We bring you ways to compare SPG Marriott Nights and Flights, how to get a Belarus Visa, travel to Laos, the latest credit card offers, a mug shot of the inventor who invented the mugshot, more on Accor’s plans, get you free Voila hotel rewards points, fight for a worthy cause orgasm gap, we have some fun with blogs and bloggers in an entertaining good nature way (please make fun of me, we love parody around here, laughter is healthy, especially when it is on you)! And more…blah blah blah.
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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This was posted in the comments here seconds after appearing in the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog: Get 500 VOILA Hotel Rewards points for suggesting to them new locations in their Facebook page. Also you can get 1,000 points for opening an account. The bizarre thing is I have never stayed in a Voila hotel but somehow already had 8,300 points!
Comparing SPG vs. Marriott Nights & Flights type awards. By the end of this year I expect SPG to vanish and we will all miss it soooo much. Oh, while yoa are at it, always compare SPG vs Marriott Rewards redemption values as well!
If you want to visit Belarus without a visa…
Accor Hotels is sure out there spending money all around and seeing what sticks eventually. Maybe they get a step ahead of the competition, who knows? I think the most intriguing is their experiment with…going local and starting to build services for the local community residents. And former French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy joined the board. And stated this about the Fairmont Presidents Club integration with Le Club Suckor program: “The company did not say whether it would eventually combine all of these programs into a single loyalty program.” I guess hope never dies…
The most admired airlines in the world. You know this is screwed up…when United is at #6 and, please sit down, Delta is at #1. WTF!
I bring you the latest scientific studies about the orgasm gap. Nothing fake about it, hard facts only here! Resist and fight for a cause we can all believe in! Hehe.
I get this question a lot: What On Earth is Going On With The Stock Market? Probably the best answer I could find…
30 Pictures of Laos. Great pics of temples, rivers and colonial houses.
A mug shot of the inventor of the mug shot. In 1912. Wow. His name was Alphonse Bertillon.
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers
Check Your Citi Pre-Approval Offers For Cards Without 24 month language. I mean, do I have to comment? It’s pretty self-explanatory, come on!
How to Get Lower Fees on British Airways Award Tickets. Good to see some good posts again by Travel Codex. I guess its place in the glorious TBB Blogs I Like list is secure…for now. There are two blogs in there that are on the bubble of falling out…
I guess the offers bloggers were screaming about being time limited and you just had to hurry up and apply NOW…well, WRONG! As usual, most of these offers come back. Like the AMEX Blue Cash cards that offer 10% cash back on restaurant spend PLUS cash! These cards ARE available with my links, no arrows will be provided, thank you!
Looks like the Chase Ink Preferred card will go up to 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points (from 80,000 presently) starting on March 12 for in branch applications. Maybe I go for that one instead of the Chase Sapphire Reserve with its 100k offer for in branch applications ending, I believe, March 11. Coincidence? Looks like Jamie Dimon can’t swing two 100k cards at the same time, hey?
The Points Guy Inc posted another 5 full time job openings along with 4 internship openings. And guess this, they pay the interns just $20 per hour, WTF! I will pay more and I’ll give you stock options for the eventual buyout or might as well hold out for the IPO, BOOM!
Is it just me or is Chase just shifting lots of the best offer credit cards over to the branches, they may want to make you come in so you can be Wells Fargo’ed cross sell to. And look, the CSP will be at 60k only for Private Clients starting again on March 12. What’s up with that date anyway!
LOVE the Block feature on Twitter. I used it for the first time! Same dude that periodically just went off on me calling me names, all revolving around equating me with the mega pumpers. It felt good. Twitter is special. Now I am waiting for the beatings how I censor like the horrible person I am.
Where is Jeff Smisek now? Lol.
I am working on it (replace people with bloggers)…
I think about the future of the hobby everywhere 🙂
I understand blogs like Million Mile Secrets selling credit cards every day, I get it. But I don’t understand why an ex-wife (and business partner) needs to be photographed so often for the blog. And they still have the same weird logo! Ok, fine. But can you tell me WTF she is doing with her hands? Is this a head trip or what?
We also know that every post at The Points Guy Inc is crammed with affiliate links. Fine. They need to pay all that staff. I get it. But when they take flight deals (always late!) from the one and only The Flight Deal and do this….It makes me puke. Yes I counted…for research purposes. What I do for you guys!
