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Now through October 15, 2023, United is offering a 100% transfer bonus when converting Choice Privileges hotel points to United Mileage Plus miles.
This is the latest in a string of hotel points to United transfer bonuses. Even with these bonuses, it's generally not a great deal to transfer hotel points to miles — with Marriott being a rare exception. However, whether or not it's worth taking advantage of all depends on how you value your points and miles.
Which Hotel Points Can You Transfer to United Miles
United partners with (at least) nine hotel loyalty programs from which you can transfer rewards points to United MileagePlus miles:
By combining these transfer rates and points valuations from recent AwardWallet user redemptions, it's generally not a good idea to transfer hotel points to United miles — even at an average redemption rate of 1.78¢ cents per United mile. Here's a list from best to worst:
- 10,000 Choice points ($60) nets 2,000 miles ($35)
- 10,000 Marriott points ($95) nets 3,000 miles ($53)
- 10,000 IHG points ($69) nets 2,000 miles ($35)
- 10,000 Accor points ($216) nets 5,000 miles ($89)
- 10,000 Radisson points ($44) nets 1,000 miles ($18)
- 10,000 Hyatt points ($219) nets 4,000 miles ($71)
- 10,000 Hilton points ($58) nets 1,000 miles ($18)
100% Transfer Bonus From Choice to United Promotion
Through October 15, 2023, Choice Privileges members could receive a 100% bonus when transferring points to United MileagePlus miles. That means you got a 2.5 to 1 transfer ratio, instead of 5 to 1. In other words, you received 2,000 United miles (instead of 1,000) for every 5,000 Choice Privilege points you transferred.
Depending on how you value United points, this might be a good deal. Based on recent redemptions, you'll get $35.40 worth of United miles for every $30 worth of Choice points you transfer. That's based on United miles valued at 1.77 cents each, and Choice points valued at 0.6 cents each. But, if you value United miles below 1.5 cents each, transferring Choice points to United miles doesn't make as much sense — even after this transfer bonus.
Other Sources of United MileagePlus Miles
If you need United miles, remember that you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United MileagePlus at a 1:1 ratio. Need more Chase miles? Take advantage of a solid 60,000 Ultimate Reward point sign-up bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card:
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- Member FDIC
- 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2025
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Plus, you can also transfer points to United MileagePlus from Bilt Rewards or Marriott Bonvoy:
United MileagePlus Miles Expiration Policy
United abolished its mileage expiration policy back in 2019. As a result, United miles don't expire as long as you are able to keep your account active. Thankfully, your mileage balance will stay in your account until they are forfeited or until you redeem them for an award. According to MileagePlus, there are six behaviors that would cause your account to be forfeited.
The good news is that your miles don't expire — so you have the opportunity to take your time and save them up until you are ready to redeem them. The bad news is, United recently devalued its awards chart by up to 38% in some instances. So, while your miles won't expire, you might need the extra time afforded to you in order to accrue the number of miles needed to afford a redemption.
Read more: The (Unofficial) United MileagePlus Partner Award Chart
[Expired] Wyndham-United Transfer Bonus Promotion
Wyndham Rewards offered double miles when you transfer to United MileagePlus before August 31, 2023. After factoring in the 100% transfer bonus, you received 1 United MileagePlus mile for every 2.5 Wyndham Rewards points transferred. This is instead of the usual 5:1 transfer ratio.
You can transfer Wyndham Rewards points to United MileagePlus in the following amounts:
- 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 2,400 United MileagePlus miles
- 16,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 6,400 United MileagePlus miles
- 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 12,000 United MileagePlus miles
In recent AwardWallet user redemptions, the typical value of Wyndham Rewards points is around 1.17¢ per point — although you can get 2+ cents in value per point when used at Wyndham sweet spots. Meanwhile, AwardWallet users have redeemed United MileagePlus miles for an average of 1.78¢ per mile and can be redeemed for some pretty good sweet spots of their own.
So, whether or not it makes sense to transfer points from Wyndham to United is going to depend on how your typical use of Wyndham points and United miles.
If you know how to use Wyndham points, then this isn't the best use of your points. Your Wyndham Rewards points are probably best redeemed for rooms and perks with Wyndham hotels. However, this promotion could be good if you need to top off your United MileagePlus account for a redemption — or if you need to clear out unused Wyndham points.
[Expired] 50% Transfer Bonus From Radisson to United Promotion
Through October 31, 2022, Radisson Rewards Americas members could transfer points to United with a 50% bonus. That means a 20 to 3 transfer ratio, instead of 10 to 1.
Those ratios can be hard to understand, so here's an example. Say you have 10,000 Radisson Rewards points. You can transfer those points to United to get 1,500 MileagePlus miles during this transfer bonus.
If you value Radisson Rewards points at 0.4 cents per point, you're giving up approximately $40 in value to get 1,500 United miles. That means you'll want to get at least 2.7 cents per United mile from a redemption for this transfer to make sense.
