Bilt Rewards program: Guide to earning points on rent, transfer bonuses, dining and more

American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards points have been the creme de la creme of credit card points for years. Thanks to their extensive lists of transfer partners, their points are worth 2 and 2.05 cents apiece, respectively, per TPG's October 2024 valuations.

While there are many ways to get far more value when booking luxurious flights and hotel stays, the points and miles landscape has recently become increasingly competitive. Almost every credit card issuer has introduced a rewards program to incentivize spending within its ecosystem.

One of these newcomers is Bilt Rewards, and it's built (yes, pun intended) like no other. You can earn points for paying rent, which is great news since renting can amount to tens of thousands of dollars spent annually. Despite being a new player in this competitive field, Bilt Rewards has an impressive lineup of transfer partners, including Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and World of Hyatt.

Plus, this month, Bilt Rewards added Accor and TAP Air Portugal as transfer partners, with Bilt Points transferring at a 3:2 ratio and a 1:1 ratio, respectively. This partnership allows Bilt members to transfer their points to five of the most popular hotel loyalty programs in the U.S., as Bilt points also transfer to Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1 ratio.

We value Bilt points at 2.05 cents each (per TPG's October 2024 valuations), though there are plenty of ways to get more value from them. Keep reading as we delve into all the details of the Bilt Rewards loyalty program, exploring how to earn and redeem points for maximum value.

What is Bilt Rewards?

Bilt Rewards is a loyalty program that lets you earn points to redeem in multiple ways. You can earn Bilt Rewards points by simply becoming a member, linking a qualifying card to your Bilt Rewards account and transacting with Bilt partners. Perhaps most notably, you can earn Bilt Rewards points by paying your rent.

Earning can be made easier and more lucrative when you hold the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees), but you don't need to have the card to earn within the program.

There are many redemption opportunities within the Bilt Rewards program. You can transfer points to Bilt's loyalty partners; book travel with airlines and hotels through Bilt's travel portal; shop from Bilt's curated art, home decor and lifestyle collection; shop with Amazon; pay for fitness classes; and more.

How to earn Bilt Rewards points

Here's the first thing to know: You don't necessarily need to have the Bilt Mastercard or pay rent to earn Bilt points. There are eight primary ways to earn Bilt points.

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Earn Bilt points by paying rent

You can earn 250 points per on-time rent payment at Bilt Rewards Alliance properties when making an automated clearinghouse payment or using a non-Bilt card. That means you can earn up to 3,000 points per year, which we value at $61.50 per TPG's October 2024 valuations.

Alternatively, you can earn 1 point per dollar spent on rent at any home (up to 100,000 points per calendar year) by paying your rent with the Bilt Mastercard. You can pay your rent with your Bilt Mastercard through the Bilt app. If your landlord only accepts physical checks, don't fret. You can still pay your rent with the Bilt Mastercard on the app, and then Bilt will directly mail your landlord a rent check each month, allowing you to earn points on rent without incurring any additional transaction fees.

Earn Bilt points with the Bilt Mastercard

Speaking of the Bilt Mastercard, it offers a simple earning structure:

• 3 points per dollar spent on dining
• 2 points per dollar spent on travel
• 1 point per dollar spent on rent payments (up to 100,000 points per calendar year)
• 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases

You must use your card at least five times during each statement period to earn points (see rewards and benefits).

There's a whole suite of impressive perks for this no-annual-fee card (see rates and fees), including complimentary Cellular Telephone Protection, Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection, and No Foreign Currency Conversion Fees (see rates and fees). You do not need to pay rent to apply for the Bilt Mastercard.

Related: Should you use the Bilt Mastercard? We crunch the numbers

Earn Bilt points through Bilt Dining

Bilt also has its own dining rewards program, Bilt Dining. Currently, the program operates in more than 20 markets, including cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and New York City, and there are plans to add even more.

