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For most of my travels, I\u2019ve been a hostel guy through and through. And, while I still stay in hostels<\/a> when I travel, since I run a business from the road now, I often need a bit more privacy and quiet than what a hostel can provide. <\/p>\n But hotels can get pricey and I\u2019m still a cheap backpacker at heart. I hate spending money on a room I am only going to be in for a few hours a day. To save money on hotels, I started collect points and miles<\/a>. By using points and hotel-branded credit cards<\/a> to get free stays, I\u2019ve saved thousands and thousands of dollars in accommodations over the years. <\/p>\n However, it can be a bit of a pain to find hotel award availability. Each hotel has its own calendar of award nights (nights that you can book using points), and it can be time-consuming to flip through these virtual calendars to find the best deal. <\/p>\n That\u2019s where Awayz<\/a> comes in. <\/p>\n This tool searches across hotel programs to help you find the best place to use to your hard-earned points on your next hotel stay. <\/p>\n Until now, there\u2019s been nothing this comprehensive for finding hotel award nights, so I\u2019m super excited that it finally exists. Out of the other (few) hotel award tools out there, it\u2019s the most user-friendly, searches across the most hotel programs, and has the best features and filters. <\/p>\n In this review, I\u2019ll show you what the site is all about and how to use it to find free hotel stays for your next trip! <\/p>\n Awayz<\/a> is a tool specifically for booking hotels using points. If you\u2019re familiar with the points-and-miles booking tool Point.me, it\u2019s like that, but for hotels instead of flights (if you\u2019re not familiar with point.me, check out my review to learn more<\/a>). <\/p>\n Like other booking tools, you simply put in your location and dates, and out pop a ton of options for hotels that you can book with points. It also shows you a side-by-side comparison of the number of points needed, alongside the cash price, and gives its recommendation regarding which is the better deal. This is a hugely helpful feature if you don\u2019t want to spend time and energy crunching the numbers yourself. <\/p>\n Currently, Awayz supports Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, Accor, Wyndham, and Choice. Being able to search across multiple hotel chains is another great feature, especially if you\u2019re trying to use a transferable currency, like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards, which can be transferred and used at various hotel chains.<\/p>\n Here are some of the main features that Awayz offers: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n To use Awayz<\/a>, all you have to do is put in your desired details (location, dates, etc.). It then brings up all the available hotels you could book with points. You can then filter your results until you find a hotel that works best for you. <\/p>\n Awayz operates on a subscription model. There is a free trial, though, so you can try it out before signing up. With the free trial, you\u2019ll get five searches and five hotel availability alerts, as well as access to all of Awayz\u2019s features, with the exception of hotel deal alerts. <\/p>\n The Trip Pass ($4.99) is really the better option if you want to try Awayz to its full potential, as it gives you the ability to do 50 searches in 72 hours (the five searches on the free trial will be gone before you know it), as well as 10 availability alerts. <\/p>\n If you travel and search for hotels regularly, you\u2019ll want the premium subscription ($8.33\/month when paid annually, or $11.99 when paid monthly). This tier gives you 250 monthly searches, 10 availability alerts, and hotel deal alerts (the only tier that gives this). <\/p>\n You can see the full breakdown of the difference between plans here: <\/p>\n If you sign up for an annual plan using the code nomadicmatt, you\u2019ll get $10 off the annual Premium plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before you start searching, you\u2019ll want to set up the wallet and awards section. Here, you can add your hotel loyalty programs, credit cards<\/a>, and the number of points you have in each. First, you can then filter by your available points when searching. There\u2019s no sense in bringing up hotels that you can\u2019t book! <\/p>\n Second, Awayz will take into consideration perks like free nights (a perk on most of the best hotel credit cards<\/a>), bank transfer bonus promotions (e.g, get 30% more points when transferring Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors), or currencies where you can use points as cash (such as Chase Ultimate Rewards).<\/p>\n Awayz currently supports the following: <\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to add any identifying information when adding your programs. This is a positive for those concerned about security, but a negative for those who want the ease of automatic syncing of their point balances. <\/p>\n Instead, you\u2019ll have to add in your current balances yourself, as you can see in this example: <\/p>\n You can search hotels without adding this info but adding this information in makes it a lot easier to see what your options are without guessing.<\/p>\n For our sample search, let\u2019s say we want to get some sun by going to Miami<\/a> for a long weekend in January. By firing off a quick search with just your dates and location, you\u2019ll get the following: <\/p>\n But since this basic search brings up more hotels than you\u2019ll want to wade through, your next step is to filter the results.<\/p>\n The available search filters are:<\/p>\n You can also sort by distance from the center of the destination as well as by point or cash values. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what it looks like (grayed-out programs are ones you haven\u2019t entered point values for): <\/p>\n When it brings up the search results, Awayz uses its own algorithm to also highlight whether it thinks using points or cash is a better value, which is super useful information as you weigh your options. <\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve filtered and looked through the results to find a hotel that you\u2019re interested in, select it to get even more details. You\u2019ll see the best value, cash price, the price if you use points as cash, and buttons to see the entire award availability calendar or to set an availability alert if your preferred dates aren\u2019t currently available. <\/p>\n In this case, the best deal is using Hyatt Rewards points, which you can transfer from Bilt<\/a> or Chase<\/a> (as indicated in the bottom right-hand \u201cTransfer Partner\u201d box). <\/p>\n If you\u2019re flexible with your dates and want to see the entire award availability calendar for this hotel, simply