There has been a lot of buzz recently about the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®, which recently bumped up its sign-up bonus to 50,000 miles. But one of the less publicized benefit of having the card is actually the ability to earn miles by sharing your travel stories online.
Barclays runs the Barclaycard Travel Community, an online portal where users can share their travel photos, advices, and experiences. You earn miles by completing your profile, sharing your stories, getting “kudos,” and adding details to your posts.
Barclaycard Travel Community lets you earn miles/points by sharing your travel stories
Barclays launched this portal way back in 2013, and they have since tweaked the earning structure a bit. This is the current earning structure:
- Earn 500 miles by completing your profile
- Earn 150 miles by posting a photo, accompanied by a 100-word description
- Earn 10 miles for every “kudos” your story gets
- Earn 10 miles per detail added to your story using Google Maps
If you have a Barclaycard Arrival or Arrival+ card, the miles will post to your account on the 1st of every month. This means you are essentially earning $1.50 towards travel purchases per story. If you are not a cardholder, Barclaycard will send you a $5 Amazon gift card once you have accumulated 2,500 points.
Needless to say, the value is so much better if you are a cardholder. I mean…you can’t get rich from posting these stories, but I actually like writing them from time to time because it helps me keep track of the places I have visited.
Here is an example of a story about the transit tour at Seoul. A story with at least 1 photo and a 100-word description earns 150 miles.
Barclaycard Travel Community Story about Seoul Transit Tour
But by adding details on Google Maps, you can earn 10 extra miles per detail.
Each Details Added on Google Maps Earns 10 Miles
As a community member, you also earn badges based on the kind of destinations and activities you post about. On your personal profile page, you can also see how many lifetime miles you have earned. I have been posting sporadically since the program’s inception, and it was a pretty easy way to earn over 10,000 miles.
Earning Badges with Barclaycard Travel Community
I think it’s worth noting that I really wouldn’t consider this community a replacement for TripAdvisor. I use it to get ideas about things to do and places to visit, but it’s by no means a “review site.” Admittedly, you also don’t earn a huge amount of points through the travel community. But if you have free time (and have an Arrival or Arrival+ card), this is a fun way to earn a few miles/points just by casually sharing your travel stories.
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.
