How I used Rove Miles to earn 21,746 miles on a two-night stay in a New York City hotel
Recently, I needed to book a two-night stay in New York City, and, as often happens in the fall, no matter what I did while exploring my options, the price wasn’t particularly good.
That means now is a great time to try something new and earn over 20,000 miles while booking hotels. That’s enough to fly from my home airport in Houston all the way to Paris if booked strategically.
Since I couldn’t get a good deal at my usual place, I tried something new: booking through Rove Miles to test its attractive mileage earning rates.
RELATED: Earn up to 45 miles per $1 spent: Hot hotel deals you can book now with Rove Miles
If you’re not familiar yet, Rove Miles is a newer program that allows you to earn miles for traveling and shopping. You can then redeem those miles for travel expenses through the Rove Miles platform, or transfer them to a small but interesting selection of airline transfer partners, including some of my favorites (like Air France-KLM Flying Blue), allowing you to get to destinations like Paris with just 18,800 miles (plus taxes and fees).
You can read all about Rove Miles and exactly how it works here, but I wanted to put it to the test to see how well it works in practice.
Book your hotel with Rove Miles and earn 28 miles for every $1 you spend
When searching for hotels in New York using Rove Miles, my first observation was that most of the options presented were not places I had stayed before. At least for me, they’re mostly outside of my typical list of go-to places for big brands in World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, and other similar programs.
There are some exceptions though – you can even earn hotel loyalty benefits on stays at select hotel chains booked through Rove Miles.
To discover these options more easily, simply open the options under “Loyalty Eligibility” as shown in the lower left part of the image below.
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But considering the price, hotel quality, and award miles earned, the best deals overall of my trip were at some of the non-chain hotels.
During my search, I also discovered that you really have to be careful when booking hotel stays using Rove Miles, as you will only get a higher mileage payout rate if you book hotel stays using Rove Miles. significantly Nightly rates are higher.
For example, as shown below, for one particular property, I could pay about $356 per night and earn 28 miles per $1 spent. Or, I could pay $941 per night and earn 38 miles per $1 spent at the same hotel at a higher rate.
The higher rate also includes breakfast, but it’s safe to assume I could find a hearty meal for a much lower premium than the nearly $600 a night, earning an extra 10 miles per dollar spent.
In the end, I booked the breakfast-free option, which cost me about $356 per night (including tax) and earned me 28 miles per $1 spent. The total mileage for the two-night stay is 21,746 miles.
Please note that I owed some tax directly to the hotel during my stay, which Rove Miles stated at the time of booking was $66.56. In fact, the rates and fees are exactly this amount.
It’s also worth noting that the price charged through Rove Miles was within a few dollars of what I would have booked directly with the hotel that day.
Published miles soon Within a day or two after check-in. If I had wanted them earlier, I could have gotten them instantly with no refunds when I pre-ordered. I would like more flexibility so my rate is refundable up to four days before check-in.
How was my stay at the hotel I booked through Rove Miles?
As for the accommodation itself, check-in at the Life Hotel New York in the city’s NoMad neighborhood was smooth, which was a relief when booking through a third-party website.
It’s certainly fun to live in this building, which, as the name suggests, used to be where Life magazine was produced. This history is evident throughout the building—from the iconic framed Life magazine cover to related artwork and even physical nods to the building’s past, such as a gold camera on display.
The lobby has a classic and dignified early-to-mid-century vibe that harkens back to the heyday of print magazine journalism and is both nostalgic and important.
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Summer Hull/Points Specialist
Not surprisingly given the history of the building, it feels old, the elevators are smaller and slower, and the rooms are compact. To be honest, this isn’t my all-time favorite stay in New York City, but it was good enough for a quick two-night trip.
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Summer Hull/Points Specialist
bottom line
For the two nights I needed in New York, booking through Rove Miles netted me 21,746 miles, which conservatively estimated were worth over $325, which is a pretty hefty discount on an $843 stay. All that’s left to do is transfer those Rove miles to a transfer partner like Flying Blue and book a flight to Paris for just 18,800 miles (plus taxes and fees).
All mechanisms for booking and receiving award miles through Rove Miles work exactly as promised. While it remains to be seen whether I’ll need to stay at that hotel again, I have no doubt that if the earning rate stays this high, it won’t be the last time I book travel through Rove Miles.
If you want to try Rove Miles for yourself, join through this link to earn 1,000 bonus miles.
