New 25% bonus to United from hotel points

United MileagePlus 25% Hotel Transfer Bonus

United Airlines has launched its latest promotion, offering a 25% bonus when you convert points from participating hotel loyalty programs into United MileagePlus miles. The promotion is active from June 1 through June 30, 2026

While a transfer bonus usually sounds like an automatic win, hotel-to-airline conversions are historically a terrible deal. However, because of United’s unique airline partnerships, there is one major exception where the math works heavily in your favor.

Thanks to Frequent Miler for finding this deal

The Fine Print & Key Rules

Before you move any points, you must understand the restrictions built into this offer:

Registration Required: You must register your MileagePlus number on United’s official promo page before initiating any transfers. If you do not register first, you will not receive the bonus.
The Bonus Cap: The 25% bonus is capped at a maximum of 25,000 bonus miles per member.
Delayed Posting: While your base miles will transfer over relatively quickly, the 25% promotional bonus will post separately. United’s terms state that the bonus miles will be credited to your account later.

The Eight Participating Hotel Programs

You can transfer points from eight different hotel chains during this promotion:

Marriott Bonvoy
World of Hyatt
IHG One Rewards
Choice Privileges
Wyndham Rewards
Hilton Honors
ALL – Accor Live Limitless
Shangri-La Circle

Why Most of These Are a Trap

For seven out of these eight programs, you should completely ignore this promotion. The standard conversion rates are simply too poor for a 25% bump to rescue them. For example, transferring incredibly valuable World of Hyatt points at a 2.5:1 ratio is a massive waste of hotel value. Similarly, Hilton Honors points transfer at a dismal 10:1 ratio, meaning 10,000 hotel points only nets you a meager 1,250 United miles even with the bonus.

The only general exception for these programs is if you have "orphaned" points. This is a tiny balance sitting in a hotel program you never use that is otherwise going to expire. In that case, turning them into a few United miles is better than letting them go to waste.

The One Golden Exception

The one scenario where this promotion becomes highly lucrative is transferring Marriott Bonvoy points.

Marriott points normally transfer to airlines at a 3:1 ratio. However, United and Marriott share a special partnership called "Preferred Partner" rewards. Under normal circumstances, whenever you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points to United, you receive a 10,000-mile partner bonus (instead of the standard 5,000-mile bonus given to other airlines).

When you layer the temporary 25% promotion on top of that permanent partnership benefit, the math becomes incredibly strong:

60,000 Bonvoy Points 20,000 base miles
+ 10,000 Miles (Standard Marriott/United partner bonus)
+ 5,000 Miles (25% promo bonus applied to the 20,000 base miles)
Total: 35,000 United MileagePlus Miles

This brings your effective transfer rate to 1.71 United miles for every 3 Marriott points. If you transfer 120,000 Marriott points, you will walk away with 70,000 United miles. That's more than enough to book a one-way saver award ticket to Europe or South America.

Note: The 25% promotional bonus is calculated only on the base transfer amount (the 20,000 miles), not on the 10,000-mile partner bonus

The Verdict

If you lack Marriott Bonvoy points or do not have any small orphaned points that you wish to transfer before their expiration, this promotion can be ignored altogether. But if you have a large number of points saved up in the Marriott program and are planning to book a United award flight, you should take advantage of this opportunity by transferring 60,000 Bonvoy points at a time.