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| Novi Beograd, Serbia. From Yomadic |
ON MY MIND
I had to delete some comments in my Feb 20 blog post. It was brought to my attention that there were several comments being made by people pretending to be other bloggers. Amost everyone here realized that these were supposed to be a joke, we like doing some satire here you know. To make the long story short, the last thing I need or have time for is to start researching legal crap. And I think it is probably not the right thing to do to put words in others’ mouths. So….please do not do that because, as you know, I absolutely despise censoring and it really hurt deleting these comments! Feel free to pick a name or just Anonymous, just do not pick someone else. Thank you.
Which brings up another issue I JUST thought of! How about when the REAL blogger posts a comment?? How can that be identified? Oh boy…what a can of worms! #developing
Holy mother of God. The devaluations continue, I am not sure there is more room in my back for more knives! Now it is Starwood’s turn. See link in Miles/Points section below for the gory details (which, compared to Hilton’s devastating devaluation, are not bad at all).
In the name of Miles God (not sure who that would be but sure sounds good!), please take it easy on alarming posts about the crappy bonus for the AMEX Business Platinum Card and oh so thank you Miles God for finally expiring that crappy Frontier card…I really hope they do not come up with a new Frontier affiliate link to spare us all!
Looks like Giddy for Points is also joining First2Board!
MILES/POINTS
The State of Hotel Loyalty Programs: A Devaluation Story. From The Points Guy. Ok, why is this here? It does put all hotel program changes in one post. But the real reason this is here is because of Brian’s commentary about how we will move away to boutique hotels, Airbnb and VRBO (and Priceline too!). At least read the last section titled “A Warning to Hotel Loyalty Programs”!
I put away my no fee Hilton AMEX that I have carried in my wallet daily for many years! It was an emotional moment (I am Gold until 3/15).
Loyalty Lobby has all the category changes for Starwood. You have until March 4 to book awards wit the old rates!
One Mile At a Time wrote “Comparing change policies and fees on award tickets by airline“. Good to know and have them all in one place.
TRAVEL
From WTF to OMFG – Communist Architecture of New Belgrade, Serbia. From Yomadic. Did I mention Nate’s stuff is very original? Oh yes I did!
A truly stunning picture of Norway. From Twisted Sifter.
16 Amazing Photos of Haiti. From TripHack
ODDZ & ENDZ
Horrific Cult Broken Up in Northern Mexico. WTF!!!! “Defenders of Christ”, lol. And the cult discouraged baths too. I am shaking my head, how can people be so stupid!!!!!
Aww, we all knew it wasn’t the real bloggers… They were too busy coming up with ways to pitch for the 25K Biz Plat.
Lol @ HikerT. But yea. That was a bit over the top. The first time I saw the “Platinum bonus is back” headline, I wanted to kick myself for getting Gold 75k bonus since I would really like to get the Platinum with 100k again. And then I read about 25k bonus??? It was time to kick my monitor…
And it’s funny how once you set your mind on something, the stars start to align. I am going to Oslo for Chris Guillebeau’s End of the World party and just booked a ticket segment-hopping across Norway. After that, in the last week or so, I have seen more stunning pictures from Norway (mind you, not Sweden, Denmark or Finland) than I’ve seen, well, ever!
And with Starwood hit, I’ll stick to my comment about not bothering with hotel programs. Hostels are more fun for meeting people anyways 🙂
You’re getting way too paranoid about the “pretending” to be other bloggers. Pretty obvious satire, and the fact that you think there could be legal repercussions is possible.’
Somehow, I have a feeling that FTG’s age discrimination lawsuit against you won’t hold
TPG wants to remind us that the BA Visa is one of the best CC offers
How thoughtful of him
The funny part about that is the line “…and based on professional opinion and past experience, I have a hunch that it may be going away very soon”
Guess what, I am a professional too apparently since I was able to read the FlexOffers notice that it expires Feb. 28. It’s just that he can’t say that anymore 🙂
This thread has gone downhill since the criticisms stopped
And not surprisingly, so have the blogs that were noticeably getting a little better back when TBB was calling them out on it. Even FTG was getting slightly less terrible, before he returned with a vengeance in yesterday’s churning challenge.