I don’t do this weekly digest stuff, I feel like I am mailing it in. No wonder my Alexa rankings must totally suck!
I miss the back and forth with Ingy in the comments. Lately two readers have been going back and forth repeatedly and I am caught in the middle…not fun to read those comments. AT ALL! Take a break you guys, thanks. Update: I deleted all their comments in a fit of blind rage when I read some more when I woke up on Monday morning, this is NOT the way to start your week, WTF! I made this comment just so you all know what is going on. I apologize for you having to go through this, I am so sorry.
TBB, the horrible credit card pumper, the hypocrite. Gotta love the feedback sometimes…
Can you imagine if I did? The same guys would just about lose it from…anger, woohoo!
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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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.
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I’m sorry, I can’t accept first. Moonlight was actually first, there was an error in me script.
I liked Moonlight but…this winning Best Picture? WTF!
Fuking Scottcastle
Silver
It’s weird…the more SPG pts I accumulate (hoard) the less any packages look enticing. At the beginning of this year I told myself I’d MS SPG strictly for transfer to MR then to Alaska using travel packages, since I go to SE Asia often. But only 2 months into the year and I’m having second thoughts…
What are your thoughts? Or anyone else?
I find SPG points precious enough to just hold and then burn them in lower category hotels. Every year I go to San Diego or Orlando for the same conference, I have stayed in the same Four Points properties and have saved a bundle. I think I can squeeze one more of these stays and then I am all done with SPG…so so sad.
If you have so many SPG points and a specific target that can work for you…I guess they can be good. And I don’t see them lasting through another year or so….they will get devalued for sure.
I just swapped 270K Marriott points for 120K Avios + the one week certificate + the 35% transfer bonus. Great deal for me since I always need Avios and get two to three cents per mile out of them. YMMV.
But echoing TBB, I’ve also always found it helpful to keep around a modest supply of SPG points, there’s inevitably an opportunity to cash them in at a lower tier hotel.
Avios? AA availability in the US, to the Caribbean and the rest of the world is normally horrible. What’s your trick? When are awards released?
I always end up using Flexperks for glorious coach seats. Amazing availability and flexibility.
avios for iberia is awesome
Yes, but getting to JFK, ORD, LAX and MIA on AA is a major issue.
Risky getting separate tickets.
No tricks, it’s just that we have frequent need for CLT-MGA, which is 30K Avios but almost always costs $600-900. If you’re flexible you can usually find availability outside of high season. AA availability has grown worse, but we’ve still been able to get award tickets. No close-in booking fees are nice too.
What ABC said…
Hmm yeah might just do 90k transfer for a travel package and keep the rest for hotel stays.
But honestly who knows if SPG folds this year. If I were to bet I’d say we could still earn from spg cc going into next year
You don’t do summary posts because ALL of your posts are summaries – of other peoples content.
Good point! But that could not stop me from doing it anyway, my headlines are all different and I can do the linking thing work….missing all that back link SEO magic! Maybe if I had an intern…would pay more than cheap slave labor at TPG 🙂
If ScottCastle can write a script for me to increase my conversions…that would be great 🙂
I didn’t see the nasty comments but sounds like the right move to delete stuff if it’s too far out there.
I’ve never really looked into the Marriott or SPG packages, guess I should get smarter on them just in case.
More importantly, need to read up on “Cooking With Poo” – wife was wondering what to fix for dinner tonight!
Love to cook with her….
Poo I mean 🙂
Fifth, I think. But you’re still first in my heart…
First as in…ScottCastle type first? Wow!
I don’t know who that is.
I guess I missed the nasty posting binge yesterday. I have no issue with deletions, especially ones that are just internet masturbation rather than thoughtful disapgreement (or at least funny). I read that Ben of OMAAT is going to start with deletions/bans, but I don’t know why since it wasn’t on Mile Feed and I don’t read his blog often (or give him clicks). HT: The Buzzer.
I did see that Evander Holyfield stopped by to give you an earful. I’m surprised he has any to spare. HT: Mike Tyson.
I mssed another big hacker get together in Seattle this weekend. They should all HT Ingy on those things, as he was about the first to set a big one up back in the day. Of course then he turned around and named it a ‘do’, though I may have spelled that wrong.
