Exchange Your Hotel Points for 25% More MileagePlus Miles!
Expiration Date – August 31, 2015
Do you have hotel points scattered across many hotel loyalty programs? United is offering a 25% bonus to exchange your hotel points for United MileagePlus miles as long as you register and initiate your exchanges before August 31, 2015.
In order to qualify for the 25% bonus, MileagePlus members must earn a minimum of 5,000 award miles (before the bonus) as a result of one or more points-to-miles conversion transactions from any combination of nine participating MileagePlus hotel partner programs. The maximum bonus during this promotion is 25,000 miles.
Bonus Miles will be credited into the member’s account on or before September 30, 2015.
But does it make sense to exchange hotel points for MileagePlus miles? In most cases an exchange does not make sense, although some value exists when exchanging Marriott Rewards points for MileagePlus miles because of their RewardsPlus partnership.
We value MileagePlus miles at 1.5 cents per mile. Let’s consider this value against the conversion ratios for these major hotel brands - Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Starwood.
Marriott Rewards - Because we value Marriott Rewards points at 0.7 cents per point, the following conversion rates apply:
8,000 points (worth $56) to 2,000 miles (worth $30) = Poor Value
16,000 points (worth $112) to 5,000 miles + a 25% bonus (worth $93.75) = Poor Value
24,000 points (worth $168) to 10,000 miles + a 25% bonus (worth $187.50) = Good Value
56,000 points (worth $392) to 25,000 miles + a 25% bonus (worth $469) = Good Value
112,000 points (worth $784) to 50,000 miles + a 25% bonus (worth $937) = Very Good Value
If you purchase a Travel Package at the 120,000 MileagePlus level, you will earn an extra RewardsPlus bonus of 10% + 20,000 bonus miles for a total of 152,000 MileagePlus miles = Very Good Value
Hilton HHonors - Because we value Hilton HHonors points at 0.5 cents per point, the following conversion rates apply:
10,000 points (worth $50) to 1,000 MileagePlus miles (worth $15) = Poor Value even at the larger exchange amounts that qualify for a 25% bonus
Hyatt Gold Passport - Because we value Hyatt Gold Passport points at 1.8 cents per point, the following conversion rates apply:
2.5 points (worth 4.5 cents) to 1 MileagePlus mile (worth 1.5 cents) = Poor Value even at the larger exchange amounts that qualify for a 25% bonus
IHG Rewards Club - Because we value IHG Rewards Club points at 0.7 cents per point, the following conversion rates apply:
10,000 points (worth $70) to 2,000 MileagePlus miles (worth $30) = Poor Value even at the larger exchange amounts that qualify for a 25% bonus
Starwood Preferred Guest- Because we value SPG Starpoints at 2.2 cents per point, the following conversion rates apply:
2 points (worth 4.4 cents) to 1 MileagePlus mile (worth 1.5 cents) = Poor Value even at the larger exchange amounts that qualify for a 25% bonus AND even when you qualify for an extra 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to United MileagePlus miles
And four other hotel transfer partners are participating:
The Wrap-Up:
We love teaching our Members about all the great benefits they can enjoy from the best promotions out there. But, it is equally if not more valuable to know when not to participate in a travel reward offer. And we believe that is the case with this exchange offer for all programs except Marriott Rewards (because of the RewardsPlus partnership).
The exchange values for Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Starwood are poor and you are much better off using your hotel reward points for hotel stays instead of exchanging them for MileagePlus miles even with a bonus.
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