The Points Guy

Last updated

The Points Guy
Founded2010
FounderBrian Kelly
Key people
  • Brian Kelly (CEO) [1]
Number of employees
Increase2.svg 20 (2017) [2]
Parent Red Ventures
Website thepointsguy.com
thepointsguy.com
OwnerThe Points Guy
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched2010
Current statuslive

The Points Guy (TPG) is an American travel website and blog that produces sponsored news and stories on travel, means of accumulating and using airline points and miles, politics, and credit cards - in particular, credit card reviews. [3] The site was founded in 2010 [2] and was initially a blog written by founder Brian Kelly. [2] By 2017, the site employed 20 full-time staff in addition to 50 freelance contributors. [4]

Contents

History

Before founding TPG, Kelly worked at Morgan Stanley as an IT recruiter and ran an informal travel agency-type operation for his colleagues aimed at helping them maximize their return on earned travel reward points. [1] While still working for Morgan Stanley, Kelly launched The Points Guy blog in 2010, where he wrote about frequent flyer miles, credit card points, and travel goals. [4] [3] [5] TPG began monetizing content through affiliate marketing in February 2011, which became the main source of the company's revenue. [3] [5] Shortly thereafter, Kelly quit his job at Morgan Stanley. [3]

In 2012, Bankrate, a company that publishes and promotes financial content, acquired TPG. [3] In a 2014 interview, Brian Kelly stated: "I still have a vested ownership interest in TPG and I retain 100% editorial control." [6]

Between 2012 and 2017, TPG acquired three competing websites: Million Mile Secrets, Mommy Points, and Travel is Free. [2]

In 2016, TPG started Points for Peace, a partnership with the nonprofit PeaceJam Foundation, which donates frequent flyer miles to help Nobel Peace Prize winners travel to developing countries. [3] [4]

In 2017, Brian Kelly was named the top influencer for travel by Forbes . [4] Bankrate was acquired by digital marketing company Red Ventures in 2017. [7] The company now operates out of offices in Austin, Charlotte, New York, and London. [2]

In 2020 Business Insider reported that multiple TPG employees had anonymously accused Kelly of fostering a toxic work environment, including drug use and abusive behavior toward staff. [8] In response to the allegations, Red Ventures said: "Mr. Kelly unequivocally denies all allegations of drug use, sexual harassment, and assault. TPG and its parent company, Red Ventures, do not tolerate any form of harassment, exploitation, or discrimination in the workplace and take seriously their responsibility to create environments where people feel safe, respected, and able to do their best work.” [8] [5]

In September 2021, TPG released an app to track airline points and miles across multiple airlines. [9]

On January 11, 2022, TPG preemptively sued American Airlines, asking a Delaware court to make it legal for customers to manage their frequent flyer data on a third-party website. [10] [11] The filing was in response to a cease and desist letter from American Airlines, demanding TPG not track the data of its AAdvantage members who opted-in to share their info with the TPG app. [11] On January 22, 2022, American Airlines filed suit against The Points Guy in a federal court in Texas, claiming the company's app violated its trademark and the terms of the airlines’ frequent flyer program. [10] [9] [11] The case was settled in November 2022, but no details of the settlement were disclosed. [12]

Products and services

The business receives revenue in the form of 'marketing fees' from credit card companies. These fees are based on traffic from the site related to credit cards participating in loyalty programs. [2] Among the company's partners are Citi, Bank of America, Chase, [2] and Capital One. [1]

Reception

The Points Guy is included on Wikipedia's spam blacklist due to having questionable relationships with the credit card companies it covers. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalty program</span> Marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at a business

A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. A loyalty program typically involves the operator of a particular program set up an account for a customer of a business associated with the scheme, and then issue to the customer a loyalty card which may be a plastic or paper card, visually similar to a credit card, that identifies the cardholder as a participant in the program. Cards may have a barcode or magstripe to more easily allow for scanning, although some are chip cards or proximity cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frequent-flyer program</span> Airline loyalty program

A frequent-flyer programme (FFP) is a loyalty program offered by an airline.

