How Roame Travel Can Help Finding Flights

Jan 30, 2026

Tim Qin, founder of Roame.Travel and an engineer-turned-entrepreneur who built real-time award and hotel points search tools. They trace how Roame finds rare award space and sends alerts that caught ANA First Class. Short digs into LifeMiles booking quirks, Iberia’s 40% off award promo, hotel points search, product limits like missing BA and Cathay, and upcoming Roame features.

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ANECDOTE

Roame Alert Caught Rare ANA First Class

A community member used a Roame alert to book ANA First Class for 108,000 Avianca miles when no other tool alerted him.
Tim noted Roame covers LifeMiles, which many other tools don't, enabling that booking.

ANECDOTE

Singapore Suites Booked Despite Visa Issues

Tim booked Singapore Airlines Suites using a Roame alert and kept a long-haul flight even after a visa denial delayed a wedding trip.
He valued the experience highly and said it justified the miles spent.

ADVICE

Monitor Hotel Points Inventory

Use Roame's hotel tool for Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton to view maps and calendar availability by room type.
Sign up for Roame hotel alerts or request tips when major properties release inventory like Park Hyatt Tokyo.

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Episode 157 of the Award Travel 101 podcast features Angie Sparks in conversation with Tim Qin, founder of the award search tool Roame.Travel. The episode opens with a timely highlight from the Award Travel 101 community, where a member used a Roame alert to snag ANA First Class for 108,000 Avianca miles—award space that no other search tool caught. Angie then runs through the latest news, including Iberia’s 40% off award promotion (making Europe reachable for as few as 9,600 Avios), elevated welcome offers on IHG credit cards, and a brief mention of the newly announced (and somewhat confusing) Bilt 2.0 redemption options.

In the “bonuses and updates” segment, Angie shares recent card application adventures in her household, including abandoning a complicated Bilt Palladium application and dealing with a frozen credit report on a Wells Fargo Autograph Journey application. She also outlines her current strategy to earn a Hilton Free Night Certificate and extra United miles by timing large insurance payments. On the travel front, Angie discusses the challenge of sorting through conflicting information on Swiss train passes, while Tim checks in with his own updates.

The main topic dives deep into Roame.Travel, with Tim explaining what inspired him to build the tool, how its vision has evolved, and what differentiates it in an increasingly crowded award search space. They discuss how Roame can be especially powerful for casual users through alerts and streamlined searches, upcoming enhancements, and current limitations—such as airlines the tool doesn’t yet support, including British Airways and Cathay Pacific. The conversation gives listeners a clear sense of where Roame fits into the award travel ecosystem and how to get the most value out of it.

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