- September 1, 2022
- Posted by: AliensFaith
- Category: OBJECTIVE PRESS
Eligible hotel partners include:
- Accor Live Limitless
- Choice Privileges
- IHG One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Radisson Rewards
- Shangri-La Circle
- World of Hyatt
- Wyndham Rewards
Should you transfer hotel points to United?
Let me start by saying that generally speaking, converting any of the above points currencies into airline miles isn’t a good deal, with the exception of Marriott Bonvoy. So let’s crunch some numbers.
With Marriott, ordinarily 60,000 Bonvoy points convert into 25,000 airline miles. The usual transfer ratio is 3:1, but you get a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points you transfer.
With United it gets even better than that, though, thanks to
United has just launched a promotion, offering a bonus when you convert hotel points into United MileagePlus miles.
Transfer hotel points to United with 30% bonus
For the month of September, United MileagePlus is offering a 30% bonus when you convert hotel points into airline miles. The bonus applies for transfers made between September 1 and September 30, 2022, and you can earn up to 25,000 bonus MileagePlus miles through this promotion.
Registration is required prior to making a transfer, and you can earn bonus miles for any combination of MileagePlus hotel partner transfers, so it’s not just that a single transfer qualifies. Bonus miles through this promotion should post by January 31, 2023.
Eligible hotel partners include:
- Accor Live Limitless
- Choice Privileges
- IHG One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Radisson Rewards
- Shangri-La Circle
- World of Hyatt
- Wyndham Rewards
Should you transfer hotel points to United?
Let me start by saying that generally speaking, converting any of the above points currencies into airline miles isn’t a good deal, with the exception of Marriott Bonvoy. So let’s crunch some numbers.
With Marriott, ordinarily 60,000 Bonvoy points convert into 25,000 airline miles. The usual transfer ratio is 3:1, but you get a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points you transfer.
With United it gets even better than that, though, thanks to a special partnership between Marriott and United. With this you get a 10% bonus when you convert Marriott points into United miles, meaning that you get 27,500 United miles per 60,000 Marriott points.
That’s before you factor in this promotion. Once you factor in this promotion you’d receive a total of 35,750 United miles per 60,000 Marriott points. So you’re potentially looking at earning ~0.6 United miles per Marriott point, which is pretty decent.
I still wouldn’t proactively transfer points, though. United miles are fairly easy to earn thanks to United’s partnership with Chase Ultimate Rewards, which allows you to earn United miles with lots of credit cards. Furthermore, there are lots of other ways to efficiently redeem on Star Alliance, including through Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles.
Meanwhile it’s a lot harder to efficiently earn Marriott points.
Bottom line
United MileagePlus is offering a 30% bonus when you convert hotel points into miles, and you can earn a maximum of 25,000 MileagePlus bonus miles with this promotion.
The catch is that there are few circumstances where it’s efficient to convert hotel points into United miles. The only potentially good deal is Marriott Bonvoy, where you could convert 60,000 Bonvoy points into 35,750 MileagePlus miles, after factoring in this promotion.
Still, all things considered United miles are pretty easy to come by thanks to credit card rewards, so I probably wouldn’t take advantage of this promotion.
Does anyone plan on taking advantage of United’s 30% bonus on hotel points transfers?
