How the Marriott Bonvoy & Starbucks partnership works

Starbucks and Delta have had a loyalty partnership for almost four years, but it was only in June of 2024 that Starbucks launched a partnership with a hotel loyalty program.

That program was Marriott Bonvoy and the partnership with Bonvoy gave US Starbucks Rewards members and US Marriott Bonvoy members cross program earning opportunities for the first time.

How the partnership works

The key to all of this is that …

1. You have to be based in the US
2. You have to be a member of Marriott Bonvoy (join for free here)
3. You have to be a member of Starbucks Rewards in the US (join for free here)
4. You need to link your Bonvoy and Starbucks Rewards accounts (link here)

So, once you’ve done all that, what do you get?

You can earn Bonvoy Points

Marriott and Starbucks run ‘Marriott Bonvoy weeks’ during which, Marriott Bonvoy members will earn 100 Bonvoy Points every time they complete 3 qualifying Starbucks transactions at participating stores.

These now run every month, in the third week of the month, and the dates of upcoming weeks are published in advance on the partnership page, so it’s worth looking there before you plan any Starbucks spending around one.

Qualifying Starbucks transactions means any purchase at a participating Starbucks location of food, a beverage, and/or merchandise that costs at least $2 and is made via mobile order through the Starbucks mobile app or Starbucks web site using a linked payment method or preloaded Starbucks Card registered to the member’s Starbucks Rewards account, or by scanning your barcode located in the Starbucks mobile app registered to a member’s Starbucks Rewards account prior to completing checkout.

Exclusions include purchases of alcoholic beverages, purchases of Starbucks Card eGifts and physical Starbucks gift cards.

You can earn double Starbucks Stars

Starbucks Rewards members will earn double Rewards Stars on all qualifying Starbucks transactions made during eligible Stays at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties.

Your Starbucks Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy accounts must be linked at least 48 hours before the start of your stay to earn double Stars and, since Starbucks reorganised Starbucks Rewards into three status levels in March 2026, there are no longer any fixed earning rates attached to this offer.

The terms now say only that members earn double Stars “in accordance with the earning methodology for their Starbucks Rewards status level on Double Star Days”, which means that what you get depends on what status level you hold with Starbucks Rewards rather than on how you choose to pay:

• Green members earn 1 Star per $1 as standard, so 2 Stars per $1 during an eligible stay
• Gold members earn 1.2 Stars per $1 as standard, so 2.4 Stars per $1 during an eligible stay
• Reserve members earn 1.7 Stars per $1 as standard, so 3.4 Stars per $1 during an eligible stay

The old split between paying with a preloaded Starbucks Card and paying with a credit card, debit card or mobile wallet has gone entirely, because Starbucks removed the extra Star per dollar for paying from a preloaded balance when it made its changes in March 2026.

An eligible stay is a stay of one or more consecutive nights at a property participating in the Bonvoy program (excludes homes & villas) where …

• The member has added their name and Bonvoy number to their reservation at the time the reservation is made or at least 48 hours prior to check-in, whichever comes earlier
• The member pays a qualifying rate (per Bonvoy terms and conditions) or makes an Award Redemption
• The member physically stays in one of the reserved guest rooms under the reservation.

For the purposes of earning bonus stars, an eligible stay begins at 00:00 local time on the check-in date of the stay and ends at 23:59 local time on the check-out date of the stay.

Members may earn a maximum of 1,000 Stars under the Double Stars offer per program Year which runs from 18 June to 17 June year to year.

Note: A reservation made inside 48 hours of check-in will not earn double Stars.

You can convert Bonvoy Points to Starbucks Stars

Since 18 September 2024, it has been possible to convert Marriott Bonvoy Points into Starbucks Stars at a conversion rate of 1,000 points to 100 stars.

Bonvoy members who have linked to their Starbucks account may transfer a minimum of 1,000 points and a maximum of 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per day in 10-point increments to their Starbucks Rewards account.

It’s worth noting that this is a one way transaction, because Stars cannot be converted back into Bonvoy Points, and that once they arrive in your Starbucks account they fall under Starbucks’ Star expiration rules.

At Green level, Stars expire six months after the month in which they were earned unless you keep extending them with a qualifying activity each month, while Gold and Reserve members hold on to their Stars for as long as they hold that status.

This is what Starbucks Stars can be exchanged for (at the time of writing):

• 25 Stars – Drink customization (e.g. extra shot, non-dairy option, or a dash of syrup), up to $1 in value
• 60 Stars – $2 off any item
• 100 Stars – Brewed hot or iced coffee or tea, bakery item, packaged snack, up to $6 in value
• 200 Stars – Handcrafted drink (Cold Brew, lattes and more) or hot breakfast, up to $10 in value
• 300 Stars – Sandwich, protein box or at-home coffee, up to $16 in value
• 400 Stars – Starbucks merchandise costing up to $20

Given that we value Bonvoy Points at 0.6 cents each (based on the value that we know we can get out of them with relative ease), this is what it would ‘cost’ us if we converted Bonvoy Points to Starbucks stars and then redeemed them for the items listed out above:

• $1.50 – Drink customization (e.g. extra shot, non-dairy option, or a dash of syrup)
• $3.60 – $2 off any item
• $6.00 – Brewed hot or iced coffee or tea, bakery item, packaged snack
• $12.00 – Handcrafted drink (Cold Brew, lattes and more) or hot breakfast
• $18.00 – Sandwich, protein box or at-home coffee
• $24.00 – Starbucks merchandise costing up to $20

As you can see, unless you genuinely have no other use for your points and have no real prospect of earning any more points to top up your account to a point where you can redeem them for a night at a hotel, converting Bonvoy Points to Starbucks Stars isn’t a good way to get value out of your Marriott balance.

Bottom line

Marriott and Starbucks have had a partnership since 18 June 2024 and since September 2024 (the 3 month anniversary of the partnership), Bonvoy Members have been able to get truly bad value out of their points by converting them to Starbucks Stars at a rate of 1,000 points to 100 stars.