Brian Kelly

Founder

Brian KellyBrian Kelly is The Points Guy. Passionate about travel from a young age, Brian’s jetsetting adventures started when he was 12 and booked his family of six on a vacation to the Cayman Islands. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Brian took a job on Wall Street and became road warrior, traveling up to 6 months of the year, all the while learning how to earn and maximize miles and points.

For Brian, booking extravagant international trips for next to nothing became an art form and his well-honed skills funded a luxury travel lifestyle of memorable moments such as sitting next to celebrities in first class, jetting to the Seychelles (where Prince William and Kate spent their honeymoon) via Paris in business class, and staying at some of the most high-end resorts in the world — all while spending less cash than a coach ticket and a hostel would have cost.

In 2010, Brian brought his insights and passion to the masses and became “The Points Guy,” sharing his travel points knowledge with eager consumers across the globe via his website, ThePointsGuy.com. Due to the massive amount of interest in his tips and advice, Brian left his job on Wall Street in June 2011 to grow his site and travel the world. His site now has over 400,000 unique monthly visitors. Brian has been featured in The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, and on CNN and The Today Show among others, and presents at various travel conferences including the LA Times and New York Times Travel Shows and the annual Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars. Brian consults regularly with airline and hotel loyalty programs, as well as individual travelers, and dishes out his signature tips and advice via Twitter, where he can be followed @ThePointsGuy.

 

 

 

Articles by The Points Guy

Video SRQ: Using a Business Credit Card to Separate Expenses

May 12, 2013

TPG reader John needs to separate his personal expenses from those he incurs from his college alumni club and wants to know what the best business card to do so would be: “I’m looking ahead to my next round of credit card applications and would like to add a Chase Ink or Amex business cards [...]

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Video SRQ: Should I Cancel The British Airways Visa Before the Annual Fee is Due or Keep It?

May 12, 2013

TPG follower Jake tweeted me this week worried that he may lose his Avios after canceling a card: “‪@thepointsguy‬ time to keep or cancel my British Airways Visa. I still have 91K Avios sitting around. Chase said I would forfeit if I cancel…is that true?” First off don’t worry –  you are not going to [...]

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Saturday Recap: 15% Off Orbitz Hotel Stays, 5,000 Delta Miles for Donating to American Cancer Society, Linger Longer for Less with Langham, Starwood’s Pack Your Getaway Bag Contest, Southwest Airlines Porch Parties

May 11, 2013

Here’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from this week: Orbitz offering 15% off on Hotel Stays: Orbitz is offering customers 15% off their next hotel stay when they book through their site. All you have to do is head to the Orbitz site and enter promo code SUNFUN15 when searching for hotels. This will then [...]

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$10 Off Uber and $5 Off Seamless Food Orders With Amex Sync

May 11, 2013

Amex Sync is an ongoing promotion where you sync your American Express cards to your various social media accounts including Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, and when you either enter Tweets with particular hashtags in them or you check in at various locations, you get discounts at participating merchants. Though it doesn’t explicitly state it in [...]

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Announcing Our 20 Winners for Reaching Over 20,000 Twitter Followers!

May 10, 2013

Yesterday I held a Twitter giveaway to help me reach 20,000 followers. We had over 800 retweets and @thepointsguy now has 20,317 followers! For the prizes, I mentioned there would be 20 winners in total: 19 who will each get a $20 retailer e-gift cards of their choice from Staples.com and one very lucky winner will get 20,000 Chase Ultimate [...]

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Destination of the Week: Key West

May 10, 2013

For today’s Destination of the Week, TPG contributor Nick Ewen takes us down to Florida to the southernmost tip of the continental United States as we visit the Conch Republic also known as Key West.   WHAT TO DO Key West is the final stopping point along the 120+ mile stretch of highway that runs the [...]

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Amex Platinum Airline Rebates For Delta eGift Certificates

May 10, 2013

Last week, Delta launched a new line of eGift certificates that can be redeemed for Delta-operated or Delta codeshare flights that have a Delta flight number. They come in amounts from $50 to $1,000. The certificates are available in $5 increments, and can bought for either yourself or to give to others. Once you buy [...]

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Interview With The Go-To Easter Island Tour Guide: Paul Pownall

May 9, 2013

The few days we spent on Easter Island were the highlight of my mom’s and my Mother’s Day trip to Chile – thanks in no small part to our guide Paul Pownall, who had been suggested by numerous TPG readers. Paul took us all over the island to check out the famous Moai (stone heads) [...]

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Twitter Giveaway to Celebrate 20,000 Followers: Win 20k Chase Points!

May 9, 2013

As of today I have 19,965 Twitter followers and need you to help me reach 20,000! Prizes This time I’ve upped the ante on giveaways. There will be 20 winners in total: 19 who will each get a choice of $20 retailer e-gift cards of their choice from Staples.com (so I can max out the [...]

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Business Gold Rewards Offer: What Do 75K Amex Points Get You?

