Folks! Here’s a way to automate a chunk of your miles & points vacation planning.
One of the biggest parts of this hobby is booking FREE hotel stays. You can do that by either signing-up for a hotel credit card or transferring points to hotel programs.
But you’re still subject to available nights. There’s where Open Hotel Alert can help out! It’s a free website that lets you know when rooms are available at the hotel you’re eyeing.
Open Hotel Alert is intended for folks who plan to spend cash for hotels. But it’s just as effective for finding award nights. That’s because you can choose the type of room you’d like an alert for.
Most hotels (Hyatt, Marriott/Starwood, Hilton, Radisson) will allow you to use points as long as there’s a standard room available for purchase. So if you already have your hotel points, finding a standard room is your only obstacle.
If you go to the hotel website and see there are no award nights available, head over to Open Hotel Alert. Search for the same hotel, and you should see the base room “not available”.
Then, just click the “Alert Me” button for the standard hotel room you’re after, and the website will notify you if an open room pops up. You’ll have the option to have the site text or email you.
Once the site reports an available standard room, you should see it on the actual hotel website available with points. That’s it!
Note: You might see standard room available and NO available award nights. If that happens to you, call the hotel and tell them. Hyatt tries to pull this stunt occasionally.
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You can check out Open Hotel Alert here. Thanks Angelina Travels and One Mile at a Time for bringing this app to our attention!
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