Seeking kindreds on the Barclaycard Travel Community

Update 2/1/15: I have been BANNED from the Barclaycard Travel Community. 

I don’t know why, but this is what I see when I log in now:

banned-barclaycard-travel

 

So if anyone has given me kudos, but I haven’t reciprocated, this is why. Thank you guys for the support, but it looks like I’m out of this one, unfortunately. :/

 

This post is part personal ad and part information.

Stepping up the game

Barclays Bank has been doing some really cool things lately, especially with their new Barclaycard Arrival (the naming of this card is so weird). They’ve created a revolutionary card with instant posting of points, instant redemptions, a great portal, free FICO score, and a slew of other great benefits. Anything a bank can do to keep a consumer engaged with their product is a really good thing. Now, they’ve made a community.

The Barclaycard Travel Community

The site is easy enough to find: it’s www.barclaycardtravel.com

But beyond that, they’ve linked it up with the Arrival card. AND they offer incentives to use it. Incentives in the form of, you guessed it, Arrival miles.

If you have the Arrival card, you get 200 miles for posting a travel “story” of at least 50 words with an accompanying photo. 200 miles is $2.20! You also receive 10 miles for each “kudos” on a story (another $.12) and can earn badges for an additional 250 miles each ($2.62).

Let’s do the math on this

If you post 5 “stories” a day (with a photo), you’ll earn 1,000 miles (IF YOU HAVE THE ARRIVAL CARD). If you post 5 stories a day for 100 days, you’d then have 100,000 miles. This is enough to get a $1000 planet ticket for FREE. AND, you’d get $20 back on top of that). So, you’d get about $1,020 in value. Where could you go with $1,000 free bucks?

How long does posting a story take? As long as it takes to upload a photo and type 50 words. For me, that’s about a minute. Let’s say 2 minutes, just to round up. So, 10 minutes a day for a little over 3 months and I have a free plane ticket. Or hotel stay. Or other travel expense. That’s pretty cool!

You will also receive badges and (hopefully) kudos along the way which will accelerate your earnings even more. You are not limited to 5 stories a day. You can post until your fingers fall off. The miles post each morning, and are posted to your Arrival account when your monthly statement closes. With just a little bit of effort, you can get a ton of value out of this.

The upshot

I do not expect that this is lucrative for Barclays. How can they sustain these payouts? I do not understand what they’re trying to do with this, really, or where it’s headed, BUT in the meantime, I’m getting 200 miles per story I post. So far, I’ve earned over 7,000 miles (over $70!) for using their site a few minutes each day. Not a bad payout at all. And I will continue to, until they no longer offer this opportunity.

And the personal ad?

So now that the info is out there, I’d like to post a link to my Barclaycard Travel Community profile. Feel free to read the stories I’ve included and if you feel moved, to give me kudos.

As an additional measure, please freely post the link to your profile there by clicking on one of your stories, then copying the link at “View profile.” Paste it in the comments and I will be sure to look it up and give you some kudos, too.

Right there. Right click and copy.

Right there. Right click and copy.

Bottom line

Barclays is really moving forward with the way they’re promoting the Arrival card. It’s just another reason why I’m so engaged with the creation and marketing of this product. Pure curiosity has led me to keep the card for another year.

The Barclaycard Travel Community is a great way to earn miles in your spare time. They will add up over and could net you a really nice trip, for free. However, I do not think this is sustainable, so get in on it while the getting is good!

Post the link to your profile in the comments (if you want) for some added kudos to your stories!

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update!
BEST Current Credit Card Deals
  • Capital One Venture X Rewards—Earn 90,000 Venture miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening, plus a $300 annual statement credit for travel booked through Capital One
  • Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card—Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months and 3X bonus points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year
  • Amex Blue Business Plus—Earn 15,00 Membership Rewards points once you spend after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of Card Membership and 2X bonus points on up to $50,000 in spending per year with NO annual fee
Open a savings account with Yotta and play the lottery every day—for free. Get FREE tickets with a new account!

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

About Harlan

Just a dude living in Memphis, traveling, and working toward financial independence.

More articles by Harlan »

Pingbacks

Comments

  1. lol, I’ve totally been thinking the same thing, written about 40 stories so far. Preeeeetty great! andy2343, find me!

    • Andy, found you! Will give you many kudos! I wish they’d introduce the functionality to have “friends” on there – I’d totally add you. I see you’re also in Brooklyn – let’s be in touch. Cheers!

  2. @Mkrhoades. I’ve posted a few stories about travel and eating in Paris. Look it up if you need good eats. On top of it, many restaurants I mention are in the Marais. Love the community for the extra points but I’ve seen some interesting posts too.

    • Oooo, thank you! I will go there and give you some kudos. I’ll be in Paris in June so this is great!

      Ditto about the interesting posts. Some are fluff pieces but some are very high-quality. I’m curious to see the direction Barclays is going to take with the community but for now am enjoying the extra miles!

    • Great suggestions on Paris eats. I saved many of the places in an Evernote notebook. Also hit the kudos button for all of them.

      Thanks again!

  3. Hi Harlan,

    I’m super late to the party but your entry came up on a google search I was doing for info on the Travel Community.

    I just gave you a whole mess of kudos! I’ve recently started posting stories, check um out if you have a second! My profile is mannimal

    Thanks!

Leave a Reply