6 apps and websites that make redeeming rewards easier

We get it — learning to master this game of points and miles isn’t easy. We have a guide to starting with points and milesBut what happens when you’re ready to cash out for a ride?

Some professionals have been doing this for years and could perhaps teach a college-level course on maximizing points and miles to get more for less. That means more vacations, more comfortable seats (business class lays flat, anyone?)

For the rest of us who are not interested in becoming expert level users but want a few pieces of technology handy to make the job easier, some tools can help find flight and hotel rewards availability. This way, you can use those hard earned points to travel the way you want, when you want, and get where you want, without having to spend your life running countless searches.

Here are six of our favorite apps and websites to maximize your travel rewards redemption.

My maximum score is a website that allows you to check reward availability for Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott properties worldwide, essentially removing the guesswork from redemption searches by only displaying Real-time pricing and availability. The home page shows popular properties, but you can also sort by point value and availability, or search for specific properties.

When you select a property, you can view a calendar showing prices in standard room points, standard apartment points prices, and the lowest cash rate for the whole year. This makes it easy to plan your trip on the dates with the best spot rates. When you click on your desired check-in date, it will automatically take you to that property’s website to begin the booking process.

If you don’t see the availability you’re looking for, you can sign up for a free account and set up an alert to receive an email if availability changes. In the above example, we used Hyatt Ziva Cancun. Max My Point also offers two tiers of paid memberships ($3.99 and $7.99 per month) that give you access to more frequent alerts.

Related: It’s especially hard to stay at these World of Hyatt ‘unicorns’ by points – here’s how to book them

TPG’s chief content officer, Andrea Rotondo, likes to use Max My Point to look up Hyatt awards night availability. While Hyatt guarantees standard room availability on points when the same room is available for cash, that’s not always the case when you start your search directly through Hyatt.

StayWith Points

What it does: Monitor hotel award availability at Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott hotels.

How much: Free of charge.

above StayWith Points website, you can view the ability to redeem points from Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott hotels globally. Or, you can let StayWithPoints make the decision for you by scrolling through their list of popular properties.

While scrolling through the list, Zemi . beach house in Anguilla caught our eye. When you click through to a specific property, you can see the full year available prizes, point value and cash per night, and point price. It took some scrolling, but we finally found the score available for an entire week at Zemi Beach House.

Once you click on your desired check-in date, you’ll be taken directly to the hotel’s website for direct booking. You can also sign up for a free account to be notified when rewards can be redeemed for the property you want to stay in.

TPG . app

What it does: Sync credit cards and loyalty programs to help you spend smarter to earn more points and miles.

How much: Free of charge.

We’re not brazenly self-promotional, and honestly, this list wouldn’t be complete without our own nods. TPG . app. In the app you can see all your credit cards in one place, track hotel and airline loyalty program points and miles, get recommendations on the best card to use for various purchases, latest TPG news updates, etc.

When you’re ready to use your points, you can use the TPG app’s “Awards Explorer” tool to find out how many points or miles you need to book your dream vacation .

Simply enter your departure airport, destination, and the number of tickets you need, and the TPG app will show estimated point prices across 21 loyalty programs (based on availability). You will also be able to see how close you are to having enough points for that particular trip and whether you should pay with cash or better points.

TPG newsletter editor Becky Blaine likes to use the TPG app to choose the card that will earn her the most points based on where she shops. Earning more points faster helps her to take those dream trips sooner.

point.me

What it does: Find the availability of flight prizes based on your itinerary.

How much: $5 for one use; Premium plans start at $129 annually.

point.meThe powerful interface of checking rewards flights across 33 loyalty programs across 100+ airlines. After entering your journey details, Point.me shows you real-time prize availability, including which transfer partner will earn you the most.

Point.me also has a team of experts available 24/7 to help you travel more with less with advice tailored to your needs. How much you pay will determine how consistent your experience will be.

If you try the service for just one trip, you can pay $5 to access Point.me for 24 hours (unless you have access to the free code). Standard and premium plans are available, starting at $129 annually. You can also choose Point.me’s concierge service to have one of their travel specialists book your trip ($200 per passenger). You can also schedule one-on-one consultations to help you reach your points and miles (and burn) goals.

Related: The Bilt Rewards App adds live prize availability offered by Point.me

Bilt Rewards users can access a limited version of Point.me for free through the Bilt Rewards app. Similar to the full version, you can search for award flight availability, although you’ll only see results from programs that are a Bilt transfer partner. If you have Bilt Rewards that you’d like to switch to an airline loyalty program to purchase tickets using points, this is a great way to try Point.me for free.

ExpertFlyer

What it does: Find real-time seat availability and award flight availability.

How much: Free for the basic plan; Membership starts at $4.99 per month.

ExpertFlyer (owned by parent company TPG Red Ventures) has one free membership and two paid tiers. The free membership allows you to see real-time availability for your upcoming flights; you can set an alert to know when the seat you want opens. You can set alerts for aisles, windows, exit rows, or two seats together (or for specific seat numbers if you prefer).

Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Award Spaces with ExpertFlyer

ExpertFlyer’s basic plan ($4.99 per month) offers more functionality for finding flight availability, including rewards and upgrades for different routes. You can also set up up to four simultaneous seat alerts, but you’re limited to 250 searches per month.

ExpertFlyer’s premium plan ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year) offers even more flexibility in terms of flight search options, unlimited searches, and the ability to set up alerts aircraft changes and seat alerts.

ExpertFlyer also has a mobile app so you can search on the go.

Read our full ExpertFlyer tutorial to learn how to get the best out of all that ExpertFlyer has to offer.

Google Flights

What it does: Find flight schedules and prices for most major airlines with several filtering options.

How much: Free of charge.

Google Flights is your one-stop shop to find the best flight to suit your schedule and budget. You can search for flight schedules and prices on most major airlines and sort the results based on price, duration, number of stops, etc. You can also set flight price alerts or just Enter your departure city and use the interactive map to select a destination based on current prices.

Google Flights doesn’t show point prices, but that doesn’t mean it can’t help you find bonus spaces. You still have to book directly through the airline, but you can save valuable search time by narrowing down your options through Google Flights in advance.

For example, if you have a points and miles bank with a Star Alliance, OneWorld or SkyTeam partner airline, you can filter your search results by alliance to see routing options. Or, you can find a nearby airport for a better price that you wouldn’t otherwise be looking for.