The Points Guy


The Points Guy is an American travel website and blog that produces news and stories on travel, means of accumulating and using airline points and miles, politics and credit cards, in particular credit card reviews. The site was founded in 2010. At the outset, the site was a blog written by founder Brian Kelly. By 2017, a majority of the staff were engaged in content editorial activities harnessing about fifty freelance contributors; a subset of the content serves as source material for video content.
Prior to founding TPG, Kelly worked at Morgan Stanley, as an IT recruiter in the company's human resources department, and he ran, for colleagues, an informal travel agency-type operation, aimed at maximizing return on earned travel reward points. In 2011, TPG began affiliate marketing, which is the source of much of the company's revenue; shortly thereafter, Kelly quit his position at Morgan Stanley The business receives revenue in the form of 'marketing fees' from credit card companies based on traffic from the site related to credit cards participating in loyalty programs. Among the company's partners Citi, Bank of America, Chase; and Capital One.
In 2012, Bankrate, a company that publishes and promotes financial content, acquired TPG. In a 2014 interview, Brian Kelly made this comment: "I still have a vested ownership interest in TPG and I retain 100% editorial control". As of 2017, Brian Kelly was at number one on the Forbes list of Top Influencers for travel. Bankrate was acquired by digital markeing company Red Ventures in 2017.
In 2020, Business Insider reported Kelly to abuse drugs and staff.