Universal airline miles program Rove Miles launched its platform with leading airlines, hotel partners, and over 7,000 merchants. And Rove was created from the ground up to help everyone take advantage of the discounts international loyalty programs provide, something traditionally known as travel hacking, which are up to 90% off retail prices. The company’s platform offers earning rates of up to 25 miles per dollar spent and redemption value of up to 10 cents per mile, while typical rewards points are worth just 1 cent each.
Value Proposition: Over the last few decades, airline loyalty programs have forced travelers into rigid ecosystems, locking them into a single airline’s network with limited flexibility. And earning miles often requires flying exclusively with one carrier or qualifying for credit cards with loyalty program transfer partners, making it difficult for most to accumulate meaningful rewards.
Free flights and stays are generally out of reach with traditional loyalty and rewards programs unless you are a frequent flyer or have a top FICO score and can pay up to $500 in annual fees. Even when you finally earn enough points or miles, fluctuating redemption values, navigating multiple programs to search for deals, and learning how/where to transfer points often make it nearly impossible to use them.
Rove also breaks the barriers of traditional loyalty programs by offering a universal, flexible rewards system that works across multiple airlines, hotels, and travel experiences. Rather than being locked into a single program’s ecosystem, travelers can redeem miles across over 60 airlines and with discounted rates on its network of hotels.
Rove also launched two earning methods, with more coming soon: online shopping and hotel bookings. And users can now earn miles on everyday shopping at over 7,000 merchants through the Rove Shopping extension for Google Chrome or by booking hotels on the Rove Miles platform, which provides top earning rates at hundreds of thousands of properties. A $1,000 total hotel stay booked through Rove can earn enough miles to fly round-trip to Europe from the US. And if the hotel booking is non-refundable, the miles will be earned instantly and can be used towards booking a flight to the hotel or adding free nights to your stay.
The program’s initial partners include:
— Air France-KLM Flying Blue
— Air India Maharaja Club
— Accor Live Limitless
— Aeromexico Rewards
— Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
— Etihad Guest
— Finnair Plus
— Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
— Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles
— Qatar Airways Privilege Club
— Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
— Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
— More major airline programs coming soon
Rove’s partners across the three airline alliances of SkyTeam, oneworld, and Star Alliance enable discounted redemption rates across almost every major airline, including Delta, United, American, JetBlue, etc. And Rove Miles can be redeemed in its unique travel portal, which displays top deals across multiple loyalty programs and then assists you in the transfer and booking process.
Rove’s founders: Rove was founded by Max Morganroth and Arhan Chhabra, two former founders and travel hackers who have used points to book $400,000+ in business/first class flights and hotels for practically nothing. ANd they created Rove to help others experience the world without the hassle of navigating multiple programs and signing up for dozens of credit cards. They have since raised funding from Y Combinator and General Catalyst as they’ve built their platform and partnership network.
Future plans: Later this year, the company also plans to launch an AI travel agent to help users find the best deals across their travel partners as well as additional earning methods including partner rewards programs, a shopping portal, dining, private jets, and card-linked offers.
KEY QUOTE:
“Our goal is to make earning and redeeming miles as effortless as possible. With Rove, everyday expenses move you closer towards your next trip. We want to remove the barriers to earning and spending miles to ensure everyone can ‘travel hack’ their way to a new continent for the first time.”
Max Morganroth, CEO and Co-Founder of Rove
