We bring you the latest hotel promos, get you more free points, visit the Andaz Mayakoba, marvel at drone photography, cry about Aleppo, learn about legroom in US airlines, Accor’s intent for its luxury brands, go snowboard flying with a drone, get you the best infographics, show you how not to invest, bring youdickhead fish & more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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Register for the SPG and Marriott First Quarter 2017 promos. I know you did not do it last time because you like to procrastinate. Don’t! Just doeeeeet!
100 Free La Quinta Returns points for downloading its app. Extend your points! One day I am going to get a free night here, any day month year now! HT: Frequent Flyer Bonuses<——They are frequently first and then everyone else, including Titans, copy them.
A good review of the Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera. By Bengazi Miles Guru. Why has he slowed down lately? With both him and Amol writing less, Travel Codex is just not the same…
How much legroom you get on America’s airlines. Pretty sad…
Accor Hotels gave its luxury brands its own CEO. He will be responsible for overseeing the development of six Accor flags: Sofitel, Fairmont, Raffles, Pullman, Swissôtel, and MGallery. He has been on record wanting to ensure the luxury brands “keep their unique identities”. Here I am hoping my cherished lifetime Fairmont Platinum Presidents Club status survives somehow…If you are interested in the luxury hotel experience and the role personalization and service play, this is a great read.
The most captivating infographics of the last century. Much better than beating you up repeatedly trying to sell you the Ritz Carlton credit card!
Snowboard Flying With a Drone. Phucking A. I would rather watch this than some stupid incident aboard a plane…
Your personal finance fix of the day: How Not To Invest. This is a gem.
Again, the lesson for the individual investor is this: If you are investing in a target date fund, figure out what’s in it, and figure out if you can make essentially the same investments more cheaply. And the lesson for society is this: Even when the products are basically pretty simple (U.S. stock funds), companies will manufacture complexity and barriers to entry in an effort to boost prices well above marginal cost. That’s how the economy works—not the way you learn on the Economics 101 blackboard.
The very best drone photography of 2016. Love them drones!
Before and after photos of Aleppo are heartbreaking. These are posted in the Facebook page of a Syrian restaurant in the city. So tragic.
What a dickhead looks like…in the deep sea! “…the male fish slyly sporting a retractable sex organ on its forehead.”
BLOG BUZZ
Not sure if you noticed how so many bloggers are hiring writers for their blogs so they can free up their time to devote to write better content marketing & selling credit cards more effectively. Just yesterday the Points With a Crew announced the hiring of THREE writers, wow!
When I went to FinCon16, a conference for personal finance bloggers, I discovered there is a LOT of ghost writing in the personal finance blog space and I am sure the same goes along in the miles points blog space too. The Titans are prolific in doing that of course. Maybe this is why they are commercially successful. This is what happens when this becomes a business.
Having said that, I may ask for some help here soon with tax season coming up and prospects continuing to call me. But, you see, my standards are high and I want good stuff, not filler crap! You can email me if interested though and can’t wait. Just imagine how good it will look on your resume!
And I leave you with this…Just love this, so TBBish! (HT: PointsForLater)
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
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.
#addicted
I was thinking of posting first as “ScottCastle” to keep the legend going…
Glad I didn’t.
Hiring writers is not really that difficult or big of a thing to do. In PWaC’s situation, he said he was taking writers and paying them based on how well their posts do. If you are doing a revenue split with contributors based on ad revenue, it is actually a simple move – you don’t write and you can still get a bulk of the ad money for lending the platform! Not bad!
I think others push back against doing this on their own blogs because you can tend to lose your own voice.
Ad revenue? Whatz this? 🙂
Not sure how I would figure out how “good they do”…will have to dig into metrics stuff in WordPress, I haveen’t been to those pages in several months!
I am willing to pay as long as this blog does not lose money…But the stuff that makes it here HAS to be good, to satisfy the blog’s mission!
Looks like son and Wei may have a few posts coming up. I am blackmailing son that he won’t get his Winter semester allowance before he finishes that Hong Kong post from last…August hehe.
