Travel Advice

Why I Still Stay in Hostels When I Travel

Posted by CoCo on in hostels, Travel Advice, Travel Tips

Tallin Hostel, Tallin
Posted: 1/31/2019 | January 31st, 2019

People are always shocked when they find out I that I still stay in hostels.

“Aren’t you too old for that?”

“Why would you still want to do that?”

“Don’t you actually make money? Are you still too broke for an Airbnb?”

“How do you even sleep?”

And what’s even more shocking to people is that while I often stay in a hostel private room, I also still stay in dorms!

(If anyone has followed on Twitter while I’ve been in Colombia, you’ll know my dorm room pains!)

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I still stay in hostels?

Three reasons.

The first: I’m cheap. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I started out — and stayed — a budget traveler because I just don’t like to spend money.

Especially on rooms I’ll just be in for a few hours.

I look at prices for hotels and private rooms and think, “Well, a dorm is only $10, so why not?!”

True, I often regret that decision, since I also don’t sleep well, but money is money — and hostels are cheap!

The second is that they provide me with on-the-ground information about what budget travelers and backpackers are doing. (First came the backpackers, then everyone else, I like to say.) Backpackers and hostel staff know where to find things to do on a budget. They have lots of hacks and are a good source of information and resources I might not know about. I can learn about new apps, get hot tips, and discover places or events to check out.

They know the best markets, cheap places to eat, and off-beat destinations.

Hostels are where I get the information I can use to unlock the mystery of how to see a destination on a budget.

Hostels are my source of travel trends.

In fact, I think hostels, their staff, and the backpacker crowd are an underutilized resource – regardless of your age or travel style. You don’t get travelers swapping tips at a hotel bar the way you do a hostel bar. So, if you’re looking for information — a hot new attraction, a cool local tour, new restaurants, a great dive bar, tips on getting around cheaper — go to a hostel bar. Most hostels have bars open to the public until a certain hour. Meet some backpackers. Make some friends. Learn something new!

Additionally, even if you aren’t staying at a hostel, you can go in and ask the staff questions. They field more inquiries about “unique, weird, and local” things to do than your Airbnb host or a hotel concierge.

And, finally, and most important, reason: I like the social vibe.

I think hotels are boring, and I don’t want to stay in an Airbnb by myself. Hostels are full of friendly travelers. I can swap tips, have a few conversations, get some travel buddies, and generally socialize! (Yes, you can do that with locals too, but you know what I mean.)

Hostels are just fun. I miss them when I’m not staying at them.

There’s usually a bar, events going on, activities, people hanging out, a pool table – there are lots of ways to connect with other travelers in a hostel.

The common areas are meant for people to interact. Even if I’m not looking for a rager, it’s still nice to head down, grab a beer, and chat with people for a bit.

How could I ever leave that? It’s way better than watching Netflix!

While I may not be the most “budget” traveler these days as I don’t often cook when I travel (if I’m not in an expensive country like Switzerland), I destroy my $50-per-day budget on nice food when I travel, and I would rather take the quickest — not the cheapest — transportation, I still am cheap as hell (see reason number #1 above), and I like writing about budget travel.

I don’t ever see myself not staying in hostels for at least part of my travels.

They are home.

You should make them your home too.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewher eother than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

Photo credit: 1

The post Why I Still Stay in Hostels When I Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

How Hostelworld Screws Hostel Owners

Posted by CoCo on in hostels, Hostelworld, Travel Advice

the common area inside HK Austin Hostel in Austin, Texas
Posted: 01/21/2019 | January 21st, 2019

I’ve wanted to own a hostel since I first started traveling. During my month on Ko Lipe in 2006, I spent my lazy days on the beach dreaming of opening one in New Zealand with some friends. It was going to be eco-friendly and called “The Greenhouse.”

A few years ago, my hostel dream came true when a friend and I opened one called HK Austin in Austin, Texas.

Since then, a lot of new hostels have opened in the city, and the competition for guests has heated up. (As much I would love to say it was because we’re so great and everyone wanted to copy us, it’s because Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the country!)

