The PR blitz continues on Nightline & the Economist, Fast Track to Hilton Gold, Accor Points become useful, learn what is the best use of Hilton HHonors, going live in the Robot Hotel, visit Iran, and marvel at the new Admiral X Force 145 mega yacht—->FREE ride to TBB readers #clickme #TBBmarketing #Iamamoron!
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Well, the mainstream media hits just keep on coming folks. Now The Economist picked up the story…Apparently, we are now known as part of a group called The Hobbyists…WTF! It is a must read. Keep shaking your head, we are not going to judge. This is great for One Mile at a Time, no doubt some of the new eyeballs will buy a credit card from him and Boarding Area’s model is based on ads and page views IS money (unlike here lol where we haven’t seen a dime yet from the hideous ads on the right hand side WTF!). But this does not negate the fact that each one of these PR stunts hurts the hobby, excuse me, The Hobby. I think I will pick up collecting something else soon! The Line in the Economist article that just blows you away is this: “Such is his rock-star status within the airline industry that on one flight a member of cabin crew ushered him into an empty aisle and pleasured him.” No comment, just WTF!
But waaaaaaaaaaaaaaait! The OMAAT one man (or is it?) PR machine is on a mega roll. Nightline baby! The soundbites, the mentions of FREE, the other two “Travel Hackers” both Boarding Area bloggers appearing to be cheering on The Dude. Hey, who else showed up in the clip? That Justin asshole. Wow! I am really glad about One Mile Prestige Card at a Time. He is probably the hardest working blogger in the business and no doubt this is his life and passion. I just hope he does not neglect his health (and get a hairstylist too dude!) and he should buy a home and start pumping it right like Million Mile Secrets does lol.
I just think know this amount of intense publcity is BAD for our quirky hobby that is more apt to thrive way under ground because, come on, we are parasites lol. Glad my colleague Farnoosh at least said something sensible in the piece: “This stuff takes TIME”! Can’t wait for the newbies to get to the stage to use their miles and start pulling their hair out…and that’s when the email for the award booking help business likely arrives. Folks, it’s all marketing. Except here! Big thanks to M. for getting an Uber referral from my links yesterday woohoo! Waiting breathlessly for another Prestige card sale from my links…when that happens it is…orgasmic! #hint
Raffles, who runs the blog Head for Points across the pond, nailed it in the TBB comments:
And so it begins ….
Email from a Head for Points reader: “I have recently found your site in my effort to wrap my head around collecting miles and entering the world of “the Hobbyist.” …….”
And so we must go on with the rest of the TBB post…while we are starting to actively look for another hobby with all the influx of new Hobbyists…#sosad.
Fast Track to Hilton Gold per Mile Nerd. 3 stays in 90 days.
Good news from Accor Hotels. “For every 2,000 points, you get a €40 discount on your invoice. You can even stay for free if you have enough points. You can also pay for the remainder of your booking by credit card.” If anyone cares 🙂
Great review of a Jetsuite Private Jets flight at Travel Codex.
Best Use of Hilton Honors Points by Travel is Free. Looks like a repeat? Who cares, it’s still good stuff.
A night in Japan’s robot hotel. Interesting report. Don’t expect to see many more of these around…
15 rare photographs of Iran’s stunning palaces, mosques, and baths. I may have featured this before but I ran across it again and wow…so stunning indeed!
12 Natural Swimming Pools. These look very nice…
If you are interested in learning about Greece and how it got here this is an awesome article: “So this is how it all ends…”
The world’s first ramen vending machine is here at last. In Shanghai. Hooray! You know I like ramen noodles a little bit.
