Marriott Bonvoy and Starbucks are launching a partnership, though definitely manage your expectations here, as the value for most people will be quite limited.
In this post:
Details of the Marriott & Starbucks partnership
A new partnership between Marriott Bonvoy and Starbucks Rewards will provide some benefits to U.S. members who link their accounts. This offers the opportunity to earn bonus Marriott Bonvoy points and bonus Starbucks Rewards Stars.
There are two main components to this:
- Receive double Starbucks Rewards Stars during Marriott stays — members can earn double Starbucks Rewards Stars for qualifying transactions at participating Starbucks locations through the duration of their eligible stay at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy
- Receive bonus Marriott Bonvoy points select weeks — throughout the year there will be designated Marriott Bonvoy Weeks, whereby members can earn 100 Marriott Bonvoy points when they make three qualifying transactions at participating Starbucks locations (the first week will run July 8 through July 14, 2024)
Later this year, it’s also expected that coffee and travel themed experiences will be introduced on Marriott Bonvoy Moments (which is Marriott’s experiences marketplace). Furthermore, select Starbucks Reserve locations in Seattle, Chicago, and New York, will introduce Starbucks Reserve Siciliano for Marriott Bonvoy, which is a special cocktail comprised of cold brew with traditional Italian spirits.
Here’s how David Flueck, Marriott’s Global Head of Loyalty, Cards, and Enterprise Partnerships, describes this:
“I love my regular morning cup of Starbucks coffee, and find I enjoy it even more when traveling. So, Marriott Bonvoy’s collaboration with Starbucks makes perfect sense. We will truly satisfy our members’ passions for coffee and travel with the opportunity to earn more points and Stars while traveling and at home, and later this year by bringing those passions together when we introduce exclusive coffee- and travel-themed experiences on Marriott Bonvoy Moments.”
How valuable is this partnership?
Any opportunity to earn bonus rewards is a good one, as far as I’m concerned (unless you’re really concerned about your data being shared between companies, for whatever reason). That being said, the value of this truly is fairly marginal:
- During select weeks, you can earn 100 Marriott Bonvoy points when making three Starbucks transactions; I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, so with a bonus of ~33 Bonvoy points per transaction, that’s like a 23 cent return on select transactions
- You can always earn double Starbucks Rewards Stars when making Starbucks purchases at the same time you stay at a Marriott; I value Starbucks Stars at 4-5 cents each, so to me, that’s like an incremental 4-5% return on Starbucks spending when staying at a Marriott
If you frequently make purchases with Marriott and Starbucks, you might as well take advantage of this. I’d say the bigger opportunity here is being able to earn double Starbucks Stars, rather than being able to earn 100 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points every so often.
Keep in mind that you should be able to stack this with the Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks Rewards partnership, which lets you earn bonus Delta SkyMiles for reloading your Starbucks balance. Again, the partnership isn’t amazing, or anything, but is better than nothing.
Bottom line
Marriott Bonvoy and Starbucks Rewards have launched a new partnership. Those in the United States who link their accounts have some opportunities to earn bonus rewards. You can always earn double Starbucks Rewards Stars in conjunction with a Marriott stay, while over select weeks you can earn 100 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points when making three Starbucks transactions.
What do you make of the new Marriott & Starbucks partnership?
The days of Marriott providing a good experience for it's gold members and up is gone.
Like the others said...tired of Marriott playing these game as if the clients are stupid. The owners of the hotels need to honor the card holders or just don't accept it at all.
Man the f* up and stop playing these bs breakfast games.
What a wonderful partnership.
The joys of paying overpriced Starbucks in the lobby of a Marriott property because the property play games with elite benefit and staff shortages.
Breakfast doesn't come with coffee and the lounge is closed.
The crafters of this collaboration must think the clients are stooooopid.
Nah, people who paid for Starbucks while staying at a Bonvoy property have proven that they are indeed stooooopid.
This really does not make sense. First because it is not enough points to be worth much. Second, most hotels have coffee somewhere for guests so I do not see how this partnership is valuable since it is mostly based on during a stay.
For anyone that fly united over Delta, there's also United's MileageX app that lets you buy Starbucks giftcard and getting 2 miles per dollar for United that you can almost instantly add it to your starbucks app. If you use CSR, it still counts as restaurants and you get 3x chase points.