Rove Loyalty Eligible Stays: The Multi Dip Hack You Need for Hotels

Booking hotels has always come with a frustrating trade-off: book directly to get your elite perks and points, or book via an OTA (like SmartBuy or MakeMyTrip) to save money but lose your status benefits. Rove has ended that dilemma with Loyalty Eligible stays.

Here is why Rove can become an essential tool for you!

1. What is Rove?

Rove is a travel booking platform that lets you earn and redeem Rove Miles on flights and hotels. Think of it as a bridge between an OTA and a direct booking. It allows you to earn high reward multipliers—often beating super-premium credit cards for hotels — I have seen anywhere between 10X to 40X on different hotels!

Rove miles transfer 1:1 to multiple airlines (Air France, Air India, Aeromexico Rewards, Cathay, Etihad, Avios, Hainan, Lufthansa, Vietnam Airlines, Thai, Turkish), and 1.5:1 to Accor.

Rove needs an American phone number for access - you can either get a virtual US number, or ask your friend for an OTP - the sessions last for months 🙂

2. Why Rove is Useful for Indian Travelers

Rove offers high-value utility that complements the Indian credit card landscape perfectly:

• Premium Rewards Without the Premium Price Tag: Not everyone wants to pay high fees or meets the strict income eligibility for super-premium cards like the HDFC Infinia or HSBC Premier. Rove is a powerful alternative, allowing you to earn high reward multipliers purely on your travel spend
• Access to Hard-to-Reach Loyalty Programs: Earning miles for Lufthansa Miles & More or Cathay Pacific is notoriously difficult with standard Indian credit cards. Rove provides a direct pathway to these programs, unlocking valuable redemption sweet spots to Europe and North America. It also offers yet another avenue to earn Accor points that are ever so valuable to an Indian consumer
• The Ability to "Triple Dip": Rove is one of the rare platforms that facilitates the "Multi-Dip" strategy (detailed below). It allows you to stack platform rewards on top of your existing credit card points and hotel status benefits, ensuring you leave no value on the table.

3. Loyalty Eligible Stays: How It Works

"Loyalty Eligible" is a new feature on Rove that ensures your booking is treated exactly like a direct booking by the hotel.

• No Compromises: The payment happens directly to the hotel - you still earn hotel points, Elite Night Credits, and enjoy status benefits like room upgrades, late checkout, and free breakfast – all while earning additional Rove miles!
• Broad Availability: Works with major chains popular in India and abroad, including Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, Accor, and Wyndham.
• Flexible Payment: You can pay via credit card or redeem Rove Miles. Even when redeeming miles, the hotel treats it as a cash booking, so you still earn hotel points.

4. The "Multi-Dip" Opportunity

This is where the math gets exciting. By booking a Loyalty Eligible stay, you are effectively earning three different types of rewards on a single transaction:

1. Dip 1 (Rove Miles): Earn Rove Miles on the booking (currently up to 10x per $1 spent) – this is roughly 11% in itself
2. Dip 2 (Hotel Points): Earn points directly with the hotel loyalty program (e.g., Accor points) just as if you booked via the hotel app.
3. Dip 3 (Credit Card Points): Earn points on your Indian travel credit card (e.g., Axis Atlas or HDFC Marriott Bonvoy) for the purchase.
4. Dip 4 (Hotel Offers): Hotel chains often have offers that give 2X, 3X points for revenue stays - this is a perfect opportunity to dip even more!

Now for the cherry on top! You are allowed to redeem Rove miles for these bookings! - I have seen rates of 1.5 cents per mile - which is great value to begin with. Even if you choose to redeem Rove Miles, these are considered cash bookings by the hotel, so you’ll still be able to earn hotel points on these stays!

5. End to End example

See a screenshot for Sofitel BKC from Rove.

See the calculations below

Do note that in this calculation: We earn the Accor status and reward points whether we choose to pay by card or redeem miles! Rove has a hotel MCC, but forex charges will apply.

At the time of writing, Accor is offering a 2X offer on APAC stays; this should apply on top of this too! This also plays very well with the Accor Platinum strategy - as this counts as a revenue booking!