The Best Hotel Reward Tool?

Posted: 8/14/23 | August 14th, 2023

For most of my travels, I’ve been a hostel man by way of and thru. And, whereas I nonetheless keep in hostels after I journey, since I run a enterprise from the street, I usually want a bit extra privateness and quiet than what a hostel can present.

But motels can get expensive and I’m nonetheless an affordable backpacker at coronary heart. I hate spending cash on a room I’m solely going to be in for a number of hours a day. To lower your expenses on motels, I began journey hacking. By utilizing factors and hotel-branded bank cards to get free stays, I’ve saved 1000’s and 1000’s of {dollars} in lodging over time.

However, it may be a little bit of a ache to seek out lodge award availability. Each lodge has its personal calendar of award nights (nights which you can e book utilizing factors), and it may be time-consuming to flip by way of these digital calendars to seek out the very best deal.

That’s the place Awayz is available in.

This software searches throughout lodge applications that can assist you discover the very best place to make use of to your hard-earned factors in your subsequent lodge keep.

Until now, there’s been nothing this complete for locating lodge award nights, so I’m tremendous excited that it lastly exists. Out of the opposite (few) lodge award instruments on the market, it’s probably the most user-friendly, searches throughout probably the most lodge applications, and has the very best options and filters.

In this evaluation, I’ll present you what the location is all about and how one can use it to seek out free lodge stays to your subsequent journey!

What is Awayz?

Awayz is a software particularly for reserving motels utilizing factors. If you’re accustomed to the points-and-miles reserving software Point.me, it’s like that, however for motels as an alternative of flights (when you’re not accustomed to level.me, take a look at my evaluation to be taught extra).

Like different reserving instruments, you merely put in your location and dates, and out pop a ton of choices for motels which you can e book with factors. It additionally exhibits you a side-by-side comparability of the variety of factors wanted, alongside the money value, and provides its advice concerning which is the higher deal. This is a massively useful characteristic when you don’t wish to spend time and vitality crunching the numbers your self.

Currently, Awayz helps Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, and Accor, with Wyndham and Choice to be added quickly. Being in a position to search throughout a number of lodge chains is one other nice characteristic, particularly when you’re attempting to make use of a transferable foreign money, like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards, which may be transferred and used at varied lodge chains.

Here are a few of the essential options that Awayz presents:

• Availability alerts
• A 12-month award availability calendar
• A map characteristic
• A money vs. factors comparability
• The means to enter your present factors applications to tailor the outcomes
• Free-night award availability is highlighted

How Awayz Works

To use Awayz, all you need to do is put in your required particulars (location, dates, and so forth.). It then brings up all of the obtainable motels you would e book with factors. You can then filter your outcomes till you discover a lodge that works greatest for you.

Awayz operates on a subscription mannequin. There is a free trial, although, so you possibly can strive it out earlier than signing up. With the free trial, you’ll get 5 searches and 5 lodge availability alerts, in addition to entry to all of Awayz’s options, except for lodge deal alerts.

The Trip Pass ($4.99) is de facto the higher possibility if you wish to strive Awayz to its full potential, because it offers you the power to do 50 searches in 72 hours (the 5 searches on the free trial shall be gone earlier than you already know it), in addition to 10 availability alerts.

If you journey and seek for motels frequently, you’ll need the premium subscription ($8.33/month when paid yearly, or $11.99 when paid month-to-month). This tier offers you 250 month-to-month searches, 10 availability alerts, and lodge deal alerts (the one tier that provides this).

You can see the complete breakdown of the distinction between plans right here:

If you join an annual plan utilizing the code nomadicmatt, you’ll get $10 off the annual Premium plan.

Setting Up Your Awayz Wallet

Before you begin looking, you’ll wish to arrange the pockets and awards part. Here, you possibly can add your lodge loyalty applications, bank cards, and the variety of factors you’ve in every.
This is necessary for a number of causes.

First, you possibly can then filter by your obtainable factors when looking. There’s no sense in mentioning motels which you can’t e book!

Second, Awayz will take into accounts perks like free nights (a perk on many of the greatest lodge bank cards), financial institution switch bonus promotions (e.g, get 30% extra factors when transferring Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors), or currencies the place you need to use factors as money (akin to Chase Ultimate Rewards).

Awayz at present helps the next:

• Hotel applications: Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, Accor Live Limitless
• Transferrable currencies: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou factors, and Altitude Reserve factors

You don’t have so as to add any figuring out info when including your applications. This is a constructive for these involved about safety, however a detrimental for many who need the convenience of computerized syncing of their level balances.

Instead, you’ll have so as to add in your present balances your self, as you possibly can see on this instance:

You can search motels with out including this data however including this info in makes it loads simpler to see what your choices are with out guessing.

How to Search and Book Hotels with Awayz

For our pattern search, let’s say we wish to get some summer time solar by going to Miami for a protracted weekend in January. By firing off a fast search with simply your dates and site, you’ll get the next:

But since this fundamental search brings up extra motels than you’ll wish to wade by way of, the next move is to filter the outcomes.

