We bring you the news how Hyatt keeps improving, let you know of expiring great Southwest credit cards so you can hurry perhaps, another best bars list, shed some light on media companies ownership, warn you about STDs, learn all about wine, share with you a video about my hometown in Greece, Iranian women celebrate, how social media developed over the years, we learn about reserve currencies, a hideous scam taking place from…prison and we always end with Blog Buzz where we piss off some people because I speak my mind and not looking to get my back scratched/backlinked ok? You all have a great weekend!
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MILES & POINTS
Update: When your hobby makes it to GQ…is there any hope for it any more? The Credit Card Churners Who Go to Extreme Lengths to Fly For Free. First, I want to cry. Second, beware of what happened to the “hobbyist” interviewed. Third, when you get The Points Guy listed as an “online community of churners”, WTF!
Update: United has NEW rules for Premier Status qualification for 2020. It is ALL about da money folks. If you are doing Mileage Runs and you are not a road warrior having your company pay for your flights….you need to have your head examined or you simply don’t give a phuck about money at all. Here is a good analysis about the changes. I find it shocking that United did NOT follow Delta this time lol.
Hyatt just continues to improve. Another 49 Small Luxury Hotels added into its World of Hyatt program! Note that all 3 new properties in Greece are in Santorini! And of this new batch, here are 8 properties you can use your Hyatt free night certificates. Yes, you can get this card with the amazing TBB credit card links too, wow! I now have 174,484 World of Hyatt points oh my! #RealWinning
Greece gets 3 new properties with Hyatt and Italy gets 11 to add to their total. Not to be left behind, Switzerland adds 4 new properties and the United Kingdom gets an additional 2. Spain this time around gets just a single property. But, there are some properties in other countries that do not have a Hyatt presence (or much of one). These countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lithiuania, Morocco, and Nicaragua.
Good summary: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Southwest Companion Pass. This is one deal bloggers will not stop blogging about it until the airline kills it. I wonder how much air time it will have if the credit card pumping bloggers were not earning anything selling it. Yeah, riiiiight! Oh wait, they are telling us that all these offers (three cards offering 60k and one offering 80k Southwest points) are about to expire October 16. Brace for the screaming sales tactics next! Yeah, the new Southwest Performance Business Credit Card is offering 80k points as signup bonus, this gets you a long way towards the 120k required for the Companion Pass! And remember:
Now, here is the important part – you don’t want to hit that $5,000 total until early 2020! That is because you only earn the Companion Pass with points you earn that calendar year. To earn it for almost 2 full years, you want to get the points in early 2020 and then knock out the rest of them after that. If you earn your 80,000 point bonus in 2019, you will need to get all the way to 110,000 points this year and that Companion Pass will expire at the end of next year instead of giving you 2 years!
TRAVEL
Readers here like to read about bars so here we go with the World’s Top 50 Best Bars rankings.
Nice five minute video about Larissa, my hometown in Greece. Looks much better on video than real life lol.
This is wonderful, finally! Iranian women attend FIFA soccer match after ban of nearly 40 years. Love the pictures!
ODDZ & ENDZ
THE article to learn about the one and only Diego Maradona: The Two Sides of Diego Maradona. Don’t get into cocaine ok?
George Conway unloads on Donald Trump: Unfit for Office. No comments needed…
If you are going to rob a bank, this is NOT the way to do it LOL.
The Rise and Fall of Social Media Platforms. Lol Myspace and Friendster! What the hell is QZone?
Hey, be careful out there ok? 5 reasons why 3 STDs are roaring back in America.
All the different kinds of wine, mind blown!
Another graph that will blow your mind: Who Owns Your Favorite News Media Outlet?
PERSONAL FINANCE
The World’s Most Powerful Reserve Currencies.
Holy mother %$#@! King of Dreams. This will shock you, sorry no video! How a Texas Con Artist Scammed Millions From Prisoners’ Families. Be careful out there ok? Sad how all these people lost so much money trusting someone. Like blog readers trusting travel bloggers who pump them selling them a false lifestyle full of…credit cards, smh.
