FORT MILL, SC – As the 643rd employee leaves vaunted miles & points travel website The Points Guy, many are claiming the company’s master plan is still right on track. Soon, credit card affiliate links will show up everywhere. Perhaps even in our dreams.
It’s become a bit of a ritual in the travel industry. Go work for The Points Guy, hype credit cards, get fired (or quit), and then live your best life. Indeed, another rash of departures has occurred from the vaunted miles & points website as noted by many on Twitter, including Kyle Potter.
“Ok, listen, we have a rule, alright,” said an anonymous executive who feared she’d be fired too, “We hire someone, work them 70 hours a week, have them hype some credit cards, pay them in Spirit Airlines miles or IHG points, crush their soul, then lay them off. Rinse and repeat. It’s actually a pretty good business model.”
The Points Guy (TPG) was once the darling of the travel industry. However, after being purchased by Red Ventures, things have gone in a starkly different direction: profitability.
Post-acquisition, the TPG decided to really lean into the idea of making money. This new capitalistic direction the TPG now espouses has ruffled a few feathers in the industry – including many travel bloggers irritated their blog hasn’t been purchased by Red Ventures yet.
The decidedly controversial focus on revenue streams has also changed the company’s content strategy, bringing credit cards (and the revenue earned off referral fees) front and center.
Outsiders might suggest that credit card affiliate sales are the only thing that matters to the TPG and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. The company has really leaned into credit card fees as a huge source of revenue.
In fact, the company is so focused on credit card affiliate sales that it even (reportedly) uses a very unique approach to onboarding new employees and writers: for the first three months of employment, employees must literally lay on a bed of credit cards while sleeping at night. “Since every good travel blogger has at least 47 credit cards this is usually not a problem,” said the former writer who now writes motivational poetry for a hipster coffee company. “They want credit cards to become part of your very essence.”
Despite the bad press, frequent employee departures, and universal eye-stink from less-successful travel bloggers, the company remains on track according to founder Brian Kelley who told our TTN reporters, “We know nobody respects us as much anymore, it’s fine. It’s a place to work for a bit, build a writer’s resume (which we will probably delete after you leave), earn a few pennies, then move on to literally anything that is sure to be more fulfilling.”
Kelley went on to say, “For us, it’s always and only about credit card revenue. Our plan is to generate referral income from literally every interaction with our business. Even people thinking about TPG should generate affiliate income. In fact, we are even experimenting with a new program that will generate referral fees for us when you dream about credit cards or travel.”
He closed with, “I don’t mind the hate. It’s a compliment really. Plus, I make a crap ton of money, so…”
TTN reporters confirmed that the rumor that TPG employees are required to get a QR code tattoo that is a referral link to a Chase card is, in fact, just that: a rumor. Although, several former employees did confirm that Kelley has said tattoo and managed to generate a decent amount of referrals from his poolside cabana – that is until he got sunburnt.
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Editor’s note: don’t be mad, TPG. We love you guys. Kinda-ish-mostly. We used to love you a bit more. Just having some fun with ya. Thanks for being an easy target. Also, we’d love to have your revenue….whew. We are definitely jelly of that.
TPG is shite, but seeing BA mock TPG for an excessive preponderance of affiliate links is like Coke mock Pepsi for selling sugary drinks
this is funny!
One Mile at a Time = TPG2
@ Lee — Sounds a little less fake than some other posts…
lol
I thought that this website was supposed to be satire, not just stating facts.
Note to self – don’t sign up for CC through TPG site…
Shouldn’t be an issue since that site sucks now anyway