Delta vs. Marriott: Which Uber Partner is Best?

Tl;dr: Delta is probably best, but Marriott is better in certain situations. No easy lazy solutions here.

Delta recently teamed up with Uber to allow you to earn Skymiles on certain rideshare and food purchases with Uber. Uber users had previously had the opportunity to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. So now that Uber has two earning partners, which should you choose?

Breaking down the earnings

Here are the earnings per dollar for eligible Uber purchases:

Reserved rides: 3x Skymiles, 3x Marriott points on premium rides, 2x on reserved UberX rides.

Premium rides: 2x Skymiles, 3x Marriott points

UberX rides: 1x Skymiles on trips to/from airports, 2x Marriott points if reserved

$40+ UberEats restaurant & grocery orders: 1x Skymile, 1x Marriott point, 2x if delivered to Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, or Element hotels.

In addition to these points, Uber One members who keep their accounts linked to Marriott will received Silver Elite status, which comes with 10% bonus points, priority late checkout, and complimentary WiFi.

Which is better?

The differences are small enough that if you are engaged with one of these programs regularly, that is probably the to stick with here. If you’re an Uber One member but lack hotel status, choosing Marriott is an easy way to unlock the (quite modest) perks of entry level hotel status, although you could also get that from a no-fee hotel credit card (like Marriott’s).

Delta Skymiles are worth more than Bonvoy points, though, and I tend to get about 1.3-1.7¢ per point with my Skymiles, compared to about 0.7¢ per Bonvoy point. So I personally would choose 2 Skymiles over 3 Bonvoy points. I also have plenty of Amex Membership Rewards points that I could transfer to Delta and get me closer to my next trip to Italy.

Lazy take 🦥

There’s really no right answer here. If you’re not loyal to Marriott and don’t care about Silver Elite status or have Uber One, default to Delta—it’s simpler, and you’ll likely come out ahead.