The TBB editorial board (shown above) is reviewing the policy of adding links to the other blogs featured daily as, after reviewing the FlyerTalk thread mentioned at the end of this blog post, the Board just realized that doing this only leads to these blogs rating higher on google searches, which leads to more credit card app money, which leads to more cc filler posts, which leads to even more cc app money,which…Rinse and repeat. A decision will be made when the board gets around to it. Feedback is welcome to influence the Board! Yes this is part of the long term strategy to monetize this blog: Getting other bloggers to offer us hush money to shut up. You bloggers have been warned: You can cc app post but you can not hide!
Meeting with a college student tomorrow to see if she can help with the blog. Stock options and IPO dates will certainly be discussed. Please laugh!
TBB founder’s son (that will be me!) is turning 15 years old in a few weeks. Here is a recent exchange after he learned we are spending Thanksgiving weekend in a very nice Westin resort near Toronto. We are suddenly not as cool as we used to be to hang around with!
Son: So, can I stay behind this time, it is only for the weekend!
Me: No, you are coming with us. It will be nice to get away all of us together in a new place again, it is a very nice resort paid with Starwood points and we are already upgraded in a nice suite even though we are lowly Starwood Golds! (excited!).
No: But I have already been to more places than most of my friends combined.
Me: WTF (inside my head!)
Enough with the housekeeping & personal notes, on with the show:
Blogs caught fire telling us all to get into the AMEX Small Business $25 credit promo. Some addicts are taking a long time in front of their computer with their stacks of authorized user amex cards! That was a hint. Based on TBB policies, if you are looking for spoonfeeding, there are other blogs for that. Enjoy the free money and don’t be a hog please…so Amex does it again:-) We do not want to slam this deal so hard like the US Air Grand Slam last year! It may not come back too! Moderation is good!
The least luxurious hotel in the world? Well, how about the Worst hotel in the World? You have to read about this hotel. Or is it all marketing? You decide.
“Those wishing to stay at the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel do so at their own risk and will not hold the hotel liable for food poisoning, mental breakdowns, terminal illness, lost limbs, radiation poisoning, certain diseases associated with the 18th century, plague, etc.”
Hilarious stuff!
Great article on 9 Rules For Life (and Financial Media)
-Invite criticism and be human
-Sadly, humans are driven by fear and greed
-Credibility matters
No time for comments on above. I want all bloggers I rant on here to be thanking me soon. Call me your quality control department or some other nice names, please keep it civil, thanks!
List of Updated Airline Award Charts and Partner Lists
Helpful link by thePointsGuy. He had a video about something yesterday, oh about the ANA award booking. He stood exactly on the spot where TBB founders’ family (that would be mine) stood in Playa Mayor in Madrid in 2010. Brian has a great restaurant taste by the way!
More Bora Bora and more pics We had progress two days ago and yesterday we shot back up to 10 pics, back to normal! For the life of me, I have no idea why some people like to take so many pictures of themselves! Truth remains, it is his blog and he can do whatever he wants. In a way, I admire that attitude…but it won’t stop me from expressing my feelings that so many pics are an unnecessary overload! Oh well, till the next rant I guess.
More material from the StarMegaDO4 is coming out slowly as the participants are recovering!
New post by PointsEnvy: Breaking News: 90% Discount on Award Flights to Israel StartingThis Monday
“these inbound redemption costs are dropping like Arab armies during the Six-Day War. If you like aggressive taxi drivers and hummus, this one is a no-brainer.” [LOL] And check out the pic!
There is a fairly new thread in MilesBuzz in FlyerTalk with the title:
A Lot of people are lazy. When a lucrative deal is found, not everyone will jump on it if they have to go figure out the steps and read the T&C’s etc.
BUT….
If they are given the information like this:
You can get a free first class ticket to Thailand, just do this:
click this link
put your name here
hit next
check this box
and on and on
A lot more people WILL do it. There is nothing wrong with sharing, but it is how you share. Share the deal in general. Let people research the deal, and make a decision, then go figure out how to participate. It seems to me if bloggers did just this basic level of sharing instead of showing lazy people exactly how to do things then a large segment would NOT play the deal and they would last longer. The blogs would still get their readers; maybe just not as many people end up doing it though.
The other piece is the fact that bloggers post about things found on FT. Some give credit, but others do not, posting as original content. I can’t control that but it bothers me when I see it being done.
The last thing is the shear frequency when a deal is found. Bloggers know this is happening, and it is competition to get people to the page, but when a deal is posted in one blog, if it is a good deal you can expect everyone out there to post, and multiple posts per blogger. Add it all up and that amounts to a lot of publicity, and top rankings in Google searches. All that is bad news for non-sustainable deals. If bloggers, boarding area comes to mind as they are a group that collaborates, could agree on some ground rules on this saturating, and cannibalization of messages to reduce that frequency, maybe some of this angst level would fade.
No comments so far? Or are u moderating them all fOr review?
No moderation and no censorship here Oliver! Not sure where is everyone? Did I scare them? 🙂
I’d actually stay at Hans Brinker. I almost did before opting for a hostel years ago.
reading, just quiet
have you read the most recent entries on the FT thread? mods suspended someone. Can’t even express your opinions openly anymore apparently
OH GOD!!! AMEX 50K CARD DEAL EXPIRING TOMORROW!!!! JUMP ON IT EVERYONE!
—dire warning provided by (insert blog name here)
HA!
Scanning my RSS feeds, I see a perfect echo of posts. 7 separate posts warning that the Amex deal is going away tomorrow….The symmetry is beautiful, in its own warped way
ArizonaGuy: You serious? Pre suite days? I have never stayed in a hostel!
aviator8: I have not been there yet today, so little time now with this blogging thing I got myself into!
Anonymous: You will like my rant tomorrow;-)
I’m confused by this blog. I thought this is where I come to get new credit cards!!??!?
TBB you should consider the policy of posting every day. It was very, very, very funny the first day. It was very, very funny the second day. It was very funny the third day. At some point, it won’t be funny any more 🙂 I know my blog is hardly earth-shattering, but I do only write stuff when I feel there is something to write about.
Oh and everybody DROP EVERYTHING. MUST BE IN BIG CAPS. AMEX 50K IS GOING. PLEASE SIGN UP I NEED $200 FROM EACH OF YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
@carsonheim: lol
@MilesAbound: This pace is unsustainable, I know that. I am going away for Thanksgiving in a nice Westin resort suite so that daily posting streak will likely stop. I have been talking about this for years. Thoughts of timesuck prevented me from starting it. I was correct:-)
I’ve done my share of backpacking and staying in hostels. Just a few years ago, we were booked to stay in a hostel in Vienna because I couldn’t find anything affordable, then PC put the IC Vienna on a Pointbreaks just in time! I enjoyed them in my younger days but I would feel like everyone’s Mom if we stayed in one now!
LOL at the FT thread! OK fess up, who REALLY called Chase and got the Vanilla card thing cancelled?
Yeah, if I was younger I would probably stay in hostels too. My brother always likes them. I gifted him a few nights at the Hilton in Buenos Aires earlier this year as my wedding gift to him. I think I may have changed him permanently after that stay,lol.
Yeah, that FT thread is great, what else can we say? I wish it was just one guy who kills deal. I would love to start a Top 10 “criminals” list like FBI does on my site:-)
It is just a combination of (LOTS) more exposure these days, greed (think hogs) and, in this specific case, fraud issues!