hit that black button and up it pops. It\u2019ll highlight the dates you\u2019re currently searching, but you can also scroll through the entire 12-month calendar to see if there are better deals out there. The lowest rates (in both cash and points) are highlighted in green, while the highest rates are highlighted in red:<\/p>\n In this case, you can see that if you could shift your long weekend trip back by just two weeks, you could save 9,000 points. <\/p>\n After all that digging, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve decided that this is the hotel you want to book. Hit \u201cbook now,\u201d and you\u2019ll be brought to the hotel\u2019s website. You\u2019re on your own from there, but even if you need to transfer points, it\u2019s generally a very straightforward process. <\/p>\n 1. The ability to search across many programs at once<\/strong> 2. Points-to-cash comparison<\/strong> 3. Easy-to-use interface with helpful filters <\/strong> 4. Supports all major hotel brands <\/strong> 5. Hotel and flight searches in one tool<\/strong> 1. It\u2019s a paid tool<\/strong> However, if you\u2019re new to points and miles and haven\u2019t quite memorized the ins and outs of each program, it\u2019s a bargain when you consider the potential savings in not only money but the time you\u2019d spend trying to figure out and search across programs. <\/p>\n And, as a Nomadic Matt reader, you can get $10 off an annual subscription with the code nomadicmatt<\/a>. <\/p>\n 2. It doesn\u2019t automatically sync with your loyalty programs and currencies <\/strong> Awayz is especially great for travelers that are newer to redeeming points for award nights. Using Awayz saves you time (and money) in the hotel award search and booking process, which is especially useful when you\u2019re first starting out learning how to get free stays. The cash-to-points comparison feature is especially key for this. <\/p>\n But even experienced travelers can get a lot of value out of the tool. If you have a lot of points in different currencies, you know how time-consuming it is to search across programs. Plus, the ability to set alerts can help you find elusive stays without having to constantly keep tabs on the hotel. <\/p>\n Awayz<\/a> is a welcome addition to the growing scene of award booking tools. While there are a variety of comprehensive tools for finding award flights, so far, nothing comparable has existed for finding hotel stays you can book with points. With a growing suite of filters and features, as well as side-by-side comparison of points vs. cash pricing, Awayz helps you save both time and money \u2014 important resources no matter what type of traveler you are! <\/p>\n While it is a paid tool, there\u2019s a free trial available, and even paid versions become worth it when they help you find a great free stay. <\/p>\n And remember to use code nomadicmatt to get $10 off!<\/a><\/p>\n Book Your Flight<\/strong> Book Your Accommodation<\/strong> Don’t Forget Travel Insurance<\/strong> Want to Travel for Free?<\/strong> Need a Rental Car?<\/strong> Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip?<\/strong>
\n <\/p>\nWhat is Awayz?<\/h3>\n
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How Awayz Works<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nSetting Up Your Awayz Wallet<\/h3>\n
\nThis is important for a few reasons. <\/p>\n\n
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<\/p>\nHow to Search and Book Hotels with Awayz<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nPros of Awayz<\/h3>\n
\nThe most obvious pro of using Awayz is the ability to pull up all hotels you could book with points for your desired dates and location. Without this tool, you\u2019d have to search across all the programs in which you have points (or could have points if you transferred them there). That involves logging into each website, finding the award charts, factoring in any fees, and comparing across all programs. It\u2019s not that hard, but it does take time. <\/p>\n
\nThis feature is another major benefit to using Awayz. Again, comparing cash and point values is a time-consuming process, especially when you\u2019re new to using points for hotel stays. Awayz takes the guesswork out of this process by using its own algorithm (which is continually updated with the latest data) to determine the best value. <\/p>\n
\nThe website is very straightforward and easy to use, and the filters make quick work of helping you find hotels that work for your needs. The ability to input awards programs and existing points helps you narrow your search down even more. <\/p>\n
\nAwayz supports all the major chains: Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Accor, and Wyndham and Choice.<\/p>\n
\nAwayz will soon be launching the ability to search for flights! You’ll be able to see fares in both points and cash, making it easy to compare and see the best option. Having both hotel and flight search ability in the same tool is great as it streamlines your trip planning process. I’d suggest signing up sooner rather than later because all current Premium users and new users who sign up for Premium before they launch flights will get flights for free – indefinitely. (You won’t get this if you sign up after they launch flights, as the price will be going up then.) <\/p>\nCons of Awayz<\/h3>\n
\nAwayz does have a limited free trial, but if you want to get the most out of this tool, you\u2019ll have to pay: either $4.99 for a 72-hour Trip Pass, or $8.33\/11.99 (annual billing vs. monthly billing) for Premium. (Though if you’re a holder of the Bilt Mastercard\u00ae<\/a>, you’ll get access to 50 searches per month for free, as Bilt integrates with Awayz in their app’s travel search engine.)<\/p>\n
\nThis might be a pro to those who don\u2019t want to give external access to their accounts, but it also adds an extra step in the process. It\u2019s also easy to forget to update when you do use your points. <\/p>\nWho is Awayz for?<\/h3>\n
\nBook Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks<\/h4>\n
\nFind a cheap flight by using Skyscanner<\/a>. It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned. <\/p>\n
\nYou can book your hostel with Hostelworld<\/a>. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com<\/a> as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. <\/p>\n
\nTravel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:<\/p>\n\n
\nTravel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation \u2014 all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites<\/a> to get started and see the latest best deals.<\/p>\n
\nDiscover Cars<\/a> is a budget-friendly international car rental website. No matter where you’re headed, they’ll be able to find the best \u2014 and cheapest \u2014 rental for your trip!<\/p>\n
\nGet Your Guide<\/a> is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more. <\/p>\n