This post is a collection of hotel points -> UA miles promotions. Similar hotel points -> AA miles promotions are collected here.
2017.10.12: 30% Bonus Miles
There is a limited time promotion for UA that through November 30, you will earn a 30% mileage bonus (up to 25000 bonus award miles) when you transfer hotel points to UA. The official promotion site is https://promotions.united.com/offers/p2m. Some details we need to pay attention to are as follows.
- Register using your United MileagePlus number
- Convert hotel points into MileagePlus award miles by November 30, 2017.
- Earn 30% bonus miles on all points-to-miles transfers, up to 25,000 miles.
- The Marriott Travel Packages are included in this promo.
Points from a bunch of hotels can be transferred to UA miles, including Marriott, Hyatt, SPG etc. However, the transfer ratios for most of them are not 1:1, which are not recommended and therefore are not mentioned here.
(1) Marriott Direct Transfer
One exception is Marriott. The original transfer ratio is not bad. Including the 30% bonus promotion, it becomes a fantastic deal. The point values are 0.8 c/p for Marriott and 1.6 c/p for UA miles, respectively. Based on these, the value of Marriott points increases as long as the transfer ratio from Marriott to UA is larger than 1:0.5.
Below shows the original transfer ratio from Marriott to UA. (Official webpage)
| Marriott Points You Pay | UA Miles You Get | Ratio (Marriott/UA) |
|---|---|---|
| 8,000 | 2,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.25 |
| 16,000 | 5,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.31 |
| 24,000 | 10,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.42 |
| 56,000 | 25,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.45 |
| 112,000 | 50,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.45 |
The more Marriott points you redeem, the better transfer ratio you will achieve. Keep in mind that we can now transfer points at will between SPG and Marriott at 1:3 ratio, indicating that your Marriott points can be supplied from SPG points. Take 56k Marriott -> 25k UA level as an instance, with the 30% promotion, you can get 32.5k UA miles. It increases the transfer ratio to 1:0.58, which is great.
(2) Marriott Travel Packages
If you have a lot of Marriott points, the most profitable redemption is to redeem for the Marriott Travel Packages. A complete guide about the Marriott Travel Packages is here.
The Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages
Marriott package offers do require a lot of Marriott points, but the good news is even though you may not have enough Marriott points, you can “fill” your Marriott account by transferring SPG points.
The most appealing level for the original Marriott package is 270k Marriott->132k UA + 7 FN. Counting in the 30% promotion, one can get 90k SPG = 270k Marriott -> 157k UA + 7 FN. Even if we do not utilize the 7 FN, the transfer ratio can be as high as 1:0.58!
This is a very important reminder that the 7 FN needs to be redeemed on seven consecutive nights without any interruption, which may not be utilized fully. But again, even if we do not take 7 FN into account, the Marriott packages are really a good deal. Besides, in A Complete Guide to the Marriott Travel Packages, we introduced that we can cancel the hotel portion and get some points back. If we ask to cancel the 7 nights of category 1~5, we will get 45k Marriott points (or 15k SPG points) back. In this case, it’s equivalent to spend 225k Marriott points and get 157k UA miles, the Marriott -> UA transfer rate is as high as 1:0.70 (equivalently, the SPG -> UA transfer rate is as high as 1:2.1)!
There is a limited time promotion for UA that through November 30, 2016, you will earn a 25% mileage bonus (up to 20000 bonus award miles) when you transfer hotel points to UA. The official promotion site is www.united.com/pointstomiles. Some details we need to pay attention to are as follows.
- To qualify for this offer, members must register for the promotion at www.united.com/pointstomiles between October 12, 2016 and November 30, 2016 (“Promotional Period”).
- Bonus Miles will be credited into the member’s account on or before January 30, 2017.
- Up to 20,000 bonus award miles.
- The Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages are included in this promo.
Points from a bunch of hotels can be transferred to UA miles, including Marriott, Hyatt, SPG etc. However, the transfer ratios for most of them are not 1:1, which are not recommended and therefore are not mentioned here.
One exception is Marriott. The original transfer ratio is not bad. Including the 25% bonus promotion, it becomes a fantastic deal. The point values are 0.7 c/p for Marriott and 1.6 c/p for UA miles, respectively. Based on these, the value of Marriott points increases as long as the transfer ratio from Marriott to UA is larger than 1:0.44.
Below shows the original transfer ratio from Marriott to UA. (Official webpage)
| Marriott Points You Pay | UA Miles You Get | Ratio (Marriott/UA) |
|---|---|---|
| 8,000 | 2,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.25 |
| 16,000 | 5,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.31 |
| 24,000 | 10,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.42 |
| 56,000 | 25,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.45 |
| 112,000 | 50,000 MileagePlus miles | 1:0.45 |
The more Marriott points you redeem, the better transfer ratio you will achieve. Keep in mind that we can now transfer points at will between SPG and Marriott at 1:3 ratio, indicating that your Marriot points can be supplied from SPG points. Take 56k Marriott -> 25k UA level as an instance, with the 25% promotion, you can get 31.25k UA miles. 18.67k SPG = 56k Marriott -> 31.25k UA miles, it increases the transfer ratio to 1:0.56, which is a steal.
If you have a lot of Marriott points, the most profitable redemption is to redeem for the Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages :
The Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages
Marriott package offers do require a lot of Marriott points, but the good news is even though you may not have enough Marriott points, you can “fill” your Marriott account by transferring SPG points.
The most appealing level for the original Marriott package is 270k Marriott->132k UA + 7 FN. Counting in the 25% promotion, one can get 90k SPG = 270k Marriott -> 152k UA + 7 FN. Even if we do not utilize the 7 FN, the transfer ratio can be as high as 1:0.56!
This is a very important reminder that the 7 FN needs to be redeemed on seven consecutive nights without any interruption, which may not be utilized fully. But again, even if we do not take 7 FN into account, the Marriott packages are really a good deal.