Yes hiring writers makes great business sense. And you are so right about losing the voice of a blog too! Tough balancing act indeed!
I have a Mavic Pro from DJI that I have been using for some drone videos and photos and it is amazing! The thing is the size of a water bottle and does a great job of capturing shots. I cannot wait for my next trip to a country that I can actually take it to! 🙂
I won a drone last year but gave it away as a prize here.
Drones are becoming a huge disruptor in our society…
On the fifth day of Christmas,
Buzz gave to us
One Dormant Troll
$10 off on Uber
RIck Steves Spain
A Barclays Arrivals+
And an ELO DVD
Most regrettably, my wife ordered Nespresso capsules from the company rather than through Amazon. Something about a better selection of flavors (like that matters).
Dormant Troll, who?
I trust your wife made the right choice 🙂
Trolls we ignore.
All this drone photography is tiring though, now the selfie stick is slowly being replaced by drones. I was in Rome earlier this month and people were flying them all over… :p
I will take drones over selfies every time!
If you know your stuff (ahem) hiring writers has minimal benefit. I can knock out an article very quickly because I know all the info off the top of my head.
The woman I hired (full time) is mainly doing ads, affiliate liaison, events and hotel and flight reviews. THAT stuff takes your time. Doing 300 words on the new SPG promo is a doddle.
My goal is to finish my Asia June 2016 trip report in 2017. And my Iran October 2016 trip report in 2018!
Travel with Grant added another one…
Blog space is changing in front of our eyes…
I know for a fact that your blog does much better than just mundane 300-word promos.Off the top of your head? I doubt it.
Otherwise, I’m an idiot because I tend to spend HOURS to research and write a SINGLE post, and we can’t have that, can we?
We are not only hiring ghost writers but currently have openings for a personal fitness trainer, chauffeur (night shift only), sous chef, pool boy, receptionist, personal shopper, nutritionist, estate manager and guy friday.
Almost forgot, our Chef de Cuisine, Wolfgang Puck, just gave 2 weeks notice…so we will have an opening there soon. Celebrity Chefs ONLY need to apply.
Hey there, any security guard positions open, just lost my gig with the Chargers guarding the Cheerleaders?
http://nypost.com/2016/12/21/nfl-security-guard-allegedly-tried-to-masturbate-again-at-halftime/
You need to work on your technique.
TBB Comment section….
Most entertaining spce in the blogosphere…
Excuse me now while I go to work on my technique…woohoo!
This credit card salesman Ben and his groupies keep calling me ALL day long. 10% off or 10% of the normal award price? What is he talking about?
No first class for you!
You better get paid overtime!!!
Newsflash (unrelated to the comments above).
I used the Amazon link to purchase shoes! Coffee is on me George. 😀
From my family to yours, καλά Χριστούγεννα (kalá Christoúgenna)
Gracias amigo. Best holiday wishes to you as well!
Speaking of guest bloggers, I’d love to write about the Brooklyn Reality Tour aka BRT that I do annually in June. It’s posted on the Community board on Flyertalk sometime in January. Disclosure > TBB rode with me last year, and broke down, a, I mean paid for lunch. I don’t know how to do the line through the word thing.
I’d insist on a cup of coffee for my time. 😉
I would love that! Can you do a write up and email it to me?
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Add a few pictures too please. Maybe coordinate by me posting it the day you announce it on FT? I think I can fill your bus 🙂
Coffee and PIZZA on me next time 😉
A bus load of TBB readers? Careful what I wish for. LOL.
I can send you the link in January. Since I’m not computer literate, we can discuss ‘stealing’ BRT pictures off my facebook page.
Sounds good.
There’s nothing left to write about and i’m not one to repeat.
Tell the world about your fabulous trip to revolutionary, free and independent Cuba.
Yeah, we would like that. I was suspecting all the oh lala trip reports had a fairly big dose of BS in them 🙂 I am glad I chose to go to Iran instead.