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
Looks like Spencer Howard is no longer listed as part of the God Save The Points team. Not sure what happened, he always wrote strong award related content. Can you imagine if he went to The Points Guy too? Update: Spencer is now Editor in Chief at 10xTravel. Which is yet another website just targeting newbies and, you guessed it, sells them credit cards. I do not follow that site. At all. You see, it is SO hard to make content be parallel to conversions with readers who are not newbies and don’t know any better. It is sad. Good luck to both Gilbert and Spencer. HT: Alan H.
The rates burning Alaska Airlines miles on Singapore Airlines are horrible.
Reader suggested I should sell “I Survived #40kFarAway” T-shirts 🙂
This past Wednesday was the first Wednesday (ever I think) that there was no TBB blog post here. Some of you had withdrawal symptoms. Me too. This blog has been a part of my life for so long now… it was weird coping with it. We’ll see what happens…At this time, I like the break between Monday and Friday posts.
Been a while since I shared with you some music. Today I am buying concert tickets to one of my favorite bands I somehow managed NOT to see live yet. I hope they don’t die before April 2020 lol.
And I leave you with this…Stop vlogging and feeeeeed me!
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Good doggie?
The link to the piece on STDs was very helpful. The bathhouses are back. Ouch.
There was some news about Ann Arbor landing a bathhouse downtown. I am not sure what became of it though…Yeah, that certainly contributed to it. Those things were in vogue in the 70s and then…we know what happened.
I can’t quite understand what’s happening. Everybody has been informed and ppl use bcontrol as indicates be decreased youth pregnancy and decreased birth rate. Meanwhile 25 of Japanese women and men between 18-38 have not had sex. I though more and more people were substituting sex and crime with their iPhones. Are the numbers driven by a small group with extreme behavior?
I share your concerns. Yeah, does not make sense…
Once everyone has their own personal sex robot, STDs will be a thing of the past!
I will be the first with:
Buy a sex robot, get one for freeeeee!
With my affiliate link while Ingy still pushes his crappy Dosh referral links.
bwhahahaha
I agree, and so will the human race.
Imagine applying for only 3 Chase cards and be set for life (until lithium batteries die).
By then maybe one of the credit cards will have a bonus category for robot spending!
Even without Wednesday posts, your blog content is still head and shoulders above the competition. (Unfortunately, content =/= conversion) Thanks for all you do though.
Thanks.
If only conversions tracked content quality the world would be a better place….there would not be ANY whining here. At all! 🙂
agreed! And i feel bad that ive gotten 2 cards in the last 6 mos and didn’t go through your links *shame* *shame*
Thanks.
I am doing my best here…but I am a little outgunned by the army at TPG 🙂
BREAKING:
I may update today’s blog post with some important fast breaking news. If I do, I will add “Updated” in bold font. I just added the news about United’s new Premier Status Qualification for 2020. Lol.
Blog reader let me know where Spencer Howard has landed after leaving God Save The Points. But I need to get a green light before posting it here. If/when I do, I will add it with “Updated” in bold font.
Please make sure you keep coming back and hitting refresh so I can increase page views so I can make even more Nothing from advertisers LOL.
See bold “Update” with news where Spencer Howard landed.
Glad to see Hyatt growing. I really like them, just hasn’t always been easy to find in some areas.
Was happy to see that SQ redemptions finally went live for AS, but yeah, the rates aren’t anything to get excited about. But they’re not too bad in some scenarios, so I guess it’s better than nothing.
Larissa looks nice! Better than my tiny hometown in Ohio.
Check the Updates today…got some must read articles!
Indeed!
Hadn’t heard of 10x travel. I’ll take your word for it that it’s not anything of interest to folks like us.
Oh great – another major magazine article about our hobby. Just what we don’t need. smh.
That’s quite a change for UA elite qualifications. Damn. Well I gave up chasing status awhile ago…but I recall the good old days when I had some status and it was more meaningful.
What’s next?
