[Expired] Up to 30% Bonus When You Convert Hotel Points to United MileagePlus Miles

United Airlines‘ newest promotion allows travelers to convert points from 8 different hotel loyalty programs into United MileagePlus miles and receive a 30% bonus when doing so.

Converting your hotel points into airline miles isn’t usually great value. However, there is 1 specific use case here that can make a lot of sense depending on how often you use United miles.

Let’s review the promotion details and then discuss how you can maximize this offer.

Offer Details

Until October 31, 2024, you can convert hotel points into United MileagePlus miles and enjoy 30% bonus miles — up to 25,000 miles:

• Less than 20,000 miles earned — 20% bonus
• 20,000 to 40,000 miles earned — 25% bonus
• Over 40,000 miles earned — 30% bonus

There are 3 steps to complete the offer:

1. Register for the offer with your MileagePlus number.
2. Go to your hotel account and convert those points into United miles.
3. United will then credit you with 30% bonus miles, up to 25,000 miles.

The hotel programs eligible for this promotion are

• ALL – Accor Live Limitless
• Choice Privileges
• Hilton Honors
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Shangri-La Golden Circle
• World of Hyatt
• Wyndham Rewards

Which Hotel Program Should Your Transfer From?

Unless you have a small number of points dwindling in some of these programs and have no other use for them, you probably don’t want to transfer your hotel points into United miles, as the transfer rates are usually pretty poor.

However, 1 notable exception is the Marriott Bonvoy program. With Marriott Bonvoy, your points transfer to airlines at a 3:1 rate, and many airlines have a bonus of 5,000 airline miles each time you transfer at least 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

But when you transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to United, you’ll get a 10,000-mile bonus with transfers of 60,000 points, allowing you to get 30,000 MileagePlus miles instead of the usual 20,000 to 25,000. Now, when we factor in the 30% bonus promotion, the total number of United miles you will receive jumps to 39,000.

Booking Comparison

With the 30% bonus promotion, you could transfer 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and receive 78,000 United miles. That is enough to book a one-way business class ticket with United from the U.S. to anywhere in Europe — a ticket that can cost $2,000+.

We also value 78,000 United miles as worth about 56% more than 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

So if you’re someone who values flying long-haul flights in business class, transferring out your miles to United could make a lot of sense here.

Final Thoughts

This promotion certainly isn’t a home run for most award travelers, especially when you consider that is really only a solid option for Marriott Bonvoy transfers alone. But for those United loyalists out there that are looking to beef up their MileagePlus balance for future redemptions, this is the perfect way to do so.