Expect your refund in the mail by next Tuesday.
harvson3
I do hope that you are aware that there is a different between constructive criticism and the roasting that goes on in the comments section of this blog…
Informative post on FT today by fresar. Cut and paste below in case the FT mods decide to censor:
a list of the Commission Rates the bloggers get
American Express Business Cards
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
Gold Delta SkyMiles(R) Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
SimplyCash(R) Business Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
The Business Gold Rewards Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $200.00 Per approval
The Business Platinum Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $300.00 Per approval
The Plum Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $200.00 Per approval
American Express Consumer Cards
American Express (R) Gold Card US $180.00 Per approval
American Express(R) Premier Rewards Gold Card US $315.00 Per approval
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express US $100.00 Per approval
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express US $110.00 Per approval
Blue Sky from American Express® US $120.00 Per approval
Gold Delta SkyMiles(R) Credit Card from American Express US $225.00 Per approval
Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Credit Card from American Express US $160.00 Per approval
The Platinum Card(R) from American Express US $280.00 Per approval
True Earnings(R) Card from Costco and American Express US $110.00 Per approval
Applied Bank Cards
Applied Bank(R) Secured Visa(R) Gold Credit Card US $28.00 Per approval
Applied Bank(R) Visa(R) Business Card US $24.00 Per approval
National Express® Secured Visa® Credit Card US $28.00 Per approval
Platinum Zero® Secured Visa® Credit Card from Applied Bank® US $28.00 Per approval
Barclays Bank credit cards
Barclaycard(R) Rewards MasterCard(R) US $38.00 Per approval
Barclaycard(R) Rewards MasterCard(R) – Excellent Credit US $90.00 Per approval
The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard(R) US $125.00 Per approval
The Premier Miles & More World MasterCard(R) US $150.00 Per approval
The US Airways Premier World MasterCard(R) US $125.00 Per approval
Capital One Bank Consumer Cards
Open Sky(SM) Secured Visa Credit Card US $20.00 Per approval
Credit One Bank
Unsecured Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card US $15.00 or $22 or $30 per credit rating
Discover Bank Consumer Cards
Discover it™ (18 Months) US $105.00 Per approval
Discover it™ Card US $105.00 Per approval
Discover Bank Student Cards
Discover it™ for Students US $100.00 Per approval
Equifax Products
Equifax 3 Bureau Credit Report and Scores US $20.00 Per approval
MBNA Canada Bank cards
Best Western MasterCard® US $100.00 Per approval
Platinum Plus® MasterCard® – 0 for 10 US $100.00 Per approval
Sony Card MasterCard® US $100.00 Per approval
My Cash Now payday loans
My Cash Now cash advance US $15.00 Per valid application
SimpleTuition.com student loans
SimpleTuition student loans US $1.25 Per valid lead
Synovus Bank (First Progress)
First Progress Platinum Select MasterCard® Secured Credit Card US $45.00 Per funded
The First Progress Platinum Elite MasterCard® Secured Credit Card US $45.00 Per funded
TransUnion Free Credit Score
TrueCredit – TransUnion Credit Monitoring US $20.00 Per approval
I can say that list might be approx but it is not correct. Many of those numbers are off from the real ones.
Not one single one of those are right. What a joke! Would LOVE to get those numbers. Why not say $10000 per card! HA!
OK, so post the “right” numbers then. After all, you are anonymous. Let me guess, your affiliate agreement says you can’t post them. Very convenient isn’t it?
Yes, there is a disclosure thing but it is also somewhat rude to demand someone tell you what they get paid. Growing up, that is one of those things that I was taught you never ask. In the age of the Internet, did that somehow change?
When I offer advice as a consultant I have no problem telling clients what my billing rate is. One of the things I learned growing up was that those who are easily offended often have something to hide. So why not ditch the excuses and shoot straight?
No. None of those numbers are even close to correct. George, care to comment?
Hi to all.
Thank you for reading and commenting here.
I hit a major busy stretch today and need to focus on some urgent client work and generate four blog posts in less than 48 hrs. Sadly, none of them are for TBB which remains a labor of love.
Full Disclosure: The only revenue TBB has generated is $5 from an ebates referral, I appreciate your support;-)
I will get to TBB when I get to it. I am not going away…who knows, I may get another ebates referral soon!
As far as the rates go, I have no clue! My gues is they are in the ballpark? I do know that individual bloggers can set up their own deals with different rates.
One day when this blog grows up and decides to get serious I hope the reader who once said “I ‘ll click the sh*t out of your affiliate links” is still around, lol.
Ok, back to work. I need to focus, focus, focus!