When Marriott combined programs on August 18th they took all Starwood points balances and tripled them. And they kept the basics of the Starwood points transfers to miles system. So miles transfer 3:1 with most airline partners (instead of the old 1:1, but it’s effectively the same) and transfers into 20,000 miles earns 5000 bonus miles.

In other words, transferring 60,000 Marriott points yields 25,000 airline miles. When you transfer to United you also get a 10% bonus because of the Marriott-United RewardsPlus tie-in.

And right now United is offering a 30% bonus on Marriott transfers up to 25,000 extra miles. Registration is required, and transfers must be made by November 30.

The new program features devalued travel packages (simultaneous redemptions for hotel stays with mileage transfers), and travel packages no longer earn transfer bonuses anyway.

This is actually a 30% bonus from United on transfers from their various hotel partners into miles, and the 30% bonus is added on the total miles transferred across partners. I focus on Marriott here because the loss in value transferring points from other partners is generally too great to make it worthwhile however if you have expiring hotel points you need to unload it’s an option to consider.

The only thing I don’t like about this bonus is that the extra points won’t post until the conclusion of the offer, so they won’t be available to spend until December.

(HT: Daniel P.)

Terms and conditions:

Registration:

To qualify for this offer, members must register for the promotion between October 9, 2018 and 11:59pm EST November 30, 2018 (“Promotional Period”).

Qualifying activity:

A member must earn award miles as a result of one or more points to miles conversion transactions from any combination of MileagePlus hotel partner programs that offer a points to miles transfer program that are conducted during the Promotional Period (“Qualifying Activity”) in order to qualify for MileagePlus Hotel Points-to-Miles bonus miles (“Bonus Miles”). Qualifying Activity must be completed by 11:59pm EST November 30, 2018

Posting of Promotional Miles:

At the conclusion of the promotion, all miles earned by each member from Qualifying Activity will be multiplied by 30% to determine the eligible bonus up to a maximum of 25,000 Bonus Miles. Bonus Miles will be credited into the member’s account on or before January 30, 2019. The maximum bonus miles that can be earned by a member under this promotion is 25,000. MileagePlus will not be responsible for technical problems with partner miles postings, or failures or delays in miles postings by hotel partners, that would render any points to miles converted as ineligible under this promotion.

General:

This offer is not combinable with other MileagePlus offers. Offer subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply. Miles accrued, awards, and benefits issued are subject to change and are subject to the rules of the United MileagePlus program, including without limitation the Premier® program (the “MileagePlus Program”), which are expressly incorporated herein. Please allow 6-8 weeks after completed qualifying activity for miles to post to your account. United may change the MileagePlus Program including, but not limited to, rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers or terminate the MileagePlus Program at any time and without notice. United and its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents are not responsible for any products or services of other participating companies and partners. Taxes and fees related to award travel are the responsibility of the member. Bonus award miles, award miles and any other miles earned through non-flight activity do not count toward qualification for Premier status unless expressly stated otherwise. The accumulation of mileage or Premier status or any other status does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to the MileagePlus Program. All calculations made in connection with the MileagePlus Program, including without limitation with respect to the accumulation of mileage and the satisfaction of the qualification requirements for Premier status, will be made by United Airlines and MileagePlus in their discretion and such calculations will be considered final. Information in this communication that relates to the MileagePlus Program does not purport to be complete or comprehensive and may not include all of the information that a member may believe is important, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to all of the information on the united.com website and the MileagePlus Program rules. United and MileagePlus are registered service marks. For complete details about the MileagePlus Program, go to www.united.com.