Craig Joseph

Say a certain airline, United Airlines, for example, you'd probably be better off using the airline website or the hotel website directly to search for that award availability. Otherwise, try out these tools and figure out where your next adventure can take you.

Say a certain airline, United Airlines, for example, you'd probably be better off using the airline website or the hotel website directly to search for that award availability. Otherwise, try out these tools and figure out where your next adventure can take you.

Well, I guess it would just be like any service, right? Worth it will depend on the value you get from the service. So if you pay $100 annually for an award search tool and it saves you more than that, even if you only use it once a year, that's a win, right? That said, many of these tools offer services with monthly rates so you can renew and cancel at will depending on your travel schedule.

Well, I guess it would just be like any service, right? Worth it will depend on the value you get from the service. So if you pay $100 annually for an award search tool and it saves you more than that, even if you only use it once a year, that's a win, right? That said, many of these tools offer services with monthly rates so you can renew and cancel at will depending on your travel schedule.

Well, I guess it would just be like any service, right? Worth it will depend on the value you get from the service. So if you pay $100 annually for an award search tool and it saves you more than that, even if you only use it once a year, that's a win, right? That said, many of these tools offer services with monthly rates so you can renew and cancel at will depending on your travel schedule.

But there are some limitations with those search engines. In particular, you're only going to see search results that apply directly to your credit card issuers transfer partners. So let's say Bilt and Amex both use point.me. They'll return different results because their transfer partners are different.

But there are some limitations with those search engines. In particular, you're only going to see search results that apply directly to your credit card issuers transfer partners. So let's say Bilt and Amex both use point.me. They'll return different results because their transfer partners are different.

But there are some limitations with those search engines. In particular, you're only going to see search results that apply directly to your credit card issuers transfer partners. So let's say Bilt and Amex both use point.me. They'll return different results because their transfer partners are different.

And if you have points with multiple credit card programs, it won't search through all of your available transfer partners. So let's say you've got a Chase credit card as well in addition to your Bilt card. When you use Bilt, you'll only see the results for transfer partners with Bilt. You won't actually see any of the other ones from Amex or Chase or any other non-partner airlines.

And if you have points with multiple credit card programs, it won't search through all of your available transfer partners. So let's say you've got a Chase credit card as well in addition to your Bilt card. When you use Bilt, you'll only see the results for transfer partners with Bilt. You won't actually see any of the other ones from Amex or Chase or any other non-partner airlines.

And if you have points with multiple credit card programs, it won't search through all of your available transfer partners. So let's say you've got a Chase credit card as well in addition to your Bilt card. When you use Bilt, you'll only see the results for transfer partners with Bilt. You won't actually see any of the other ones from Amex or Chase or any other non-partner airlines.

So of course, cost is one, but you also need to know whether the tool is going to do what you need it to do, right? So does it offer a search of the airlines that you want to use? Search speed is another. Some of these tools query from huge databases, cached databases that can take a really long time to get results. We're talking like 20 or 30 minutes for results for some of them.

So of course, cost is one, but you also need to know whether the tool is going to do what you need it to do, right? So does it offer a search of the airlines that you want to use? Search speed is another. Some of these tools query from huge databases, cached databases that can take a really long time to get results. We're talking like 20 or 30 minutes for results for some of them.

So of course, cost is one, but you also need to know whether the tool is going to do what you need it to do, right? So does it offer a search of the airlines that you want to use? Search speed is another. Some of these tools query from huge databases, cached databases that can take a really long time to get results. We're talking like 20 or 30 minutes for results for some of them.

But there are some tools that operate really quickly and kind of cut out that lag time. Additionally, to me, the biggest thing with these tools is alerts. So I don't want to have to go to the airline or hotel website every day and hope that I find availability. These tools allow you to set up alerts with your search criteria. So whatever your travel plans are,

But there are some tools that operate really quickly and kind of cut out that lag time. Additionally, to me, the biggest thing with these tools is alerts. So I don't want to have to go to the airline or hotel website every day and hope that I find availability. These tools allow you to set up alerts with your search criteria. So whatever your travel plans are,

But there are some tools that operate really quickly and kind of cut out that lag time. Additionally, to me, the biggest thing with these tools is alerts. So I don't want to have to go to the airline or hotel website every day and hope that I find availability. These tools allow you to set up alerts with your search criteria. So whatever your travel plans are,

They'll send you an email whenever the availability shows up. And sometimes they'll even send you emails letting you know that the availability isn't showing up just to kind of remind you that you might need to look for different options for whatever your travel plans may be.

They'll send you an email whenever the availability shows up. And sometimes they'll even send you emails letting you know that the availability isn't showing up just to kind of remind you that you might need to look for different options for whatever your travel plans may be.

They'll send you an email whenever the availability shows up. And sometimes they'll even send you emails letting you know that the availability isn't showing up just to kind of remind you that you might need to look for different options for whatever your travel plans may be.