You can link any Visa, Mastercard or American Express credit card to the Bilt Dining program to earn 5 points per dollar spent at Bilt Dining restaurants when you pay with any eligible card in your Bilt Wallet.

These earnings come in addition to what you earn with your credit card. For example, if you pay with your Bilt Mastercard, you'll earn 3 additional points per dollar spent, for a total of 8 Bilt points per dollar spent. Put differently, that's a 16.4% return on your dining purchases.

Bilt states you can earn up to 10 points per dollar spent on eating at a Bilt Dining restaurant and paying with any eligible card on file in your Bilt Wallet. Plus, there is no cap on how many points you can earn through Bilt Dining.

Earn Bilt points on the Bilt travel portal

Expedia powers Bilt's travel portal, where you can earn points on flights, hotel stays, car rentals and things to do. As a Bilt member, you earn 1 point per dollar spent on travel booked through the portal.

As a Bilt Mastercard holder, you earn 2 points per dollar spent on travel booked through the portal and 2 additional points per dollar by charging your purchase to the card. That is a total of 4 Bilt points per dollar spent.

Earn Bilt points with referrals

You'll earn 2,500 points each time you refer a friend to the Bilt Mastercard, on up to 50 total referrals. For every five referrals, you earn 10,000 bonus points. You can refer friends to the card through the website or app.

Earn Bilt points with Lyft

You can earn 2 Bilt points per dollar spent on Lyft rides when you link your accounts. When you pay for your ride with the Bilt Mastercard, you'll also receive an additional 3 Bilt points per dollar spent. For most, Bilt Rewards is the best Lyft reward partner.

Earn Bilt points with SoulCycle

You can earn up to 10 points per dollar spent on SoulCycle classes booked through the Bilt app. See rewards and benefits.

Earn Bilt points by playing the Rent Free game

Bilt offers a game show-style opportunity for members to earn extra points on Bilt Rent Day (the first of the month): Rent Free.

Rent Free is set up like "Family Feud," with a new creator or personality playing the game each month. As a Bilt member, you can earn points with Rent Free when you pick a top three answer, when you correctly rank that answer (double points) and when the celebrity guest picks the same answer as you (triple points).

On top of earning points, the 10 top-scoring players will win free rent for a month (up to $2,500); the next 600 top-scoring members will get Bilt points. If you tie, the tie will be broken based on who played the game first.

Elite status through Bilt Rewards

Bilt offers four status tiers. You can reach Bilt elite status in two ways: earning Bilt points and receiving fast-track status with spending on the Bilt Mastercard and within the Bilt ecosystem.

While you won't earn fast-track status on rent spending, you can earn it through SoulCycle classes booked in the Bilt app, Bilt Dining restaurant purchases made with any card linked in your Bilt Wallet, Lyft rides when Bilt is set as your rewards partner and bookings made via Bilt's travel portal.

Here's a quick overview:

Your member status is based on the total points earned in a calendar year. You'll receive the higher of the two statuses through qualifying points or via spending on the fast-track status path.

No matter when you earn status each calendar year, it's good for the rest of the year and the following year.

Bilt Platinum members can apply for an Air France-KLM Flying Blue status match

Bilt Platinum members can receive 12 months of Flying Blue Gold status. To activate this status match, members must go to the Bilt app and select "Elite Status Match." Then, members must transfer 10,000 Bilt points to Flying Blue to officially activate their Gold status. Luckily, the 10,000 points can be used toward a future Air France-KLM award flight.

After requesting status, it may take up to three business days for your Flying Blue Gold status to become officially active.

Flying Blue Gold status will give Bilt members additional airline perks and qualify them for SkyTeam Elite Plus.

Learn more about specific Flying Blue Gold status perks on Flying Blue's tier benefits page and the added benefits of having SkyTeam Elite Plus status on SkyTeam's FAQ.

Related: How to earn 'interest' on your points balance with Bilt Rewards

Redeeming Bilt Rewards points: Poor-value options

The Bilt Rewards loyalty program gives you many ways to use your points, though not all carry equal value.

