Summary
- A Status match offer between Cathay Pacific and Marriott Bonvoy allowed elite members to enjoy equivalent perks across loyalty programs.
- The Preferred partnership includes mutual point transfers and expanded access to Marriott properties for Cathay frequent flyers.
- Registration for the partnership closed quickly, indicating high demand for advantages like accelerated status upgrades and point exchanges.
Hong Kong home carrier Cathay Pacific announced an expansion of its collaboration with Marriott, providing additional advantages to customers with existing status in either loyalty program. The announcement was headlined by a standing match offer that allowed Marriot Bonvoy members to attain status with Cathay Pacific, a oneworld carrier, based on their existing status with the hotel chain.
Reaching oneworld Ruby
The “preferred partnership program” allows for transferring miles between programs, permitting customers to top up their points balance in each directions to offer Cathay’s 11 million frequent flyers expanded access to Marriott’s range of properties.
Essentially the most significant aspect of the announcement was the flexibility to status match Marriott Bonvoy and Cathay membership tiers, with Marriott Bonvoy Platinum/Titanium/Ambassador Elite members being matched to the Cathay Silver membership tier (reminiscent of oneworld Ruby status), Cathay Silver/Gold/Diamond members received equivalent Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status.
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The offer also included a quick track to accelerated status upgrades, allowing Marriott Bonvoy members the chance to speed up to Cathay Silver or Gold status, depending on their membership tier. While select Cathay frequent flyers had the prospect to speed up in Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status. Alison Yang, Vice President of Revenue Strategy, Loyalty & Partnerships, Distribution, Greater China, for Marriott International, commented on the reveal:
“Because the travel industry continues to remodel, we’re committed to curating and delivering one of the best experiences to attach our members through the ability of travel. Along with Cathay, the expansion of our global airline partnership program presents a possibility to interact more members within the region as they go even further and explore latest destinations world wide.
“By unlocking a brand new wealth of rewards and privileges with each loyalty programs, members are encouraged to partake in a broader number of experiences and advantages, while forging real connections with people and places as they learn more and feel more deeply of their next adventures.”
Photo: Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is a founding member of the oneworld global alliance. The Cathay Group also includes low-cost carrier HK Express, all-cargo carrier Air Hong Kong, and various subsidiaries.
The status match gets snapped up.
The webpage dedicated to the popular partnership noted that registration is not any longer available lower than a day after going live. The partnership’s terms and conditions state that the registration will likely be closed once the unspecified quota has been met, suggesting that this system has reached its limit inside hours of going live.
Do Frequent Flyer Points Have Any Money Value & How Do They Differ Between Programs?
Points and miles don’t often have real money value, but a price between $0.01 and $0.02 per point/mile is common.
One crucial profit stays for Marriott Bonvoy members flying with the oneworld carrier. Point transfers between the 2 programs. Marriott Bonvoy Points could be mutually exchanged with Asia Miles from Cathay, allowing customers to top up balances in either account as required.
With the 2-way conversion program, 3 Marriott Bonvoy points could be converted to 1 Asia Mile, and a couple of Asia Miles can develop into 1 Marriott Bonvoy point. Paul Smitton, Director of Customer Lifestyle at Cathay Pacific, provided more details on the arrangement.
“Strengthening our partnership with Marriott allows Cathay members to unlock advantages even when they don’t seem to be flying. Members can enjoy more ways to earn and redeem their points and miles, providing greater value add to this system. This enhancement reaffirms our commitment to constructing our Travel Lifestyle brand and exemplifies our approach to delivering a connected customer journey.”
Photo: Airbus
Once transferred to Asia Miles, the points could be redeemed for flights, extra baggage, priority seats, and other travel experiences with Cathay Pacific.