50% bonus for converting your hotel points to U.S. Airways miles
#17
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Northern CA
Programs: UA, CO, AA, USAir
Posts: 25
They run a 75% promo, where you got 25% in any case, + 25% if you had a US Air credit card, +25% if you are elite Dividend Miles member. The current offer is less lucrative, but more straightforward: 50% for everyone.
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
And Amex wasn't running a concurrent bonus transfer to SPG. I'm quite happy to have near 1:1 Membership Rewards to US Airways.
#19
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BGM
Programs: DL, US, AA, Marriott Silver, HHonors Gold, Best Western Diamond
Posts: 188
I am trying to decide the most valuable way to take advantage of this offer - or not.
I have 70,000 Marriott points, which would become 37,500 US Airways miles, which is good for what, one roundtrip flight?
Or I could keep saving them, try to get to 135,000 points, and redeem them for $1000 of Marriott cheques.. I am over halfway there with 70K points, so they're worth over $500 as they sit here.
So.. would I get more than $500 out of them if they were to become 37,500 US Airways miles?
Hmm...
thoughts appreciated, since I'm admittedly rather new to "this" despite reading for a year or more, off and on, here.
(edit - my own thoughts on using SPG points for this offer - SPG points are WAY more valuable as they sit. My husband had 13,000 SPG points and we just booked two suites for four nights each in Florida for the cash + points cost of $266 total plus 12,800 points. We paid over $2K last year, cash, for the same exact rooms for the same exact time!)
I have 70,000 Marriott points, which would become 37,500 US Airways miles, which is good for what, one roundtrip flight?
Or I could keep saving them, try to get to 135,000 points, and redeem them for $1000 of Marriott cheques.. I am over halfway there with 70K points, so they're worth over $500 as they sit here.
So.. would I get more than $500 out of them if they were to become 37,500 US Airways miles?
Hmm...
thoughts appreciated, since I'm admittedly rather new to "this" despite reading for a year or more, off and on, here.
(edit - my own thoughts on using SPG points for this offer - SPG points are WAY more valuable as they sit. My husband had 13,000 SPG points and we just booked two suites for four nights each in Florida for the cash + points cost of $266 total plus 12,800 points. We paid over $2K last year, cash, for the same exact rooms for the same exact time!)
#21
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BGM
Programs: DL, US, AA, Marriott Silver, HHonors Gold, Best Western Diamond
Posts: 188
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid..._to_miles.html
For Club Carlson it says for me to sign in to see details, but I do not have a CC account at this time.
#22
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 1,389
Here is the offer page in case anyone else has a similar question -
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid..._to_miles.html
For Club Carlson it says for me to sign in to see details, but I do not have a CC account at this time.
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid..._to_miles.html
For Club Carlson it says for me to sign in to see details, but I do not have a CC account at this time.
#23
Join Date: May 2010
Location: BNA
Programs: No preference
Posts: 1,176
Example: 10k Marriott = 3k US. With a 50% bonus, 10k = 3k(1.5) = 4,500 US miles
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
#25
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BGM
Programs: DL, US, AA, Marriott Silver, HHonors Gold, Best Western Diamond
Posts: 188
#26
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
If you transfer 2,000, you get 250 miles (1 for 8). If you transfer 50,000, you get 8,000 (1 for 6.25). If you transfer 100,000 you get 18,000 (1 for 5.56).
Unfortunately, you need to transfer in round 50k or 100k amounts to get the bonus. So, if you wanted to transfer 80k CC points to US, you'd have to do 1 50k redemption plus 15 2k redemptions, which would net you 12,500 US miles. With the 50 percent bonus, a total of 18,750.
#27
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
I am trying to decide the most valuable way to take advantage of this offer - or not.
I have 70,000 Marriott points, which would become 37,500 US Airways miles, which is good for what, one roundtrip flight?
Or I could keep saving them, try to get to 135,000 points, and redeem them for $1000 of Marriott cheques.. I am over halfway there with 70K points, so they're worth over $500 as they sit here.
I have 70,000 Marriott points, which would become 37,500 US Airways miles, which is good for what, one roundtrip flight?
Or I could keep saving them, try to get to 135,000 points, and redeem them for $1000 of Marriott cheques.. I am over halfway there with 70K points, so they're worth over $500 as they sit here.
I think your second best use of Marriott points might well be to use them to stay at a Marriott. I can get around $1200 value out of 75k Marriott if I use them right for stays.
But I think, beyond that, if you don't see yourself accumulating Marriott points, this is a good promo and 37.5k isn't that bad.
#28
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BGM
Programs: DL, US, AA, Marriott Silver, HHonors Gold, Best Western Diamond
Posts: 188
Your best use of Marriott points is to get to 270k and redeem them for a travel package, which gives you miles plus a one-week Marriott stay. But if you don't stay at Marriotts or accumulate points using the credit card, it's hard to see getting to 200k in the foreseeable future, and who knows when they might change the program.
I think your second best use of Marriott points might well be to use them to stay at a Marriott. I can get around $1200 value out of 75k Marriott if I use them right for stays.
But I think, beyond that, if you don't see yourself accumulating Marriott points, this is a good promo and 37.5k isn't that bad.
I think your second best use of Marriott points might well be to use them to stay at a Marriott. I can get around $1200 value out of 75k Marriott if I use them right for stays.
But I think, beyond that, if you don't see yourself accumulating Marriott points, this is a good promo and 37.5k isn't that bad.
#29
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 8
Just curious. Why are US Airway points better then AMEX MR points? I have 60K MR points and do alot of traveling. Trying to figure out if I should do the transfer as well but don't want to give up MR points if they are better.
#30
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
People like US miles because US has a good awards chart and can be reliably used for good redemptions for star alliance flights. There is nothing really equivalent that you can transfer your Membership Rewards miles to if you want to book on *A. Aeroplan is a good option, particularly because it permits one-way awards for less than full round trip, but they now impose taxes. ANA and Singapore are also options, but they have some downsides -- I think ANA requires you actually to transfer miles before you can check for availability, for example. Accordingly, people who like to redeem for *A travel will generally prefer US. When UA was an Amex transfer partner, it was easier, but now occasions to get near 1:1 value to US for Amex is rare.
All that said, you need to know what your needs are. You are losing a small number of miles in the transfer, even with this bonus. The best rate you can get by doing Amex to SPG to US is .94 to 1. Also, the only way to maximize the bonus is to do transfers that result in you having 20k chunks in SPG, because you need that amount to get the 5k bonus. So, for example, if you only have 60k MR and you don't have any SPG, the best you can do is transfer MR to SPG at 2:1, which results in 30k SPG. If you transfer all 30k SPG to US, you only get one 5k bonus -- you would need to transfer 40k to get the second 5k bonus. So, you're transferring 35k to US, which nets you 52.5k US. Many would find this to be worth doing. But if you don't have any US to combine them with to book a larger award, you're probably best off just holding the 60k in MR and waiting for the next deal to come along.
My personal view on these hotel bonuses, which have been popping up a couple of times a year for the last two years, is that unless I have a present or likely near future need for the miles, I won't just do it on spec unless the bonus rate is at least +50 percent for *A or +35 percent for AA. At those rates, I don't mind stockpiling miles and taking points out of a multi-partner program and losing the flexibility. Last year, when US had a 75 percent bonus, I basically cashed out of SPG, because the effective rate was 43,750 US for 20,000 SPG. At less than those rates, I'd rather keep my transferable points flexible. You're talking about actually losing 7.5k miles in the transfer. I wouldn't do it.