As my friend and I were thinking of ways to draw in guests, we stumbled onto the Hostelworld Elevate program.

(OK, he did. Then texted me all about it!)

What does this program do?

It gouges hostels owners — and lines Hostelworld’s pockets.

As a consumer, I’m well aware that booking websites charge a commission for properties to be listed in their results. That’s how they make money. And also that “featured” properties pay more for special placement on top of regular results. (They should just put the word “ad” up instead of being coy. We all know what’s going on.)

I don’t find anything wrong with that model. Hostels get access to a larger pool of guests, companies get money, consumers get a one-stop-shopping solution.

But this Hostelworld Elevate program is much more insidious than that.

Here’s how it works:

Hostelworld, like all search sites, has a default search results listing (the one you get if you don’t use a filter or sort by any criteria). Let’s use Austin as an example:

hostel search listings for Austin, Texas
hostel search listings for Austin, Texas

As you can see, we’re #5 despite having the top rating in town.

The standard commission for Hostelworld is 15% per booking:

HK Austin's Hostelworld rank with 15% commission

So how do we end up number five on this list?

Thanks to Hostelworld Elevate, hostels can pay more to rank higher in the results.

If we pay 25% commission, for example, we can go up two spots on this list. (That means the other hostels on this list may be paying even more than that to secure a higher ranking on the default search results.) It doesn’t put us at the top as a featured listing or anything — this is just to move up on this default list.

HK Austin's Hostelworld rank with 25% commission

In theory, we could jump to #1 in the default search results if we paid a lot more money to Hostelworld, regardless of how good our hostel is. As long as we are willing to pay to play, we can be anywhere we want to be.

However, HK Austin is definitely not going to pay the extra fee, even if that means sitting at the bottom of the default rankings as more hostels in Austin open up.

But Austin is a small sample size. There are only five hostels on the list, so even without paying, we aren’t likely to be missed.

But think about big cities with hundreds of hostels, like London or Paris or Berlin or Sydney.

Who is going to scroll through pages and pages of results? How easy it to miss even the sites on the bottom of the default list when Hostelworld returns 20 results?

Have you ever wondered why so many of the top hostels on the default search results list seem to be bigger or part of chains?

Here’s London as an example:

hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England

Look at all those chains! And here’s Paris as an example too! Look at all the similar names here:

hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England
hostel search listings for London, England

To the hostel owners out there, this is probably old news, but to me — who’s not involved in the day-to-day aspects of the business — this was a huge shock.

(And, as a consumer, this was also a bit of shock. I finally got to see how the sausage is made!)

To be fair, I don’t know the exact formula Hostelworld uses to pick the default list without Elevate getting in the way but I do know that if you pay, you can be anywhere you want.

Which is why you see sooooo many chains as the tops results in so many cities. I can’t prove it but based on what I know (and the fact these chains tend to have higher prices), I bet they are paying. I’m sure there are some chains out there who don’t pay and still rank well. But my guess is that many of them do pay for their spot.

Small hostels like mine can’t give that much money to booking sites. Hostels aren’t a high-margin business. They are often a labor of love. Small, cozy, family-run hostels don’t have the beds or cash flow to give 25% of their revenue to Hostelworld. Paying more for higher rankings would put many of us out of business.

(And you don’t even get anything extra for paying more money — there’s not even a support number or dedicated email address. It can take days to get an answer from someone at Hostelworld!)

Larger hostels with a lot of beds and/or that are part of chains can make that happen. They have the margins.

This might be why I sometimes see chains with low ratings on the top page (or like in Paris where 3 hostels from the same chain are in the top 5). This is, in part, why I think much of the default list is paid for.

That means that hundreds of hostels that might be great are stuck at the end of the default search results because huge chains can pay the higher fee for higher placement. (Imagine what the competition must be like to get to the top in a city like London! Yikes!)

