Rocketmiles Review: The Best Way to Earn Air Miles?

Smart travelers know you can earn rewards on every cent you spend when booking a trip. The challenge is that there are so many different reward schemes. Your earned points end up distributed between different programs, and it can take a long time to earn real benefits.

Rocketmiles entered the market in 2012 to target this problem. This rewards program lets you book accommodation in thousands of hotels. Then, you can select where you want to send the points you’ve earned. Send them to American Airlines and many other major airlines, to Amazon, or even to Uber.

This scheme offers thousands of points for a single night’s stay, while other programs may only offer hundreds. But does Rocketmiles really offer a better deal than other reward programs?

I'll look at exactly how the rewards program works. I'll bring you the pros and cons, and when you should and shouldn’t use Rocketmiles for a hotel booking.

What Is Rocketmiles?

Rocketmiles is an online travel agency rewards program. It earns you points when you book accommodation in one of their partner hotels. You can then send those points to your favorite travel points program.

Rocketmiles' big advantage is the number of miles that they offer for a booking. The program promises between 1,000 and 10,000 points for a single-night stay. This means that you can earn a significant number of points on your next stay.

How Does Rocketmiles Work?

When you’re making your next hotel booking, you can search for hotels on the Rocketmiles website. Alongside the cost of the booking, Rocketmiles will show you the number of points that you’ll earn.

You can also search for accommodation through Booking.com and earn loyalty points with Rocketmiles. Just provide your account ID code during checkout.

The number of points you can earn depends on where you want to send your points. You can compare the number of points you’ll get on the website. For example, a night in an Italian hotel might earn you 4,000 points with the American Airlines AAdvantage program. That same hotel might only earn you 3,000 points with the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

Once you’ve chosen where you want to stay and where you want to send your points, book your accommodation through Rocketmiles. Your points will be posted to your chosen rewards program within 2 weeks of your stay.

Rocketmiles offers a minimum of 1,000 points for a single-night stay. But the points offered do not always scale. For example, you may be offered 2,000 points if you stay in a hotel for 1 night, and only 2,500 for a 4-night stay.

If you’re looking to earn points quickly with Rocketmiles, you need to be flexible with where you stay. Some hotels will get you more points than others. You can also change your hotel mid-trip to maximize your points-earning potential.

Who Are Rocketmiles’ Partners?

Rocketmiles works with more than 400,000 properties worldwide, so there are plenty of options to choose from. You can currently post your points to a variety of reward schemes.

Major American airlines working with Rocketmiles include American Airlines, Southwest, United, and Alaska Airlines. International airlines include LATAM, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, and more.

You can also convert your points into Amazon gift cards, Sony Rewards, and Uber miles.

What Are People Saying?

If you read online reviews of Rocketmiles, you’ll see a lot of hype about the number of points that you can earn with the program. But you’ll also see complaints about how slowly points are handed out. You might also find that customer service isn’t super helpful.

Rocketmiles only has 2 stars on TrustPilot. That's out of a total of 301 reviews. Most of the complaints are related to long waits for miles to be posted to chosen reward schemes. While Rocketmiles says that the average posting time is within 2 weeks, customers report waiting between 4 to 6 months.

Critics also claim that when they contacted customer service, they received generic responses. For example, Rocketmiles said that points would be posted within 2 weeks, even though the customer had already been waiting months.

Some customers were able to actually speak to a member of the Rocketmiles team. In these cases, their issues were quickly resolved.

A small number of customers also said that the booking they made through the Rocketmiles website was not confirmed. As a result, they had issues when they arrived at their accommodation. However, these were among the more isolated incidents.

What Are the Benefits?

Rocketmiles offers two main benefits for travelers who want to maximize the rewards they earn from their travel spending.

The first is that you can direct all your accommodation bookings toward your favorite reward scheme. This gives you more accommodation options as you can book hotels outside your airline’s network, which is often limited.

The second benefit is that you can earn a lot of points with Rocketmiles. You’ll get thousands of points for a single night stay in a hotel, rather than the hundreds that you would expect from most schemes.

What Are the Drawbacks?

The points that you earn with Rocketmiles don't always count towards membership of elite tiers within reward schemes. So, while you may be able to spend your points on flights, you may not qualify for other benefits. For example, you might not have access to the VIP lounge or additional luggage allowance.

Another drawback is the inconsistency in the points offered. For example, while you might earn 4,000 points for a single night stay in a hotel, that might only rise to 4,500 if you stay for 3 nights. You might be better off sticking with schemes linked with credit cards. These might be more consistent as points are offered for each dollar spent.

FAQs About Rocketmiles

What Is the Rocketmiles Festivus Gift?

In previous years, the Rocketmiles Festivus gift was a Rocketmiles used to reward customers during the holiday season. Rocketmiles offered additional bonus points when users made a booking before the end of the year. Exact bonus details and deadlines are released each year.

When Do Rocketmiles Points Get Deposited?

Rocketmiles tries to deposit points into your partner program account within two weeks of the conclusion of your stay. User experience reports suggest that it can often take longer.

Is Rocketmiles Worth It?

If you’re not too concerned about where you’re staying, Rocketmiles is worth it for you. It’s a good scheme to quickly gain points, especially if you’re ok switching hotels halfway through your stay to maximize points. 

Rocketmiles is a valuable tool for optimizing the points you earn when traveling. However, it's only the best tool under certain circumstances. If you can book with a scheme that contributes directly to one of your principal reward schemes, it would be far more of a reliable option. That’s because those points count towards elite status and are awarded faster.

Rocketmiles is a particularly useful tool for anyone who is part of the American Airlines loyalty scheme, AAdvantage. The high points you earn from Rocketmiles will contribute towards your elite status with AAdvantage.

Compare Rocketmiles to similar schemes by reading our reviews of TD Travel Rewards and AwardHacker. Don’t forget that there are also credit cards which offer similar travel reward schemes.

That being said, if you want your points quickly, Rocketmiles might not be worth it. It can take a while for your points to be rewarded, so don’t count on being able to use them right away.

My Rating: 3.0/5

Pros

• Versatile programs
• Lots of airline partners
• Great points value

Cons

• Inconsistent for multi-night stays
• Delays awarding points 
• Limited customer service

Ready to Start Earning Points?

Whenever you book travel, make sure your money is working for you by using Rocketmiles or another reward program. These services are a big part of the travel industry and you’re wasting money if you don’t take advantage of them!

Now that you know how to make your travel spending work for you, you can start to craft your ideal travel experience for you, your family, and your friends.