The ultimate guide to earning and redeeming Bilt Rewards points in 2024

Although not as well-known as the Chase Ultimate Rewards® or American Express Membership Rewards® programs, Bilt Rewards quickly made a name for itself since it launching in 2021.

The new loyalty program is shaking things up in the world of travel rewards. Bilt Rewards lets you earn points on rent with its no-annual-fee credit card, the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees).

Better yet, Bilt Rewards has a great lineup of transfer partners, including United MileagePlus, Alaska Airlines, British Airways and World of Hyatt, among others. You can also redeem points through Bilt’s travel portal, which is powered by Expedia.

Here is everything you need to know about earning and redeeming Bilt Rewards Points, and how to get the most value out of being a Bilt Rewards member.

Learn more about and apply for the Bilt Mastercard.

How to earn Bilt Rewards points

In order to earn Bilt Rewards points, you need to sign up for a free account. You will then have a few interesting ways to earn Bilt Rewards points, even if you don’t have the Bilt Mastercard.

Earn Bilt Rewards points with the Bilt Mastercard

The best way to earn Bilt Rewards points is by making purchases on the Bilt Mastercard. This no-annual-fee credit card comes with great perks like cell phone protection, trip cancellation and no foreign transaction fees (see terms).

Although the Bilt Mastercard doesn’t have a sign-up bonus, it has some great bonus categories to help earn points faster.

The Bilt Mastercard earns:

In order to earn the bonus rewards for spending, you must make at least five transactions per statement. Otherwise, you’ll earn a flat 250 Bilt points on your rent payment and nothing for your purchases. There’s no minimum spend for these transactions, so your daily coffee or even a pack of gum counts.

Bilt also has its own Bilt Rent Day promotion on the first day of every month. On Rent Day, you’ll earn double points on purchases, meaning you earn 6 points per dollar on dining, 4 points per dollar on travel and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases (excluding rent). You can earn up to 1,000 bonus points each Rent Day.

Earn Bilt Rewards points by paying rent

Bilt Rewards members without the Bilt Mastercard can still earn rewards. Members can earn 250 points on rent payments within the Bilt Rewards Alliance network.

However, if your landlord is not part of the network, you can still earn points if you have the Bilt Mastercard. Card holders can earn up to 100,000 Bilt Rewards points per year on rent. Bilt will mail your landlord a check or make an ACH transfer via many popular rent portals, including Venmo.

If you renew an existing lease or sign a new lease at a property in the Bilt Alliance, you can receive up to 50% bonus points on your rent payments. The exact number will depend on your Bilt Rewards status tier and the property you choose.

Earn Bilt Rewards points with Bilt Dining

Bilt has its own dining program, which includes restaurants in major cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and New York City, among others.

If you dine at a participating Bilt Dining restaurant, you can earn up to 10 points per dollar spent, even if you don’t pay with a Bilt Mastercard. The exact amount you earn varies by restaurant, and you can view the earn rate on Bilt’s website or app.

You can link any Visa, Mastercard or American Express card to your Bilt Wallet in the Bilt app. Then you’ll automatically earn bonus points when using that card at a participating restaurant. You do not need to make a reservation through Bilt to earn points.

The Bilt Rewards points you earn with Bilt Dining are in addition to the rewards you earn with your travel rewards credit card, so make sure to link a card that earns bonus points on dining. If you don’t have a Bilt Mastercard, other good options include the American Express® Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Earn Bilt Rewards points by booking travel

The Bilt travel portal, powered by Expedia, lets you earn bonus points on flights, hotels, rental cars and other activities. In other words, anything you can book through Expedia, you can book through Bilt and earn bonus points.

Bilt Rewards members with a Bilt Mastercard earn 2 points per dollar spent on travel booked through this portal. These points are in addition to the points you would earn from your travel rewards credit card, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

That said, even members without the Bilt Mastercard earn 1 point per dollar spent through the travel portal. If you were going to book with Expedia anyway, consider whether you’d earn Expedia OneKeyCash or Bilt Rewards points on your reservation.

Earn Bilt Rewards points by referring friends

You can earn 2,500 bonus points when referring friends to apply for the Bilt Mastercard, so long as they’re approved. You will also earn a 10,000 point bonus for every fifth referral that gets approved, up to 2 million bonus points.

Earn Bilt Rewards points with Lyft

Bilt Rewards members earn 2 points per dollar on Lyft rides, even when paying with another credit card. Further, paying with the Bilt Mastercard yields another 3 points per dollar, giving these members a total of 5 points per dollar spent on Lyft.

Earn Bilt Rewards points by booking spin classes

A unique way to earn Bilt Rewards points is by booking fitness classes through the Bilt app. You can earn 10 points per dollar by purchasing a SoulCycle class through Bilt.

Other ways to earn bonus Bilt Rewards points

You can also earn bonus points when you link your airline and hotel loyalty programs to Bilt Rewards. You can earn 100 points for each account you link to Bilt Rewards, even if you don’t have the Bilt Mastercard.

You can add up to three credit cards to your Bilt Wallet and earn 100 Bilt Rewards points per card added. This is another quick and simple way to earn some Bilt Rewards points.

How to earn Bilt Rewards elite status

You can earn status with Bilt Rewards, just like with airline and hotel programs. The structure is simple and can be earned two different ways: through points earned or credit card spend over the calendar year.

Points can be earned from any source, such as rent payments, purchases made with the Bilt Mastercard, Lyft rides and more. Virtually all points you earn through Bilt Rewards count towards status.

