It's his trademark move - he literally lifted all my comments on the Hana-Maui conversion to Alila word for word, and the Alila Maldives post he put up used my words and pictures from FT. Trash move. Between that, his use of "om nom nom" and complaining about spurious, wildly overprivileged matters like toilet paper ply and champagne prices, I refuse to read his credit card-peddling tripe and hope others do too.

I also called him out on it in a comment and on social media, and got deleted and blocked on both. Classy. :rolleyes:

khabah

Yes, Lucky and TPG often get inspired by FT folks and simply copy/paste from FT.
FT is a great source, Lucky and TPG simply know how to sell themselves and market as "their knowlege". worst, people fall for it.

I don't mind. He summed it up for everybody, which is a good thing. So people don't have to deep dive into forums like this.

Yeah but the problem with that and guys like him is that they monetize and profit from the work, posts, discussions, thoughts and information of others to give the illusion of knowledge and travel related sagacity in order to encourage more people to get credit cards through them and other profit streams, which in many cases like this example, is based on fraud and deception.

I still don't mind 🙈
It is his business, he put up the website and is doing research here in the forums and elsewhere and putting the information together and selling it via advertising and affiliate links.
It's the same that newspapers and the likes do. Sell information that they find elsewhere and bring together for their readers.

In my opinion the mood here is way too negative. He doesn't harm anybody here. There's no negative effect on me when the information I found out gets spread vis news sites.

I actually do like reading these sites because they cover topics that I'm interested in and I don't have to research everything on my own.

​​​​

Sorry, lifting content almost 1:1 from FT discussions goes down a slippery slope of infringing on others contributions.

At a minimum, one would expect an acknowledgement to the FT thread as done by other folks like Garry (View From the Wing), John (Loyalty Lobby) or Rob (Heads for Points) and probably most folks would be content and fine with it.

No one is saying it is zero work to compile an article on his blog as even if he were to be copying content together from other sources and structuring it and such would take effort. Just reference what you use from others, give a little credit. It won't stop his followers consuming his content and not impact his ability to monetize it either.

To me overall, his approach is just bad form and I can understand why strong FT contributors like in this thread get turned off by someone with so little apparent integrity. He lives of his intellectual property and wants it respected, but doesn't seem to apply the same standard all around.

I stopped following his blog a long time ago and that's the best I can do. No use to add to his likely impressive page views. Everyone makes that decision him / herself. YMMV.

Okay, back to topic talking about this very nice looking, but expensive resort. ;)

yeah :-D

The resort now has an Instagram account: 7pinessardinia

It says "opening 1st of july".

I find FT to be 1000 times more helpful and informative than the travel bloggers (whose writing style I find to be extremely annoying and who gloss over many of the finer points I am looking for). Just like the news - best to read and trust (and credit) the primary sources of information.

I am excited about this property. Won't be splurging at peak season here, but definitely love to see more resorts open under the Hyatt family in places like this.

I am now thinking about visiting it for September/early october. Rates are fair then and weather on the island is pretty OK still during this time.

Annoying thing is, that there are no fully refundable rates at all. :-/

Hard pass.

Same thoughts, no fully refundable rates, no dice. It is absolutely unrealistic these days to not offer such a fully refundable rate option. A property may decide to tack longer cancellation periods to rates like that such as 7 or maybe even max 30 days advance notice, but anything else I would not even consider. YMMV.

I never prepay and always book flexible hotels and flights. During a pandemic this is even more crucial.

That's exactly what 7Pines Sardinia is doing, I'm seeing the following terms for the Member Rate in September/October

Deposit Policy
Credit Card Deposit Required 50 PCT OF 9 NIGHT(S) DEPOSIT WILL BE CHARGED TO CREDIT CARD
Cancellation Policy
7 Days Prior Or 50percent Of Stay/ 50percent Deposit

Seems fair to me. rota , does this rate not show for you?

I can see it but is only 50% refundable, which is not possible for me, as my work sometimes requires changes on short notice.notice.

If you're an employee, will the company reimburse nonrefundable deposits, change fees, etc. if an approved vacation is cancelled for business purposes of the employer?