May 9, 2013

Update: The current offer for the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card is 50,000 points after $5,000 in spend during the first 3 months. In light the current limited-time 75,000-point sign-up bonus on the Business Gold Rewards card from American Express, as well as the 35% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios [...]

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Shopping Portal Bonuses on Mother’s Day Flowers

May 9, 2013

Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday, and if you still haven’t gotten dear old mom a gift from our handy list, there’s still time to order her some lovely flowers – and rack up a lot of points in the process. Flower vendors such as FTD and 1-800-FLOWERS know that this time of year [...]

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Amex Business Gold FAQ and My Top 10 List of Other Credit Cards for the Last Minute App-o-ramas

May 8, 2013

Update: The current offer for the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card is 50,000 points after $5,000 in spend during the first 3 months. I’m getting a ton of traffic and emails today about the current 75,000 point Amex Business Gold deal and people asking whether they should do an impromptu round of applications if they applied [...]

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Amazing Deal Alert: Amex Business Gold Rewards Card

May 8, 2013

Update: The current offer for the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card is 50,000 points after $5,000 in spend during the first 3 months. Offer expired on May 9th, 2013: Although the current public offer on the Amex Business Gold Rewards card has been 50,000 points for a few weeks now, it looks as though my affiliate [...]

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Wine Wednesday: Texas Hill Country

May 8, 2013

For today’s #WineWednesday, TPG contributor Kristine Hansen takes us to one of the USA’s under-the-radar wine regions, the Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin to try some wines you might not have heard of, all served with signature Texas hospitality. Think of Texas and wineries might not immediately come to mind. Instead, you’re envisioning country [...]

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Hotel Review: Taha Tai Hotel, Easter Island

May 8, 2013

Although we spent a couple of great days in Santiago, the real point of my Mother’s Day Trip to Chile, was to head 5 hours west across the Pacific to Easter Island, which has been near the top of my list of cool places to visit around the world since I was a kid. Easter [...]

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TSA PreCheck Expands To Some International Itineraries

May 8, 2013

Although TSA PreCheck partners with five airlines in 40 airport locations to let trusted travelers through airport security without having to remove their shoes, laptops or liquids, until now, only travelers on domestic itineraries were eligible for it. However, the TSA announced yesterday that starting today, May 7, 2013: “In addition to domestic travel, TSA [...]

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Comparing Airline Checked Bag Fees To Baggage Shipping Services

May 8, 2013

Like many other airline fees, checked bag fees have become a fact of life, so we asked TPG contributor Adee Braun to take a detailed look at how much you can expect to pay to check your suitcase and compare airline fees to the services that will ship your bags for you. With checked bag [...]

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Chase Enhances AARP Card Benefits: Worth It?

May 7, 2013

Chase just launched a new enhanced version of its AARP Visa Signature card that includes 3% cash back on gas and restaurant purchases with no caps and no annual fee. The card comes with an introductory offer of $100 cash back when you spend $500 in the first three months of account opening and 0% [...]

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Free Admirals Club One-Day Passes From Klout

May 7, 2013

The social media firm Klout and American Airlines have teamed up to offer “influencers” with high enough Klout scores free prizes including One-Day Passes to the Admirals Club and a free one-year Admirals Club Membership. Klout measures a person’s “influence” based on their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, FourSquare and Google+ profiles and activity, and then [...]

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Hotel Review: Hyatt Place Austin Downtown

May 7, 2013

During my recent jaunt to Austin where I officiated one of my  best friend’s weddings (FYI I am now thinking of doing this as a side business- I had a blast!), I stayed at two Hyatt properties: leveraging points for one stay at the Driskill and paying for my stay at the brand new Hyatt [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: Foreign Frequent Flyer Programs

May 7, 2013

With the launch of a 50,000-mile sign-up bonus offer on Barclaycard’s Lufthansa Miles & More Premier World Mastercard over the weekend, I wanted to take a look at the top 10 foreign frequent flyer programs you should consider, even if you’re based in the US, and some great redemptions on each. 1. British Airways: British [...]

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My SPG Platinum Requalification Gift Choice: Double Starpoints or 35% Award Discount

May 7, 2013

Starwood offers elites who requalify for their tier in 2013 a choice of elite gifts. Golds who requalify (10 stays/25 nights) get the choice of a 25% discount on one award stay or double points for a month, and Platinums (25 stays/50 nights) get the choice of a 35% discount on one award stay or [...]

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Flight Review: AirTran Airways Business Class PIT-TPA

May 6, 2013

I recently had two press interviews in Pittsburgh and then one in Tampa the following day. I didn’t have much flexibility in terms of scheduling and I wanted to fly nonstop from Pittsburgh to Tampa, so my only option was to book on AirTran, which I haven’t flown since college when I got a super-cheap Vegas [...]

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Which American Express Business Charge Card To Get? Business Gold Rewards Vs. Business Platinum

May 6, 2013

If you’ve been considering getting a business credit card from American Express, now might be a good time to do so thanks to two decent sign-up bonuses that are out there. The first is for the Business Gold Rewards card, which is currently offering a limited-time bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend [...]

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