Through November 30, members of United's Mileage Plus program can earn up to 25 percent more miles when exchanging hotel points for Mileage Plus miles.

Transfer the number of hotel points equivalent to between 10,000 and 19,999 miles to earn 2,500 bonus miles. Or transfer the number of hotel points equivalent to 20,000 miles or more to earn 5,000 bonus miles.

The bonus can be earned when exchanging points from the following hotel programs: Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, TripRewards, Priority Club Rewards, and Radisson goldpoints plus.

If this promotion seems vaguely familiar, it's probably because it mimics a permanent feature of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program. SPG members receive a 5,000-mile bonus when redeeming 20,000 points for miles in participating airline programs.

I applaud what appears to be United's plagiarism here. As this promotion shows, copycatting can be good for consumers—as long as it's best practices that are being copied, not worst ones.