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About once a year, United Airlines tacks a bonus on point transfers from its hotel partners to its MileagePlus program. And it's that time of year again. Now, through October 31, 2025, you can earn 25% more United miles on these transfers.
Even with a bonus, it's generally not a great deal to transfer hotel points to miles — with point transfers from Marriott to United being a rare exception. However, whether or not it's worth taking advantage of all depends on how you value your points and miles.
Let's dive into the math to see when this makes sense.
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Which Hotel Points Can You Convert to United Miles?
United partners with a handful of loyalty programs from which you can convert hotel 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 1.96¢ per United mile.
Here's how the math stacks up based on AwardWallet user redemptions (note that this is before the up to 25% transfer bonus):
- 10,000 Marriott points ($93) yields 3,333 miles ($65)
- 10,000 Choice points ($60) yields 2,000 miles ($39)
- 10,000 IHG points ($68) yields 2,000 miles ($39)
- 10,000 Accor points ($235) yields 5,000 miles ($98)
- 10,000 Hyatt points ($219) yields 4,000 miles ($78)
- 10,000 Hilton points ($59) yields 1,000 miles ($20)
- 10,000 Wyndham points ($133) yields 2,000 miles ($39) — may stack with ongoing Wyndham to United transfer bonus (see below)
Up to 25% Transfer Bonus From Hotel Points to United Promotion
However, the math looks a little different this month. United is attaching up to a 25% bonus to point conversions from hotel programs to MileagePlus miles.
To take advantage of this offer, you'll need to register, log in to your hotel account, and initiate a points transfer to United MileagePlus. After the miles are deposited into your account, you'll receive 25% bonus miles.
At most, you can earn 25,000 bonus United MileagePlus miles with this offer.
Even after you factor in the bonus, you'll still likely wind up with a sum of United miles worth less than the sum of hotel points you began with.
Here's how the math stacks up based on AwardWallet user redemptions after the 25% transfer bonus:
- 10,000 Accor points ($235) yields 6,250 miles ($123)
- 10,000 Choice points ($60) yields 2,500 miles ($49)
- 10,000 Hilton points ($59) yields 1,250 miles ($25)
- 10,000 Hyatt points ($219) yields 5,000 miles ($98)
- 10,000 IHG points ($68) yields 2,500 miles ($49)
- 10,000 Marriott points ($93) yields 4,166 miles ($82)
- 10,000 Wyndham points ($133) yields 2,500 miles ($49)
Get better value on transfers from Marriott
The best value with this promotion comes by combining this transfer bonus with Marriott's transfer bonus to United. The sweet spot would be in converting 120,000 Bonvoy points to get:
- 40,000 base United miles (at the standard 3:1 ratio)
- plus 20,000 from Marriott's special bonus for increments of 60k-point transfers to United
- plus 10,000 bonus miles through this 25% transfer bonus promotion
- Note that the 20k bonus miles are specifically excluded from the bonus per the terms
That's a total of 70,000 United miles for 120,000 Marriott points. If you value Marriott points at 0.93 cents each, you only need to get ~1.6 cents of value per mile from a MileagePlus redemption for this 120k-point transfer to make sense.
But that's about it as far as value goes. Choice transfers to United miles are a bit more reasonable, but Accor, Hilton, and Hyatt were still bad deals — even with the bonus.
United-Hotel Conversion Bonus History
For reference, this promotion has become somewhat of an annual fall tradition for United — although the exact month has varied over the years. Here's a partial history:
- 2016: 25% bonus through November 30
- 2017: 30% bonus through November 30
- 2018: 30% bonus through November 30
- 2019: 30% bonus through November 30
- 2021: 30% bonus through September 30
- 2022: 30% bonus through September 30
- 2023: 30% bonus through October 31
- 2024: Up to 30% bonus through October 31
- 2025: 25% bonus through October 31
Other Ongoing United Hotel Transfer Bonuses
Alongside the 25% conversion bonus from United, Wyndham is running its own transfer promotion to United MileagePlus in the form of double miles through November 2, 2025. Normally, transferring 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points would net you 6,000 United miles. With this double-miles bonus, though, you’ll receive 12,000 miles instead.
It’s also possible that this stacks with United’s 25% transfer bonus. In that case, a 30,000-point transfer would net you 15,000 miles. Just keep in mind that the 25% bonus caps out at 25,000 miles after registration, so be careful not to move more Wyndham points than the bonus limit allows.
Additional 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 points? Take advantage of a solid 75,000 Ultimate Reward point sign-up bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees):
- Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases
- Earn up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel℠
- 10% anniversary points boost - each account anniversary you'll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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 these programs:
You can also buy United miles outright.
United MileagePlus Miles Expiration Policy
United abolished its mileage expiration policy back in 2019. As a result, United miles do not expire as long as your account is open. That means your mileage balance will stay in your account until they are forfeited or until you redeem them for an award.
Since your United miles don't expire, you have the opportunity to take your time and save them up until you are ready to redeem them. However, United has a history of devaluing its program without notice, so it might not be savvy to let your miles sit around too long.
Our Take
Due to poor standard transfer rates, we generally don't recommend transferring hotel points to airline miles. This 25% transfer bonus from all of United's hotel partners to MileagePlus sweetens 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 hotel points to United miles with a 25% bonus?
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I believe your math is off on the marriot 120k scenario.
In the email fine print it says “For transfers of Marriott Bonvoy points into MileagePlus miles, the standard offer of a 10,000 miles bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred shall be excluded when calculating the Bonus Miles for this offer.”
So I think it would be:
40,000 base United miles (at the standard 3:1 ratio)
plus 20,000 from Marriott’s special bonus for increments of 60k-point transfers to United
plus 10,000 bonus miles through this 25% transfer bonus promotion (25% of 40k not 60k)
I’m pretty sure United would apply the 25% bonus on all 60k received, as the 20k bonus is from Marriott. So, United will see 60k miles deposited and apply the bonus on that. Let me know if you see something different!
Interesting. So you think I am misinterpreting this line in the email from United? Or they are just bluffing?
“For transfers of Marriott Bonvoy points into MileagePlus miles, the standard offer of a 10,000 miles bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred shall be excluded when calculating the Bonus Miles for this offer.”
Ah shoot. Sorry, I skimmed your original comment to quickly. Thanks for pointing this out! I’ll update the post.
The 100% choice and 30% united bonus should be stackable because each on is done on the other end (i.e. the 100% bonus is coded from choice’s side and the 30% from united’s side). Pretty good deal if it works, but 25k max is not that much.
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.