We get it — mastering points and miles is no easy feat. You may have already seen our guide to getting started with points and miles, but what happens once you’re ready to cash those points in for a trip?
Maximizing points and miles to travel luxuriously without breaking the bank doesn’t need to be laborious and time-consuming. In fact, there are various tools available that make it easier to find hotel and flight award availability.
With these tools, you can use your points to travel where you want, when you want and how you want in 2025 without spending hours searching for availability.
Here are 12 of the best apps and websites that help make award travel redemptions easy and stress-free.
MaxMyPoint
What it does: Tracks hotel award availability at Hyatt, Hilton, IHG and Marriott properties
What it costs: Free for basic membership; $3.99 for a Gold membership and $7.99 per month for a Platinum membership (two months free if you pay yearly)
MaxMyPoint is a website that lets you check award availability for Hyatt, Hilton, IHG and Marriott properties worldwide. It takes the guesswork out of award redemption searches by showing real-time award pricing and availability.
The homepage shows popular properties, but you can filter by hotel brand, location, price and more to narrow down your results. You can also search date-based deals or use the map search feature to search multiple hotels in a single destination.
Once you choose a property, you can view a calendar that displays available points pricing and the lowest cash rate. This allows you to plan your trip around the dates with the best points pricing.
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After you select your check-in date, you’ll automatically be redirected to the property’s website to start the booking process. If you can’t find the availability you are looking for, you can register for a free account and set up an alert to receive an email if availability changes.
Related: It’s exceptionally difficult to stay at these World of Hyatt ‘unicorns’ on points — here’s how to book them
Paid memberships come with additional features, including additional and more frequent alerts.
Points Path
What it does: Displays award pricing in Google Flights
What it costs: Free for a standard plan, $7.99 per month for a Pro plan
Points Path is a free browser extension that displays award pricing alongside cash prices for select airlines in Google Flights.
It also tells you which transferable points can be used with the airlines it supports, and it suggests when to book a paid rate or points. Once you select an itinerary, you can book using points or cash directly with the airline as you typically would with Google Flights.
Related: How to use the Points Path extension to compare cash and award rates in Google Flights
Points Path simplifies determining when to use cash or miles to buy airline tickets. Points Path Pro unlocks additional features such as price alerts, access to additional airline programs and customizable points valuations.
The browser extension is compatible with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and Safari.
Expert Flyer
What it does: Helps travelers find airline award space.
What it costs: There is a free version that will alert you to seat availability on a specific flight, but you can get additional alerts and better search functions with a Basic ($4.99 per month) or Premium ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year) version.
ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures) is a helpful tool for viewing airline schedules, seat maps, flight statuses and award availability across more than 400 airlines. You can even set alerts to help snag your preferred seat on nearly 40 airlines if it isn’t available when you book your flight.
Related: How to use ExpertFlyer alerts to snag a better seat
You can set one alert for a specific flight with a free account, but you will need a Basic or Premium account to run an award search. Once you are logged in with a Basic or Premium account, you can search using the “Awards & Upgrades” tab. When you enter your travel details and select the airline you’d like to fly, you’ll see the fare classes that ExpertFlyer can search alongside a description.
When you click the search button at the bottom of the screen, ExpertFlyer will present you with a list of the available flights broken down by date. Once you have the date, flight number and fare class, you can book your flight online or by calling the airline directly.
If the flight you’re looking to book doesn’t have the fare class you’d like, you can select the top square with an exclamation point to set an alert. If you set an alert, ExpertFlyer will email you if a seat is released, taking the legwork out of award searches.
Point.me
What it does: Finds flight award availability based on your itinerary
What it costs: There is a free version, but for real-time availability, you can purchase Standard ($10.75 per month) or Premium ($21.67 per month) membership. Concierge services are available starting at $200 per passenger.
Point.me’s robust interface checks for award flights within over 30 loyalty programs across more than 150 airlines.
By entering your itinerary details, Point.me will display award availability, including which transfer partner offers the most value for your buck.
In addition to the free and paid versions, you can book one-on-one sessions with one of Point.me’s experts. They can assist you with booking a flight, points strategy consultations, elite status and mileage runs, and more.
