Anyone ever use Rocketmiles.com to book a hotel room?

[Frwinkley]

I received an email through JetBlue. If I book a hotel through Rocketmiles (which is apparently a arm of Priceline), I'm awarded miles based on the hotel. When looking at the hotel prices, however, I noticed they are more expensive than booking directly with the hotel.

Any experiences? Depending on the hotel, the award can be quite significant.

 

[deide71]

I received an email through JetBlue. If I book a hotel through Rocketmiles (which is apparently a arm of Priceline), I'm awarded miles based on the hotel. When looking at the hotel prices, however, I noticed they are more expensive than booking directly with the hotel.

Any experiences? Depending on the hotel, the award can be quite significant.

I did once when they offered a 5000 mile bonus for your first booking. I booked a local hotel that had free breakfast and a pool for one night last winter. The kids and I had fun and I earned 5000 SWA miles for about $100.

 

[Frwinkley]

That's good to hear! Did you do this recently? I read some reviews on TripAdvisor; people arrived at their hotel and had no reservation, etc.

 

[Psychodisney]

I also did it for the SWA bonus. I booked a king bed at a Holiday Inn. When we arrived, I was given 2 queens. Said the king wasn't guaranteed because we went through a third party. At least we had a room. I haven't used them again.
I also noted that the price on Rocketmiles was sometimes more expensive than booking direct.

 

[Ava]

I got the same email from JetBlue. We are thinking of going to Washington, DC this spring break so I looked up hotels there, but they're all expensive. (If we go, we'll probably end up doing Airbnb.) We're also planning a summer trip to Western PA so I may look there, but I don't fly often enough to make a few thousand points worth overpaying for a hotel.

 

[Angrose]

I got the extra 5,000 points deal last November through Southwest and used them to book a hotel near Disneyland. The hotels are overpriced on the Rocketmiles site, but for the extra $50 I paid for the hotel (compared to Orbitz) I got 6,000 SW points. The points were credited to my SW account just a few days after my stay. I did call the hotel to confirm my reservation and put in my room request. There were no problems at all when I got there.

 

[DizMe]

I, too, booked for the 5000 bonus points on SW. Between the regular points I earned for the hotel and the bonus points, I had something like 8000 points for 1 night's stay. My daughter had a gymnastics meet and we needed a hotel anyway; the hotel we chose was a little higher through Rocketmiles but not substantially.

I need another hotel in a few weeks and have been hoping to use Rocketmiles again, but they keep showing a hotel as earning a lot of points but when you click on it, it says "it appears the point value has been reduced on this hotel." It has been a week since I started looking, so I think they could have adjusted it by now. The difference is signficant, like 4000 pts down to 1000. It's maybe not a bait and switch, but it sure is cheesy to do that. I also got the JB offer but I always fly SW because I need the flexibility.

 

[Frwinkley]

So you have booked through Rocketmiles without receiving an email from an air carrier? I've never even heard of them prior to receiving the email from Jetblue.

 

[DizMe]

So you have booked through Rocketmiles without receiving an email from an air carrier? I've never even heard of them prior to receiving the email from Jetblue.

I only heard of them after getting an email through SW, but I just booked a couple of nights through them today by going directly to their site. Once you use it, they have your info as a registered user and it's linked to whomever you chose. I got an email yesterday from JetBlue with an offer but I don't fly with them so I didn't use the bonus offer they had. I paid about $20 more than the price I could get elsewhere but the extra SW points (2000) made it worth it to me.