Emirates launched one of the first hotel-airline partnerships with Starwood Preferred Guest, but that was quietly discontinued after Marriott acquired Starwood. Marriott had its own partnership with United Airlines called Rewards Plus and probably didn’t want the competition. Unfortunately Rewards Plus isn’t all that rewarding since it is mostly a way to transfer points between the two programs at higher rates.
Now Marriott and Emirates are back together with the awkwardly named “Your World Rewards.” It does not replace Rewards Plus. With Your Word Rewards you can earn Marriott Bonvoy points when you fly on Emirates and earn Emirates Skywards miles when you stay at Marriott. This is in addition to the points or miles you would normally earn.
You must enroll in the program (link to Marriott’s landing page) before you can begin earning bonus rewards. Also be sure to read the full Terms & Conditions.
While you may not fly with Emirates on a regular basis, their long-haul flights are more expensive than a domestic ticket, so I expect the bonus points will add up quickly. Conversely, Marriott is almost everywhere, so it should be easy to rack up Emirates miles even if you haven’t given serious though to their Skywards program in the past. The catch is that you won’t earn any points or miles if you don’t already have status, so maybe some frequent Marriott guests be incentivized to get Silver status with Emirates Skywards.
Earn with Marriott
- All Marriott Gold, Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador members earn 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar spent on Emirates tickets. You can still keep whatever Emirates Skywards miles you would normally earn.
- These elite members also enjoy benefits such as priority check-in and priority boarding.
Earn with Emirates
- Emirates Silver, Gold, and Platinum members earn 1 Emirates Skywards mile per dollar spent at Marriott hotels. You can still keep whatever Marriott Bonvoy points you would normally earn.
- Emirates Gold and Platinum elite members also enjoy benefits such as priority check-in, 4 PM late check-out, and free WiFi.
- Skywards Blue members will not earn any miles for stays at Marriott.
Similar to Hyatt-American Airlines Partnership
Earlier this year Hyatt launched a similar partnership with American Airlines that offers the chance to earn points when you travel with the other partner as well as some reciprocal benefits. As with Marriott and Emirates, the catch is that the Hyatt-American benefits are mostly limited to members with elite status. One feature that seems unique to Hyatt and American is that most members are receiving offers for status challenges to help them earn elite status in both programs.