TPG with his own segment at FoxNews?
MORE Updates: Check out first link with article about credit card churning at, please sit down, GQ!!!! Lets cry together!
And I added an analysis about the United elite qualification changes. Money talks, flying doesn’t. Sad lol.
Since I let you down with no Wednesday post this week, lets get the comment section upgraded you guys.
Here is Dan of DansDeals with a really good write up on the United elite changes:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/united-kills-mileage-based-elite-status-credit-card-international-flight-spend-waiver/
Cant wait for Renes points to push more mileage runs LOL!
No I am not the guy from the Carol Burnett Show and I am not friends with Harvey Korman.
Do you even sleep with your wife man?
The Guy in the GQ article wrote” “People like me flock to Staples on weeks like that, and I’ll see people on the line with stacks of 300 hundred-dollar Visa cards in their hand”
I don’t know what Staples he goes to but I have never noticed more that $200 Gift Cards available. Online YES, Store, NO….
Gotta move away from New York Giovanni 🙂
Really?? I am on West Coast, Florida a few times a year, I have to start going to Staples….
I applied for a BOA card using your links and I got approved on recon. Not sure if you will get credit for that.
Have not seen it, about when were you approved? And thanks!
A few hours ago is when I was approved.
Nothing shows up as of 7.10 pm but they are always a little behind. U sure you did not click on a TPG cc link first? 🙂
Thank you.
Pretty sure it was some Thought Leader who had some article about a passenger flying an EasyJet plane that made me click on his link.
Was it a BoA card of US Bank?
Maybe the Thought Leader links got me again…they have cookies and stuff so if you click on them in the same web session or close before you click on mine…they get it…Yeah, it is absurd.
Nothing showing up yet…but they tend to be even slower on wekeends.
Ingy is laughing with me right now…
I just signed up for 2 cards from the pointchaser site you mention here. Im rather new so I didnt know who else to sign up with.
FWIW, I don’t think that’s a new gig for Spencer — it looks like he has had that position for several years at 10xtravel. Wonder what happened with GSTP.
Both 10xtravel and UpgradedPoints are remarkable examples of the shadow points world that seems to thrive separately from the blog community we know. They both seem to rely on freelance writers, don’t seem to produce a lot of viral content, and virtually never get mentioned by any of the BA-world blogs. And yet they thrive, presumably on SEO. UpgradedPoints, in particular, seems to rank on the first page for everything (which is fascinating when you compare it to the size and overhead of the TPG operation).
You are absolutely right. A while back I was thinking to do a post on these blogs and name it something like:
“Popular Miles and Points Blogs You Never Heard of Targeting Newbies Under The Radar”.
I always wondered…how in today’s 100+ (including 15 full time staffers working exclusively on SEO) staffers at TPG…how they can stay solvent and possibly thrive. I include 10xTravel in that batch, there are others. There is absolutely, imo, nothing worthy in there for me to get bothered following them. And I think they prefer it that way.
I was going to do it but then I thought…why should I even give them ANY pr at all?
You are right, Spencer has been involved with 10xtravel. Likely they offered him a full time gig I am guessing.
Amazing how biased all these hobbyists become when the “hobby” is what brings food on their table. You can rest assured the “hobby” here brings me some crumps and a few nice dinners out with Mrs. who tolerates my…addiction 🙂
Definitely would have been interested in that post. I don’t even know how to feel about these sites — respect for the hustle? In some ways, they seem more honest / upfront about their model. It’s fascinating just how many names you recognize that write freelance for them, which I assume means the sites are making real money.
What got me thinking about this recently is that RTC at some point started using a dedicated UpgradedPoints page to push credit cards. It’s just… fascinating… that UP has what seem to be direct links, and that it seems the best option for a core Boarding Area writer is to form a relationship with them for a cut of sales.
At one point I was keeping a list and then…I lost it.
All these sites, the founders, only got in it because of $$$. There is another one I recently deleted off my Feedly, the name escapes me right now, that…each topic is based on SEO traffic ONLY…
I am not sure these sites make much money…I mean, PROFITS…you know, after paying the writers and other expenses.
