United has just launched a promotion, offering a bonus when you convert hotel points into United MileagePlus miles.
In this post:
Transfer hotel points to United with 30% bonus
For the month of October, United MileagePlus is offering a 30% bonus when you convert hotel points into airline miles. The bonus applies for transfers made between October 1 and October 31, 2023, 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, 2024.
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.
Marriott points ordinarily convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio. Thanks to a a special partnership between Marriott and United, you receive 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points transfered, meaning that transferring 60,000 Bonvoy points ordinarily earns you 30,000 MileagePlus miles. Then with this offer, you’d receive a further 30% bonus, for a total of 39,000 MileagePlus miles for 60,000 Bonvoy points.
So you’re potentially looking at earning 0.65 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 39,000 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?
It looks like They calculated the 30% bonus on base conversion miles, not the base + special partnership bonus.
I received 36k miles for transferring 60k Marriott points instead of 39K (20k base + 10k partnership bonus + 20k base * 30% promotion miles)
I also received 30% bonus on the base conversion miles. Read their T&C again and they didn't specify other than saying that "30% bonus is based on "qualifying activity".
when can i get the bonus miles after i transfer? thank u
I did this promotion last year. I transferred my Marriott points in August and didn’t get the bonus points until January this year.
well, I just registered with UA on this..and converted 60,000 BV points. It said that I got 20,000 miles, but will see what the final amount is..... will be an interesting experiment and I am not hopeful that I will get the 30% bonus and the 10,000 BV->MP bonus.
well for the 60,000 BV points, the 20,000 MP base and 10,000 MP bonus showed up immediately in my MP account.... wonder now about the 30% bonus....hmmmm????
What if I have an abundance of IHG points, i've somewhat horded them, still not a good idea? Can anyone weight in on why it would be a good idea?
If you transfer 60000 Marriott points, how is it only 39000 united mileageplus miles?
60000 Marriott points = 48000 Mileageplus miles [20000 base Mileageplus (via 3 marriott: 1 united) + 10000 bonus Mileageplus (due to partnership if you transfer 60000 miles) + 18000 miles United 30% promotion (60000 x 30% = 18000 miles)]
Is my math off here?
Never mind, I figured my math error. I was basing the 30% bonus off of the marriott points instead of the united points. *sigh* 39K points is hmmm not as appealing as I thought it would be.
United has been giving Delta a run for the money as the champion of mileage devaluation. There are few, if any, sweet spots left for redemption in the program. The only positive about the program is that it has no award cancellation fee, so I can speculatively book award (and cancel it when I found a cheaper or more appropriate ticket).
I do not follow. 60,000 marriott points at 3:1= 20,ooo united points plus 30%= 26,000 united points total for your 60,000 Marriott points. What am I missing here?
You’re missing the point that “ Thanks to a a special partnership between Marriott and United, you receive 10,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points transferred, meaning that transferring 60,000 Bonvoy points ordinarily earns you 30,000 MileagePlus miles. Then with this offer, you’d receive a further 30% bonus, for a total of 39,000 MileagePlus miles for 60,000 Bonvoy points.”
You always get an extra 10% when transferring Marriott points to United because of the partnership between the two programs.
@Tony Not sure if you get the extra 10% when transferring Marriott points to United based on the Marriott page. When I enter 60000 marriott points, it tells me I will only get 20000 points instead of 22000 which would have factored in the extra 10%.
The 10,000 bonus shows up in your United account.
Interesting. After registering and going to the "Convert points" page, Radisson isn't listed, but Avis/Budget appears instead.
Ben .. just wondering if worth transfering 350k marriott points for 235k united with bonus. wdyt
perhaps for people with large balances this is a good deal. certainly for Marriott.
What about converting chase to Marriot and then United ? You’ll get the bonus from the chase points. Am I missing something?
You’re missing the point that “Marriott points ordinarily convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio”
Choice privileges to United is a pretty good deal right now because the ratio is temporarily doubled plus the 30 percent, but max 25k bonus.
I thought transfer to UA is now 10k bonus miles for every 60k Marriott points. And no 10% bonus ?
@ CJ -- Good catch, thanks! Updated post to reflect that, and I think the math should be right now.
While I'd agree on bulk transfers from programs you're active in, I've got handfuls of points in programs like Accor, Choice & Shangri-La that will never grow to useful amounts given my travel patterns. I'd rather add them to my United balance than have them be unused/expire.
Was thinking the exact same. Great way to zero out some orphan points.