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The Points Guy is fine in that it'll teach most people the basics. It's not perfect advice, and they (Kelly, and Bankrate) make a killing on it… but it's good e

The Points Guy is fine in that it'll teach most people the basics. It's not perfect advice, and they (Kelly, and Bankrate) make a killing on it… but it's good enough. For most people, the alternative is using a debit card or redeeming their miles for a new toaster. Following TPG's advice is already a massive improvement. In the past year, I've flown >100 times, 200k "butt-in-seat" miles, all long-haul in first or business class, spent 150+ nights in luxury hotels. I've flown around the US in private jets. I have millions of points and miles. I don't dare imagine what the retail cost would've been—but I pay a tiny tiny fraction of the price. Travel in that style is a hobby and I go out of my way to fly new airlines (I've tried long-haul first class on almost every reputable airline) and visit new places (40 countries and counting). Getting really good at this, however, is a ton of work. It's a time-consuming hobby. I have spreadsheets, scripts, crawlers, and private groups to trade info, miles, and favors. I'm constantly on the lookout for new deals and loopholes; and I know the ins-and-outs of airlines' and hotels' policies. I've put in my 10,000h. The point is that sure; for me, TPG seems like child's play. A lot of the information is a bit inaccurate, and they're not entirely unbiased. But most people don't have the willingness or interest to put in the work required to be really successful at this hobby. For that majority of people, following TPG's advice will let them experience a taste of this lifestyle. It might be enough to take their fiancé on a first class luxury honeymoon to Japan. In my opinion, that's pretty cool…

patrickg_zill 9y ago
Have you considered monetizing your knowledge? I would pay maybe $100/hour for some advice on how to adapt my current lifestyle and credit card usage to gain more miles/benefits.
- kenneth 9y ago
  I help my friends a lot and I'm always happy to chat it through with anyone. That said, no, I haven't looked into turning this into something more, for two reasons: 1) The nature of the game is that the more people play it, the less value it provides. A lot of my success in this is due to obscure opportunities that die as soon as they get too publicized. 2) Turning this from a hobby to a job would take the fun out of it.
- saryant 9y ago
  I tried to monetize my knowledge of credit card awards. The problem I ran into is that in order to find awards for customers of the same quality that I do for myself, I'd need to charge >$1000 per passenger to make it worth my time. If finding the awards for two people to do a somewhat-complicated trip takes me 10 hours, charging $100 a pop just doesn't make sense.
  - sersi 9y ago
    This. I recently redeemed a great trip with a round the world award on cathay pacific (a oneworld multipartner award). It's a really great value and it does save me a lot of money (compared to what I would have been willing to pay for an equivalent trip) but it takes time. - finding the available seats - calling and getting it done on the phone (and finding that Asiamiles can't find the award you thought was available) - making sure you follow the rules so that that specific award works (I needed to book 3 different airlines which became difficult when suddenly one of the airlines I was planning to use didn't have any awards at all anymore) It's fun doing for myself and if I do it for myself, I can quickly evaluate alternatives but I can't imagine doing it for someone else. There are a few services who do book awards for around $250 but a lot of them don't really want to do overly complex bookings.
Sleeep 9y ago
TPG exists to make TPG money not to lead you to the right cards for your needs. If you want to learn you should learn from a resource that doesn't contain referral links. TFA is nothing but a marketing piece. The travel blog market is saturated.
empath75 9y ago
how much money did you actually spend on all of that?

patrickg_zill 9y ago

Have you considered monetizing your knowledge? I would pay maybe $100/hour for some advice on how to adapt my current lifestyle and credit card usage to gain more miles/benefits.

kenneth 9y ago
I help my friends a lot and I'm always happy to chat it through with anyone. That said, no, I haven't looked into turning this into something more, for two reasons: 1) The nature of the game is that the more people play it, the less value it provides. A lot of my success in this is due to obscure opportunities that die as soon as they get too publicized. 2) Turning this from a hobby to a job would take the fun out of it.
saryant 9y ago
I tried to monetize my knowledge of credit card awards. The problem I ran into is that in order to find awards for customers of the same quality that I do for myself, I'd need to charge >$1000 per passenger to make it worth my time. If finding the awards for two people to do a somewhat-complicated trip takes me 10 hours, charging $100 a pop just doesn't make sense.
- sersi 9y ago
  This. I recently redeemed a great trip with a round the world award on cathay pacific (a oneworld multipartner award). It's a really great value and it does save me a lot of money (compared to what I would have been willing to pay for an equivalent trip) but it takes time. - finding the available seats - calling and getting it done on the phone (and finding that Asiamiles can't find the award you thought was available) - making sure you follow the rules so that that specific award works (I needed to book 3 different airlines which became difficult when suddenly one of the airlines I was planning to use didn't have any awards at all anymore) It's fun doing for myself and if I do it for myself, I can quickly evaluate alternatives but I can't imagine doing it for someone else. There are a few services who do book awards for around $250 but a lot of them don't really want to do overly complex bookings.

Sleeep 9y ago

TPG exists to make TPG money not to lead you to the right cards for your needs. If you want to learn you should learn from a resource that doesn't contain referral links. TFA is nothing but a marketing piece. The travel blog market is saturated.

empath75 9y ago

how much money did you actually spend on all of that?