogs are here to sell credit cards under the guise of free luxury travel, and nothing else.

-LPDAL

baccarat_king

Well, that was a whole lot of non-scoop about the scoop.

Sort of a shame, since on a global basis the Centurion program has some interesting perks.

nsx

This. Blogs have become horrible wastes of readers' time.

The transformation has been analogous to what happens to a beautiful remote island once it is "discovered" and "developed". Very little of the original attraction remains.

Astrophsx

This seems like a non-issue to me. There are several interns and guest bloggers on TPG. I guess it would say a lot about the editor of the website letting this stuff slip. When a blog relies on stock images it can make the page seem stale, generic, and less personable. I would think it is important to allow the reader to make a connection with the writer. This creates a relationship where the reader is more likely to come back. I think that is why OMMAT's readers are more passionate about the blog vs TPG.

There is a trend of blogs asking readers questions. I'm assuming that lends itself to that "relationship". Doing the city guides seem to be that type of outlet for TPG. Just my 2 cents.

Astrophsx

Now you are just making stuff up to meet your agenda. There is no reason to believe Brian Kelly isn't using credit cards.... that is a laughable statement. He is also not selling snake oil. I've seen no reports of people signing up for credit cards, meeting the minimum spend, staying within the terms and conditions and NOT getting the sign up bonus. The miles and points gained from the sign ups do in fact get you flights and hotels.

You are making a poor argument here. We get the issue you raised with the photos, but this is a separate topic. He may be more of a credit card blogger than a "travel blogger", but he is not selling snake oil. You also have no evidence that he is NOT traveling on miles and points.

LPDAL

I have no such agenda as I stated before, what other people think of me or what I say really doesn't matter to me. I don't care if one agrees, disagrees, or is neutral to what I say. When I argue a point, it doesn't matter if 100 people jump on me, my own argument will still be backed by myself. [In addition, I am fully aware that what I am posting here has little to no effect on these blogs' business. But I never intended to destroy their business through these posts, so I don't know where that came from.] The core business of these blogs is selling credit cards, and to do so they adopt various measures. Do not include my photos in these measures, and I am fine. I view TPG, Lucky, and others as selling snake oil. There is more than one opinion here (people have differing opinions), whether one thinks it is wrong, right, or neutral to it. Therefore, I don't want my photos on their blog.

Now excuse me while I go get rich of off flipping real estate. These "free luxury travel" and "Get rich flipping house" are all one and the same. In fact I am very confused as to how one can include the words "luxury" and "free" in the same sentence, they are polar opposites.

Yes, with the rapidly diminishing opportunities for redemption rates. No thanks.

-LPDAL

LivelyFL

I can't stand stock photos. I want to see what it was like the day the blogger happened to be there.

LPDAL

^

That's the whole point -- they weren't there, they are using assets from stock photo galleries (this is allowed, as I'm assuming they are either given these images by the company or they are paying to be a part of a stock photo membership) and company press releases. This isn't always the case, but it is not uncommon.

It is part of the business strategy, where a company says "Hey, this blog is popular and could gain us some business. Blogger XYZ, we have a proposition for you: You're going to blog positively about our credit card / resort / airline XYZ. We'll pay you for it if you gain us customers."

It is perfectly legal, but these sort of posts need to be taken with a grain of salt as they are attempting to sell one something. A much more useful asset would be independent user reviews, who are NOT being paid to write, and have no obligation to positively remark on the product they're reviewing.

-LPDAL

Richklhs

Request Mod retitle thread: TPG: We won't steal LPDAL's photos, we promise.

Astrophsx

When the H/T goes to their own intern...

oliver2002

22 posts regarding photo plagiarism have gone to the EM&PR plagiarism thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/exter...-you-copy.html

Regards Oliver2002
Mod EM&PR forum

Raffles

Honestly, they probably aren't. The world is not falling over itself to throw free hotel stays and flights at bloggers.

This DOES exist but only for 'genuine' travel blogs where it is usually funded by a tourist board - the airline and hotels used still get paid.

I run the only miles and points site of scale in the UK. My readership is multiples of businesstraveller.com etc in the UK. And I get offered virtually nothing. The only big freebie I have taken (a J return on Qatar) was arranged via a chance social contact with their UK CEO.

You can get stuff for free, of course, but you have to work at it - and then it isn't free ....

Let's assume Brian makes $2m a year. Why would he bother getting comped rooms? Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is? How many calls you have to make? How many pitches you need to produce? For what? To save $200 on a hotel room when you are making $6,000 a day? You don't even get a trouble-free stay as you usually have to sit through a hotel tour with a PR person who has no idea who you are and simply wants to waste an hour of your life. It really, really isn't worth it which is why I don't lower myself to it.