Can you use united miles for hotels

Check out our separate valuations page. You earn miles when you fly on United or one of its partner airlines, and you can redeem them for award flights. The number of miles you'll earn for a flight depends on how much you spent on the ticket and your status level within the MileagePlus program. All statuses above basic membership earn mile bonuses. For example, the basic member rewards rate is 5 miles per dollar. We'll have more on status levels below — or you can jump ahead to that part now.

NOTE: You earn miles only on airfare and airline fees. Government-imposed taxes and fees do not earn miles. Generally, the most you can earn on a ticket is 75, miles. United Airlines offers co-branded credit cards through Chase. It gives you 2 miles per dollar spent at restaurants, on hotel stays and on purchases from United, and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases. The first checked bag is free for you and a companion traveling on your reservation.

You can earn additional MileagePlus miles at most major hotel chains. In some cases, you earn 1 or 2 miles per dollar spent; in others, you earn a flat number of miles per stay. See partner hotels and the earning rules here. Register a credit card with MileagePlus Dining , and every time you use that card at a participating restaurant, club or bar, you'll earn up to 5 miles per dollar spent. There are more than 11, participating locations. Auto rentals and other transportation. Hertz-owned rental agencies, including Dollar and Thrifty, offer the option to earn MileagePlus miles.

See the rules here. Amtrak rail service and select shuttles and car services are also partners. When you shop online through the MileagePlus Shopping mall, you earn miles for every dollar you spend at more than retailers.

Financial partners. Earn miles when doing business with lending and insurance partners, among others. Details here. You can purchase additional miles through the MileagePlus website, but this is generally not a good idea. You'll pay far more than the 1 cent per mile at which NerdWallet values MileagePlus miles.

However, if you need a few thousand miles to top up your account for a valuable award, it could make sense. MileagePlus miles are redeemable for flights through United Airlines and its partners in the Star Alliance. Choose a flight, and you'll see what the price is in cash as well as miles. United Airlines offers several levels of award seats, requiring more miles for more desirable seats and cabins. They are awarded as one-way flights, so if you're spending miles, you'll have to apply them to both the outbound and return flights separately.

Generally, there are two kinds of award redemptions:. Saver Awards seats are cheaper in terms of miles required to book them — ranging from 5, to 12, miles for domestic economy, for example. But they are scarcer and might not be available for the flight you want. Everyday Awards seats are more available than Saver Awards seats but require more miles. Flyers with elite status, which United calls Premier, and eligible holders of MileagePlus credit cards have unrestricted access to book seats — even the last seat on the plane — at the Everyday Awards level.

United discontinued its published award chart for flights on Nov. You can generally expect that prices that are cheaper with cash will also be cheaper with miles. Free flights. Because we value MileagePlus miles at an average of 1 cent each, redemptions that give you at least that much value are a decent option. United has many opportunities for sweet spot redemptions. Upgrading your seat to a premium class can be another good use of miles because doing so can return value greater than 1 cent per mile.

Some upgrades to business or first class require payment in the form of a cash co-pay as well as miles. As with award seats, upgrades are based on one-way flights.

The price of an upgrade depends on the fare class of your current ticket — upgrading from a cheaper fare will generally cost more. Other redemption options include United Club membership fees, hotel stays, car rentals, cruises and gift cards. These options tend to offer a lower value than 1 cent per mile, so we recommend avoiding them. Anyone can sign up for the MileagePlus program. It's free to join. With basic membership, though, pretty much all you get is a frequent-flyer number and an account where your points accumulate.

The real goodies come when you earn elite status. First, we'll look at what you get at the four elite levels of MileagePlus. Then we'll look at what it takes to get there. On United, elite statuses are called Premier levels. From lowest to highest, they are Silver, Gold, Platinum and 1K. They include free checked bags, priority boarding, better access to award seats and even United Club airport lounge access.

Can you use MileagePlus miles for hotels? Category: travel air travel. Aside from flight and upgrade awards, you can use miles to pay for hotels and rental cars, merchandise, experiences and more. How much is United miles worth? What does miles get you? What airlines can I use United miles on? Can I use SkyMiles to book a hotel? How much does it cost to buy United miles? Do united points expire? How do I link my Marriott to United? How many miles does it take for a free flight on United?

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Similar Asks. Popular Asks. You just need to think outside the box in order to navigate the labyrinth that is airline booking systems. The perception, of course, is that airlines want to make it difficult for you to redeem your miles, but while that was usually the case pre-pandemic, things have changed in the last several months—to a point.

Because while there is now more frequent flier mile seat availability in premium cabins because fewer corporate travelers are flying , there are also less flights out there in general, as airlines have reduced their routes.

This is particularly useful when trying to fly to places like the Caribbean on miles, which is usually challenging due to high demand from the US. American Airlines , for example, just added flights to Anguilla and Dominica from Miami both are new flights for those islands , making it easier to redeem miles to get there.

As of this writing, there are even mileage ticket deals available to warm weather destinations for the holidays—like Cleveland to Nassau for 29, miles one way in economy on United, and Miami to George Town, Bahamas in business class for just 20, miles one way on American.

Courtesy Qatar Airways. Another tip: Look at partner airlines. Other examples of great partner redemptions include using United miles for Star Alliance partners like Lufthansa or All Nippon Airways. The trickiest redemptions, however, come from Delta Air Lines , which will charge you much more than its US competitors to use your miles on premium cabin seats on most of its partner airlines. At press time, for example, a one-way business class flight on Saudia the only Delta partner currently with availability between the US and the Maldives was a staggering , miles.

A great way to root out award space availability is by using a search tool that scans multiple airlines and alliances at one time. Throughout out this whole process, though, just remember the cardinal rule when trying to use frequent flier miles: Be flexible with your travel dates if you want the best deal.

You can book a home like this one in Breckenridge through Homes and Villas by Marriott. Courtesy Homes and Villas by Marriott.