AAdvantage is the frequent-flyer program of American Airlines. Launched May 1, 1981, it was the second such loyalty program in the world and remains the largest, with more than 115 million members as of April, 2021.

Aeroplan is a coalition loyalty program owned by Air Canada, Canada's flag carrier. The Aeroplan program was created in July 1984 by Air Canada as an incentive program for its frequent flyer customers. In 2002 it was spun off as a separate corporate entity and eventually sold to Aimia. On May 11, 2017, Air Canada announced it plans to launch a new loyalty program to replace the Aeroplan program in 2020. On August 21, 2018, Air Canada, along with TD, CIBC and Visa, agreed to acquire Aeroplan from Aimia for CA$450 million in cash. There are approximately 5 million active members in the program. On August 11, 2020, Air Canada released details about its new loyalty program, which was a relaunch of Aeroplan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Miles</span> Miles-based loyalty program

Air Miles is a group of loyalty programs operated by different companies in each region where the brand operates - the programs are available in Canada, the Netherlands, and the Middle East. Points are earned on purchases at participating merchants and can be redeemed against flights with specific airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airport lounge</span> Air travel amenity

An airport lounge is a facility operated at many airports. Airport lounges offer, for selected passengers, comforts beyond those afforded in the airport terminal itself, such as more comfortable seating, quieter environments, and often better access to customer service representatives. Other accommodations may include private meeting rooms, telephones, wireless internet access and other business services, along with provisions to enhance passenger comfort, such as free drinks, snacks, magazines, and showers.

Miles & More is an airline loyalty and frequent flyer program owned and operated by the Lufthansa Group.

Loyalty marketing is a marketing strategy in which a company focuses on growing and retaining existing customers through incentives. Branding, product marketing, and loyalty marketing all form part of the customer proposition – the subjective assessment by the customer of whether to purchase a brand or not based on the integrated combination of the value they receive from each of these marketing disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Mills</span> English entrepreneur (born 1950)

Sir Keith Edward Mills, is an English entrepreneur and was deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Asia Miles is a loyalty and frequent-flyer program launched by Cathay Pacific. Launched in February 1999, it allows members to earn miles by making different purchases with co-branded credit cards or on partnered flights, hotels, dining, financial services, retail, and technology products and services. Membership is free and open to individuals aged two or above.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Ventures</span> American media company

Red Ventures is an American media company that owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline, and Bankrate. Red Ventures focuses on news, advice, and review websites. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Indian Land, South Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bankrate, LLC is a consumer financial services company based in New York City. Bankrate.com, perhaps its best-known brand, is a personal finance website. As of November 8, 2017, it became a subsidiary of Red Ventures through an acquisition.

Elisabeth DeMarse is an American businesswoman, and the former Chairwoman, CEO, and President of TheStreet.com. As of 2022, she is a board member of the NYC-based ad-fraud prevention and marketing company Kubient Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MileagePlus</span> Frequent flyer program of United Airlines

MileagePlus is the loyalty program of United Airlines that offers rewards to passengers traveling on certain types of tickets. Following the 2010 merger agreement between United and Continental Airlines, United Mileage Plus was chosen to be the frequent flyer program for the combined airline. The program was subsequently renamed to MileagePlus, and maintains its relationship with its Star Alliance partners, as well as other airline and travel enterprise agreements.

Synapse Group, Inc. is a multichannel marketing company. Synapse is also the largest consumer magazine distributor in the United States, with access to over 700 magazine titles from all the major publishers. Synapse attracts subscribers for these publications by working through a number of non-traditional marketing channels, including credit card issuers, catalog companies, and airline frequent-flyer programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AAirpass</span> Airline discount program

AAirpass was a membership-based discount program offered by American Airlines to frequent flyers launched in 1981. The program is best known for a previous offering of unlimited travel on American Airlines and unlimited access to Admirals Club locations. Pass holders were offered terms of five years or lifetime. After the lifetime and unlimited travel AAirpass program was discontinued, American Airlines offered a different product under a similar name, which instead focused on pre-paid fares at a fixed price for frequent business travelers and required an annual minimum commitment of $1 per traveller. American Airlines stopped offering this version of Airpass on November 30, 2022, and have stated they intend to fully unwind the program by March 31, 2024. Existing unlimited AAirpass memberships remain valid.

