Innovative POINT.ME Award Search Tool Launches (And A New Chapter For PointsPros)

Today is an exciting day in the miles and points world, as we see the launch of point.me, which I think is the most useful award search tool to date. The ability to redeem points into consumers' hands is something we have never seen before.

I have a stake in the company, and it marks a new beginning for PointsPros, the award booking, both of which I am excited about.

What is point.me?

The purpose of point.me is best explained in an example. Geeky people make a full time hobby out of learning how to maximize their rewards. Some people redeem their points for gift cards, but in many cases they get less than a cent of value per point.

We try to guide our friends and family in the right direction, so you could transfer your Amex points to British Airways Executive Club and redeem for travel on American at a great rate.

We've seen concierge services that allow you to pay a fee to have a human help you redeem your points. We have never seen an efficient, automated search tool that can walk someone through the whole process. That's where point.me comes in.

• You can run a single search, and point.me will search award availability with 30+ loyalty programs and 100+ airlines
• Results will be sorted not only by the number of points required, but can also be sorted based on expert recommendations (and real expert recommendations, not “expert” recommendations or recommendations from sponsors)
• If you have transferable points currencies (Amex, Capital One, Chase Citi, etc.), point.me will walk you through the process of transferring points and booking your ticket

This makes it possible for anyone with points to plan their dream trip even if they don't have the knowledge.

I will write a separate article about how to use point.me. That point.me isn't perfect yet. There are still some improvements to be made, but I think it's past a beta phase. There will eventually be a multi-day search option, more partners will be supported, and search speeds will be improved.

What makes point.me special

In theory, anyone could hire a bunch of engineers, spend millions of dollars trying to develop an award search tool, and hope for good results, with not much to show for it. What matters more than anything is having actual experts behind this who live and breathe points, and that's where other similar endeavors have fallen short.

The amount of effort that has gone into making these results as useful and valuable as possible, rather than just trying to engineer something that's good enough, is behind this. If you sort results based on my points valuations and program rankings, you'll find that the program that is willing to write the biggest check is more important than my points valuations.

My friend Adam is behind point.me, as is our very own Tiffany. They both have experience with managing award booking services. Dozens of miles and points nerds have been providing input to create the best product possible.

How much does point.me cost? (try it for free!)

There are a number of membership options for point.me.

• There’s the point.me starter pass ($5), offering unlimited searches for 24 hours
• There’s the point.me standard plan ($12 per month or $129 per year), offering unlimited searches and more
• There’s the point.me premium plan ($269 per year), offering a 10% discount on all concierge services, a personalized miles & points “checkup” annually, and five starter passes to gift friends and family

A personalized concierge service is available through point.me for those who want a human touch. It costs $200 per person per booking, and can be used for everything from mileage run planning to credit card consultation.

If you register with the promotion code OMAAT, you will get a complimentary 24 hour pass. Go to the section that says "I have a code!" and click on it. If you're a super advanced miles and points person, give it a try and let us know what you think.

This is also a new era for PointsPros

In high school, I started Points Pros, an award consulting service where we helped people redeem their points. Thanks to some awesome, passionate colleagues, we've helped people redeem over a billion points. I was able to take a more hands-off role because of their skill.

The launch of point.me is an exciting new chapter for Points Pros. The entire Points Pros team is working with point.me, and will provide award concierge help, but will also provide their expertise to make the award search tool as good as possible. I'm excited to help build point.me into a great award search tool.

I'm proud of how far PointsPros has come, as well as for all of the people who have used it over the years. This isn't the end, but an exciting continuation, as far as I'm concerned.

Bottom line

Today is the official launch of point.me, a site that helps people redeem their miles. The self-serve award search tool is unlike anything that has been on the market before. The award search tool walks you through the process of actually booking your ticket, even if you don't see award availability.

This is a game-changer for those who want to get value from their points, but don't know how, and for those who spend hours a week searching award availability for fun. This walks you through the redemption process and uses an unbiased methodology to make recommendations.

You can get a free pass to point.me if you register with the promotion code omaat. If you are a miles and points super user, you might want to have a friend or family member give point.me a try so that they can see all the possibilities with their rewards points.