I get why Hostelworld does this (and why hostels pay). It’s a business decision. But not all decisions are good ones. I love Hostelworld, but this left a bad taste in my mouth. There are not a lot of other places where hostels can go to be found, especially since Hostelworld bought Hostelbookers, its biggest competitor.

Sure, there’s Hostelz and Gomio, but they lack the inventory Hostelworld has.

So what can you, the consumer, do to make a huge and positive impact on the hostel owners of the world?

If you’re going to use Hostelworld, just:

  1. Sort by price
  2. Sort by rating

This will ensure that any cheap and/or incredible hostels that get pushed down to the bottom of the search results because they don’t want to pay the placement fee will not, in fact, get buried.

Also, book directly with a hostel. Most hostels offer discounts if you book directly as an incentive to go around the large booking websites. I’ve seen lots of signs at hostels offering discounts when you book direct. The hostel keeps more of the money and you get a lower price. It’s win-win.

Whatever you do, when you book your next hostel please don’t reward this scheme and only pick hostels on the default search setting.

P.S. – If you’re coming to Austin, book with us directly and use the code HKNOMAD! You’ll save 20% off your stay from now until May 31, 2019. No minimum booking required!

The post How Hostelworld Screws Hostel Owners appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted by CoCo on in Travel Advice, travel insurance

a man swinging in a jungle swing
Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

a man wearing a cast gives the thumbs up

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

  • Mexico: $15,000-$20,000
  • South America: $100,000
  • Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000
  • Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)
  • Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

9 Ways to Become a Successful Travel Blogger

Posted by CoCo on in blogging, SHGIT, superstar blogging, Travel Advice

blogger blogging successfully
Updated: 12/27/18 | December 27th, 2018

I don’t write articles about how to be successful at blogging often because this is a consumer travel website not a blogging website, but I’ve seen a lot of articles on travel blogging lately, which have many points I disagree with and I think offer a lot bad advice.

As someone who has been blogging for over ten years, I want to offer a counterbalance to some of the prevailing (and wrong) wisdom out there on how to succeed.

(Especially in light of that Instagrammer selling a scam course on how to grow your following!)

Travel blogging is a crowded field — and it gets more crowded by the day. After all, the idea of “getting paid to travel the world” seems like an amazing thing to try to do. You get to visit wonderful places around the world on someone else’s dime!

It’s a dream job, right?

Well, first, running a successful travel blog – or any blog in any industry – is hard work and time-consuming. Putting posts up is not going to result in money falling like rain (though judging by some of the people I’ve seen on paid trips, it can at least amount to a drizzle). You have to work for it.

Blogging takes persistence.

Unless you hit the Internet “viral” lottery, you should expect to plug away for a least a year before you start to see sustainable income coming in.

Building a blog is like building any other business: success takes time, patience, and dedication.

Think of travel blogging like the restaurant business: Just because there are a lot of restaurants doesn’t mean that they are all good or that you shouldn’t open one of your own! Instead, people who open a restaurant or desire to be a world-class chef look around and say, “I can do this better.” That’s the mindset you should have about your travel blog.

Take a look around and go “I can do this better!”

Just because someone can travel and write doesn’t mean they can write well or become a good travel writer. No, most travel blogs are terrible so don’t worry about the number of blogs out there. Worry about the quality of blogs out there.

It’s not a crowded field when you look at it that way.

Here are nine things you can do to succeed in travel blogging (or any blogging field, really) and jump ahead of the crowd. Doing them will make you far more successful than most of the bloggers out there.

1. Read a Lot of Books

I am always shocked at how few travel bloggers develop their skills by reading. Very few read any marketing, strategy, business, or self-development books. Running a blog is like running a business, and if you don’t go to “school” and constantly learn, you’re going to fall behind. Every successful person I know is a voracious reader. They constantly try to improve their skills and knowledge. You must always be a student. You must always learn.

After all, why reinvent the wheel?

Read what experts have to say, learn what works, and apply the tips you pick up to your blog. If someone has been there and done that, why try to learn that through trial and constant error? Read the best way to do it… and do it! I read a lot besides travel books. I consume marketing books, management, writing, history books, and biographies. Even if you only get one idea from the book, that book was worth it. I read at least one book a week and am often reading multiple books at a time. Travel, history, business, fiction — I consume it all.

