Marriott and Lufthansa Group Pioneer Reciprocal Status Earning

Updated: September 15, 2025, 10:08am CDT

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Industry First: Marriott and Lufthansa Group Introduce Mixed Hotel and Airline Status Earning
Final Thoughts

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This partnership certainly wasn’t on our bingo card for 2025.

Marriott and the Lufthansa Group have joined forces to offer reciprocal benefits for members of their loyalty programs, focusing on cross-program status earning.

“This partnership is a fantastic alignment of two trusted names, united by a shared commitment to enriching the travel experience,” said Satya Anand, Marriott’s president for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “Together, we are unlocking distinctive benefits for our members, offering them greater flexibility, recognition, and reward.”

Here are the details of this intriguing new partnership.

Industry First: Marriott and Lufthansa Group Introduce Mixed Hotel and Airline Status Earning

As of September 15, 2025, Marriott Bonvoy members can link their account to their Lufthansa Group Miles & More frequent flyer account. Partnering with an airline is nothing new, as Bonvoy members can already earn Emirates Skywards points on stays.

The head-turner here is that Miles & More members will earn points towards their status when staying at Marriott hotels. A qualifying stay at a Marriott hotel will earn 40 Miles & More Points up to 3x per year, meaning a potential bonus of 120 Miles & More Points annually. That’s in addition to the Bonvoy points and regular Miles & More miles earned for each stay.

W Sao Paulo rooftop at night — Stays at Marriott hotels, like the brand-new W São Paulo, can now earn you Lufthansa Miles & More status. Image Credit: Daniel Ross

For frequent Marriott guests, this could be a lucrative way to help them achieve their Miles & More status goals. For example, to earn Miles & More’s bottom-tier status, “Frequent Traveller,” you’ll need to hit 650 Miles & More Points (plus 325 Qualifying Points, which are different). Thanks to this new partnership, the 120 Miles & More Points you could earn by completing 3 qualifying Marriott stays would be almost 20% of the 650 Points needed to earn Frequent Traveller status.

“Our groundbreaking partnership with Marriott Bonvoy opens up an entirely new world of experiences for our customers,” said Dieter Vranckx, chief commercial officer at Lufthansa Group.

Not only that, linked Miles & More members who have Senator status or are HON Circle members will receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold status.

Hot Tip:

Miles & More is the official loyalty program of Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS, and other Lufthansa Group airlines. Additionally, ITA Airways recently joined the Lufthansa Group.

Final Thoughts

Loyalty is an ever-changing industry, especially for hotels and airlines. We’re excited to learn of this new partnership that brings reciprocal earning for hotel and airline status to life for the first time. While you can’t get all the way to Miles & More elite status just from hotel stays, this is definitely an interesting proposition.

At a time when airlines and hotels seem to be neglecting their loyal customers, let’s hope this new partnership between Marriott and Lufthansa Group could be a catalyst for change.