Using Points for Hotels: Upgrade Your Vacation Experience

Credit card points have allowed me to stay in hotel properties that I could never afford. The hotel I chose has become part of the vacation instead of just a place to sleep. 

How To Upgrade Your Vacation Experience

I used to approach hotel bookings, thinking we all need a clean and safe place to sleep. I thought the purpose of going on vacation was not to be in the hotel room but to see the destination.  While this is an acceptable hotel booking method, points have allowed me to level up my vacation hotel selections. 

Since entering the award travel hobby, I have booked a vacation destination only because of an aspirational property I wanted to experience.  In another article, I will explain how to create a vacation around a specific hotel.  In this article, I will walk you through my thought process of finding a hotel to book on points when I already have my flights booked.

A Guide to Hotel Award Search

Searching for hotels is probably the easiest part of booking an award trip. Not only are there tons of options in most vacation destinations, but amazing aggregators make the search much easier than it used to be. Gone are the days of searching each hotel chain individually!

I usually start searching with aggregators and then refine with the individual hotel sites.  Like most things, practice makes perfect; the more you search for hotels, the easier it will get. 

Using Hotel Search Tools

My current favorite hotel aggregator is MaxMyPoint. This aggregator covers hotels in the Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, and Marriott portfolio, so depending on where you are traveling, these options may not be sufficient. I only focus on earning points in these hotel brands, so this tool is perfect for me. It is one of the best tools I have found that is completely free. 

You need to create an account; otherwise, the number of searches is limited daily.   

Using the MaxMyPoint Search Tool

You can use this tool even without creating a login.  To find hotel options, select the filter icon and type in the destination.

For this article, we will search for options in Honolulu, Hawaii.  I do not have a specific hotel preference, so I will leave all brands checked.

The search resulted in 27 hotels across all four hotel brands, as shown in the sample below. 

The results show the amount of availability, meaning the calendar’s percentage with available award space.  The approximate value per 10k points varies dramatically across the different point currencies.  From this point, you can look at every single hotel or find another way to narrow down the options. 

The filter menu allows you to narrow down the results based on Hotel Sub Brand preference, Category, or points per night.  I am a Hyatt Globalist, so I will start by searching for those options.  I also have two free night certificates for category one through four hotels, so I will use them to narrow my search options.

The results show that only one hotel option is left, but only 62% of the calendar is available.  I will select the Calendar button to see if my dates are available to book with points.

Whomp, Whomp. I am looking for a room during summer vacation in July, and the only rates left at this location are cash bookings.  If point bookings were available, I would see a blue bar with the number of points needed per night. 

We’ll go back to the filter to adjust our settings. Since I have Hilton Diamond status, I’ll see their availability. 

Eleven Hilton Hotels are in Honolulu, but five have zero points availability.  I need a room for 3 nights, and I have 200k Hilton points, so I will use the filter to see if any of the available hotels fit my points budget.

This narrowed the results to three hotels. I will then look at each calendar to see which ones are available for my dates.

All three hotels are available on the dates I need and have rooms in the points budget I have available. 

Booking Your Award

The next step is to go to the Hilton website and research the room types, locations, and other amenities available to me at each hotel and then book my stay. It’s essential to remember hotel award availability changes daily.  Most hotels allow free cancellations until 24 hours before check-in, so you should keep looking if the room you want is not open.  I often have a hotel booked and then change my plans at the last minute.  I always understand the cancellation policy so that I don’t make a mistake and lose points by canceling within the window. 

Final Thoughts About Using Points for Hotel Bookings

This is the formula for booking a hotel award stay. The more experience you have working with reward programs, the easier it will be. I never understood how much better a vacation could be when you are staying at an amazing hotel. Thanks to points, I have been spoiled, and I can’t wait to see what hotel I get to experience next.

Thanks for reading, friends. Happy Travels!