• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Via Travelers Logo

via travelers

Always moving.

  • About
  • Blog
    • Travel Tips
    • Travel Hacking Tips
    • Itineraries
    • Food Tips
    • Business Travel
    • Travel Reviews
  • Travel Products
    • Best Travel Gifts
    • Best Travel Backpacks
    • Best Travel Accessories
    • Best Travel Totes
    • Best Van Camping Equipment
    • Best Travel Purses
    • Best Travel Routers
    • Best Travel Humidifiers
  • Destinations
    • Cheap Destinations
    • Beautiful Destinations
    • Group Vacations
    • Black Sand Beaches
    • Unknown U.S. Destinations
  • Guides
    • Travel Hacking 101
    • Find Hacker Fares for Flights
    • Best Sites for Booking Tours
    • Why Traveling Is Important
  • Travel Rewards
    • Best Travel Credit Cards
    • Best Credit Cards for Perks
    • Best Credit Cards for Overseas Travel
    • How to Earn Rewards Without a Credit Card
  • Show Search
Hide Search
AwardMapper Review: How to Use It to Reward Bookings

AwardMapper Review: How to Use It to Reward Bookings

By Blake · Updated: February 22, 2021

If you’re a frequent traveler, you must have reward points. AwardMapper is a good option to find hotels and perfect deals against your rewards points. In this AwardMapper review, I will explain if the tool is effective and how to use it.

How to Use AwardMapper to Find Award Hotels

After opening a dozen tabs in the web browser and searching for lodgings in the same destination for the umpteenth time, you’re bound to get frustrated.

If you’re looking for hotels in a tourist destination, especially around the holiday season, it can be hard to find rewards.

AwardMapper logo

Fortunately, AwardMapper is around to pay heed to your woes. It’s an award search engine for hotels – think of it as AwardHacker’s twin. AwardMapper lets you find reward hotels in your itinerary, saving you the hassle of doing it all yourself.

In this review of AwardMapper, I’ll discuss how the tool works and what it’s beneficial for. So, let’s get started.

Table of Contents

  • What is AwardMapper?
  • How to Use AwardMapper?
    • Search Bar
    • Zooming In
    • Double-Clicking a Group
  • How to Book Hotels with Points on AwardMapper?
    • How to Use the Points Range Slider
    • Finding Reward Hotels in Holiday Season
  • Is AwardMapper Legit?
  • Sites like AwardMapper
    • Hotel Hustle
    • PEX+
  • Pros and Cons of AwardMapper
    • Pros of AwardMapper
    • Cons of AwardMapper
  • Improvements for AwardMapper
  • Final Words

What is AwardMapper?

AwardMapper is a hotel rewards tool that shows you accommodation options in popular travel destinations.

Instead of visiting the websites of different hotel chains and checking if they offer rewards, you can simply search for them on AwardMapper.

AwardMapper website

The tool shows you the number of hotels for that specific chain in the area. Plus, it tells you the points you need to book a night in that particular hotel.

Thus, it’s evident that AwardMapper is a helpful tool for people who have trouble looking for lodging on vacation.

How to Use AwardMapper?

Don’t be too confused about how to sign up for AwardMapper. Luckily, you don’t need an account to search for hotels in any destination. Simply go to the AwardMapper website and type in the name of your vacation spot.

For instance, if you’re on a two-day trip to Iceland, AwardMapper will show you the number of points you need to book a hotel for two nights. The tool only shows results for eight major hotel chains. These are:

  • Hilton
  • Best Western
  • Club Carlson
  • Hyatt
  • IHG
  • Wyndham
  • Marriott
  • Choice Hotels

You can search for the hotel in your preferred destination in three ways.

Search Bar

The first method is to type the name of the destination in the search bar.

Then, the AwardMapper data will show you hotels in the area. If there are too many options, you can zoom in to the specific region you’ll be residing in.

Zooming In

Secondly, you can search for a hotel by zooming into the map on the website’s home page. If you’re good at navigation, you’ll find this method easier.

AwardMapper zooming in option

As you zoom in, you’ll see the areas much clearly. Then, you can stop the cursor at the destination you wish to travel to. AwardMapper will then tell you about the hotels in that locality.

Double-Clicking a Group

The last way to search for hotel rewards is to click on a group. As mentioned earlier, the tool shows hotels of eight major chains. Their names are displayed on the left-hand side of the website’s homepage.

You can click on any hotel chain to find their branches in the city of your choice.

How to Book Hotels with Points on AwardMapper?

Let’s say you’re planning a Maui Itinerary. Finding suitable hotels with rewards is one of the major tasks. If you’ve never traveled to Maui before, you’d have no idea of the available lodgings.

That’s where AwardMapper comes in. It shows you the branches of the eight designated chains in every region of the world.

