Thank you Dr Jabadski for reply. I went to the UA MileagePlus site originally, but it only posts hotel awards in dollars. However, I have since found a different site that gives approximate points for hotel awards in various programs, which is useful in determining value of points/miles of various hotel/airline loyalty programs ("www.thesimpledollar.com" {Moderator caution -- this site states "This post contains references to products from our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to these products. "}) Color me a newbie at this....I want to a focus only on acquiring miles/points in programs that best match/support my travel goals.

When I visit the MileagePlus site, I see quotes in miles. However, I think you're being tripped up by the first clause in the FAQ section: "Hotel and Car Awards are available to a member who both (a) has an account address in one of the following countries and (b) is a Premier member, a United MileagePlus co-branded Cardmember (domestic or international) or select general members."

I don't know what constitute "select general members," but I'm guessing you are not premier and don't have a MileagePlus credit card.

Having said that, here are the first three results from a search that I did (2/19-2/21 in Austin, TX), compared to the prices on hotels.com -- one room, two adults, all rates are per night:

Sheraton Austin @ the Capitol: $159 vs. 17,890 miles
Hyatt Regency Austin: $209 vs. 19,960 miles
Crowne Plaza Austin: $130 vs. 15,975 miles

So, the redemption rate is somewhere around $0.01 per mile, but you would need to achieve premier status or apply for (and receive) a MileagePlus credit card in order to use them.

Hope this helps!

Well, let this be a lesson to me. The reason the miles were not showing up in my MileagePlus search (I am a member with a credit card) was that I was using Safari as my browser. When I decided to try Chrome and see if I could see what everyone else was seeing, shazaam, the estimated miles appeared!

So....going forward, I will not use Safari as my search engine but will stick to Chrome or Firefox. (This isn't the first time I've had problems like this with Safari.) But thank you cuz it was your response that prompted me to simply try a another browser.

hotel awards website
 

this may have been asked before but does anyone know why the hotel awards website won't work

Welcome to FT, rcon8263!

Could you please define "won't work"? It looks fine to me.

Are you a MP Premier member or hold a Chase MP branded credit card?

Do you meet the eligibility in Hotel and Car Awards rules?

hotel awards website
 

whats wrong with the hotel awards website. i went to book a hotel and the page wont open. anyone got any ideas

Using MileagePlus Hotel and Car Awards I was able to search for a potential booking.

Is it actually a good deal? "Save now: Use your 396,758 [UA] miles for car rentals"
 

Is it actually a good deal?

I keep receiving emails from UA Mileage Plus that says: "Save now: Use your 396,758 miles for car rentals"

I started wondering... since I'm from the EU and don't currently live in the US, how much does it really cost to start using UA miles for car rental? I assume that if I use my UA miles to pay for the rental, I need to buy the CDW.(which is covered as a primary coverage via my credit card, since I don't have any insurance in the US, right)

If it were a good deal, they probably wouldn't be pushing you to do it. :)

Note that CDW is not insurance. It covers the cost of the rental car, but it doesn't cover your liability if you get in an accident, nor does it cover your medical costs. I believe that the rental agency is required to provide a minimum amount of liability coverage, because it's illegal to drive without it. However, if you have substantial assets to protect, you should consider Supplemental Liability Coverage, and, depending upon how you're handling health insurance while in the US, you should consider Personal Accident Insurance as well (it pays for medical costs if you're in an accident).

You're right, though; if you have a credit card with a CDW waiver, and you use your United miles to pay for the rental, you'd likely want to buy the CDW since your waiver wouldn't apply -- and that would really depress the value of using your miles.

Ignore them. They're just trying to get you to spend your miles. Any way will do. And then maybe you'll have to buy more miles to do something you really want to do with them, like acquiring free F seats on an int'l flight..... <cynicism off>

Price shop, it is common for these to pricing out as 0.5 to 0.8 cpm -- poor redemption use of miles

Perhaps useful if you have no other use for your miles

I don't know about ua but on aa redeeming miles for car rentals is often an excellent deal as they seems to be based on discounted rates (eg priceline/hotwire range). Payment can be structured as min of 1000 miles plus cash.

i would suggest checking all options

for this weekend aug 10-12 2 day rental in SEA economy/compact:

Hotwire hot rate $267 all in with unknown provider; no idea what priceline would accept for bidding
AA redeem miles (need to login): Total Due: 1,000 Miles + $96.80 and you do know the provider.. there are reports that prices also depend on airline status i am a rather generic gold there

YMMV