Never heard of Rove? You're not alone. This fast-growing rewards platform debuted earlier this year, allowing you to earn transferrable points when booking flights and hotels through its travel portal or shopping online.
Unlike traditional bank-backed programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, Rove isn’t tied to a credit card. It's an innovative program and a unique way to earn valuable points to transfer to a dozen different airlines like Air France/KLM Flying Blue or Cathay Pacific and even one hotel chain, Accor. So what's the catch?
Well, Rove is no different than using any other online travel agency (OTA): Not only can it be an (often burdensome) intermediary in your booking if plans change or things go wrong, but you'll typically sacrifice earning any elite benefits or points with your favorite hotel chain. But Rove is trying to solve that second problem.
As of Tuesday, you can now book select “Loyalty Eligible” hotel rates at tens of thousands of properties among the big (and even not so big) chains through Rove, earning hotel points, elite night credits, and enjoying any elite benefits in addition to the Rove miles you'd normally earn … plus the points for your credit card spend. You may not see these new rates at each and every property – and when you do, you won't earn as many Rove Miles as normal – but it solves the headache that forces many travelers to steer clear of platforms like Rove.
With some price shopping, this could potentially make Rove your first stop the next time you go to book a hotel. Read on for everything you need to know about Rove Miles and this exciting update.
How Rove Works
Before we get into the news of the week, here’s the quick rundown on Rove.
Rove allows you to earn transferrable points when booking flights or hotels through the Rove travel portal. Much like Rakuten, you can also earn Rove Miles for shopping online through Rove's shopping portal at thousands of popular merchants.
Exactly how many points you can earn varies: I've seen some hotels offer as high as 48x points and up to 10x for flights. That's a pretty solid return on your travel spending. Plus, you'll earn additional points when making those purchases with a credit card – flights and hotels both code as travel, making cards like the *csp* or the *capital one venture card* a solid choice for your spending.
To get started, you'll need to sign up for a free Rove account – simply enter your phone number and you'll be texted a six-digit code to sign up (and sign in). Once you're in, you can complete the rest of your profile by entering your name, email address, country of residence, and date of birth.
From there, you can start searching and booking hotels and flights, as well as using the Rove shopping portal for online purchases.
But Rove’s biggest advantage might be how many miles you can earn:
- Hotels: Earn up to 25x Rove Miles (and sometimes even higher) per dollar spent
- Flights: Earn up to 10x Rove Miles per dollar spent (including taxes and fees)
- Shopping: Earning rates vary by merchant
And here’s something unique: Rove credits your miles instantly after a nonrefundable hotel booking. That means you can book a hotel now, get your miles immediately, and transfer them to an airline to book a flight the same day. No other program does that so quickly.
After you've earned Rove Miles – you'll get 500 just for signing up through the referral link above – you can redeem them in a couple of ways. You can use them to book travel travel directly within the Rove portal (sometimes at a great value) or by transferring them to Rove's growing list of airline and hotel partners for an award redemption.
This setup makes Rove easier, faster, and (in some cases) more valuable than traditional transferable currencies, as you don’t even need a credit card to earn miles.
Rove’s List of Transfer Partners
One of Rove’s biggest selling points is its list of transfer partners, which currently includes nearly a dozen major airlines and one hotel program:
| Partner | Type | Transfer Ratio | Transfer Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air India Maharaja Club | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Accor Live Limitless (ALL) | Hotel | 1.5:1 | Instant |
| Aeromexico Rewards | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Etihad Guest | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Finnair Plus | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
This small – but mighty – lineup opens up some great sweet spots in the world of points and miles, including a few standouts you won't find anywhere else. From short domestic United flights (under 600 miles in distance) booked via Air India for just 3,500 miles to standbys like Flying Blue and Avios awards on European and Middle Eastern carriers, there's a lot to love here.
Considering both Qatar and Finnair Avios can be combined with all the other programs that use them (including Iberia), a single ~$250 hotel booking through Rove (at 25x) could earn you enough miles to book a one-way ticket between Madrid (MAD) and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD).
Other programs, like Air France/KLM Flying Blue, offer one of the best workarounds to save big on Delta flights domestically, as well as solid value for flights to Europe in economy or business class. If you take advantage of the current 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue (expires Oct. 22) or Finnair (expires Dec. 31), you can stretch your miles even further.
Rove transfers start at 1,000 miles, with the ability to transfer additional miles in increments of 100. That ability to fine-tune your transfers is an advantage Rove shares with only Capital One and Wells Fargo.
New: Stack Your Hotel Stays with Loyalty Eligible Rates
Until now, booking hotels through Rove worked much like any other third-party sites: Earning those transferrable Rove Miles meant foregoing hotel points or elite credits with your favorite chain.
For free agents, that's not a bad trade-off: The value of those transferrable miles could easily outweigh. But road warriors accustomed to earning hotel points and elite status were unlikely to find that juice worth the squeeze. Rove’s new Loyalty Eligible option effectively ends that compromise.
You can book through Rove, still earn your hotel points and elite nights, and earn flexible Rove Miles that can be transferred to your choice of airline program. At launch, this new option is available at tens of thousands of properties across Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Accor, IHG, Wyndham, Best Western, and Choice Hotels. A Rove representative says the program plans to expand to additional hotel chains in the future.
The one tradeoff with this new option is that you won't earn as many Rove Miles by selecting a Loyalty Eligible stay: Normally, it'll be capped at 5x miles per dollar instead of the 25x or more bonuses you may see elsewhere. But to celebrate this launch, Rove is offering double Rove Miles on all Loyalty Eligible stays booked by Oct. 31, 2025: 10x Rove Miles per dollar spent, plus any hotel points and credit card rewards you’d normally earn.
That’s a big deal for travelers who love stacking rewards – especially those who don’t have (or want) another travel credit card.
“We’re eliminating outdated barriers in the travel rewards world,” Arhan Chhabra, cofounder and president of Rove, said in a statement. “For the first time ever, travelers don’t have to choose between flexibility and loyalty; they can have both.”
When available, these rates will appear right alongside standard listings in Rove’s hotel search results. You can even toggle on a filter to only show “loyalty eligible” hotel options and drill down further by only searching for the programs you care about.
By choosing the Loyalty Eligible option and entering your corresponding hotel loyalty number at the time of booking, your reservation will automatically sync with your hotel loyalty account, unlocking all the usual perks like elite night credits and on-property benefits, as well as the ability to earn hotel points in addition to Rove Miles.
One important reminder: You'll want to do a bit of price comparison before you book. As alluring as the ability to earn transferrable miles and hotel points may be, it's important to make sure you're paying a fair rate. We've found there's often a pricing discrepancy when booking hotels – specifically through OTAs, like Rove – so it could pay to look around first.
Bottom Line
With big earning potential, a roster of solid transfer partners, and instant miles posting, Rove is quickly carving out a niche in the world of online travel booking. Plus, Rove’s latest news makes it possible to earn hotel loyalty points, elite credits, and flexible Rove Miles all from one booking – something no other site currently offers.
Just remember: As with any OTA, always compare prices directly to make sure you’re not paying extra for those points. But if the price matches, Rove’s earning potential is hard to beat.
Featured image courtesy of Rove
