The most valuable travel hacking resources today

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Reader crispy left a very kind comment on one of my posts the other day and asked a very thought-provoking question, and instead of replying in the comments there I thought I’d break out my answer here. The reader’s question was:

“With so many blogs out there that don't benefit their readers by pushing certain credit cards, do you have some blogs that you actually recommend? Any other underrated bloggers who you think actually provide value in the frequent flyer game?”

I’ve answered this question a couple times in the past, and my answer is constantly changing: some resources get better, some get worse, new ones pop up, and old ones go away (pour one out for the Saverocity Observation Deck).

In that way, the travel hacking community is a lot like travel hacking itself. There’s no reason to believe the amazing technique that works today (3 Flexpoints per dollar spent on Kiva loans) or loyalty program sweet spot (Boston to Dublin using Avios) will continue to work tomorrow. We learn, experiment, and share what we know so as many people as possible can take advantage before the window inevitably closes.

Paid communities and resources

These are options that someone new to travel hacking shouldn’t consider. Paid communities are primarily for folks who know what they’re doing and want or need to share new information in real time. If you’re just getting started there are plenty of free resources to learn the ropes, and you’ll just waste people’s time asking questions with easy answers. For example, the occasional Newsletters I send to paying subscribers are mostly the results of my own esoteric experimentation, and each Newsletter is only useful to a tiny minority of subscribers.

  • Straight to the Points. Spencer Howard has a newsletter where he sends out high-value award redemptions and cheap fares to paying subscribers as he finds them. A limited free version is sent out a few days later, so the conceit is his paying members have first dibs on the seats and fares.

  • Miles Per Day. An absolute legend in the community, Vinh runs a private Slack channel that I think operates on something of a “one-in-one-out” basis: somebody has to leave the group before he’ll allow another person in. I believe it’s currently closed to new members, but it’s worth following Vinh on Twitter anyway as he periodically announces new spaces are available.

  • Milenomics. The only paid resource I personally rely on is the Milenomics Podcast Network, which covers a huge range of topics and hosts an extremely active and valuable Slack channel. I’m a paid contributor to the network and I am extremely sensitive to the fact that there are no benign conflicts of interest so I won’t say anything except that I happily pay for my subscription and they don’t even give me a discount.

“Static” websites

These are my go-to destinations when I just need to know a single fact. They can be slightly out-of-date, but they’re still the best resources I know of.

  • DepositAccounts.com. When you have extra cash, need somewhere to put it, and want to earn as much interest as possible, this is the best resource I’ve found. It’s a bit difficult to navigate and tries to steer you towards their paid advertisers, but the information itself is accessible and pretty reliable.

  • Frequent Miler’s “Best Offers” page. While the blog itself seems to have been taken over by search engine-driven dynamics and “pivoted to video,” the best credit card offers page has remained extremely useful, and is always the first place I visit to check how a sign-up bonus offer compares to recent offers.

Twitter feeds

It’s a cliche that all the big blogs dump out identical content whenever there’s the slightest amount of travel-related news, or even a travel angle on unrelated news, but Twitter is still where I find out a lot of information first, and there are a few Twitter feeds that do a great job getting me the exact information I need when I need it.

  • Danny the Deal Guru. Danny (no idea if that’s his real name) has somehow dialed in to posting the precise deals that appeal to me, personally, and deals that would appeal to me if I were you. I don’t take advantage of them all (I enjoyed Burger King growing up; now, not so much), but he doesn’t miss.

  • Doctor of Credit. I follow Doctor of Credit and find it useful to keep track of the atmosphere, but the thing to know in advance is that it’s a lot, and it’s totally indiscriminate. Discount codes, coupon codes, signup bonuses, promotional gimmicks, all thrown together without rhyme or reason.

Conclusion

There are two ways to look at this list. On the one hand, you could see it as a kind of flattening in the general travel hacking space: the biggest public blogs have hired mechanical Turks to pump out near-identical content of no use to anyone, while the information people actually want and need has increasingly vanished behind paywalls.

On the other hand, there’s been a florescence of resources for individual communities. If “your thing” is Disney, then you have more resources than ever to choose from, with small blogs, forums, and podcasts with different voices and values sharing their own techniques to save money or get more value for it. For all I know this may be the inevitable consequence of a community growing larger than it can easily accommodate, and generalists becoming specialists who serve smaller and smaller slices of the group.

Sound off in the comments if you have any more recommendations for crispy.