I wrote the other day about the new bonus on transferring Marriott points (and therefore SPG points as well) to American Airlines. Well, there is another bonus going on – this time with United – and it is also a great way to take advantage of the new Marriott/SPG merger. Check out this United Airlines transfer bonus here.
New United Airlines Transfer Bonus from Marriott/SPG
Link: Convert hotel points to United Airline miles
This promo runs until November 30, 2016 and actually works on other hotels besides Marriott/SPG but the best overall value is going to come from using the United Airlines transfer bonus from Marriott points. To be eligible, you mustwww.united.com/pointstomiles before you transfer your points!
This United Airlines transfer bonus promo is for 25% more miles when you convert hotel points. The cap for the transfer bonus is 20,000 United miles.
Most of the transfer ratios are not great. As is the case most of the time, it is better to use the hotel points for actual hotel stays rather than converting them to miles – even with a 25% bonus. But, it can be helpful if you have a small amount of hotel points and you do not plan on using them.
Transferring Marriott/SPG Points to United Airlines for Bonus
Link: Marriott Travel Packages
The real value comes from transferring Marriott points to United through the Marriott Travel Packages. Marriott already gives a better boost on these transfers when you convert to United Airlines so you are already ahead of the game from the American Airlines transfer bonus with this.
The promo is capped at 20,000 miles on the transfer so if you were to transfer the same 270,000 Marriott points to United with the Marriott Travel Package, here is what you would get:
- 7 Nights in a Category 1 – 5 (consecutive nights)
- 152,000 United Airline miles
The part that really makes this great is that the SPG to United transfer ratio is terrible – 2:1. But, you can instantly transfer your SPG Starpoints to Marriott at the 1:3 ratio and then book a Marriott Travel Package (must be booked over the phone). This would equate to 90,000 Starpoints being converted to 152,000 United Airline miles – a transfer ratio of 1:1.69! That is fantastic, especially since you also get the 7 nights in a hotel! Consider that if you were to just transfer 80,000 of those Starpoints directly to United – you would only end up with 60,000 United miles!
Yes, United has made some negative changes with their award engine and ended the ability to add stopovers, but there is still a lot of value to be had in the United Airlines award program. I get great value from them all the time.
With all of these great transfer opportunities, which one is your favorite for 90,000 Starpoints?
- 120,000 Southwest points + Southwest Companion Pass + 7 Nights in a Cat. 1-5 hotel
- 144,000 American Airline miles + 7 Nights in a Cat. 1-5 hotel
- 152,000 United Airline miles + 7 Nights in a Cat. 1-5 hotel
There is a lot of value to be had here!
Link: Terms and Conditions for United Airlines Transfer Bonus
Southwest 120000 rapid reward points and the companion pass makes those 120000 points worth twice that amount since my wife and I travel every where together and use Southwest to get to our timeshare weeks and hotel point stays.
I’m having trouble seeing real value in this promo. 152k United miles seems less valuable than 120k of Southwest, AA, Alaska, etc after United latest deval. Am I missing something?
It depends on your use. If you want to stay in North America, I would definitely go with Southwest. But, 150K UA miles are enough for my entire family to fly one way between the US and Europe. It can be handy, especially to take advantage of some of the great fares ex-Europe!