Earn Miles By Transferring From Hotel Points - Not A Good Value

Now I put a disclaimer in the title of this post because I think that you, usually, lose most of your value of points when you transfer them from hotel programs to airline programs. But, in an effort to disclose ALL of the different ways to earn miles I wanted to quickly talk about why I don't think it's the best way to earn some miles. Now, as always, your miles and goals may differ from mine or others. So if you find that you are short of an award and may not use those Wyndham points you have sitting around and they are better transferred to United for an award you have...then it might be worth considering. I did just that last year to top off my United account and use Wyndham points I never was going to use.

But the thing is...most of the time there is little value in transferring from hotel to airline because the ratio is often not very good. For example SPG points to United miles transfer at a 2:1 ratio...so you lose half of your value right away...despite a 5,000 bonus for every 20,000 you transfer. But, SPG does have some options with other partners that are at a 1:1 that might be an option, but as I said...just be very careful to think of the earned value of those hotel points and if they are better held for hotel uses, rather than airline uses.

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