Fantastic personal finance article at the New York Times: “Secure Your Future With Money You Didn’t Even Know You Were Spending”
And I leave you with a pic from the blog Order With Grant 🙂
On top of everything going on in my life, I now need to get my rental property ready for sale as my tenant decided to move out after 8 years. Hell of a better time to sell in 2015 than 2007, hooray! First and last time being a landlord, never again. I was way too nice, I am not cut out for this business. Time to simplify life and concentrate on blogging #facepalm. Actually, it’s all good. I really get a kick out of pumping this stuff out in spite of pitiful monetary returns. The laughing I do just writing this crap is, well, priceless. I even stopped accepting new clients because it takes time away from TBBing and the occasional Uber referral LOL #facepalm #WTF
To newbies: Be very careful, don’t get sucked in. It’s so easy to get sucked in and lose perspective of, well, real life sometimes! You are really not that special if you rode in First Class and took a selfie in the on board shower you know!
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It’s the beginning of the end.
in a second
I am posting now to keep Spencer F. from getting a medal 🙂
Beginning of the end indeed…
Was View From Wing cheating on his wife?
Well I’m sure AARP and British Air are, as we speak, looking at their very generous discounts since Ben told everybody on national TV that anyone can join AARP (I thought you had to be 50+) and get the discounts on BA. I never fly BA unless its on a free (cough) ticket but I am sure that others that used it will be upset when it get ps shutdown.
Ben is so disingenuous. He’s claiming he still doesn’t know how he feels about all the publicity and the effect. Dude, just be honest. You did all of this to get more clicks, more CC apps clicks and more $$$ and of course, let’s not forget recognition as a Rock Star. Just admit it. It’s all about you, not the attention and harm you are doing to the HOBBY
My guess is that Gary is too principled (and too busy).
It’s a business for these Titans. Some are doing it very well. It sucks the business is based on our hobby and it is leading to its slow demise/extinction. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall and decided to go all out to squeeze as much as possible before it all goes to hell 🙂
I am a rock star too…in my own mind lol.
The “Hobby” won’t go away. We will all just be flying coach.
I think I predicted that some time ago…
“Maybe he saw the writing on the wall and decided to go all out to squeeze as much as possible before it all goes to hell”
I think you’re right George. He wouldn’t be that stupid to cut the branch he’s sitting on.
But for now he’s probably making more than $100K per day so who’s stupid?
Sucks as this is clearly the end and I’m not buying any of that “end was predicted many times before” BS.
It is the end, period. I wish I could book a few more trips more than one year in advance,
so my remaining miles are not garbage when this happens 🙁
Meant $10k right?
Prognosis is very troubling. But you never know what the future holds, things can change, like a recession or something.
I thought Ben and family owned a hair salon. Maybe they sold it?! 🙂
One of my happeist days was when I sold my last rental….hooray! Such freedom!
Another happy day will come when you move enough stocks into fixed income so that you never have to worry again when the market takes a dive….that’s a bigger hooray!!
Plug: I have an award booking service.
#toosoon?
This guy Ben is up to something. He is willing to trade all this information for his own good, so he can quit and do something else. He maybe trying to sell his blog to the highest bidder. Therefore he needs as much of publicity as possibly. As he may have grown fed up with his life style, he takes no prisoners to get ahead while the others (us) who have been quietly participating will be probably hurt in the long run.
You’re probably right.
Outside of money etc, his life is pretty pathetic, almost feel sorry for him…
I’m sure he knows that too and that’s probably his exit plan on display.
Could be on to something here…
We have certainly seen the pattern before. Get lots of mainstream publicity, take SOPs onto national tv (eg. Nightline), cash out.
The smart money sees that when the general public plays this game, the game is over, or more likely, was over some time ago. What will show up first: Banks that see it is wasted money to pay big commissions for marginally profitable customers, or ad readers who figure out the difference between a bargain and free.
Watch where the Titans go next. Likely to your profit, guarateed to entertain.
Oh man you mean we may not be able to travel with prices we can all afford> Or get 7 travel reward cards at once when we only were looking for just 1 cash back card? What is the world coming to??
Not complicated. Sell out a blog, make money, and then sell it to a big company. Gary and MMS are now living in Austin after selling to Bankrate. TPG made more than 5 million last year and doesn’t write anymore. Big business. People who give those blogs clicks are doing as much harm as the bloggers.
Wait. U saying Gary sold to Bankrate already??