United did a tie-in a year ago with Hertz, and now even gives Hertz status to United elites and premium co-brand credit card holders.
United offers an option – that’s pretty much not a good deal – to use miles for hotel and car bookings.
Currently though they’re offering a 2000 mile rebate when you redeem miles for Hertz car rentals completed by April 30.
Hertz owns Dollar and Thrifty, so those results will often be shown, but the rebate doesn’t apply to Dollar or Thrifty redemptions (their prices can be lower). In fact, Hertz may even be more expensive than other options in miles after the rebate.
The rebate doesn’t come right away, they promise it 6-8 weeks after the rental is complete. It’s only for new redemption bookings. And there’s no minimum rental period to qualify for the rebate.
Unfortunately even with 2000 miles rebated on a one-day rental you’re rarely going to find great values. For instance, I’m generally seeing at least 6450 miles for a one-day rental. With 2000 miles back that’s a net of 4450 miles. There are times when you may roughly break even, as airport rentals can be costly in business destinations midweek and you may still see that pricing.
United elites do get better redemptions, and I don’t have United status, so it’s possible that you may find better deals. And this may be strategically useful to some.
(HT: mark)
Sadly, even as a 1K, the value is poor. Unlike AA, who heavily discounts car/hotel redemptions for EP members, I am only seeing ~15% savings from the normal redemption price. In most cases, this simply won’t be a great deal.