If you want to extract the maximum value from your Bilt Rewards points, you'll likely want to avoid some of these less valuable redemption options.

Use points for Amazon purchases

You can select your Bilt Mastercard on Amazon as a payment method and redeem your points to cover all or a portion of your purchase at checkout. However, Bilt points are worth 0.7 cents each when used this way. For example, you'll need approximately 14,300 Bilt points to cover a $100 Amazon purchase. Compare that to TPG's October 2024 potential estimated value of 2.05 cents per Bilt point, and it's not necessarily the best deal.

Shop the Bilt Collection

The Bilt Collection is a curated list of items, including art, home decor and apparel. The value per point will vary, but since it rarely exceeds more than 1 cent per point, you should likely pass on this option.

Redeem your points for fitness classes

Fitness enthusiasts can redeem their Bilt points to attend name-brand classes like SoulCycle, Solidcore and Y7 Studio. The value will depend on the class you select but hovers around 1 cent per point.

Pay your rent with points

A potentially enticing option with your points is to save them to help cover your next rent payment. However, this is only available if you live in a Bilt Rewards Alliance property or opt for check payments. Even worse, the redemption value is just 0.55 cents per point.

Related: Ways college students can meet credit card minimum spending requirements

Redeeming your Bilt Rewards points: Medium-value options

The following redemption options will get you a decent value with a redemption rate of at least 1 cent per point.

Use your points to save up for a down payment on a home

Bilt offers the unique ability for users to save up their points toward a down payment on a home. If you opt for this route, your Bilt points are valued at 1.5 cents each toward a down payment.

Redeem for travel on the Bilt travel portal

You can use the Bilt travel portal to offset the cost of flights, stays, rental cars or activities — at a rate of 1.25 cents per point.

Transferring to airline and hotel partners: Best value

Nothing beats the outsize value of transferring your points to Bilt's 18 airline and hotel partners.

In October, Bilt Rewards expanded its portfolio of transfer partners by adding global hotel giant Accor and TAP Air Portugal.

It's worth noting that while Bilt Rewards was the only transferable points program to offer American Airlines AAdvantage as a transfer partner, this partnership officially ended June 24.

Still, the program has multiple valuable transfer partners to maximize your Bilt points.

It's free to join these loyalty programs, even if you've never flown the airline or stayed with the hotel brand. Plus, Bilt gives cardholders 100 bonus points (up to a total of 500 points) for each loyalty program you link to your account.

You can easily get 2.05 cents per point in value — and perhaps much more — and score a lie-flat airplane seat or a luxurious hotel stay by transferring your Bilt points to the right programs.

**TPG has not yet tested transferring Bilt points to Accor Live Limitless, Alaska Airlines, Hilton Honors and TAP Miles&Go.

Bilt Rewards has historically offered some of the best transfer bonuses we've seen during Rent Day (the first of every month). This has included 150% transfer bonuses to some carriers, such as Emirates Skywards, as well as up to a 100% transfer bonus to Alaska Mileage Plan for July 2024 Rent Day.

Additionally, Bilt has also offered a 100% transfer bonus to Flying Blue.

Simply put, the options are endless. Because so many of Bilt's transfer partners overlap with other transferable points programs, you can refer to our guides as inspiration to maximize programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and so many more.

Related: The best airline award chart sweet spots

Bottom line

Bilt Rewards presents an exceptional value proposition for both renters and nonrenters. Bilt has established partnerships with some of the more lucrative airline and hotel loyalty programs, enabling you to extract extraordinary value from your points. Your points transfer seamlessly at a straightforward 1:1 ratio (except when transferring to Accor), and most programs process the transfers instantly.

Even if you aren't renting or don't want to apply for the Bilt Mastercard, you can earn lots of points by linking your Lyft account, enrolling in Bilt Dining and booking travel through the Bilt portal.

See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.