I sometimes read the comments on OMAAT – occasionally it can get entertaining. There are some really vulgar, obnoxious trolls on there, so I don’t blame him for taking action on the really vile ones with no actual value added. Of course some of OMAAT’s click-bait headlines sort of invite comments that will be more on the controversial side, too, so Ben could help matters a little on his side, too.
I do have a pretty high threshold for pain…but the nuking of those comments was the right thing to do. It is my blog after all. And I want the comments to be an integral part of the TBB experience. Those two got way too personal, we don’t need this here.
Buzz-A little inside baseball:
You think Price Waterhouse might lose the Oscars gig after the big envelopegate? I didn’t see PW introduced during the show as they usually are-maybe the fix was in.
I saw Moonlight and it is great. Though aybe not so great to overcome not being the kind of big movie that often wins Best Picture. And La La Land was both big and great. I didn’t want it to end, amd I didn’t want it to end the way it does. Sort of like a good day’s post on TBB.
I saw Moonlight and I thought it was a good movie. But I am shocked it won Best Picture.
One thing I never got into was…musicals. Me sitting through a musical just isn’t going to happen!
On the other hand, I loved “Get Out”.
Funny, I blocked my first account on Twitter last night: for more general d-baggery than actual trolling. Ain’t got no time for that.
How is that Orlando four points? I keep considering it but my hatred for I-Drive tends to win in the end.
For that price in points, it is great! Just your typical Four Points. Can get extremely busy but I have found the staff to be wonderful. Breakfast sucks. Good parking. Standard rooms and swimming pools. I like it. Mostly because I like bargains.
Pictures of Laos is a great link, thank you. I always wanted to visit that country, maybe one day I’ll get a chance. Also, good on deletion of those comments, I am not even sure why name was mentioned in one of them!
Cheers,
PedroNY
I want to attribute it to them having a bad day. We all do.
So guys please keep it civil, keep it respectable, keep it on the bloggers (including me!) and leave each other alone and I think I will go easy on Trump…maybe.
#StandWithGeorgeWBush
I’ve always thought the Marriott vacation packages were a really good value except that you have to stay at actual Marriotts. Meh. I have 200 (yes two hundred) SPG points burning a hole — if I ever get out of here I can pump that up with Uber. Hope springs eternal, right?
On a completely off-topic subject, what does everyone think of our new Secretary of Treasury? The one I mentally call “Munchkin” because I cannot possible pronounce his name (same with Greek names!). I have no opinion of him — to me they are all way above my pay grade and as long as I can go to the ATM and pull some cash, it’s all good to me.
Long-winded intro to the fact he went up about 20000000000000000% (<—— that's a lot, right?) in my eyes. Ever seen his wife? Sigh. http://tinyurl.com/j4nbmlj If you don't click on such links, it's to a google image search for "Louise Linton".
Happy last Monday of February.
#TBB on
That’s his wife? #wow
Considering the circus around Trump, he is not out there…
And I do like the Mad Dog dude and the new National Security Adviser. Other than that, not much.
Whoaaa she’s hot AF. A conservative republican with a wife like that eh.
Feel you on the “needing to stay at a Marriott” though there are some nice places in Asia. Imagine if/once they integrate you can use those travel packages at spg properties (without devaluing the packages of course). Ahhhhh one can only hope!
Mnuchin is yet another ex-Goldman Sachs crocodile in the Rump ‘I’m draining the swamp, no, really really!’ administration.
What I see when I look at a Trophy Wife is a loveless marriage between two shallow greedy people.
Haters always gonna Hate
It’s not about being wrong or right. You can post whatever you want but posting comments like this are only designed to get your buddy to go nuts. And then you respond to him and he goes off and then you go off and on and on…
So, WTF man, just stop!
Back to regular programming…stop making me nuke comments, Jeeeeeessus.
Even my wife just said “What, you deleted comments, wow!”.
What is wrong with people? Why waste so much time on a blog by a blogger you can not stand is beyond me. Even Ingy gave up…or…did he?
https://twitter.com/FlyerTalkerinA2/status/836278553067024384
Apologies to readers for the downtime dealing with this shit
Public Service Announcement…
Was booking awards at various Hilton properties in Turkey. Last October Hilton supposedly put many properties there into lower (cheaper) award categories. But when I searched, some (heck, maybe all?) of those properties were still in the higher category!