For example, if you’re on a two-day trip to the Amalfi Coast, the hotel rewards tool will help you find grand hotels in the area.

On the AwardMapper map, the hotel chains are colored differently. Even without zooming in, you can clearly see the options that are present in the area. Here are the colors that represent different hotel chains:

  • Best Western (Dark Blue)
  • Choice (Mustard)
  • Club Carlson (Gray)
  • Hilton (Dark Green)
  • Hyatt (Light Blue)
  • Intercontinental (Light Yellow)
  • Marriott (Red)
  • Wyndham (Light Green)

The color-coded pins show you the location of these hotels in the city. However, if you’re not familiar with the area, you can get a precise address on the right-hand side of the screen.

AwardMapper Hotel Options

The list of hotels, along with their short addresses, is given there. Moreover, you’ll see a picture of the hotel with its name. Thus, you’ll have a vague idea of the surrounding landscape.

If you want to live in a certain part of the city – such as near the beach – you can zoom in on the map and get a detailed view of the hotels there.

Likewise, if you want to exclude a few hotels from the search, you can narrow down the results too.

Then, you can choose the specific chains you want to see in the results.

How to Use the Points Range Slider

When you’re trying to find hotels with AwardMapper, you’ll see a slider at the top of the page.

The slider can be moved in both directions since it indicates the point range. Depending on how many points you have, you can specify the rewards range for the hotels.

AwardMapper Points slider

If you want to see all the options, crank the slider up to its endpoint. The maximum limit is 95,000 points. However, if you only want to see the options you can afford, keep the range accordingly.

When you assign a number on the slider, the results will only show you hotels that accommodate nightly stays in that range.

Let’s say you want to stay for two days in Boston, and you only have 25,000 points. You can set the slider from 5000 to 25000 points. Now, when you search, you won’t see any hotels that are over that limit.

If there are no hotels that you can get a room in for 25,000 points, you may have to increase the range. However, if there are any hotels, you’ll see them on the map, color-coded according to their parent chain.

When you keep the cursor on a pin location, a small pop-up will appear, showing the following things about the hotel:

  • Hotel name
  • Number of points needed to stay a night
  • Category

AwardMapper Pin location detail

If you click on the pin, you’ll be directed to the hotel’s website. Now, you can book a room using your points or cash.

See Related: What to Know When Flying With Cash

Finding Reward Hotels in Holiday Season

Hotels can change the number of points needed for a night’s stay depending on the season and tourist influx. If you’ve been saving up points for a budget trip in Barbados, it’s likely that you won’t have enough points at the end of the year because the hotel has raised the limit.

AwardMapper does not account for the fluctuations caused due to seasonal or taxation changes.

Instead, it shows you the standard points limit for one night.

If you’re booking a rewards night in the holiday season, make sure to check how many points you need on the hotel’s website.

For this, you can click on the pin location in the AwardMapper search results. Doing this takes you to the hotel’s site.

In most cases, you’ll have to make an account there. Sign in and search for the dates of your stay. Then, check the number of points you need.

Alternatively, you can look through the Hotels Award Charts to get an idea of the point limit.

Is AwardMapper Legit?

Yes, AwardMapper is 100% legit. It helps you find hotels where you can stay using the points you’ve earned. One of the most helpful things about the tool is that it color-codes hotel chains.

That makes it easier for you to spot your desired hotel in a sea of search results. Plus, all you have to do is click on the little dot to go to the hotel’s website.

Sites like AwardMapper

Although AwardMapper is a helpful site, it can’t possibly have every feature to make finding reward hotels easier for you.

Here are some alternatives to try if you’re not satisfied with the results on AwardMapper.

Hotel Hustle

Hotel Hustle grabs your attention as a tourist because it lets you set alerts. If a reward room is not available in your desired hotel, you can set a notification. Whenever there’s free space, the tool will alert you.

Plus, it has a user-friendly interface. When you search for a location, Hotel Hustle shows you the following things:

  • Hotels in the area
  • Cash price for a room per night
  • Alert button
  • Color-coding for different hotel chains

Some hotel rooms aren’t just covered by points. Additionally, you need to pay a nominal amount in cash. For such lodgings, Hotel Hustle shows the cash and points you need to book a room.

A slight difference between Hotel Hustle and AwardMapper is the lack of zoom feature in the former. If you zoom in or out, the search results don’t get detailed.

Although most people use the search bar anyway, this feature is useful for travelers who’re looking for a hotel in a certain part of the city.

In the free version, you can set up to five alerts per month. Meanwhile, the paid version costs $2.99 a month and allows you to set thirty alerts. The awards covered by Hotel Hustle include:

  • Club Carlson
  • World of Hyatt
  • Le Club Accor
  • Wyndham Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton Honors
  • IHG Rewards Club
  • Marriott Rewards

PEX+

Pex+ is a relatively newer tool but has plenty of awesome features. Along with hotels, it also lets you search for other reward items, such as apparel.

