Points/Miles Bloggers

[HanoiIG]

There are so many of these out there that I could be 24/7 just reading their advice, much of which is a bit confusing and they often contradict each other as well. I won't name names but there is one who counts himself fortunate about whom I have read some very critical posts that alleg he or she gives advice that benefits him and his cohort, rather than the travelers.

I'm not in business so I give out free advice(probably worth just that) to friends of friends of people who have never heard of me but if I'm in the biz I might not be as willing. I get that. Most sites give a vague caveat that the blogger "may receive some compensation from links on the blog." This makes it look as if it's more of a minimal tangential benefit, rather than the purpose of the advice. Kind of like, I send people to my favorite restaurant and they sometimes buy me a drink as opposed to I get a referral fee.

How can we separate the wheat from the chaff? How can we know the ones trashing blogger A are not just doing it to get your business? I know travel is huge business so perhaps there is plenty to go around. I may be a bad person but I usually don't click links and apply for cards on the bank's website. Anyway, 'tis a puzzlement.

 

[Belisarius]

Read Doctor of Credit, Frequent Miler, Miles to Memories. You're done. You're welcome.

 

[ukinny2000]

Read Doctor of Credit, Frequent Miler, Miles to Memories. You're done. You're welcome.

milenomics, free-quentflyer

 

[Craig]

USCreditCardGuide . Though I'm biased since I write for them, I think we produce pretty good, unbiased content. We also receive no compensation from advertisers.

 

[HanoiIG]

OK. I just mean some blogger on this slams "Lucky" Most hate "The Points Guy" How can I evaluate things like Chase Sapphire Reserve and AX Platinum? I have them and see the value but who the hell really knows. I maybe don't need 30 cards and probably not so many with fees. I figure my Alask is worth 79$ just to get the companion fare. Amtrak is OK. Perhaps AA I should have one in case I fly coach.

 

[Matt]

No advice will be 100% unbiased. The best way to reduce it as much as possible is to look at underlying compensation.

If the site is compensate by credit card conversions (commission) then you are being sold to. Sites like Lucky's and TPG etc are clearly in this category. However, it doesn't mean that there isn't good info there, personally, when researching a trip and wanting to know what an airline or hotel review looks like I will use these sites and think they are valuable.

There's a weird disconnect that occurs when people who also use these sites refuse to use them for credit card conversions. You got value, give a click. It is fine by me. I know that this is rare thinking from people like myself, who aim to be more on the unbiased side, as most would encourage you to avoid giving them any clicks/commission..

Commission is the devil. You'll find that the 'good crowd' will either chase it also, or complain about it, or try to disparage those who are getting paid when they are not. Few will accept that it is OK for others to earn commission when they do not. My only concern with the commission driven blogger is that the newbie isn't given proper transparency. If they are, and they know the system, then I think it is fine that they give their clicks to the blog that helped them.

The other catch is that you can't trust anyone based on name. EG, someone here says to trust Frequent Miler, who is (rightly) held in high esteem for his ethical approach to blogging with commission. But Frequent Miler is not a person, it is a company. If company policy changes (company sold/pressure to convert more or lose links) then it could change (the site already has changed from how it was 3 years ago). While I do trust Frequent Miler today, I only trust any site as far as I can throw them, and it is important to always keep a critical eye rather than accept anything on face or brand value. This isn't to rag on that site, but an attempt to use one of the better ones out there as an example that you can't ever really trust any business where you are being sold to.

Oh, and AA miles are generally best for Intl Biz.

 

[HanoiIG]

No advice will be 100% unbiased. The best way to reduce it as much as possible is to look at underlying compensation.

If the site is compensate by credit card conversions (commission) then you are being sold to. Sites like Lucky's and TPG etc are clearly in this category. However, it doesn't mean that there isn't good info there, personally, when researching a trip and wanting to know what an airline or hotel review looks like I will use these sites and think they are valuable.

There's a weird disconnect that occurs when people who also use these sites refuse to use them for credit card conversions. You got value, give a click. It is fine by me. I know that this is rare thinking from people like myself, who aim to be more on the unbiased side, as most would encourage you to avoid giving them any clicks/commission..

Commission is the devil. You'll find that the 'good crowd' will either chase it also, or complain about it, or try to disparage those who are getting paid when they are not. Few will accept that it is OK for others to earn commission when they do not. My only concern with the commission driven blogger is that the newbie isn't given proper transparency. If they are, and they know the system, then I think it is fine that they give their clicks to the blog that helped them.

The other catch is that you can't trust anyone based on name. EG, someone here says to trust Frequent Miler, who is (rightly) held in high esteem for his ethical approach to blogging with commission. But Frequent Miler is not a person, it is a company. If company policy changes (company sold/pressure to convert more or lose links) then it could change (the site already has changed from how it was 3 years ago). While I do trust Frequent Miler today, I only trust any site as far as I can throw them, and it is important to always keep a critical eye rather than accept anything on face or brand value. This isn't to rag on that site, but an attempt to use one of the better ones out there as an example that you can't ever really trust any business where you are being sold to.

Oh, and AA miles are generally best for Intl Biz.

Thanks. I kind of get it. At first I just thought these bloggers were being "helpful." I soon realized that some of them are mostly in it for the referral fees. I'm still amazed that you can make a living from this, but I only bought a tiny amount of Amazon, figuring that was just a crazy idea so what do I know.

