Points Pursuit: Ask yourself these 5 questions to decide to use Rocketmiles or book with the hotel directly

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When booking your next hotel stay, consider Rocketmiles — a platform that offers thousands of airline miles per night simply by booking through them.

Rocketmiles is renowned for its generosity in awarding airline miles for your hotel reservation, making it a compelling alternative to booking with your hotel directly. More than anything, Rocketmiles can supercharge your travel rewards to get you enough airline miles for a dream vacation.

There are pros and cons to the site, however. Here’s how to decide if it’s a good option for your trip.

What is Rocketmiles?

Rocketmiles is an online travel agency that allows you to earn rewards other than hotel points for your hotel stay. It partners with 31 loyalty programs, most of which are airlines, though you’ll also find programs like Amtrak, Uber and Amazon.

The upside of Rocketmiles is astonishing. At select hotels, you can receive up to 10,000 airline miles per night (and sometimes even more). If you’re planning to pay cash for a hotel stay, Rocketmiles should be on your radar.

Still, there are situations where you should not use Rocketmiles. Ask yourself the following five questions to decide whether you should book with the hotel or via Rocketmiles.

1. Are prices competitive?

Again, Rocketmiles typically can’t offer a price as low as you’ll find when booking direct. Hotels often have member-exclusive pricing that you can’t find elsewhere.

Here’s an example. The InterContinental Miami charges $369 per night (plus a $37.29 fee at check-in) when you book directly.

Rocketmiles, on the other hand, charges $386.46 (plus a $37.29 fee at check-in). That’s $17.46 extra. But the extra money can easily be worth the bonus rewards you’ll accrue through Rocketmiles.

2. Do you value airline miles more than hotel points?

To be clear, you generally cannot earn hotel points in addition to rewards with Rocketmiles.

Rocketmiles is primarily focused on forfeiting hotel points for airline miles. Generally speaking, airline miles areworth more than hotel points. That’s because airline miles generally offer greater flexibility in redemption options, including flights with higher cash values, international travel and partner airline alliances, compared to the more limited redemption opportunities often associated with hotel points.

But the subjective value you place on them might be different. Road warriors who rarely find themselves on a plane will likely prefer to earn hotel points.

3. Does your hotel have a good Rocketmiles return rate?

To make things slightly confusing, the number of miles you earn varies based on three things.

These variables can alter the amount of rewards you earn to the tune of many thousands of miles. For example, a four-night stay in November 2024 will net you 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles when staying with the Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai.

Meanwhile, the same dates at the Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre would earn just 18,000 miles even though the nightly rate is higher. A 22,000-mile difference could be enough to consider changing hotels.

Or, if Rocketmiles just doesn’t offer many rewards for the hotel you want, you may elect to book directly and earn hotel points.

4. Do you have (or want) hotel elite status?

To earn hotel elite status, hotels require you to earn “elite night credits.” You earn these by completing a specific number of nights at a hotel chain each year (you can also earn status by holding the right hotel credit card).

However, you generally won’t earn elite night credits when you book your stay through an online travel agency such as Orbitz, Expedia or Rocketmiles. In other words, the nights you stay won’t count toward elite status.

Perhaps even more significantly, those with elite status will not get any of their elite benefits when booking through an online travel agency like Rocketmiles. That includes perks like free breakfast, room upgrades when available, late checkout and more.

If elite status is on your to-do list, you’ll have to decide whether the bonus airline miles you earn are worth losing out on inching closer to status.

5. Does the hotel participate in a credit card hotel collection?

Several credit cards offer enhanced benefits at a curated collection of hotels worldwide. You can get elite-like benefits such as free breakfast, statement credits and more.

Perhaps the most popular hotel collection is American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts — offered exclusively to those who hold a flavor of The Platinum Card? from American Express. At properties in this collection, you’ll get free breakfast for two, room upgrades when available, a $100 experience credit (food and beverage, spa, etc.), guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout and complimentary Wi-Fi.

If you can find the hotel you’re planning to book through one of your credit card’s hotel programs, you may choose this route instead of earning rewards through Rocketmiles. Benefits like these can amount to hundreds of dollars of perks during your stay.

Bottom line

Rocketmiles can award you thousands of airline miles for that hotel stay you were planning to purchase anyway.

Just note that you generally won’t earn hotel points or elite night credits for your stay. And if you’ve already got elite status with a hotel chain, don’t expect to reap any of those benefits on reservations booked through Rocketmiles. If you’re booking a boutique hotel that doesn’t have a loyalty program, Rocketmiles is likely a no-brainer. But if you’re booking a property belonging to a popular loyalty program, you’ll have to decide if you value airline miles over hotel points and elite status.

Click here to see rates and fees of The Platinum Card from American Express.