For most travelers, transferring Radisson points to United miles still doesn't make sense — even with a 50% bonus. However, this promotion is slightly better than the just-ended 30% hotel transfer bonus that United offered from all hotel partners.
[Expired] 30% Transfer Bonus From Hotel Points to United Promotion
During September 2022, United offered a 30% bonus when transferring hotel points to United miles. Note that you needed to register for the promotion first before transferring points. There's a limit of 25,000 bonus points you can earn.
Combining the transfer ratios to points values, plus the 30% bonus, transfers yielded (with values using AwardWallet redemption rates for reference):
- 10,000 Accor points ($200) yields 6,500 miles ($172)
- 10,000 Choice points ($60) yields 2,600 miles ($69)
- 10,000 Hilton points ($61) yields 1,300 miles ($34)
- 10,000 Hyatt points ($222) yields 5,200 miles ($138)
- 10,000 Marriott points ($100) yields 4,767 miles ($126)
- 10,000 Radisson points ($43) yields 1,300 miles ($34)
With the 30% bonus, Choice and Marriott transfers to United miles become reasonable. Accor, Hilton, and Hyatt are still bad deals — even with the bonus.
The best deal is for transfers to Marriott. For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you'll get:
- 22,000 base United miles (at the 3:1.1 ratio)
- plus 5,500 from Marriott's bonus of 5,000 miles per 60,000 points (including the 10% bonus on transfers to United)
- plus 8,250 bonus miles through this promotion
That's a total of 35,750 United miles for 60,000 Marriott points — better than a 2:1 ratio. If you value Marriott points at 1 cent each, you'll need to get just 1.68 cents of value per United mile from a redemption for this transfer to make sense. Just make sure to register for this promotion before transferring points.
Our Take
Due to poor standard transfer rates, we generally don't recommend transferring hotel points to airline miles. These transfer bonuses can help sweeten the transfer rate, but it's still generally best to redeem hotel points for hotel stays rather than transferring to airlines. The only times it can make sense is if you really need to top off your United miles or you don't have a use for the hotel points.
What do you think? Is it worth transferring your Choice points to United miles with a 100% bonus?
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Nah…I’ll wait and see what happens later on with the Choice / Radisson combination
This blog was really useful for me to learn more about the renewal of miles. Thanks
Any transfer bonuses from Amex Canada ?
Not that we’ve seen.
Great news
Great, my points will expiring soon, so I’m going to use this offer.
Best way to get points is still opening credit cards for the SUB.
Some of these are pretty bad but the too but can be ok if points are expiring soon.
Radisson has never made the expiration clear on thier website, so you dont know when your points will expire.
If you need United miles, then this ma work but I generally don’t like the value from these types of promotions.
these hotel loyalty program points are not easy to use. although the transfer is disadvantageous, it is still an option to make them useful.
Fair point. Some points are better than no points if they’re in a program that’s of no value to you.
The conversion rate is still poor, compared to Marriott, however it’s tempting as I struggle to use my Radisson Reward points on stays
I used some previous offer to transfer almost all my Radisson points one year ago.
It should be simple to use the miles via United even though the transfer rate is quite poor.
Indeed, this is an offer for rare cases, mostly for topping up.
Whoa, pause. What routes are you guys getting 2.65+ cents per mile? 1.3 is on the good end of what I can find.
I do have some Radisson Rewards points and I do need more United miles at this time, however, it is still such a poor deal that I don’t think I’ll bother. There are other ways to earn United Miles and I will definitely put the Radisson points to better use for hotel stays.
I would do this for orphan hotel points especially now that people are not travelling. Your hotel points are subject to expiration while United Airlines miles do not expire.
Got rid of my Radisson points last year, they were not very useful to have, too little to use.
I’ll keep my Radisson points for hotel redemptions.
I’ve got lots of Radisson points sitting around and I wouldn’t even use those to take advantage of this offer.
I hope Choice would apply an additional bonus for the transfer. Let’s hope till the end of September.
I appreciate this article since it gives a much more nuanced level of advice with the breakdown between whether it is a good idea or not generally vs with Marriott.
I personally hoard hotel points since I find free accommodation much harder to get than airline miles, so it’s hard to imagine trading them.
The Marriott option *might* make sense if you’re sitting on a pile of Marriott points and need some United miles for a specific trip or to top up your account to a certain level. United MileagePlan (MP) miles can be especially valuable for int’l travel on Star Alliance partners. I flew to BKK a few years ago in Biz/1st Class on SAS, Thai, Air China & United (F Class, pre-Polaris J Class was terrible on United; F Class on a 747 in the nose of the plane was lots of fun!) with United MP miles….thanks United!
Great evaluation. Those 30% bonuses sound nice but are still a rip-off. Hold out for more.
Normally the miles are worther than points, so this is an excellent bonus offer
Well a 30% bonus is better than no bonus
It is but that’s like asking would you like 10 slaps to the face or 30% less and get 7? Even with the bonus, you’re still getting the raw end of the deal.