Or, you can earn status based on credit card spend, although rent payments do not count. However, your credit card spend with Bilt partners, even if it’s not with the Bilt card, will also count — you just need to have the card linked to your Bilt account.

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Bilt status earned between Jan. 1 and June 30 each year will expire Jan. 31 of the following year. Status earned between July 1 and Dec. 31 will remain active the rest of the year in which it was earned and the entire following year.

All status tiers earn interest on their points balance every month based on the FDIC published national savings rate. All tiers earn a bonus on new leases in the Bilt Alliance, Gold and Platinum are eligible for a home ownership concierge service and Platinum members receive a gift from the Bilt Collection.

Things get more interesting on Rent Day, where we’ve seen Bilt offer tiered transfer bonuses based on their elite status. For example, the company recently offered up to a 150% bonus to Emirates Skywards, with each tier offering a different bonus.

Earning Bilt Milestone Rewards

Bilt also incentivizes members with Milestone Rewards. For every 25,000 points earned, you can pick one reward from a set of unlocked choices.

At the 25,000 and 50,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

At the 75,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

At the 100,000 and 125,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

At the 150,000, 175,000 and 200,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

At the 225,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

At the 250,000 Milestone Reward mark, the options include:

For every 25,000 points earned, you’ll receive an email and a push notification from Bilt informing you that you’ve earned a reward. From there, you’ll need to claim the reward on the Milestone Rewards page. Unfortunately though, there is a cap of 1,000 or 3,000 points earned for these bonuses, depending on the tier.

Rewards also do not need to be selected immediately, but must be claimed by the end of the year — or else they’ll expire.

How to redeem Bilt Rewards points

Now comes the fun part: After you’ve earned Bilt Rewards points, it’s time to put them to good use.

There are several ways to redeem Bilt Rewards points, including transferring to Bilt’s airline and hotel partners or covering Amazon purchases, fitness classes and rent payments with points. You can even use points toward a downpayment on a home.

Some ways provide significantly more value than others. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to redeem Bilt Rewards points.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points by transferring to travel partners

Generally, the best way to redeem your points is by transferring them to Bilt’s airline and hotel partners. You can leverage these transfer partners on things like first- and business-class airfare and luxury hotel stays.

These are Bilt’s 17 transfer partners:

All transfers occur at a 1:1 rate and, in most cases, transfers process the same day. You can transfer Bilt Rewards points to travel partners using the Bilt Rewards app.

Bilt has historically had excellent transfer bonuses during its Bilt Rent Day promotions. For example, on Feb 1, 2024, there was a huge transfer bonus of up to 150% to Air Canada Aeroplan, depending on your Bilt elite status.

By transferring Bilt Rewards points to partner airlines, you’re able to book award tickets for just the cost of taxes and fees. It’s also worth noting that Bilt is the only transferrable points currency that transfers to American Airlines AAdvantage, which is one of the best programs to use for booking business-class award tickets.

These are some of the best travel redemptions you can make with Bilt Rewards points:

Redeem Bilt Rewards points with the Bilt travel portal

You also can redeem your points for travel via the Bilt travel portal. When doing this, you will get 1.25 cents per point toward flights, hotels, rental cars and other activities. In other words, 10,000 points covers $125 toward travel booked through the travel portal.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points for rent

You have the option of covering your rent with Bilt Rewards points. However, you will only get around 0.55 cents per point, significantly lower than what Bilt Rewards points are worth for travel. This means that 10,000 points only gets you $55 toward rent.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points for a down payment on a home

You can also redeem points toward a down payment on a home at a rate of 1.5 cents per point. This can be a good redemption, especially when compared to other options on this list.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points for Amazon purchases

You can redeem your Bilt Rewards points for purchases at Amazon, but it’s generally a poor value. To do this, link your Bilt Rewards account to Amazon and select the Bilt Mastercard as your payment method at checkout. Then, you’ll be prompted to redeem points to cover the cost of your purchase.

We don’t recommend doing this, though. You will get about 0.7 cents per point, which is on par with redeeming other types of credit card rewards on Amazon. However, it’s not a great deal when compared to redeeming for travel.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points for merchandise at the Bilt Collection

You can redeem Bilt Rewards points for shopping at the Bilt Collection. The Bilt Collection features artists and curates decor items and apparel inspired by that artist. You will get roughly 1 cent per point by redeeming your points this way.

Redeem Bilt Rewards points for fitness classes

Another way to redeem Bilt Rewards points is for memberships or fitness classes with certain Bilt fitness studios partners. These include:

Redemptions start at 2,400 points, and you will get about 1 cent per point. Although this option does not provide the best value for your Bilt Rewards points, it’s a unique way to spend your points.

How much are Bilt Rewards points worth?

Travel website The Points Guy values Bilt Rewards points at an astounding 2.05 cents per point, on par with other major rewards programs including American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Bilt Rewards points are some of the most valuable out there, thanks in part to Bilt’s incredible transfer partners. However, the way you choose to redeem your points will ultimately determine how much value you get.

Bottom line

While Bilt Rewards is among the newest travel rewards programs, it has quickly made a name for itself. There are plenty of excellent ways to redeem Bilt Rewards points, with some options being clearly better than others.

Carrying the no-annual-fee Bilt Mastercard in your wallet can help you earn thousands of extra points every year just by paying one of your largest monthly expenses: rent.

Learn more about and apply for the Bilt Mastercard.

Looking for a new credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored Money chose as the best credit cards currently available.