Pex+ logo

You can filter the search results on Pex+ by:

  • Location
  • Number of points
  • Amenities
  • Number of stars
  • Price
  • Parent chain

The best feature about this tool is that it connects to your loyalty program account. Therefore, it shows you the points available in your program wallet while browsing through the search results.

Pex+ shows results for the following programs:

  • Starwood Preferred Guest
  • IHG Rewards Club
  • Wyndham Rewards
  • Le Club Accor
  • World of Hyatt
  • Choice Privileges
  • Marriott Rewards
  • Club Carlson
  • Hilton Honors

Since Pex+ is still new, the developers are keen to improve it as per the users’ feedback.

If you find a bug or have any suggestions to make the tool better, leave them in the contact section of the tool’s website.

Pros and Cons of AwardMapper

Pros of AwardMapper

The pros of using Awardmapper include:

  • Simple and easy-to-use interface
  • Color-coding for hotel chains
  • Direct link to the hotel websites
  • Multiple ways to search for accommodation

Cons of AwardMapper

Despite being a great tool for finding reward hotels, AwardMappers lack in a few aspects.

  • Does not account for points or price changes during the holiday season
  • Does not allow you to set alerts

See Related: What is a Hacker Fare?

Improvements for AwardMapper

The current version of AwardMapper is pretty good, but it has a few shortcomings. Firstly, you cannot set alerts on the website. Alerts are a helpful way to stay notified of when there’s a room available in the hotel of your choice.

Most hotels allow you to cancel your booking up to 24 hours before checking in. Suppose you’ve booked another hotel because no rooms were free in the place you liked.

Thanks to the alerts feature, you’ll know immediately if there’s a free vacancy. Then, you can simply cancel your booking in the first hotel and get a new room that you originally liked.

Secondly, AwardMapper should tweak their ‘points per night’ feature because the data in these results is a bit disparate.

Hotel rooms

Here’s the thing: the tool does not differentiate between the top-tier Hilton rewards and the mid-tier ones. Moreover, it does the same with other hotel chains too.

Thus, you get disproportional results that are a bit complicated to work with. Instead, AwardMapper should categorize the hotels according to different ranges, such as Mid, High, and Budget.

Lastly, AwardMapper can do something similar to Booking.com by creating a brief list of revenue options for one region. In this way, travelers can compare dollar per point values for different hotels in the same locality.

See Related: Best Credit Cards for Churning Rewards Points

Final Words

Most of the budget for any vacation is spent on airfare and accommodation. But, you can work around this by looking for hotels that offer reward stays.

Owing to the loyalty programs, you can live in five-star hotels without spending a cent – provided you have thousands of points.

In this AwardMapper review, I discussed the usage of this tool and how it can help you find stunning places to stay without using cash. A few changes can definitely make AwardMapper even better.

However, even now, it’s quite a handy tool to find accommodation in an unfamiliar vacation spot.

Related Reviews

  • Dollar Flight Club Review
  • Miles App Review
  • Priority Pass Review
  • Lounge Pass Review
  • Scott’s Cheap Flights Review

Related Resources

  • How to Plan a Month Long Vacation
  • Best Travel Credit Cards to Use
  • Where Should You Travel for Your Birthday
  • Best Vacation Ideas for a Group of Friends

Via Travelers is a modern travel blog providing the best tips, hacks, and itineraries to ensure you have an amazing adventure.

Follow Via Travelers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Travel Booking Reviews

Primary Sidebar

Join the Community

Want to travel the world? Join our community of over 25,000 readers and learn how we travel the world for less than $1,000.
    Built with ConvertKit

    Follow Us

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Featured Reviews

    Scott’s Cheap Flights Review

    Thrifty Traveler Review

    Award Wallet Review

    Dollar Flight Club Review

    GetYourGuide vs Viator

    Travel Guides

    Things to do in Amsterdam

    Things to do in Minneapolis

    Things to do in Northern California

    Vacation Ideas

    67+ Beautiful Destination Ideas

    Vacations with Minimal Walking

    Plan a Month-Long Vacation

    Group Vacation Ideas

    Where to Travel For Your Birthday

    Trip Guides

    Asia

    Australia

    Europe

    North America

    South America

    Recent Posts

    • Outdoorsy Review 2021: Is It Worth It?
    • 12 Best Breweries in Duluth, Minnesota
    • Delta Airlines Review 2021: Is This The Best Airline?
    • 10 Best Travel Yoga Mats for Dedicated Yogis
    • 14 Best Day Trips from Des Moines

    ViaTravelers.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

    All posts may contain affiliate links.

    Copyright © 2021 · Via Travelers. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy