randy petersen

its's Freddie Awards voting time and if you haven't yet voted for who you think delivers the miles, points and upgrades, then you better get over to here -> (PS, they are in their 35th year) vote.freddieawards.com/vote/2026

spring break at the House of Miles. hosted the five bloggers from frequentmiler.com for the week doing a yuge tech build for them. they are absolutely a great team. (tim, greg, carrie, stephen and nick)

Welcoming a new blog to BoardingArea today—From The Tray Table. Authored by Zach Griff, former senior reporter at The Points Guy, Zach will be bringing a front-row look at the evolving world of travel, loyalty and lifestyle to his new blog. fromthetraytable.com

Post of the day by one of my fave frequent flyers. #neverforget pizzainmotion.boardingarea.com/2025/09/11/9-1…

@FarmersFridge I'm all in with the #thaiChickenCrunch and the #southwestsalad and the #medichickenbowl (next time at the airport i'll keep adding to my list of fridge's.)

@lilyraynyc @lilyraynyc thanks for fighting the good fight. and indeed, managing 70+ websites and only two have recovered from HCU to any degree is quite disheartening. but, we will live to fight another day.

Let me be very clear about the Helpful Content Update. When Google announced this update, THEY were the ones who went on record claiming that recovery is possible, and that sites could begin to regain traffic after making changes and improvements that would lift the classifier that suppressed sites’ traffic. In fact, there is even a recording of Google originally stating that recovery was possible “within in a few weeks.” Of course, that language gradually changed to “a few months” and eventually, even more ambiguous timelines, leading up to now - where Google has said at multiple Creator Summits - including one a couple weeks ago - that “we are still working on this and are taking it seriously; it’s not an overnight fix.” Site owners hung on Google’s every word and waited for months and months - while investing in outside support and overhauling their sites - for any semblance of a change that would help them recover. It’s been almost 2 years, and very few HCU sites have seen any meaningful recovery, despite making dramatic changes and improvements. This is not the case for websites affected by other algorithm updates outside of the HCU. I’ve personally worked on dozens of recoveries over the years, and there are countless examples of websites who have been able to get back in Google’s good graces after being hit by updates or penalties. This is not true of the HCU. I’ve been saying since it happened - it feels like HCU sites were “put in jail.” I’ve also done everything in my power to bring visibility to how unfair this is for these site owners, and how these outcomes directly contradicted the guidance Google gave us at the start of the update. My team and I worked on various HCU-affected sites, with a few great recovery case studies, but many sites were unable to see substantial recoveries. We provided these clients same guidance we provide for all clients impacted by algorithm updates - tried and true methods that have worked for years. These recommendations are always rooted in actually improving websites and making them better for users. I also spent dozens of hours, including weekends, providing free advice to affected site owners simply because I knew how much it was hurting their business, and I wanted to help. We would have never serviced HCU clients if Google had just been honest from the start - most websites affected by the HCU are going to find it nearly impossible to recover within 2 years, despite making dramatic changes. Again, this is distinct behavior from other Google algorithm updates. In my opinion, we need to be asking why Google’s communications around this update have changed so much over time, and why these sites seem to have received unfair treatment compared to all other Google updates. I’m a big fan of the work @natejhake has been doing to get to the bottom of these questions. (Although the answers are quite disheartening.) The entire experience has been devastating for so many site owners, and the inconsistency between what Google said and what Google actually did is something that has forever changed my perspective about the company.

here's the latest (trucker-style) cap for our ranch guests this summer. maybe even #cowboy_carter would wear one. it comes in a chenille embroidery similar to those varsity letterman jackets you all had back in high school (yuk, yuk). this is an original that we designed ourselves and it displays the ranch brand (BC). this one might be my favorite ranch cap so far. #giddyup

my fave #visual frequent flyer post of the day (actually, for many days): andystravelblog.com/2025/05/05/fiv…

Nothing like flying the Friendly Skies. #made_it

Beer-In-A-Bag new to the ranch this summer for our guests—>beer-in-a-bag. so whether you are seeking the high life or loving the low life, we've got you covered (yuk, yuk).

BoardingArea is now on Apple News: apple.news/TbtY8chSFQbCn_…

welcoming one of the best new travel bloggers to BoardingArea. read these two posts and understand why youare.travel is a star blogger: youare.travel/45-hyatt-categ… youare.travel/when-you-get-h…

@lilyraynyc Real humans that travel a lot? Stop by BoardingArea.com and we’ll chat about the uniqueness of the March update. A blog that hadn’t been posted to four four years was our big winner. A champion of EEAT onemileatatime.com #nada

Retweeting this because I know many people who follow me are very interested in these updates. (Personally, I prefer hearing from real human beings who travel a lot when it comes to travel tips, but maybe that’s just me)

@AravSrinivas travel verticals matter. wondering how best to add more content related to travel?

For the travel vertical: you can now book hotels natively on Perplexity. This was work we did together with TripAdvisor and Selfbook. We plan to bring some benefits to our Pro users like discounts on hotel bookings done natively on Perplexity. More on this soon.

We are introducing answer modes in Perplexity to make the core search product even better for verticals: travel, shopping, places, images, videos, jobs. The next step is to get super precise that you don't have to press on these tabs. Available on web for now. Mobile soon.

@ATXJetsetter @Delta Thank goodness they allow one-way award flights ….

@ranflyer @Delta You’ve probably earned enough SkyMiles for a one way trip in Comfort+ during that time!

some times ... it's the little things. thanks @Delta

need a travel laugh. total satire but in the moment: thetakeoffnap.com/president-elec…

@miffSC looking pretty darn good. you're really going to like next years ... #justsayin

@ranflyer Giddy-up!

whew. just finished sending out the last of the 2024 ranch christmas ornaments. and with the new year, comes our new bandana's. my faves are these three. happy new year. #giddyup

@katruns26point2 into a new year i'll be bringing the ranch to my friends that can't make a visit. here's that tease .... (ranch website coming soon)

@ranflyer I. NEED. TO. VISIT.