Call to Hilton (30 minutes on a Sunday night hold?!) and was able to book at the lower category.
Aren’t they doing away with the categories soon?
Maybe it already started…
Waaaa? TBB is censoring? You don’t saaay! Who was claiming to be holier that the pope in the beginning? 😉
Received my shiny new AV LM credit card from PR today. 60k LM here we come… 🙂
Must stay at more Marriott chain hotel h to make use of my spg gold status before it all ends 🙁
If not 2017, definitely 2018 will be the last we see of SPG… #sosad
TBB
IhavebecomeRene:-)
I am not angry like you so don’t you compare me to you Buzzard!
Everyone knows who you really are now (click TBB CC link here).
At least you can now PROUDLY state you censor as you always have but have not admitted it publicly!
I tried to click the link and it didn’t work…
Are you the guy constantly being trashed on in all the forums? As much as it happened I was sure it was more than one person, like the Dread Pirate Roberts…
It was censored 😉 Can’t have links like that around here you know!
I knew that was coming…the censor accusations. For over four years I did not do that and when I do it against two people for going against each other like teenagers…I have this dude coming in here accusing me for censorship…which he has been doing proudly<----in caps in case you missed it. I censored some comments and I absolutely hate it. But there was nothing educational, inspirational and certainly NOT entertaining about them. So, it is all good. For the record, this Rene dude has threatened to sue me more than once...I am still waiting! And this is the blogger who at one time had lost his Amex links, then he would say Delta Amex ____ card and link to his crappy list of direct affiliate links. So many links in each post that way...I mean, that should be a felony but it sadly is not. I miss Ingy....he is the only one missing around here these days. What is this, 50 or so comments without him and with some deleted comments. Wow! Thank you to the guy who got the SPG card a few days ago. And to the guy who got a CSR some time ago, you have just been approved!
I have no idea why it is not spacing properly in the comment above…and too tired to fix it.
I respectfully suggest that (after your well deserved end-of-tax-season rest, of course!) Buzz make an archived page showing a 3-way comparison between 2 ‘normal’ pimping posts by the usual suspects and one of your own “help support my blog” page.
I think newbies and those following links here would benefit greatly from a visual showing what is meant by CC pimping. Show a few normal 15-link pimp post next to one of your more humble appeals.
And you could link to it every time some pimping Idiot like Rene shows their face here.
That is a great idea! I’ll add to my list of posts one day will happen here…
A visual will certainly help and make it a sticky type post to link/refer to it, is great.
Thanks!
Buzz-
I received this email today and I’d like your thoughts:
“Dear SAM,
Starting March 1, American Airlines will simplify the boarding process and introduce new boarding group names. The order in which you board will stay the same, but the group name in which you board is changing from Group 1 to Group 5. In Citi communications, you will see this benefit referred to as preferred boarding.”
I have seen several blog posts about this but I was just not interested much as I don’t have an AA flight soon….I think they just increased the Group numbers and it appears more confusing…but it may just amount to nothing. Or it could be a way for them to keep pushing their own credit cards 🙂
Their award availability just remains horrific…I may spend some of these AA miles on hotels…oh the lord!
Can’t believe I’m typing this but…I think it’s smart of AA to change to a numerical group boarding 1-9.
I think the number went up to 12. And many went from group 1 to 5!
george this blog is getting bad
Thank you for taking the time to share this, greatly appreciated.
Well, not really…just hope you feel better.
Would love to hear your suggestions on how to make it better though….
What a crock. You don’t want to hear any suggestions. People have told you what is wrong here and you are unwilling to listen.
And who exactly gets to determine if those “People” are correct?!
Seems to me that yours is a voice in the tiny minority of this blog’s readers.
What if it is the same few dudes all the time?
Yawn.
But thanks for caring so much! Together we can move mountains or whatever…
Life advice: Don’t read things you don’t like, use your time differently. You are welcome.
What two blogs are in danger of falling off of the list of blogs you like?
MtM, FF
George,
If it makes you feel better, I miss the original Frugal Travel Guy. Back in the day, travel bloggers posted interesting information. These days, that’s limited to one of the few ‘blogs I read’. 😉
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