If you only do one thing from this list, make it this one.

Some of my must-reads are:

If you do only one thing from this list, make reading more it!

2. Be Like Apple — Think Different

Whatever you are going to write about, try to present that subject in a way that hasn’t been done before. If everyone is sharing sponsored content, don’t. If everyone is writing text, make a video. If everyone is serious, be funny. If everyone has complex designs, go simple and visual. If everyone is doing one-off blog posts, create a story through a series of posts that keep people coming back for more.

Always innovate — do something different and unique.

One thing we do here that makes us different is that we put (what I think) a level of detail into our posts that no one else does. We make our posts the ultimate guides on destinations. We add photos, charts, and maps when we can. We add video. Contact information. We want you to come here over and over again because our resources are the best. Many bloggers just provide a light dusting of information. We go deep.

3. Invest in Your Blog

For a long time, I avoided spending any money on this website. I bootstrapped everything and viewed every expense negatively. “That designer would be nice but I can’t afford it. I’ll just create a crappier design myself.”

But I soon realized money spent wisely is an investment.

Now I pay for designers, SEO auditors, conferences, video and audio editors, copy editors, and much more. This allows me to improve the reader experience, develop useful products, work on other projects, and free up time to write. I focus on my core competencies and hire the rest out.

It’s easy to say, “Oh, that conference is too much. I don’t want to spend that much.” But if that conference results in one strong business connection that leads to new sales or a guest posting opportunity, then the conference is worth it. (See below for some good conferences to attend.)

Businesses invest in themselves — and you need to do the same.

It can be easy for me to say now, but even when you start, spending a little bit of money can go a long way. I didn’t start out hiring lots of people. I hired one person, then another, then another. Even if you spend a few hundred dollars on snazzier banners, that can go a long way to improving your readers’ experience.

4. Be Niche

Back when I started blogging in 2008, it was easy to maintain a general budget travel website. You could cover a wide range of travel topics and face little competition. There was only a handful of bloggers. Now, there are too many long-established blogs and websites to do that. (And you’d also be way behind in Google search results.)

I recommend being as narrow and focused in your topic(s) as possible. Whether it’s RV travel, Turkey, Thailand, NYC, or your small town, the power of search lets everyone define their niche and still be able to reach millions of potential readers. In fact, being niche now is better than trying to be a more general resource site like mine.

Moreover, focusing lets you become an expert. You can be the person to whom readers always turn for information on this subject or that destination, which allows you to cultivate a bigger presence online.

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Go narrow. Go deep.

5. Create Products

Businesses sell something — and so should you. Whether it’s a course, a book, t-shirts, tours, or just other people’s products via affiliate marketing, give your audience an opportunity to support your website. Offering products for sale allows you to be independent from sponsors and brand deals and not compete with other travel bloggers for spots on press trips (see below). It allows you to scale your website and your revenue. Many products offer value to your readers by going more in-depth and in detail than a blog post usually allows.

There are very few travel bloggers that produce products. Most of the time, travel bloggers end up making money by creating sponsored content and getting paid to go on trips. That’s cool if that is something you want to do, but that is time-consuming and requires you to be constantly working (and it’s soul-sucking). You never have time to relax or do something for yourself. It’s not a hamster wheel you want to be tied to.

Products allow you to create something once and earn revenue while sleeping, sightseeing, or getting a suntan on a beach! They give you ownership of your income and a chance for your readers to buy something from you and give back!

Trust me. Your readers want to support your hard effort. You just need to give them a way.

6. Don’t Take a Lot of Press Trips or “Work with Brands”

Why do people still buy guidebooks? Because they want an independent opinion on destinations. If everything you write is sponsored by someone, you’ll hit a limit to your number of readers. Sure, some people won’t care and will follow your adventures no matter what, but a larger majority of people will feel that you can’t relate to their experience and will seek to find information elsewhere.

