United Airline’s Mileage Plus cardholders are now able to redeem their frequent flyer points for car hire and hotel bookings.

At present the car rentals are only available in Canada and the US but the redemption and booking components can be made from anywhere in the world. United is offering car hire through partners Budget, Alamo and Dollar and customers can search through vehicles at a range of points. Starting at around 10,000 points per day, a full range of vehicles can be booked by the points system with costs varying depending on model, location and company.

As with any membership scheme redemptions on the bookings cannot be refunded or cancelled so bear in mind that miles will not be returned if not used. Changes can be made, but with significant penalties, ranging from $35 – $75 excluding partner charges.

Hotel bookings are wide-ranging and meet the full range of budgets, from 2-star motels in the mid-west to Parisian luxury. The average number of miles needed for a top end stay was around 70,000. The search engine for Hotel bookings is extremely detailed and is linked to independent customer reviews and ratings on travel site TripAdvisor.

The benefit of the car and hotel rewards scheme is that it offers customers the chance to utilise their membership across a range of travel related services, not just flights. Customers can also redeem their frequent flyer miles for services that do not require huge expenditure as many find it difficult to spend and save enough for an airline ticket.