The obtainable search filters are:

• Hotel manufacturers
• Transferable currencies and lodge loyalty applications
• Free-night certificates availability
• Your present factors (the numbers you enter on the pockets and awards part)

You may type by distance from the middle of the vacation spot in addition to by level or money values.

Here’s what it seems like (grayed-out applications are ones you haven’t entered level values for):

When it brings up the search outcomes, Awayz makes use of its personal algorithm to additionally spotlight whether or not it thinks utilizing factors or money is a greater worth, which is tremendous helpful info as you weigh your choices.

Once you’ve filtered and regarded by way of the outcomes to discover a lodge that you just’re focused on, choose it to get much more particulars. You’ll see the very best worth, money value, the worth when you use factors as money, and buttons to see your complete award availability calendar or to set an availability alert in case your most well-liked dates aren’t at present obtainable.

In this case, the very best deal is utilizing Hyatt Rewards factors, which you’ll switch from Bilt or Chase (as indicated within the backside right-hand “Transfer Partner” field).

If you’re versatile along with your dates and wish to see your complete award availability calendar for this lodge, merely hit that black button and up it pops. It’ll spotlight the dates you’re at present looking, however you too can scroll by way of your complete 12-month calendar to see if there are higher offers on the market. The lowest charges (in each money and factors) are highlighted in inexperienced, whereas the very best charges are highlighted in pink:

In this case, you possibly can see that when you might shift your lengthy weekend journey again by simply two weeks, you would save 9,000 factors.

After all that digging, let’s say you’ve determined that that is the lodge you wish to e book. Hit “book now,” and also you’ll be delivered to the lodge’s web site. You’re by yourself from there, however even when it’s worthwhile to switch factors, it’s typically a really simple course of.

Pros of Awayz

1. The means to go looking throughout many applications without delay
The most evident professional of utilizing Awayz is the power to tug up all motels you would e book with factors to your desired dates and site. Without this software, you’d have to go looking throughout all of the applications through which you’ve factors (or might have factors when you transferred them there). That includes logging into every web site, discovering the award charts, factoring in any charges, and evaluating throughout all applications. It’s not that arduous, however it does take time.

2. Points-to-cash comparability
This characteristic is one other main profit to utilizing Awayz. Again, evaluating money and level values is a time-consuming course of, particularly once you’re new to utilizing factors for lodge stays. Awayz takes the guesswork out of this course of through the use of its personal algorithm (which is regularly up to date with the newest knowledge) to find out the very best worth.

3. Easy-to-use interface with useful filters
The web site may be very simple and straightforward to make use of, and the filters make fast work of serving to you discover motels that work to your wants. The means to enter awards applications and present factors helps you slim your search down much more.

Cons of Awayz

1. It’s a paid software
Awayz does have a restricted free trial, however if you wish to get probably the most out of this software, you’ll need to pay: both $4.99 for a 72-hour Trip Pass, or $8.33/11.99 (annual billing vs. month-to-month billing) for Premium.

However, when you’re new to journey hacking and haven’t fairly memorized the ins and outs of every program, it’s a cut price when you think about the potential financial savings in not solely cash however the time you’d spend attempting to determine and search throughout applications.

And, as a Nomadic Matt reader, you may get $10 off an annual subscription with the code nomadicmatt.

2. It doesn’t robotically sync along with your loyalty applications and currencies
This may be a professional to those that don’t wish to give exterior entry to their accounts, however it additionally provides an additional step within the course of. It’s additionally straightforward to overlook to replace once you do use your factors.

3. Not all manufacturers are supported (but)
While Awayz helps many main chains — Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Accor — it doesn’t but assist all of them. Wyndham and Choice will not be at present supported, although these must be added quickly. However, if these are your most well-liked manufacturers, you may not discover Awayz to be helpful to you simply but.

Who is Awayz for?

Awayz is very nice for vacationers which might be newer to redeeming factors for award nights. Using Awayz saves you time (and cash) within the lodge award search and reserving course of, which is very helpful once you’re first beginning out studying how one can get free stays. The cash-to-points comparability characteristic is very key for this.

But even skilled journey hackers can get quite a lot of worth out of the software. If you’ve quite a lot of factors in numerous currencies, you understand how time-consuming it’s to go looking throughout applications. Plus, the power to set alerts will help you discover elusive stays with out having to always hold tabs on the lodge.

Awayz is a welcome addition to the rising scene of award reserving instruments. While there are a number of complete instruments for locating award flights, thus far, nothing comparable has existed for locating lodge stays you possibly can e book with factors. With a rising suite of filters and options, in addition to side-by-side comparability of factors vs. money pricing, Awayz helps you save each money and time — necessary assets it doesn’t matter what kind of traveler you might be!

While it’s a paid software, there’s a free trial obtainable, and even paid variations turn out to be price it once they make it easier to discover an incredible free keep.

And bear in mind to make use of code nomadicmatt to get $10 off!