Consumers want relatable and independent travel content because they want to learn that they can make it happen too. (Just look at the comments on this post if you don’t believe me!) If you’re in fashion, you can showcase all the makeup you want because a reader can look at that and think, “Yeah, I can do that too! To the mall I go!” But when you’re talking travel, people can’t look at your free, multi-thousand-dollar trip to the Maldives and say, “Yeah, that’s realistic for me too! To Expedia I go!”

Think about it. When you see someone having a $10,000 holiday, how do you feel? Do you think “Wow! That’s pretty!” or “Wow! I can do that too! I’m going to book that!?”

Sponsored trips, blog posts, and one off brand deals will help you travel and provide eye candy for your readers but it won’t create the expertise and relatable experiences that will have them coming back to you over and over for concrete advice or product purchases.

I’ve yet to see a pure travel blog get huge by only taking sponsored trips (though there are a number of fashion/travel hybrid blogs that are gigantic). The most successful bloggers in many niches avoid one-off partnerships and sponsored content because it dilutes their authenticity. (On the other hand, long-term partnerships are wonderful as they can bring value and unique deals to your readers.)

Avoid too many one-off trips paid by someone else, write about relatable experiences, and grow larger!

(And when you create products, you don’t need the money from these trips! Win-win!)

7. Network Outside of Travel

Networking with other travel bloggers can help you become better known in the industry (which is a good thing), but by reaching outside of the industry, you can be the travel person everyone else turns to for quotes, interviews, and advice.

And that is going to pay more dividends than just sticking to travel conferences. Yes, attend industry events (you’d be stupid not to!) but don’t attend only industry events.

Find where your expertise overlaps with other industries and meet the successful leaders in those industries. Then you can find people who know nothing about travel and be their travel expert on their websites. It’s how I’ve connected with so many finance, entrepreneurship, and tech experts. Here are some good conferences to attend:

8. Stop Talking About Yourself

While running a blog means you are going to say “I” a lot more than in magazine or newspaper writing, that doesn’t mean you should write only about yourself. If your blog is solely a journal or trip down memory lane, write about anything you want. But if you’re looking to run a professional blog that creates a sustainable business, remember that it’s not all about you.

It is – and always will be – about the people reading your website.

Whether that is by providing practical advice, telling them a good story, or making them laugh, remember that it’s all about how you can be in service to them.

If you are going to write about yourself, do so sparingly or relate it to the bigger picture of travel on the road. Don’t write about your new shoes, what food you ate, your thoughts on whatever, or the mundane details about your life. Few people really care about that. We read writers because they connect with us on an emotional level, tell good stories, and allow us to visualize ourselves in the places they talk about it.

Far too many travel blogs are a glorified personal diary but the most successful ones tell stories of places and better their reader’s travel experience!

9. Be Persistent

Rome wasn’t built in a day — and your blog won’t build itself overnight either. Maintain realistic expectations about your blog. Don’t expect anything but hard work for the first year. Don’t rush. Build something that will last. The light is always at the end of the tunnel, but too many people give up right before the end.

Go back to my early posts from 2008 — they are horrible. I mean god-awful. There is a big difference between the content I produced then and the content I produce now. Sucking — at first — is part of the journey. You aren’t going to be great out of the gate.

And a lot of bloggers, expecting instant fame and success, give up. I have tons of people go “Hey, can I get a refund on my course? I just don’t have the time right now. I’ll come back to it later.” They never do. I see it all the time. The reason most bloggers fail is not because they have bad content but because they give up. They don’t want to put in the time to succeed. Part of success is just outlasting everyone else.

Be patient. Put in the time. And you’ll reach your goals!

****
Creating a travel blog is a time-consuming process. Writing about your trip to Paris is only a small part of the story. Successful blogs focus on content and are customer-centered and reader-centered. It’s easy to reach small or mid-tier status but if you want to stand out, focus on reader-centric content, being niche, creating products, and sticking to best practices.

