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Bilt has been building out the new travel portal for quite some time. I first learned of it last year at a Bilt advisor meeting and I was recently in NYC for the launch and release of the product that is now available exclusively to Gold and Platinum members.
It features two things that are features I don’t believe any other travel portal offers
- Airline and hotel bookings are direct
- Meaning if you book via Bilt, aside from very small boutique properties that will get folded in over time, you will be dealing with the airline and hotel for customer service.
- You will earn your elite benefits, miles, points, etc as if you booked on their site
- You will have access to member rates of the hotel or airline you’re booking with
- Book a Hyatt… you’ll see WOH of rates
- Virtuoso hotels are integrated into the platform
- FYI – Anyone can book a Virtuoso hotel now, but aside from going through something like www.classictravel.com you need to work directly with an advisor via email,etc – Bilt is super straight forward as you can see above
- If you choose, you can work with an advisor to help you book flights, restaurants, etc but you don’t need to
- The goal here is to give very localized and curated benefits
This is what it looks like in the app to book
When you book you’ll get the following benefits:
How do you earn points?
- Non Bilt Card holders earn 1x per point in the travel portal + your credit card points + your hotel and airline points/miles
- Bilt Card Holders earn 2x per point in the travel portal + credit card points + hotel and airline points/miles
Overall
Bilt started off as a way to earn points on rent, but the platform has broadened a lot and scaled up the way that you earn points in your neighborhood. What does that mean? They are figuring out ways to drive business, loyalty, and rewards to the places you frequent most. How does a travel portal fit into this? The data that Bilt has on you can be utilized to recommend hotels, gyms, restaurants, etc when you travel and now, with Home Away From Home, you’ll have the ability to utilize seasoned travel advisors to aid and assist your travel to bring the type of local experiences you enjoy most at home to when you you’re abroad.
For instance, if you frequent local organic restaurants near your house vs TGIFriday, the future goal of the platform is to aid you in accessing those style of experiences when you travel as well vs say getting caught in the tourist traps we all so frequently end up in.
Here is what it looks like when you book a property, it clearly lays out your expected benefits alongside when you can cancel, etc
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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