This is a recurring post, updated regularly with the latest information.
We get it – learning how to master this points and miles game is no easy task. We’ve got a guide to getting started with points and miles, but what happens once you’re ready to cash in those points for travel?
Some travel experts have mastered the art of maximizing points and miles to travel in luxury without breaking the bank. But for those of us who don’t have the time or inclination to become an expert, there are tools to help you find hotel and flight rewards with ease. With these devices, you can use your points to travel wherever, whenever and however you want without spending hours searching for availability.
Here are the eight best apps and websites to help you get the most out of your award travel redemptions.
High my score
What it does: Tracks hotel awards at Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott properties.
What it costs: Basic membership is free. Monthly memberships start at $3.99 per month.
Once you’ve selected a property, you can view a calendar showing the standard unit points value, standard collection points value, and the minimum amount for a year. This makes it easy to plan your trip around the dates at the best points prices. Clicking on your desired check-in date will take you to the property’s website to begin the booking process.
If you don’t see the availability you want, you can sign up for a free account and set up an alert to receive an email if availability changes. In the example above, we used the Hyatt Ziva Cancun. Max MyPoint offers two paid membership tiers ($3.99 per month and $7.99 per month) where you can receive frequent alerts.
RELATED: It’s hard to stay on top of these Hyatt ‘unicorns’ at points — here’s how to catch them
Andrea Rotondo, director of content operations at TPG, likes to use MaxMyPoints to search for Hyatt award night availability. Although Hyatt guarantees regular room availability on points when the same room is available for cash, that’s not always the case if you start your search directly through Hyatt.
StayWithPoints
What it does: Tracks hotel awards at Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott properties.
What it costs: free.
As we scanned the list, Zemi Beach House in Anguilla caught our eye. When you click on a specific property, you can see a full year’s worth of award availability, point value, and cash and point value per night. It took some scrolling, but we finally got a full week’s supply of points at Zemi Beach House.
Clicking on your chosen check-in date will take you directly to the hotel’s website for booking. You can also sign up for a free account to receive alerts when award redemptions are available for the property you want to stay at.
TPG app
What it does: Syncs your credit cards and loyalty programs to help you spend smarter to earn more points and miles.
What it costs: free.
We’re not above a little shameless self-promotion, and frankly, this list wouldn’t be complete without a little self-deprecation. The TPG app. In the app, you can view all your credit cards in one place, track hotel and airline loyalty program points and miles, get recommendations for the best card to use for various purchases, keep up with the latest TPG news, and more. .
Once you’re ready to spend your accumulated points, you can use the TPG app’s Award Explorer tool to find out how many points or miles you need to book your dream vacation.
Enter your departure airport, destination and how many tickets you need, and the TPG app will show you the estimated value of points across 21 loyalty programs (subject to availability). You can also see how close you are to earning enough points for that particular trip and whether it’s better to pay with cash or points.
TPG newsletter editor Becky Blaine likes the TPG app for choosing a card that earns her the most points based on where she shops. Earning more points faster will help her take those dream trips sooner.
Point. I
What it does: Finds flight award availability based on your itinerary.
What it costs: $5 for one time service; Premium plans start at $129 per year.
Point.me has a team of experts available 24/7 to help you travel more for less points with advice tailored to your needs. How tailored your experience is will determine how much you pay.
If you try the service for just one trip, you can pay $5 to access Point.me for 24 hours (unless you have a complimentary code). There are standard and premium plans starting at $129 per year. You can also opt for Point.me’s concierge service to have one of their travel experts book your trip for you ($200 per passenger). You can schedule a one-on-one consultation to help you meet your points and miles earning (and burning) goals.
Bilt Rewards users can access a limited version of Point.me through the Bilt Rewards app. You can search for award flight availability in the same way as the full version, although you’ll only see results from programs that are Billet transfer partners. If you have Bilt Rewards and want to transfer them to an airline loyalty program using points to buy tickets, this is a great way to try points.me for free.
Related: Bilt Rewards App Adds Live Rewards Availability Powered by Point.me
Rome. Travel
What it does: Finds flight award availability based on your itinerary.
What it costs: Free, but you must sign up for a free account to search.
Roame.travel features many multi-cabin awards, so be sure to review cabin classes closely. In the screenshot above, two of the three flights are mixed cabins with a clear flight in economy class.
As always, we recommend that you check the availability of a prize before transferring prizes.
Seats. Aero
What it does: Indicates award seat availability on long-haul and international flights.
What it costs: Free for the basic version and $7.99 per month for the pro version.
“Needle in the Hay” talking about getting an award seat, seats.aero searches for award space every few hours and provides results for the next two months. It’s one of the best ways to find Lufthansa First Class award space, generally available for Star Alliance partners shortly before departure.
The Pro version allows you to search on long routes up to a year in advance, set unlimited alerts and receive SMS notifications when prizes are available.
Expert flyer
What it does: Finds real-time seat availability and award flight availability.
What it costs: Free for free membership; Paid memberships start at $4.99 per month.
Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Finding Award Space with ExpertFlyer
ExpertFlyer’s basic plan ($4.99 per month) offers additional functionality, including rewards for searching flight availability and availability for different routes. You can also set up to four seat alerts at once, but you’re limited to 250 searches per month.
ExpertFlyer’s premium plan ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year) offers more flexibility when it comes to flight search options. You get unlimited searches, up to 200 simultaneous alerts and the ability to set flight change alerts and seat alerts.
ExpertFlyer also has a mobile app for seat alerts.
Read our full ExpertFlyer guide to learn how to get the most out of everything ExpertFlyer has to offer.
Google Flights
What it does: Finds flight schedules and prices for many major airlines with many filter options.
What it costs: free.
Google Flights doesn’t show the value of points, but that doesn’t mean it can’t help you find award space. You’ll still have to book directly through the airline, but you can save valuable search time by narrowing down your options through Google Flights.
For example, if you bank points and miles with a Star Alliance, Oneworld or SkyTeam partner airline, you can filter search results together to see transfer options. Or, you may find a nearby airport with a better price that you don’t want to look for.
at last
The best thing about these tools is that you can use them together to earn award flights and hotel stays.
For example, start with the TPG app to earn more points for your purchases. Next, use a site like Points.me to find award flight availability or StayWithPoints for award hotel stay availability.
No matter what combination of websites and apps you use, they’ll take the guesswork out of award redemptions and put you on the fast track to becoming an expert at redeeming points and miles.
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Additional reporting by Kyle Olson.
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