Best Ways To Redeem Bilt Points (And The Redemptions To Skip)

Bilt is the platform that potentially helps people earn rewards on their housing payments, whether paying rent or a mortgage. However, Bilt goes way beyond that, and nowadays has quite the robust transferable points currency. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at the basics of redeeming Bilt Points, and how to maximize value.

So that I don’t bury the lede, generally the best use of Bilt Points is to move them to the program’s airline and hotel partners, as this can offer the most outsized value. Bilt has some valuable and unique partners, and that’s what makes the ecosystem so lucrative.

More from OMAAT Are Authorized Users Eligible For Credit Card Bonuses? Read more

Link: Apply for a Bilt credit card (Rates & Fees), with three options to choose from

The basic value proposition of Bilt’s credit card ecosystem

The easiest way to rack up Bilt Points is with the three co-branded credit cards, issued by Column N.A. and serviced by Cardless, including the no annual fee Bilt Blue Card (learn more), $95 annual fee Bilt Obsidian Card (learn more), and $495 Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) — read my Bilt credit card review and comparison (Rates & Fees). Not only do these cards earn points, but they also earn you Bilt Cash, which can be redeemed to earn even more points. Each Bilt Cash award expires 12 months after you earn it, on the last day of that month.

I think the Bilt Palladium Card is the most lucrative card in the portfolio, despite its high annual fee. The card earns 2x points on all spending, plus the option to earn 4% back in the form of Bilt Cash. Bilt Cash can be used to earn points on your housing payments (rent, mortgage, and/or HOA), and as a general rule of thumb, you need to spend about 75% as much as your housing payment on the card to earn 1x points per dollar spent on housing (there’s a bit more nuance to that).

Bilt Cash can also be redeemed for spending accelerators, so that you earn an additional 1x points per dollar spent on everyday purchases, up to a certain limit.

Long story short, the card nets me well over 3x points per dollar spent on everyday purchases, which is pretty unrivaled (assuming you have enough spending that doesn’t qualify for good bonus categories on other cards, and can make the annual fee work — admittedly those are two major caveats).

The ways to redeem Bilt Points, from best to worst

Earning lots of points is one thing, but how can you actually redeem points earned in the Bilt ecosystem? Bilt Points are quite competitive with the other major transferable points currencies out there, so there are lots of great uses of them.

Let me go over the different ways to redeem Bilt Points, ranked from most valuable to least valuable (in my opinion).

Transfer Bilt Points to 26 travel partners (airlines, hotels, rail)

For those of us into miles and points, the good news is that Bilt has 26 travel transfer partners, as the program partners with 18 airline loyalty programs, seven hotel loyalty programs, and one rail loyalty program. Points transfer to most currencies instantly.

Bilt partners with the following 18 airline loyalty programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Alaska Atmos Rewards
• Avianca Lifemiles
• British Airways Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Iberia Plus
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Bilt partners with the following seven hotel loyalty programs:

• Accor Live Limitless (ALL)
• Hilton Honors
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Preferred Hotels I Prefer Hotel Rewards
• World of Hyatt
• Wyndham Rewards

Bilt partners with the following one rail loyalty program:

• Amtrak Guest Rewards

The transfer ratios for these programs are 1:1, with four exceptions:

• With Accor Live Limitless, the transfer ratio is 3:2, so that’s not quite as good as a 1:1 ratio
• With Amtrak Guest Rewards, the transfer ratio is 2:1, so that’s half of the typical ratio
• With Marriott Bonvoy, members can receive a bonus of 5,000 Bonvoy points for every 20,000 Bilt Points transferred; so in the right increments, the transfer ratio is 1:1.25
• With Preferred Hotels I Prefer Hotel Rewards, the transfer ratio is 1:2, so that’s better than a 1:1 ratio

There’s quite a bit of overlap here with other transferable points currencies, though I should call out three things:

• Accor Live Limitless is interesting, since it’s a revenue-based program, and 2,000 Accor points gets you €40 of spending with the brand; this means you can redeem 3,000 Bilt Points for €40 off an Accor stay, which is an easy way to cash out points at a not-bad value
• Alaska Atmos Rewards is a useful program for redemptions on both oneworld partner airlines, as well as on non-oneworld partners, like Condor, Starlux, and more
• World of Hyatt is otherwise only a transfer partner with Chase Ultimate Rewards, and there are lots of great uses of World of Hyatt points

Redeem Bilt Points toward a home downpayment

Since Bilt is designed largely for people who rent, here’s a cool way you can redeem your Bilt Points. If you buy a home, you can redeem your Bilt Points toward a down payment at the rate of 1.5 cents each, which is quite good. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $150 toward a downpayment.