Bilt Rewards users and eligible American Express cardholders can access a limited version of Point.me for free. Similar to the full version, you can search for award flight availability, though you will only see results from programs that are Bilt or Amex transfer partners. This is a good way to try Point.me for free if you have Bilt Rewards or Membership Rewards points that you want to transfer to an airline loyalty program to purchase tickets.
Related: Bilt Rewards app adds live award availability powered by Point.me
TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.
Roame.travel
What it does: Finds flight award availability based on your itinerary
What it costs: It’s free for the basic Community plan, but you can get additional search capabilities with a Friends of Roame ($9.16) or the Enterprise plan for businesses ($291.66 per month).
Roame.travel works a lot like Point.me but without the charge. All you need to do is sign up for a free account to search 16 airline programs for award availability. Unlike Point.me, Roame.travel gives nearly instant, real-time search results.
When you click on a flight option, you can see the points required to book it, available transfer partners and recommended credit cards to help you earn the points you need. You can even add the credit cards you already have to your virtual wallet for tailored recommendations. With a paid membership, you can also track points pricing with route alerts.
As always, we recommend confirming award availability before transferring awards.
Related: The complete guide to searching award space on Roame.travel
Pointhound
What it does: Helps you maximize your points by finding the best flight redemptions
What it costs: Free
Pointhound takes the guesswork (and hours of searching) out of turning your points and miles into award flights. The site’s search tool helps you find the best deals by displaying preferred booking options for a designated route and date.
For example, if you search for a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), Pointhound will display your flight results alongside all the ways you can book that flight.
If you know you want to fly Air France but don’t have enough FlyingBlue miles, you can see which programs transfer to Air France partners, including those that have current transfer bonuses.
Once you’ve chosen a route and booking option, Pointhound will walk you through the points transfer and booking process. (You still book directly through the airline; Pointhound just gives you the instructions on how to do it.)
If you want to stay informed about the latest flight deals, you can sign up to receive flight alerts from specific airports via email.
Seats.aero
What it does: Displays award seat availability on domestic and international flights across fare classes
What it costs: Free for the basic version and $9.99 monthly for the Pro version, which includes Rooms.aero access for hotel award searches
Seats.aero searches for award space every few hours and provides results for the next few months. It’s one of the best ways to search for Lufthansa’s first-class award space, as it’s generally only available to Star Alliance partners shortly before departure.
The Pro version allows you to search up to a year in advance on longer routes, set up unlimited alerts and receive SMS notifications when award availability is located.
Reward Flight Finder
What it does: Searches for Avios award availability with British Airways
What it costs: Free for basic searches; minimum 3.33 to 6.66 British pounds (about $4.50 to $9) per month for paid subscriptions
The Reward Flight Finder app and website certainly do not have all the bells and whistles (or the number of airlines) as other services. However, if your points and miles earning is restricted to only Avios and you’re a British Airways loyalist, it could be all you need.
As you’d expect, you simply need to set your departure and arrival points and hit “Search Now.” The app will then show you an overview of redemptions throughout the year.
The free plan allows for three economy seat searches a day and one alert every 24 hours. Silver Membership costs just 3.33 pounds (about $4.50) per month and provides unlimited searches across all cabins, worldwide map searches and up to five hourly alerts. The highest tier, Gold Membership, costs 6.66 pounds (about $9). It comes with all the Silver Membership features, plus up to 20 instant alerts and additional points pricing insights.
This is an incredibly basic app. However, if you’re just starting out in the points and miles world and you’re happy to only focus on Avios, it could prove an easy entryway into award redemption planning.
SeatSpy
What it does: Checks flight award availability based on your itinerary and preferred airline
What it costs: Free for five economy award availability searches per day; $3.32 per month for a Premium subscription or $8.33 per month for a First Class subscription
SeatSpy is a simple-to-use website that checks for award availability across 15 different international airlines.
Simply select your airline, departure and end destination airports, then hit “Search” to see availability across the next 12 months.