SkyMiles is the frequent-flyer program of Delta Air Lines that offers points to passengers traveling on most fare types, as well as to consumers who utilize Delta co-branded credit cards, which accumulate towards free awards such as airline tickets, business and first-class upgrades, and luxury products. Created in 1981 as the "Delta Air Lines Frequent Flyer Program", its name was changed to SkyMiles in 1995. Originally all airlines including Delta, only gave miles for airline travel and not credit card expenditures. Delta claims to have been the first major U.S. airline without mileage expiration, so travelers can redeem awards at their leisure, but others have since followed. The airline also has a separate SkyBonus program that provides small to mid-sized business owners with a way to earn points for trips taken by employees, good towards free flights, upgrades, Medallion status and other travel awards. It has been ranked fairly high according to some independent news outlets.

Tremor International Ltd., comprising Tremor Video and Unruly, is a publicly traded advertising-technology company. Founded in 2007, it focuses on digital advertising including video, mobile, native, display technology, and connected TV. Its stock trades on both the Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TRMR.

Navan is an online travel management, corporate card and expense management company.

AwardWallet is frequent flyer miles and points tracking site. It is considered to be the first in the genre, founded in 2004, and tracked more than 400 sites as of 2011. AwardWallet is based out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As of 2021, it has 700,000 users, despite some airlines blocking access to the app citing privacy concerns.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Field, Hayden (November 29, 2018). "The Points Guy, Brian Kelly, Talks Success, Scalability and Money-Saving Travel Tips (Podcast)". Entrepreneur. Irvine, California: Entrepreneur Media. Retrieved January 12, 2020. it remains successful today, with the help of additional revenue streams via parterships with companies such as Capital One. On Entrepreneur's How Success Happens podcast, Kelly talks success strategies, his top growth tips for entrepreneurs and, of course, his best advice for saving money on upcoming travel.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Willens, Max (December 18, 2017). "How The Points Guy built a business based on affiliate fees". Digiday . New York, New York: Digiday Media. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Marikar, Sheila (June 29, 2017). "How to Travel Like a Millionaire? Ask the Points Guy" . The New Yorker . Archived from the original on July 5, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 O'Connor, Clare (June 20, 2017). "Forbes Top Influencers: The Points Guy, Brian Kelly, On Turning Miles Into A Media Empire". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 20, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Keiles, Jamie Lauren (January 5, 2021). "The Man Who Turned Credit-Card Points Into an Empire". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  6. ↑ Martin, Grant (December 1, 2014). "The Blurring Ethical Lines Between Credit Card Companies and Travel Writers". Skift.com.
  7. ↑ Saxena, Aparajita (July 3, 2017). "Red Ventures to buy Bankrate for $1.24 billion". Reuters. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Inside the wild world of 'The Points Guy,' Brian Kelly: A massively profitable media empire and claims of non-stop partying, drugs and extravagant spending". BusinessInsider.com. March 14, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Lyons, Kim (January 21, 2022). "American Airlines suing The Points Guy over app that syncs frequent flyer data". The Verge. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Brubaker Calkins, Laurel; Schlangenstein, Mary (January 20, 2022). "American Airlines Sues The Points Guy Over Its Rewards Management App". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Dunn, Catherine (January 22, 2022). "Frequent-Flyer Miles Spur Lawsuits: American says app uses data unlawfully". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  12. ↑ Poritz, Isaiah (November 7, 2022). "American Airlines Settles Trademark Suit With The Points Guy". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  13. ↑ Dupré, Maggie Harrison (February 29, 2024). "Wikipedia No Longer Considers CNET a "Generally Reliable" Source After AI Scandal". Futurism. Retrieved March 1, 2024.

Further reading

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