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Starting January 1st, 2024, Bilt Rewards will completely revamp their status levels. I’m a senior advisor and investor in the program so I often have inside conversations regarding the future of the program, and lemme tell you, more. These status levels were introduced when the program went to market roughly 2.5 years ago, and to be honest, at first, the status levels didn’t draw a ton of my attention because the benefits associated with them weren’t that pronounced.
That all changed when Bilt started differentiating transfer bonuses between status levels. Throughout 2023 we saw incredible Rent Day transfer bonuses, but it was in August that we saw status based bonuses reach up to 150% if you had Platinum. This suddenly created an incentive structure to earn status because it gave an implicit multiplier to the points you’d earn.
Past Rent Day Promotions
- November 2022
- United status trial and challenge
- December 2022:
- 100% transfer bonuses to IHG
- January 2023
- Bonus points with Trivia
- February 2023
- 100% transfer bonus to Hawaiian
- March 2023
- Points worth 50% more with Amazon
- April 2023
- Hyatt Trial Status and Challenge,
- Explorist and pathway to Globalist in 20 nights
- Hyatt Trial Status and Challenge,
- May 2023
- 100% transfer bonus to Flying Blue
- June 2023
- 100k Bilt Rewards prize, R/T Virgin Upper Class and Emirate Biz tix
- July 2023
- $10 to $20 Lyft Credits ( $10 for all Bilt Rewards members and $20 for Bilt Rewards credit cardholders )
- August 2023
- 75% to 150% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Red
- 75% standard
- 100% silver
- 125% gold
- 150% platinum
- 75% to 150% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Red
- September 2023
- One rider in each SoulCycle class will get a month’s rent – up to $2500
- All Rent Day Riders are eligible
- You can book your bike, starting today!
- 10 bikes are available per class
- One rider in each SoulCycle class will get a month’s rent – up to $2500
- October 2023
- 5x on Sports Tickets
- Use points to book NFL Suites and Tickets
- November 2023
- 75% to 150% transfer bonus to Emirates SkyWards
- 75% standard
- 100% silver
- 125% gold
- 150% platinum
- 75% to 150% transfer bonus to Emirates SkyWards
I took advantage of Bilt’s 100% transfer bonus to FlyingBlue earlier in 2023 to book KLM business class from Chicago to Zanzibar for 95k miles + $350. Only 47.5k Bilt Rewards with the bonus!
Bilt Rewards Transfer Partners
We’ve seen Bilt add Avianca LifeMiles and Marriott this year and I hear rumors that more partners are coming next year!
Bilt Rewards Status won’t be purely points base, you can also earn via spend.
Personally I think this is a better way to go about it…I know a lot of people that spend a lot on non-bonus categories that would hit status faster/earlier in the year vs earning points. I personally was able to take advantage of Rent Day Double Point Promos and Bilt Dining to accelerate the Bilt Points that I earn, but I’d likely hit status faster by putting $25k on my card vs specifically earning points. I also earn a ton of points via referral but sadly those don’t count.
What spend counts?
- Bilt Mastercard spend
- That isn’t Rent
- Spend on SoulCycle classes booked in the Bilt app
- Spend on Bilt Dining restaurants with any card linked in your Bilt Wallet
- So you can earn with any Amex, MasterCard, or Visa
- spend on Lyft rideshare when Bilt is set as your rewards partner in the Lyft app
- So you can earn with any Amex, MasterCard, or Visa
- spend in the Bilt Travel Portal
- So you can earn with any Amex, MasterCard, or Visa
New Bilt Rewards Status Tiers – Gold is the sweet spot
Some of you may be upset that that level of points required will be a higher threshold. However, I don’t find these levels to be that high given the double rent days, Bilt dining, travel portal bonuses, etc.
For me…gold is the sweet spot requiring a little over $2k a month in spend and historically has secured a 125% bonus when Bilt offers large transfer bonuses.
| QUALIFYING POINTS
Based on the annual Bilt Points you earn |
SPEND
Fast track your way to elite status with eligible non-rent spend on a Bilt Mastercard, or other linked Mastercard, American Express, or Visa card |
|
| Silver | 50,000 Bilt Points | $10,000 |
| Gold | 125,000 Bilt Points | $25,000 |
| Platinum | 200,000 Bilt Points | $50,000 |
Why it’s not really 1x on base spending if you hit status and up to 7.5x at Platinum
This is a concept that relies on Bilt continuing to commit to humongous transfer bonuses. But, if you spend $25k at 1x on the Bilt Mastercard you’ll earn Gold status, and Gold was pegged at 125% on most transfer bonuses we saw once they pivoted to a status based bonus. If you only transferred when there is a bonus…you’re earning a ton of points in a partner program on every single dollar you spend.
That means that you’re actually earning 2.25x on all purchases. Let me show you in a chart…
| Typical Transfer Bonus | Effective Earn Rate | |
| Silver | 100% bonus |
|
| Gold | 125% bonus |
|
| Platinum | 150% bonus |
|
What’s coming? Milestone Rewards and more status benefits
This is unprecedented for an award program to give you status this way…name a single other non-hotel or airline reward program that offers transfer partners and this structure. We don’t know what they are yet, but Bilt will offer Milestone Rewards every 25k points to unlock special rewards. Personally, I’d love to see a “repeat your transfer bonus” milestone reward where if you missed a transfer bonus earlier in the year, you could repeat it via a milestone redemption.
Milestone Rewards: Every 25,000 points you earn will unlock special rewards as you work your way towards elite status.
Overall
Some may say this is a devaluation, and status is now harder to attain via points, so I can understand that viewpoint, but in the same breath, Bilt has added a pure spend component that a lot of people will prefer since it can yield status faster for some. Additionally, since they debuted the program, there are a ton more ways to earn points thus making the status thresholds a lot easier to achieve and thus a recalibration was due to come at some point.
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
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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 Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $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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