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An often unmentioned aspect of the United MileagePlus program is that you can convert points from various hotel rewards programs into United MileagePlus miles…but there’s a reason it’s often unmentioned – it’s almost always a terrible deal. Still, [thirstylink linkid=”25169″ linktext=”right now United is offering bonuses of up to 50%” class=”thirstylink” title=”right now United is offering bonuses of up to 50%”] to anyone wishing to convert hotel loyalty points to United Miles so I thought I’d take a look at the promotion.
Headline Terms & Conditions
- Registration is required at [thirstylink linkid=”25169″ linktext=”www.united.com/pointstomiles” class=”thirstylink” title=”www.united.com/pointstomiles”]
- Must register by 30 November 2016.
- All points conversions must be submitted by 30 November 2016.
- Maximum of 20,000 bonus miles
[thirstylink linkid=”25169″ linktext=” Link to full T&Cs” class=”thirstylink” title=” Link to full T&Cs”]
How It Works
Per United:
A member must earn award miles as a result of one or more points to miles conversion transactions from any combination of MileagePlus hotel partner programs that offer a points to miles transfer program that are conducted during the Promotional Period (“Qualifying Activity”) in order to qualify for MileagePlus Hotel Points-to-Miles bonus miles (“Bonus Miles”)
At the conclusion of the promotion, all miles earned by each member from Qualifying Activity will be multiplied by 25% (with exception of miles earned from Qualifying Activity with Club Carlson, which will instead be multiplied by 40%, and miles earned from Qualifying Activity with Choice Privileges, which will instead be multiplied by 50%, in each case without duplication of bonuses) to determine the eligible bonus up to a maximum of 20,000 Bonus Miles. Bonus Miles will be credited into the member’s account on or before January 30, 2017.
So. put simply, these are the bonuses per rewards program:
- Marriott – 25%
- Hilton – 25%
- Starwood – 25%
- IHG Rewards – 25%
- Club Carlson – 40%
- Hyatt – 25%
- Choice Privileges – 50%
- Wyndham – 25%
- Shangri-La – 25%
How Many Points Can You Earn?
Here are the updated conversion rates taking into account the current promotion:
Marriott Rewards Points
- 8,000 points to
2,0002,500 miles - 16,000 points to
5,0006,250 miles - 24,000 points to
10,00012,500 miles - 56,000 points to
25,00031,250 miles - 112,000 points to
50,00062,500 miles
Hilton HHonors Points
- 10,000 points to
1,0001,250 miles
Starwood Starpoints
- 2 points to
11.25 miles
IHG Rewards Club Points
- 5 points to
11.25 miles
Club Carlson Gold Points
- 2,000 points to
200280 miles - 10,000 points to
1,0001,400 miles - 50,000 points to
5,0007,000 miles - 100,000 points to
10,00014,000 miles
Hyatt Gold Passport Points
- 2.5 points to
11.25 miles
Bonus: receive a 5,000-mile bonus when you convert 50,000 points into 20,000 miles.
Choice Privileges Rewards Points
- 5,000 points to
1,0001,500 miles
Wyndham Rewards
- 6,000 points to
1,2001,500 miles - 16,000 points to
3,2004,000 miles - 30,000 points to
6,0007,500 miles
Shangri-La Gold Circle Points
- 1 point to
1miles 1.25 miles (minimum 2,500 points converted)
Should You Convert Hotel Points To United MileagePlus
If you have a small number of points sitting in a hotel program that you don’t normally use then this could be a good opportunity to clear out that account and put the points somewhere you can actually use them.
In most instances the answer is no as you’re simply not getting enough value out of your hotel points but, in the case of Marriott Rewards, I could easily make an argument that a transfer would be a good idea.
I value Marriott Points at around 0.6 cents each and I value United Miles at around 1.35 cents each so, if I was to convert 112,000 Marriott points (valued at $672) I would end up with 62,500 United Miles (valued at $843.75) – that’s a good deal.
For the rest of the hotel programs my valuation really don’t make it worthwhile converting points to MileagePlus – it’s actually not even close to being worthwhile in most cases – but you should apply your own valuations just to check.
Bottom Line
Most of the time conversions from hotel programs to airline programs really don’t give you value (with the obvious exception of Starwood to most airline programs other than MileagePlus) so I really wasn’t expecting to discover that a transfer from Marriott to United could actually be a good idea…but the math supports just that.
I’m not going to be transferring my Marriott points over to MileagePlus becuase I have them earmarked for a trip early next year but, had that not been the case, I would have been very tempted.