SeatSpy is free to use if you’re only searching for economy availability and can stick to a five-search limit. Where the product really shines, however, is in its premium subscriptions.
The entry-level subscription, Premium, costs $3.32 per month, and it allows unlimited searches across all fares and up to four availability alerts across email, WhatsApp and Telegram. It also includes AwardWallet integration so you can track how many points you have to redeem.
The most expensive subscription, First Class, costs $8.33 per month. It includes everything in the Premium plan plus unlimited alerts at a more regular frequency. “Experience alerts” for hotel rewards are also included.
Both subscriptions offer a “Where Can I Go” search feature, which will show you all the destinations with award availability from your departure airport on the dates you select to travel.
It may have few features when compared to other services on this list, but in terms of simplicity, it’s a great site — especially if you’re looking at Europe-based airlines.
Rooms.aero
What it does: Displays hotel award availability across several major hotel brands
What it costs: Free for the basic version and $9.99 monthly for the Pro version, which includes Seats.aero access for award flight searches
Rooms.aero works similarly to its counterpart, Seats.aero. Users can search five major hotel programs — Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy — for hotel award availability across certain dates or destinations.
Related: How to use Rooms.aero to find the best hotel award availability
Rooms.aero uses a valuation system to display whether you are getting a good, average or poor value for your points based on a given redemption. You can also filter by points program and the maximum number of points per night. When you choose a hotel, you’ll see a calendar view with points and cash rates.
You can also use Rooms.aero to set pricing alerts to notify you when a specific hotel or destination has points availability.
With a Pro account, you get access to advanced search filters, SMS alerts and more.
Awayz
What it does: Displays points, miles and cash pricing for flights and hotels
What it costs: Free for basic membership; $5.99 for a one-time “Trip Pass” and $149.99 per year for paid membership
Awayz helps you make the most of your hard-earned points and miles by helping you determine when to redeem those loyalty points and when to pay cash. You can use the Awayz search tool to look for certain flight routes or hotels in specific destinations. Awayz will then display live award availability and cash rates so you can make a side-by-side comparison.
You can use the site’s robust filtering system to display certain hotel chains, transferable award programs and even those that qualify for free night certificates. For flights, you can filter to see only certain airlines, choose the time of day you’d prefer to travel and even which aircraft you’d prefer. You can also update your “wallet” with the credit cards and reward balances you currently have, so it can further tailor your results.
Related: How to use Awayz to improve your hotel award searches
A free membership includes five hotel and five airline searches per month. An Awayz Trip Pass (great for one-time planning) includes 50 hotel and 15 flight searches per month; it also offers award availability alerts and an award availability calendar for a one-time fee of $5.99. An Awayz Premium membership costs $149.99 per year and includes 250 hotel and 50 flight searches, plus 20 award availability alerts, hotel deal alerts and more.
Google Flights
What it does: Finds flight schedules and prices, with several filtering options, for most major airlines
What it costs: Free
Google Flights is your one-stop shop for finding the best flight for your schedule and budget.
You can search flight schedules and pricing across most major airlines and sort results based on price, duration, number of stops, fare class and airlines, among other options. You can also set flight price alerts.
One of the best tools within Google Flights is Google Flights Explore. Click on that link for a complete guide to using the tool.
Google Flights Explore lets you only enter your departure city before using the interactive map to choose your destination based on current pricing.
Google Flights does not display points pricing (unless you use the Points Path plugin we mentioned earlier in this article), 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 first.
For example, if you have a bank of points and miles with a Star Alliance, Oneworld or SkyTeam partner airline, you can filter search results by alliance to see routing options. Or, you may find a nearby airport with better pricing that you wouldn’t have searched for otherwise.
Bottom line
The great thing about all of these tools is that you can use them together to find award flights and hotel availability for free nights.
For example, start with the TPG app to learn about how to earn the most points for your purchases. Then, use a site like Point.me to find award flight availability or Rooms.aero for award hotel stay availability.
No matter which combination of sites and apps you use, you’ll find that they take the guesswork out of award redemptions and put you on the fast track to becoming an expert in redeeming points and miles for your 2025 travels.
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