Rove Adds Card-Linked Dining, Instant Gift Card Rewards, and an iOS App

Rove announced a batch of changes on Aug. 28 that push it past the travel and shopping portal it started as. The program launched Rove Dining, a card-linked restaurant rewards platform, along with a gift card marketplace that posts miles immediately, in-store card-linked offers, an iPhone app with an Android public beta, plus a rebuilt hotel booking platform.

Rove Dining lets you link an eligible payment card, pay normally at a participating restaurant, and miles post automatically within about seven days. It opens with more than 2,000 restaurants across 20 markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Rove says the median earning rate is roughly 6 to 8 miles per dollar, though some restaurants show as many as 14 miles per dollar. Eligible spending tops out at $3,500 per transaction and excludes tax, tip, and fees. The terms say you can't earn Rove miles alongside another dining rewards program on the same transaction.

Further, Rove now sells gift cards from roughly 500 retailers, and points are posted to your account immediately after purchase. This is especially useful if you're a few thousand miles short of a transfer.

Published rates run from 1 mile per dollar at Airbnb up to 7 at Columbia Sportswear. On the hotel side, Rove says Loyalty Eligible rates now cover about 99% of properties at Accor, Best Western, Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham, earning a flat 5 miles per dollar while still qualifying for hotel points and elite nights.

Andrew's Take

The dining rewards rate is what stands out here. Most airline dining programs pay 1 to 5 miles per dollar, so 6 to 8x is a big improvement. I also like the instant gift card earning — and there's a double-dip available if you buy a gift card through Rove and spend it online after clicking through their portal.