If you follow my nine times, I promise you’ll find success in the travel blogging industry. These are my nine guiding principles and they’ve served me well over the last decade!

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and that will save you time and money too!


 
P.S. – If you’re looking for more in-depth advice, I run a blogging course that gives you a behind the scenes look at how I run this website. You’ll get expert interviews, monthly webinars, FREE tech support and help with setting up your website, and one on one time with me! If you’re interested, click here to get started now.

The post 9 Ways to Become a Successful Travel Blogger appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

Why the Capital One Venture Card Doesn’t Suck Anymore

Posted by CoCo on in credit cards, Travel Advice, travel hacking

a man gazing out at the airplanes in an airport
Posted: 12/16/2018 | December 16th, 2018

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

I don’t have a dog, so I don’t know if that’s true.

But I do know that an old travel writer can change his mind.

Years ago, I wrote about why I hated the Capital One Venture Card.

While it had a simple points structure and no overseas fees, it wasn’t really good for travel hacking because you couldn’t transfer points anywhere and it didn’t have a great catagory spend bonus structure. You simply got two points per dollar spent, which you could be used as a statement credit – and that was it.

If you spent $100,000 USD on your card, you got 200,000 points, worth $2,000 USD.

With that many points, I can redeem for tons of flights worth way more than $2,000 USD if used them directly with airlines (and, unlike with Chase and American Express, I couldn’t transfer the points to do that).

Moreover, many other credit cards came with perks that also had some value too, like free checked bags, priority boarding, lounge access, or internet at hotels (just to name a few). Capital One gave you nothing.

Capital One was essentially a 2% cash-back card ($50,000 USD = 100,000 points = $1,000 USD = 2% of $50K).

With so many other no-fee cards with better ways to earn points, why would I want that one?

I was not a fan of the card.

The redemption value of Capital One made it a horrible card for a travel hacker.

But, over the years, Capital One has improved the card’s features to the point where now, even I must admit, this card is actually quite good.

First, you get a $100 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit, which means that if you use the card to apply for the service, they will cover the cost of signing up. Tons of cards have this feature, but the fact this one has it too is a nice addition.

Second, you get 10x points on spending at hotels.com. While I don’t use that site, if you do, that’s a huge deal. You can earn a ton of points this way, and it’s not a feature offered by any other card. If you’re not loyal to any specific hotel brand, having this card provides a great incentive to use hotels.com.

But what really won me over was the recent addition of 14 airline transfer partners:

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Air Canada Aeroplan
  • Air France/KLM Flying Blue
  • Alitalia MilleMiglia
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Airways Guest
  • EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
  • Finnair Plus
  • Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines Krisflyer

Sure, many of those are terrible partners (who’s really gonna use Hainan Air or Alitalia points programs?), but Aeroplan, Flying Blue, Krisflyer, and LifeMiles are great programs that made me go “ohhhh”!

The ability to transfer your Capital One points to them makes this card a no-brainer now.

Sure, the points structure hasn’t changed. You’re still only getting two points per dollar spent, which is still only 2% cash back when used as a statement credit, but now that you can transfer the points, those points become a lot more valuable.

With a current 75,000-point sign-up bonus, a yearly fee of $95 (waived for the first year), 2x points on all spending, and these new transfer partners, the card is a super good deal right now.

In travel, the one thing you can always count is that everything is constantly changing. Good becomes bad and bad can become great (or worse). You never know what’s next in such a changing and competitive industry.

This is one instance when we can say something bad became something great.

Therefore, I rescind my old post.

Capital One’s Venture Card doesn’t suck.

It’s pretty great.

I just applied for it.

You should too!

Here’s a (non-affiliate) link: https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/

The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking

ultimate guide to travel hackingWant to master points and miles and get travel for free? This book shows you how to easily collect and redeem travel points for free airfare and accommodation so you can get you out of your house faster, cheaper, and in comfort.

Click here to learn more about the book and you can start reading it today!
 

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewher eother than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why the Capital One Venture Card Doesn’t Suck Anymore appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.