As an avid traveler, I rely heavily on miles and points to fund my travels; that’s why I’m always looking for new ways to rack up as many points and miles as possible. One thing I’ve learned is that “every mile counts” –  little bits of miles and points here and there always add up.
One way to earn miles that can be redeemed towards travel expenses is with the Barclays Travel Community. While the community has been around for years now, I never truly knew lucrative it could be during downtime until I recently joined and participated myself!
Similar to TripAdvisor (but with an added-incentive), the Barclays Travel Community is a unique way that you can earn free miles just for sharing your travel stories and tips. The Barclays Travel Community is open to everyone, but it is especially useful if you have an Arrivals card. Allow me to explain more below.
How To Earn Miles in the Barclays Travel Community
After registering for free at the Barclays Travel Community, you can begin posting your travel stories, but before that – be sure to complete your basic travel profile to earn 500 miles to start!
Here’s what you earn with each story:
- You earn 150 miles for each story you share
- Additional 10 miles for adding details about your trip such as restaurants, hotels, etc.
- Additional 10 miles for every “kudo†other community members give you.
A “kudo†is the same thing as a “like†on Facebook. Your stories have to be at least 100 words in length and include one photo as a minimum requirement to earn the 150 miles. To add details such as restaurants you’ve eaten at or hotels you’ve stayed in, simply use the Google Maps feature and add up to 25 details in your story to earn an additional 10 miles for each.
You can add up to 100 stories a month and a maximum of 5 stories per city that you visit. From a time-commitment perspective, 100 words is super short and can be written in under 2 minutes. When including the pictures and the details, each story takes about 4-5 minutes of your time.
Putting it to the Test
Reflecting back on my recent trip to Romania, I decided to write a story detailing my 24-hour hop to Bucharest. Between writing the 100-word review, adding a photo, and adding 3 details, the total time spent was 5 minutes, earning me 180 miles. If I had kept a rhythm and dedicated an hour to writing stories (assuming each one took 5 minutes), I would have presumably earned a total of 2,160 miles for a total of 12 stories (each including 1 photo and 3 details). 
Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® card members can presumably “earn” $21.60 “an hour” towards travel expenses for one hour of “work”! That’s not even including the 500 miles you’d earn for setting up a profile or if your story gets any “kudos” from other users. Not a bad way to spend some downtime if you have some!
Since you’re allowed to contribute 100 stories a month, you could essentially spend 20 minutes a day knocking out 3 or 4 stories (an idea if you’re on a boring conference call or procrastinating on YouTube) to earn a grand total of 20,000 or so monthly points (~$200 towards travel purchases)!
Redeeming Miles Earned From The Barclays Travel Community
If you are a Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® cardholder, link your travel profile to your Arrivals account to see recent activity post monthly to your account, which will appear as  “Participation Miles” on your statement.
Once you hit a minimum of 10,000 miles (either from card spend or Travel Community participation), you can redeem your miles towards travel purchases. 10,000 Arrivals miles = $100 statement credit.
If you are not a cardmember, the miles you earn will be automatically redeemed for a $5 Amazon e-certificate once you reach 2,500 miles.
Bottom Line
Overall, if you have a little extra time on your hands and a few travel photos you’re proud of, don’t be afraid to post them to the Barclays Travel Community and earn some miles to fund some more adventures.
Have you earned miles through the Barclays Travel Community before?
This is an excellent way to get permanently banned from this joke of a community, as I have been twice. I posted a lot of rich content, with good pictures, a developed “report,” and lots of relevant details. I was unceremoniously banned with no explanation, while others who post complete garbage rack up the points. YMMV.
Man, “back in the day” when this first launched it was 200pts per post and no city limit to posting quantity….and I went totally nuts and became the highest earner on the site! I think I earned over 120,000 points. You also got 10% of Redeemed points back back then too! Crazy. Now tons of people have earned that much. I havent en active on there in 3 years. Great program though to invest a few lonely nights per week!!
Hi Angelina! I have a question I signed up for the travel community and created my profile but did not get my 500pts yet. How long does it take to show up in my account? Thank you for this blog and all the tips you mentioned.
I’m also wondering this same question. When do the points post to your profile (not necessarily to the Barclay card account)? I already wrote 5 stories and see 0 lifetime miles in my profile/travel community account.
Points update nightly to your community account. If you still don’t see the 500 points, make sure you have 5 places you’ve been to listed in your map (this is usually what prevents a person from getting the points). Points then transfer to the card monthly.
Is there a mobile friendly version of the Barclays Travel Community? I am struggling mightily trying to write stories on my droid.