If I had only targeted newbies lol.
You do target newbies. You tell them to be careful with credit and generally don’t be stupid. If they want to apply for a card, you’d be happy for them to use your links. You’re just not a huge huckster.
If you look at it that way I agree 🙂
If there were no stupid people TPG and Ingy and all the other pumpers would be doing something else with their lives you know….
But as Ingy says…it is about responsibility…how convenient hey?
@casual_observer – I, too, have a curiousity about these SEO-centric or Facebook-centric (10x, FBZ, etc) parallel points businesses that do not engage much or at all with the traditonal points community as we see it. That is what led me to get to know some, including UP where you have noted the credit card page I have cautiously tested. BoardingArea does three main things (1) IT hosting and support, (2) distribution channels, its own and others like Flipboard, and (3) banner advertising. BA does not involve itself in affiliate marketing which would necessitate involving itself in editorial as well (which it doesn’t, except in cases of plagiarism). Even blogs of substantial size these days have little chance of getting direct credit card links, and along with that cakes intense compliance burdern and expectations on editorial. A few, like FM, have found ways to have numerous links and keep strong editorial. A part-timer or casual blogger has either the crappy creditcards.com banner program, which imposes lesser compliance burden, or, explore a partnership like I have with UP that does not impose compliance burden on me other than not directly linking to the card application (must go to the UP page first, not unlike creditcards.com). That lets me say what I want and when I want, as my time allows.
FBZ ?
Yes, I definitely have the crappy links, sad lol.
Good feeback, thanks.
One of the many emails I delete…
If I had a dollar…or better, a conversion lol.
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Some incredibly cheap pot medal status from… NOT the Pacific North West but…. My first ever Hyatt Small Luxury Hotel stays ever in Rome, Italy! Man! 25K points for a lovely room and First Class treatment at the Hotel d’Ingleterra.
Gonna have to work on getting lots more Hyatt points in the future! This place is lovely! And right in the heart of the city!
Enjoy!
25k is a lot for one night so it better be Worth it! I think of it as…three nights at the Thessaloniki Hyatt 🙂
Dude, what do you expect? All roads lead to Rome, few roads lead to Thessaloniki.
My trip here started in Rome and so there ya have it. Woulda taken a lot longer to get from Thessaloniki to Genoa.
What the heck was the point of that GQ story?
I mean, he just interviewed one guy, said there are others like him, and boom, that’s the whole story. Even the articles about THE HOBBY aren’t as good as they used to be.
I had trouble finishing it after I saw…The Points Guy 🙂
At least it showed the darker side, you know, losing a job and then digging out of the hole for a year (or possibly longer). I guess how many TPG readers fall into that, sad!
So you saying there is a worthless news article out there? I dont believe it.
Greece, 5 points in the European Championship qualifying groups. Only managed to tie Liechtenstein….. wtf is going on? I know it’s hard to qualify, but 5 points…. I though GR had great defense. Did the old guard retire? New players don’t know how to play like a team?
I normally would put GR in the same group as Turkey, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark etc. 2nd tier, hard to play, 50% chance of making it to the WC or EC.
I can understand losing to Italy, but Italy sucked 2 years ago.
Team is in a total rebuild mode with yet another coach (Dutch). It appears the golden decade of Greek football 2004-2014 is over. What made that possible? Talent of course but most importantly was coaching. We had the great fortune to have two amazing coaches, Otto Rehhagel the German God we call him winner of Euro 2004 who was followed by Santos (the Portuguese coach who now coaches Portugal). What made them special was they could get the Greek players to play as a TEAM (heard that one before?). Ever since Santos left, we have been trying to find that same team spirit. Yes, some of those golden decade players have retired too. But I think it comes down to TEAM. Giving up on Euro 2020 obviously and now aiming to put a squad ready to challenge for a World Cup spot in 2022. It won’t be easy…at all. In the Italy game, we actually played well for a change.