In the recent post “What’s Next?” I described some of this blog’s accomplishments from my first year of blogging, and I outlined several topics I’m going to try to cover going forward. More importantly, I asked readers for their input. I asked: “What do you think I should focus on?” Today, I’ll tally up the results…
Keep doing what you’re doing
The vast majority of reader responses can be described as “keep doing what you’re doing.” As a blog author, this was great to hear, of course. Most of the time, I write about whatever interests me most. Usually this means that I’ll discuss creative ways to earn or buy points, or new ways to increase credit card spend, or different ways to maximize savings & points earned for purchases or travel. I try to avoid topics that other bloggers have covered in detail unless I can add a new twist. So, yes, of course, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing!
Interactive Community / Lab
Several people suggested ways to get readers more involved in lab experiments and/or discussions. The comment sections of the blog pages have been invaluable for people to learn from each other, but they aren’t well suited to lengthy discussion topics, task assignments & follow-ups, or private groups / conversations. My goal is to find a technology to help with all of this. Ideally the threads would not be open and accessible to the web without a log-in since people would be likely to discuss deals that would die quickly if revealed to a larger audience. In a prior work-life I used a technology called Yammer which could be ideal for this, but it is really intended for people who work within one organization. Another option would be to see if Milepoint or Flyertalk would allow very large private forums. If you have other ideas, please let me know!
More SPG Points
Some agreed with my suggestion of trying to find more ways to earn Starwood points. I have no idea yet how we’ll accomplish this, but I’m sure we’ll figure out something! It would be nice if Starwood could lend a hand: how about an SPG shopping portal? No? OK, how about an SPG dining for points program? No? Surely there’s a Starwood property that wants to sell Vanilla Reload cards, right? Right?
Redeeming Points & Miles
A few people asked for more coverage of the best ways to redeem points and miles. I think that MileValue already does a fantastic job of covering how best to use airline miles, so I won’t duplicate his work here. I think there are opportunities, though, to highlight other valuable uses for points when they come up. So I will!
Chasing Status
A few people mentioned that they like posts covering creative ways to earn airline or hotel status. I like this too and so will definitely keep covering this!
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I’m pretty sure I saw some US Mint Dollar Coins for sale at face value in the Munchie Box at the W Austin.
Thx for the FAR but I forgot my Chase ink bold card at home. Keep looking for those FAR deals 🙂
What are your thoughts on using freedom to buy sears Gv at 10x and use sears Gv at Kmart to buy gas Gc? With $2500 in Gc, that’s 25,000 ur points
Webazoid: That’s a great way to get 10X for gas! I do that with some of the gift cards I bought in August.
Keep it up, and thank you.
Although you’re titles FrequentMiler to me I read you (in my own mind) as FrequentMiller – as in machining or grinding out points!
I also have to agree with the “Keep doing what you’re doing” sentiment. In a year of reduced promos, sign up bonuses, and so on, this blog continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in the points game. In my opinion, it’s currently the most innovative points blog out there (with Mile Value a close second). So definitely, keep doing what you’re doing! We certainly appreciate it.
I have to agree with the “More SPG Points” sentiment. Or, more generally, ways to maximize Amex spend (for more than just SPG points).