Discover planner points, an overlooked category of hotel rewards you can earn just for hosting an event, from a wedding or family reunion to a business conference, plus how to read and negotiate a hotel contract so you never leave points on the table.

Go behind the scenes of the award search tool Seats.aero with head of community Keith Van, and find out what millions of award searches reveal about how people travel, why cached and phantom availability trip so many people up, and the lesser-known features even power users miss.

Award travel changed significantly in 2025—and those changes are already reshaping how points and miles work in the real world. In part two of our Year in Review, we break down the biggest shifts in airline loyalty programs, dynamic pricing, and award access, and explain what these changes mean for your points strategy heading into 2026.