Have trouble finding available dates to use points to stay at a popular hotel? Our favorite alert system for hotel award-night availability is MaxMyPoint. Can’t find dates for the Conrad Bora Bora? Jess set an alert there and found her dates! Can’t find dates for the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal? I set an alert and found dates for my stay! MaxMyPoint is our #1 choice for finding those open award dates we’re looking for.  We’ve been happily using MaxMyPoint for hotel redemptions for years now, and you might find it helpful, too. Here’s the lowdown:

 

How It Works

MaxMyPoint doesn’t cover every hotel program, but it does cover the four major ones: Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, and Hilton. We consistently look at these four the most often for hotel availability using points.

After signing in to MaxMyPoint, the home screen looks like this: several very popular hotels are highlighted, along with their percentage of standard room booking availability.

 

 

If I want to stay at the Andaz Maui, I can hit the “calendar” button to see when standard rooms are available and the cash price of the rooms. I can then plan my trip around that information. I want to go in February and I can see many options for that redemption. Of course, I have to go to the Hyatt site to confirm my available dates before I transfer any points to Hyatt. 

 

 

I am looking for the 16th through the 20th, and those dates are available!

 

Setting Up An Alert

Sometimes, though, it’s not that easy. Let’s say I also wanted to go to the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal in the winter. I hoped to go in February but I don’t find a date with standard award availability, so I click the “setup alert” button.

 

 

The following screen comes up, and I fill in my dates (full stay or any dates) and create the alert.

 

 

Shortly after doing that, I get the following email in my account:

 

One thing to remember is that MaxMyPoint will continue to send you alerts when rooms fitting your criteria open up, so if you change your mind about the stay you were hoping to find and don’t need to know when a hotel has availability anymore, you’ll have to cancel the alert.  Otherwise you’ll keep getting notifications, like this one I got from back when I was thinking about trying to book Los Cabos Pedregal in January.  

 

 

Suite Upgrade Alert

We love getting a suite upgrade at Hyatts, but they are sometimes unavailable. Rather than give up, we can set a suite upgrade alert and have a much better chance of redeeming that Suite Upgrade Award. I am looking for a suite upgrade at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa in the example below. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it comes through!

 

Searching for Your Hotel

If your hotel is not among the most popular hotels shown on the front page, you can click “search” at the top of the home page and put the information about the hotel you are interested in. In this case, I am considering a stay at one of the Secrets Impression Resorts near Cancun. The one on Isla Mujeres currently has no availability, but the one near Playa del Carmen has some decent availability. With 45% of their dates showing availability, I should be able to find dates that will work for me near Playa del Carmen. Or I can pivot and set an alert for the one on Isla Mujeres.

 

 

MaxMyPoint Pricing

There are three options, one of which is free. We have the Platinum option, which works well for our needs. The key difference between Platinum features over the free and Gold plans is getting those alerts via text.  Our alerts come via text on the Platinum plan (which means quicker alerts), but you could opt for the Gold or free plans and get them by email. Gold comes with more alerts than the free plan, so it’s a better choice if you want the option to set multiple alerts (or if you want alerts more frequently).

 

 

Searching for Fine Hotels and Resorts Availability

If you have the the Platinum Card® from American Express, one of the benefits is a $200 credit for stays at properties in their Fine Hotels and Resorts collection. MaxMyPoint has a feature where you can search options for using that credit. I prefer to find a hotel that costs around $300 so that it is nearly free with my credit and the additional benefits. In this case, I’m looking at what is available for a stay in New York City. 

 

 

All information about the Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Platinum Card® from American Express is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

 

Bottom Line

Hyatt doesn’t have a calendar that shows availability, so we primarily depend on using MaxMyPoint to find nights available for hotel points redemptions with Hyatt. Setting alerts with the other hotel programs is also a key part of how we book those popular, hard-to-find standard award nights. We find the pricing for MaxMyPoint to be reasonable and well worth it to help us find the redemptions we are looking for.  

 

Related Posts

Finding Hyatt Award Availability

American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts

Hilton Conrad Bora Bora on Points