Quick Tips: How to search for hotels when using free night award certificates

Editor’s note: This is a regular post, updated regularly with new information and specials.

Many hotel loyalty programs have switched to variable rates, making it difficult to know how many points you’ll need for each hotel night on your next vacation.

Will your free night certificate be enough? Or will you be priced out, with hotels requiring more points than the value of your free night certificate?

Here’s how to search for hotel accommodations with free night certificates by sorting hotels that match the value of your free night award.

Hilton Honors

You can use Hilton free night awards any night of the week (upwards over the previous weekend’s limit) at almost any Hilton property. (A list of exclusions exists.) Although you must redeem these awards by phone, you should still search for availability online first, making sure the hotel you want has standard rooms available for the night you want.

Here’s a search using Hilton Honors points in Honolulu.

Next to the points value, look for the words “standard room reward.” You need standard room availability to redeem your free Hilton award night. Once you’ve found a place you like, call the Hilton at 800-446-6677.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy may be the most complicated program on this list to use free night certificates. It issues free nightly certificates with many values.

If you search for a hotel in Seattle, the results are excellent. Below the room and guest numbers, click “All Filters.”

From here, you can filter hotels by specific points bands. Choose the band that matches the highest value of your free night award.

If you are using a 35,000 point certificate, select the 0-40,000 point option. Now, you will have a manageable list of hotels to consider.

Related: How to redeem a Marriott Bonvoy 35,000-point certificate

Keep in mind that this will show hotels that charge up to 40,000 points — slightly more than your free night is worth. You can only choose hotels that cover your free full night award. Or, you can choose hotels that cost up to 15,000 points in addition to your free night value — topping up the award with your Marriott points.

See this for some booking inspiration:

• 7 great uses for Marriott 35,000-point free night certificates
• 13 ways to redeem a free Marriott 50K reward
• 8 places to maximize your Marriott night certificate for 85,000 points

World of Hyatt

Start your search after logging into your World of Hyatt account. Click on “Rewards” to see any free nights available on your account.

You can search for a location (but not specific dates) from here.

This search for hotels in San Francisco returns many results. Clicking on “Filters” at the top right allows you to choose which categories of hotels you want to see. If you have free nights for Categories 1-4 (such as an annual award offered by the World of Hyatt Credit Card), select only hotel Categories 1-4.

Related: Incredible World of Hyatt credit card offer: Get 5 free nights with this best bonus ever

Now, you have a manageable list of which properties match your free nightly award value.

This does not reflect availability on specific days — which hotels may be active. Five hotels are eligible for a free night award for Tiers 1-4, so you can check availability at any hotel of your choice.

Related: How to earn, use and make the most of your free Hyatt night certificates

Bottom line

You may see more results for your intended travel dates when searching for hotels. Unfortunately, not all of these hotels can be booked with your free night rewards.

Understanding how to limit your search results to hotels that match the value of your free night certificate makes booking easier. It provides practical options and simplifies the decision process, ensuring that you can always redeem those important certificates.