Category Archives for Commentary.
Tourism boards are often highly questionable. They’re big pots of money where politicians appoint friendlies to cush, well-paying jobs where there are very few metrics of actual success and leaders attend conferences and treat themselves and others to a good time.
They had given a booking to us! And so we were welcomed. You are the guest. Therefore you belong. You don’t need to conform to anyone else’s expectations. Stop caring so much about what other people think of you, and sit with your own experience. Miles and points turn out to actually be a great social equalizer.
Costco has sold gold bars since the fall. They get more than the spot price of gold, but it’s still a good deal compared to most places you’ll purchase it.
It’s one of the more unusual things that Costco sells, perhaps, and it’s gotten a lot of attention this month because of a Wells Fargo report suggesting Costco sells $200,000,000 per month in gold bars. That’s a run rate of $2.4 billion per year in gold sales.
Most frequently visited isn’t the same as best, and this list in order wouldn’t be close to my own estimation of best, but for those curious about a best estimate of which frequent flyer and travel websites see the most traffic here’s a list that ranks 14 popular websites.
Sean John Combs a.k.a Puff Daddy a.k.a P. Diddy, et al may have fled the country on his private jet. The Grammy Award-winning rap artist, who was estimated to have a net worth of $1 billion in 2022, has been sued multiple times for sexual assault. Now the government is after him for sex trafficking. The details of the government investigation haven’t been announced yet. However, Puff’s jet has gone poof out of the U.S.
No Fly Lists include people added by mistake (FBI agent checking the wrong box on a form or having a name similar to someone else) and even added maliciously (such as retaliation for refusing to cooperate in an investigation).
A “ghost donor” is an identity that makes hundreds or thousands of small contributions to a campaign, and indeed to several campaigns, where the actual person attached to that identity doesn’t know anything about it.
Here’s an Uber tipping scam you need to watch out for. Tipping is still voluntary in the app, and there is no automatic tip for rides. But some drivers, apparently, are warning riders about an automatic “30% tip” if they don’t choose their own tip. That motivates riders to enter a tip.
Here’s an interesting take I came across from the former owner of Eleven Madison Park restaurant in New York. He was able to create a ‘moment’ for diners one time by going outside to a hot dog cart and plating it for the guests. And that was the memory for them of the night.
TripAdvisor was acquired and became part of the same company as Expedia. It was later spun off as a public company. It earns most of its revenue from Expedia and Booking.com, selling eyeballs of customers searching hotels to those platforms. Even reviews got de-prioritized. It stopped being primarily a tool to help customers figure out where to stay.
Now there’s corporate intrigue over where TripAdvisor itself should find lodging. Can it move from Delaware incorporation to Nevada? And what a judge says there may decide whether Tesla can leave Delaware, too, after a judge struck down Elon Musk’s $55 billion compensation package.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
