Marriott Bonvoy has partnerships with a variety of airline frequent flyer programs, including Emirates Skywards, Singapore KrisFlyer, and United MileagePlus. Marriott has now launched a preferred partnership with yet another partner. There’s potentially some value to this, but I’d say it’s a pretty niche proposition.
In this post:
Details of the Marriott & Lufthansa partnership
A new partnership between Marriott and Lufthansa offers reciprocal opportunities that make it a bit easier to earn elite status, for those who register. Interestingly there’s no dual points accrual aspect to this, but instead this partnership offers Marriott elite status for select Lufthansa elites, and a Lufthansa status fast track (sort of) for Marriott members.
Match Lufthansa Miles & More status to Marriott Bonvoy
Lufthansa Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members (the program’s two top elite tiers) are eligible to receive an instant match to Marriott Gold status, with no stay requirement. This ordinarily requires 25 elite nights in a year.
Status is valid for the standard program year, which is through February two years after it’s earned (so if you took advantage of this in 2025, it would be valid through February 2027). However, this will be extended beyond that, for as long as the partnership remains live, assuming status is maintained.
Unfortunately there are no additional status fast track opportunities for higher elite tiers, so this can’t earn you Marriott Platinum status or above.
Earn Lufthansa Miles & More status points for Marriott stays
All Marriott Bonvoy members can earn bonus Lufthansa Miles & More status points for Marriott stays. Specifically, they can earn 40 Miles & More status points on each qualifying hotel stay, up to a maximum of 120 Miles & More status points for three qualifying hotel stays per calendar year.
These status points are on top of the standard Bonvoy points or Miles & More miles that members can choose to earn for stays. A qualifying stay is one where a member pays with cash for an eligible rate, and stays at least two consecutive nights.
For context on how this fits into the overall process of qualifying for Miles & More elite status, there are both basic status points, as well as qualifying points (earned specifically on select flights, primarily Lufthansa Group airlines):
- Frequent Traveler status requires 650 status points (half of which need to be qualifying points)
- Senator status requires 2,000 status points (half of which need to be qualifying points)
- HON Circle status requires 6,000 status points (all of which need to be qualifying points)
So this isn’t going to be some huge game changer, but if you’re going for status with Miles & More and stay at Marriotts with any frequency, you might as well earn bonus status points. If you were to earn 120 status points per year this way, that would get you 18% of the way to Frequent Traveler status, or 6% of the way to Senator status. Meanwhile these status points don’t count toward HON Circle status, since these aren’t considered to be those special qualifying points.
Bottom line
Marriott Bonvoy and Lufthansa Miles & More have launched a new preferred partnership, offering fast track opportunities to earn elite status. Miles & More Senator members and above can get a Bonvoy Gold status match, while Bonvoy members can earn up to 120 Miles & More status points per year for Marriott stays.
I wouldn’t say this promotion is a game changer, but if you’re engaged in the Miles & More program in any way, then you might as well register and take part.
Will you take advantage of this Marriott and Lufthansa partnership?
I am a bit confused, but not really interested to get the details straight... Does this mean that my Emirates connection between Bonvoy & Emirates (earning some measly Emirates points whenever staying at Marriott as a Titanium member) will still work? Also, on my Senator profile it states that a connection between these two accounts can happen only once!?
Anyway, tbh, all these programs and their constant changes exhaust me. I am starting to lose...
I am a bit confused, but not really interested to get the details straight... Does this mean that my Emirates connection between Bonvoy & Emirates (earning some measly Emirates points whenever staying at Marriott as a Titanium member) will still work? Also, on my Senator profile it states that a connection between these two accounts can happen only once!?
Anyway, tbh, all these programs and their constant changes exhaust me. I am starting to lose interest in all of this, and I am more and more switching to bookings at Four Seasons, Cheval Blanc, Belmond and others. My only wish would be that Hyatt would offer credit cards for Europeans, I would immediately apply... The Park Hyatt hotel offerings in Europe are still wonderful, and the Globalist status definitely worth it.
As a side note: as an Amex Centurion Card holder in Austria, I am "lucky" (?) to get Marriott GOLD, if ever I would apply for it... And all Amex Rewards points conversions in Austria/Germany have recently been devalued to a point that I am ready to jump ship.
By the way, @Lucky: my channels tell me that JP Morgan is opening up business in Germany next year, with a high probability of "Chase" issuing cards in Germany next year. It would be fantastic if you could look into this!
Can we just agree that Marriott Gold is beyond worthless? So many ways to get it without spending a dime...
But, no award point transfers.
Sounds good for the 120 points, sadly the status match is not worth a lot (and already included with Amex platinum).
Great. Now you can get Bonvoy'd and Spohr'd at the same time!
you do not get any HON circle points. there are points, qualifying points and HON circle points. Here it is only about points.
@ Jan -- Whoops, good catch, thank you! Fixed.