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I hope that you will forgive this as less of a miles / points / travel post and more of a “meta” post talking about the Points With a Crew blog / site itself. While I feel like the miles and points blogging community has made a lot of strides in accountability since I started 5 years ago, I feel like there are still many sites that don’t do a great job of disclosing how and when they make money.

Why I write what I write

There are lots of things that I could write about that touch on miles, points and travel, and only a limited amount of time in the day to write things. So I have to choose what I write about, and generally that ends up being one of 3 categories

  1. Things that interest me / I enjoy writing about
  2. Things that I think people will want to read
  3. Things that make me money

If a certain post checks multiple boxes, even better! So this does mean that sometimes I will write a post on a topic that interests me, like my efforts in trying to visit every county in the United States, even though I know very few people besides me really care. Or other times I will write something that is only tangentially related to miles and points, but may have the potential to bring in money to the site (see below).

I do my best to balance these categories out, and put readers’ interests first, but surely there are times that I fall short in that. The main reason that I wanted to write this post is to provide transparency or accountability

How this site makes money

Points With a Crew makes money in 5 major ways

  1. Other affiliate sales – Many links on this site are affiliate links, meaning that I may receive a commission at no cost to you when you purchase something through my link. This includes things like links to Amazon, hotel sites, Kickbooster / Indiegogo, Points.com, and other sites. I do my best to denote whether or not a link is an affiliate link, but you can assume that any link may be an affiliate link. Again, it is my personal belief that this doesn’t mean that all my advice / links is invalid, but I do believe that it’s important for you to know and make your own decisions.
  2. Credit card affiliate sales – I broke out credit card affiliates as its own separate category because they are a major part of the site’s focus. If you sign up for a credit card through my top credit card pages or many other links on this site, I may receive a commission. I attempt to be very clear about when a link is an affiliate link or not. It is also my position to not talk about affiliate offers when there is a better offer available through the bank’s website or other channels. And as I have said many times in this space, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR A CREDIT CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAYS YOU SHOULD
  3. Online Ad Revenue – This includes banner ads and sometimes in-content image and text ads on desktop and mobile sites.
  4. Sponsored posts – Occasionally I am paid by companies or areas to write content. In most cases, I am paid a flat fee and generate the content myself. I have to-date never published a sponsored post that was written by someone else.
  5. Sponsorship via Patreon – I do have a Patreon account where you can sign up to sponsor me. This is relatively new and right now there are no tangible benefits other than throwing a few coins in my virtual tip-jar, but we have plans to expand this in the next little bit. Stay tuned for more information about Patreon.

I hope that this gives you a look inside how things work at Points With a Crew. I feel very happy and blessed to have been able to help countless travelers to travel a little cheaper over the 5 years I’ve been writing, and make a little money as well. I also still have a full-time “real” job (I have a lot of mouths to feed!!! 😀 ) so I also don’t have to feel like I have to depend on this money to put food on my kids’ table.

If you have questions, I’m happy to answer them in the comments if you have them.


This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them

User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.

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