To use this option, you just email Bilt with proof of a home purchase, and include how many points you’d like to redeem. That’s pretty straightforward, and a good value!

Redeem Bilt Points with the Bilt Travel Portal

Bilt has a travel portal, and you can choose to either earn or redeem points when booking travel through the portal. If you’d like to redeem points, Bilt Points are worth 1.25 cents each toward a travel purchase. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $125 toward a travel purchase.

The Bilt Travel Portal allows you to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and activities, so you have quite a bit of flexibility.

The one exception to the redemption rate of 1.25 cents per point is that you can book BLADE flights through Bilt’s travel portal, though when you redeem that way, you only get 0.7 cents of value per point, so that’s a horrible redemption. The much better value for BLADE is to redeem Bilt Cash, and if you have Bilt Platinum elite status, you may also be entitled to some free BLADE flights.

Redeem Bilt Points for shopping, fitness, and lifestyle

There are a variety of other ways you can redeem Bilt Points, though personally I wouldn’t recommend these:

• You can redeem Bilt Points through Amazon, at the rate of 0.7 cents per point
• You can redeem Bilt Points toward select fitness classes, typically at the rate of somewhere around 1.0 cents per point
• You can redeem Bilt Points toward the Bilt Collection (which includes apparel, art, home decor, and more), but the value is generally around 1.0 cents per point

Redeem Bilt Points to pay your rent

Bilt lets you redeem your points to pay rent. However, each point only gets you 0.55 cents toward a rent payment. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $55 toward rent. This is a very poor use of points, so it’s not how I’d recommend redeeming Bilt Points.

My strategy with redeeming Bilt Points for best value

If you’re looking to maximize value (hopefully you are!), you shouldn’t redeem your Bilt Points for any of the options that get you one cent of value per point or less. In other words, avoid paying rent with your Bilt Points, and don’t use them for Amazon purchases, or for any of the fitness classes or lifestyle options.

Then there are two options that aren’t necessarily the best way to redeem your points, but which could still prove to be worthwhile:

• Redeeming Bilt Points for 1.5 cents each toward a home downpayment could be a good deal, though admittedly, this is pretty niche
• Redeeming Bilt Points for 1.25 cents each toward a travel purchase could be a decent option, assuming you’re struggling to otherwise get more value with your points

My preference is to transfer Bilt Points to the program’s airline and hotel partners. After all, you can get such outsized value, especially for premium travel (first and business class flights, and five star hotels).

There are potentially deals to be had with most of Bilt’s transfer partners, though personally here’s my strategy with these points:

• On the hotel front, I think World of Hyatt is the most exciting transfer partner for Bilt, given all the amazing uses of these points, and also given that the only other partner for World of Hyatt is Chase Ultimate Rewards; I think Accor Live Limitless is also interesting, in terms of a decent “cash out” value of points toward a hotel stay (based on current exchange rates, you’re getting over 1.5 cents of value per point that way)
• On the airline front, Alaska Atmos Rewards is the program that excites me the most, given that no other major transferable points currency partners with the program, and I use the points all the time, particularly for redemptions on American; I also see value with Emirates Skywards and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, as no other major transferable points currencies have 1:1 transfers to those programs
• We see a monthly Bilt Rent Day promotion, and we’ve seen some amazing transfer bonuses, especially for those who have Bilt elite status; members should keep an eye on these offers, as they could be worth a speculative transfer, and I think that’s the other best way to maximize Bilt Points

Up until now, I’ve exclusively used my Bilt Points for situations where there are transfer bonuses. I hope these offers continue, as that’s how I’ll continue to use my points.

Bottom line

In recent years, Bilt has created a really competitive transferable points currency, and there are lots of ways to get value with the points. In particular, Bilt has 26 airline, hotel, and rail transfer partners, and I’d say it’s about the best portfolio of partners that you’ll find. In particular, I appreciate Alaska Atmos Rewards and World of Hyatt, and I also often take advantage of Rent Day offers.

You can also redeem your Bilt Points for 1.5 cents each toward a downpayment for a home, or for 1.25 cents each through the Bilt Travel Portal. While there are further lower value redemptions, I wouldn’t recommend redeeming your points that way.

If you do want to rack up Bilt Points, I’d recommend the Bilt Palladium Card, given the 2x points on all eligible spending, plus the 4% back in Bilt Cash, which can be used to earn even more points.

What’s your favorite use of Bilt Points?