Most of my redemptions have been for Intl Biz though BA (using AA miles) is nothing special. I've found that my LifeMiles has gotten me a ton of biz flights mostly on TK. I rarely fly domestic except MDT-ORD so that's not a big consideration anyway.

So do they just get $ when you look at the applications or must you actually apply? I feel the same way you do and subscribe to the Athletic, NYT and other publications since why should they write for free. When I see posts like the one on the Saverocity front page ripping other bloggers, then I don't know what to think.

OK, the main "advice" is often why cards with fees pay for themselves, which they sort of do but don't as there is often duplication. I think it's even the same with spend for bonus. If I were going to spend it anyway, fine. If I have to find something to buy, not quite as fine, but you get sucked in. I just pay cable(I KNOW I should get rid of it!) or mobile phone a few months in advance or load up on Amazon gift cards.

I can' imagine the spend on cards where you have to spend $15-25K in a year and we are fortunately in OK financial shape so I don't need to have everything free. Also at my relatively advanced age, I just need to figure out which card to use for given transactions. TPG has an app but he is often wrong, like why would Amtrak be #1 card for so many things as it pays 1X when Arrival+ pays 2X?

 

[bspoke]

No advice will be 100% unbiased. The best way to reduce it as much as possible is to look at underlying compensation.

If the site is compensate by credit card conversions (commission) then you are being sold to. Sites like Lucky's and TPG etc are clearly in this category. However, it doesn't mean that there isn't good info there, personally, when researching a trip and wanting to know what an airline or hotel review looks like I will use these sites and think they are valuable.

There's a weird disconnect that occurs when people who also use these sites refuse to use them for credit card conversions. You got value, give a click. It is fine by me. I know that this is rare thinking from people like myself, who aim to be more on the unbiased side, as most would encourage you to avoid giving them any clicks/commission..

Commission is the devil. You'll find that the 'good crowd' will either chase it also, or complain about it, or try to disparage those who are getting paid when they are not. Few will accept that it is OK for others to earn commission when they do not. My only concern with the commission driven blogger is that the newbie isn't given proper transparency. If they are, and they know the system, then I think it is fine that they give their clicks to the blog that helped them.

The other catch is that you can't trust anyone based on name. EG, someone here says to trust Frequent Miler, who is (rightly) held in high esteem for his ethical approach to blogging with commission. But Frequent Miler is not a person, it is a company. If company policy changes (company sold/pressure to convert more or lose links) then it could change (the site already has changed from how it was 3 years ago). While I do trust Frequent Miler today, I only trust any site as far as I can throw them, and it is important to always keep a critical eye rather than accept anything on face or brand value. This isn't to rag on that site, but an attempt to use one of the better ones out there as an example that you can't ever really trust any business where you are being sold to.

Oh, and AA miles are generally best for Intl Biz.

The reason I don't give TPM, OMAAT etc clicks even though they do produce some useful content is because of how much bad advice and clickbait they also produce.

 

[lpaca]

This is not a problem unique to the travel hacking world. Online review sites and blogs are overwhelmingly biased positive due to a simple issue - $. There’s no money to be made from well researched reviews that result in a recommendation of do not purchase/sign up. Mattress reviews suffer from this problem arguably worse than almost any industry when it comes to trustworthiness of online content.

I read almost all of the points/miles blogs mainly for infotainment but rarely follow their credit card advice. There’s a lot of good info on booking flights that would take me way too much time to figure out otherwise. The credit card “analysis” tend to be thinly veiled advertising. Yes, some bloggers are shadier than others (e.g., will not share better offer if there’s no affiliate link) but in the end they all blog (including those considered “more ethical”) to make $, so take their advice as you would from someone whose job is to sell credit card signups. I do think if any of them tells you certain cards are bad/not worthwhile, that’s likely to be trustworthy advice.

 

[bspoke]

This is not a problem unique to the travel hacking world. Online review sites and blogs are overwhelmingly biased positive due to a simple issue - $. There’s no money to be made from well researched reviews that result in a recommendation of do not purchase/sign up. Mattress reviews suffer from this problem arguably worse than almost any industry when it comes to trustworthiness of online content.

I read almost all of the points/miles blogs mainly for infotainment but rarely follow their credit card advice. There’s a lot of good info on booking flights that would take me way too much time to figure out otherwise. The credit card “analysis” tend to be thinly veiled advertising. Yes, some bloggers are shadier than others (e.g., will not share better offer if there’s no affiliate link) but in the end they all blog (including those considered “more ethical”) to make $, so take their advice as you would from someone whose job is to sell credit card signups. I do think if any of them tells you certain cards are bad/not worthwhile, that’s likely to be trustworthy advice.

That's why I appreiciate DoC's posts. Yes they're watered down and boring, but that's because he's mostly just sharing information and letting the reader do their own analysis largely. I appreciate this because I don't need someone trying to sell me on the CSP every time I turn around. I may not agree with all his views, but I never feel like I'm getting click-baited or hustled.

 

[lpaca]

I thought of this thread recently when the Southwest companion pass deal came out. DOC was like, meh - actual article title "Why The New Chase Southwest 30,000 Point + Companion Pass Offer Isn’t That Good" while every other blogger acted like it was the greatest offer since the pudding & US Mint days. Not sure I agree with his take 100%, but have to give DOC some credit for the integrity.