Are You A United Elite? Don’t Forget Your Marriott Status (and vice versa)!

Thanks to the program that United and Marriott partnered in last year (called RewardsPlus), it is possible to match your mid-high tier elite status to the other for status with them as well. While neither status is going to be life-changing for your travel habits, it is always good to take whatever status is available to you!

When it comes to hotels, I do mix it up a bit. I stay at SPG-brands, Hyatts, and Hiltons. Other than those three brands, I stay at whichever hotel I can get on Priceline or Hotwire in certain circumstances. When it comes to Marriott, I have not stayed at one in quite sometime. As a result, I did not have Marriott elite status, though it is attainable by simply holding the Chase Marriott card.

With last weekend’s FTU in Seattle, I was staying at the host hotel, the Seattle Airport Marriott. The day before I was to arrive, it suddenly hit me that I can get Marriott Gold status with my United 1K status. I had totally forgotten about it! Thanks to the RewardsPlus program, United elites at levels of Gold, Platinum, 1K, and GS can match that status over to Marriott for Marriott Gold (their mid-tier level). Marriott Gold gives a few different perks that are worth having:

• Guaranteed lounge access/breakfast for members and one guest (excludes resorts)
• Complimentary room upgrade
• Free premium tiered internet service
• Guaranteed room type
• Hertz #1 Gold membership
• Late check-out

Plus, it is always nice to have access to elite check-in lines when the other lines are long!

Matching Your Status

So, how do you go about matching your status from one to the other?

For Marriott Platinum Members

Marriott and United only allow Platinum members to receive United status as part of the RewardsPlus program. So, if you are a Marriott Platinum member, here is how to get your United Premier Silver status. Being a United Premier Silver member is not great, but it is better than nothing! For the most part, you would receive many of the benefits you would get if you had a United Club card – such as Elite check-in, boarding, free bags, etc. However, Silver does give you the ability to select Economy Plus seats at check-in and access to complimentary upgrades. Finally, Silver will also get you Star Alliance Silver which gives you some priority at various airports around the world. Here is the full list of Silver benefits.

Go to the Marriott RewardsPlus website – here. Once you put in your Marriott and United information, you will be told that the sharing has been successful and it will take 7-10 business days to show up. In my case (from the other side), it showed up overnight, so you should not have to wait the full 7 days.

Once you are synced up, you can also use this partnership to move miles and points between the two programs. For most people, this will not be a very good proposition. However, should you decide to, you will receive a 20% bonus when you transfer your points to United miles.

For United MileagePlus Elite Members

On the United side, if you are a Gold, Platinum, 1K, or Global Services member, you will receive Marriott Gold status. That is the mid-tier status with Marriott. Gold status gives several benefits that can be useful to the occasional Marriott guest. I already wrote about the benefits above. To me, one of the chief benefits is the free internet. At my recent Marriott stay, it saved me $12.95 per day in internet access!

To match your United status over to Marriott, go here. Again, it says that it could take 7 – 10 business days but my Marriott status updated overnight.

Summary

This is a great way to get airline status if you do not have any or hotel status if you do not have that. The good thing about getting United Silver status is that you will be able to match it to other airlines as well. So, without stepping foot on an airplane, you can have status to match around! Not bad!