Disclaimer: I am an Advisor to Bilt Rewards and Miles to Memories receives compensation if you sign-up using links in this post.
Bilt Travel Portal Launched
Bilt Rewards is a semi-new loyalty program that allows renters to earn rewards on their rental payments. The best way to take advantage of the program is via The Bilt Mastercard® where you can 1X points on your rent payments in addition to bonus points in the categories of travel and dining, however you can use Bilt Rewards without their card. While I don’t think the Bilt Rewards program is for everyone, I do think it is worth a strong consideration for renters. And now they are making it even better with the addition of the Bilt Travel Portal.
You can find our full Bilt Rewards Guide here for a full breakdown of the program and you can sign-up and learn more about Bilt Rewards here.
Redeeming Bilt Points
Like every modern loyalty program, Bilt Rewards offers a variety of ways to redeem your points (some good and some not so good). Up until now they have allowed people to redeem points to pay rent, save for a down payment, purchase curated art work and transfer to travel partners. Each method has its own selling point, but for me by far the best value option has been to transfer points to their travel partners. Now, they have yet another way to redeem Bilt Points at a good value.
Bilt Travel Portal
Today Bilt Rewards is launching a new travel portal powered by Expedia. This portal can be accessed via the web or in the Bilt Rewards app under the “travel” section. With this new travel portal members can earn and redeem Bilt Points on over 500 airlines, 700K properties and 120 car rental companies. Basically, if it shows up on Expedia it will show up on the Bilt Travel Portal.
This also means Bilt Points can be used on over 220K activities in cities around the world. The most exciting thing for me as a theme park and Disney nerd is that Disney World tickets are available in the portal as are Disney Hotels. Whatever you like, the bottom line is you now have the ability to use Bilt Points for travel in a significant number of new ways.
Bilt Travel Portal Redemptions
Bilt Points redeemed through the new travel portal will have a value of 1.25 cents per point. For example, 10,000 Bilt Points have a value of $125 in the portal. This value matches Chase Sapphire Preferred when using the Chase portal, but falls below the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s 1.5 cents per point. I should note that Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550 whereas the Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee.
A really nice feature (and one that matches other portals) is that you can use a mixture of points and cash to make a booking. They also don’t require any minimum number of points to book so you can redeem no matter the size of your Bilt Points balance.
Bilt Travel Portal – Earn More Points
Since this new travel portal can accommodate cash bookings or cash + points bookings, you can also earn points for booking here as well. Members earn 2X points on the portion of a booking paid for with the Bilt Mastercard. If you use a different credit card then you will still earn 1X points on the purchase. Travel protections like Trip Delay and Trip Cancellation apply if you use The Bilt Mastercard or a combination of the Bilt Mastercard and Bilt Points to pay for the purchase.
Bilt Travel Portal – Need to Know
Here are a few more things you probably want to know about the Bilt Travel portal:
- How long do Bilt Points earned through the portal take to post? If you pay with the Bilt Mastercard then you will receive points within 5-7 days of booking through the portal. If you use another card you will receive your points within 5-7 days of completing travel booked through the portal.
- What if a trip is cancelled and refunded? For points bookings the points will be returned within 5-7 days. If you paid with a card, then you’ll receive a refund within 5-7 days and any points earned for the booking will be taken back.
- What is Expedia’s involvement? According to Bilt: “This is a whitelabeled website powered by Expedia, meaning it has the expansive travel inventory secured by Expedia. This allows us to have a Bilt-branded travel portal with benefits specific to Bilt Members. These benefits are not available on Expedia.com. Expedia will handle all customer service for travel bookings made on the Bilt Travel Portal.”
Bilt Travel Portal – Bottom Line
Since its launch Bilt Rewards has proven nimble in quickly adapting their program to add additional flexibility and value to their members. Once again given the nature of the program I don’t think Bilt Rewards is for everyone, but with a very strong list of transfer partners, decent earnings for a no annual fee card, the ability to earn rewards on rent and now even more ways to redeem points at a decent value through the Bilt Travel Portal, I think Bilt Rewards is a program that should continue to be on people’s radar.
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