Barclaycard Unveils Innovative Features within Barclaycard Travel Community

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Barclaycard, the payments business of Barclays in the United States, today unveiled an innovative travel reward feature that enables cardmembers and non-cardmembers alike to earn miles by simply participating in the new Barclaycard Travel Community (BarclaycardTravel.com). The new program will reward registered community members with Participation Miles for creating a travel profile, sharing their travel stories, and receiving kudos from other registered community members. And now, for the first-time, non-cardmembers are eligible to earn miles they can redeem for Amazon.com e-certificates each time they accumulate 2,500 miles.

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"With the Barclaycard Travel Community, we want to build an online destination that lives up to the promise of making travel easier and more rewarding," said Paul Wilmore, Managing Director of Consumer Markets. "We want to be the first place that our cardmembers and other travelers go to research travel destinations and share experiences with others. That's why we continuously add new content and features and are coming up with innovative new programs like awarding miles for participating in the community."

Cardmembers can easily link their Travel Community account to their Barclaycard Arrival account, allowing their Participation Miles to transfer directly into their account.   To sync accounts, Barclaycard Arrival cardmembers simply link their community account at the Barclaycard servicing site (BarclaycardUS.com) in the Account Settings area. 

Click here  for more information on how to earn Participation Miles.

Barclaycard Travel Bloggers
To create a more dynamic online travel community, Barclaycard has engaged several influential bloggers to contribute original stories and interact with community members. The blogger content covers a broad spectrum of topics including food and wine, photography, family travel, luxury travel on a budget, and more. The initial bloggers to join the Barclaycard Travel Community include:

• Mark Weins, "You Ate What?" -- Obsessed with food, Mark spends his time traveling the world tasting unique and delicious cuisine. He's a travel blogger, a passionate eater, and food video producer.
• Lark Gould, "International Adventurer" -- Lark is an award-winning international journalist, and has been covering travel for 35 years from the most remote corners of the globe.
• Paul Eisenberg, "Have Kids, Will Travel" -- A Lowell Thomas award-winning journalist, Paul serves as editor of Traveling Dad and was formerly editorial director at Fodor's.
• Erina Pindar, "Photography" -- Managing Director of SmartFlyer, Erina was voted one of Travel Agent Magazine's Top 30 Under 30.  A frequent speaker on luxury travel, Erina has lived in Jakarta and Singapore.
• Melanie Warner, "Fast Getaway Guru" – Melanie is a travel & lifestyle journalist, publisher, editor, and travel TV show host specializing in luxury adventure trips that won't break the bank.
• Elspeth Misiaszek, "Outdoor Adventurer" – Elspeth is a hiker, camper and eco-chick with a penchant for all things outdoors. And food. With travel to over 40 states, look for her fresh take on modern adventures.

Best Travel Rewards Card
The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard® was recently named "Best Travel Rewards Card" by MONEY® Magazine (October 2013). Among the key features that distinguished Barclaycard Arrival from other travel reward cards are its generous sign-on bonus; impressive rewards earning potential with no caps; the ability to redeem points for airfare, hotels, car rentals or cruises; 10 percent miles back when redeemed for travel; and no foreign transaction fees.

"We're proud to be recognized by MONEY Magazine for having the best travel credit card reward program," said Rachana Bhatt, head of the Barclaycard Rewards Card Business. "The travel reward industry is a crowded and competitive space, so it was important to create a travel rewards program with the consumer in mind. We are humbled by this honor and are committed to providing our cardmembers with the world class features they have come to expect. "

Barclaycard Travel Cost Index
To help travelers get a sense of the cost variations at different cities and locations, Barclaycard has created an interactive Travel Cost Index* that showcases the relative cost of hotels, transportation, restaurants, groceries, shopping and entertainment in nearly 550 cities around the world, customizable to a registered community member's location or home town.  To create the Index, Barclaycard combines the aggregated credit card spend of its international travelers with crowd-sourced cost-of- living data provided by Numbeo.com. The result is an interactive guide that can help travelers better plan and budget for their vacations.

Barclaycard's Travel Cost Index data will be visible throughout the Barclaycard Travel Community typically posted next to relevant travel stories.

About Barclaycard
Headquartered in Wilmington, Del., Barclaycard US creates customized, co-branded credit card programs for some of the country's most successful travel, entertainment, retail, affinity and financial institutions.  In 2013, MONEY Magazine named Barclaycard Arrival the Best Travel Rewards credit card, and its Upromise® World MasterCard the Best Rewards Credit Card for College Students.

For more information please visit www.barclaycardus.com.

SOURCE Barclaycard US