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There are plenty of credit cards out there that reward you handsomely for restaurant spending. One of the most well-known rewards cards for all food purchases is the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4x points at US supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year) and restaurants worldwide.
While 4 points per dollar is certainly a great rate, it’s possible to rack up even more points when dining. This is thanks to Bilt Rewards, the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees) and the Bilt Dining program. Leveraging this trio lets you earn up to 16 points per dollar when you go out to eat.
Let’s learn more about how savvy users can earn a sizable haul of points next time they go out to eat.
What is Bilt Dining?
In April 2023, the Bilt Dining program debuted, offering a selection of curated restaurants in several cities. All housed within the Bilt app, you can earn bonus points when you dine and even book reservations at these participating restaurants (although the latter is not a requirement to earn points).
What’s great about Bilt Dining is that you don’t necessarily need the Bilt Mastercard to earn points (but we’ll discuss below why you might want to apply for the card). Anyone can link a Mastercard, Visa or American Express debit or credit card to their Bilt Wallet and up to 10 points per dollar at participating restaurants.
Bilt Dining has expanded since its debut and is available in nearly 20 major US cities. If you live near one of these areas, you can browse the list of available restaurants and their current bonus point offers in the Bilt app.
Let’s say you were to dine at a restaurant offering the maximum rewards of 10 points per dollar. Not only will you earn 10 Bilt points per dollar on your bill but you’ll earn the rewards from your credit card of choice. If you had the Bilt Mastercard, you would earn 3 points per dollar on dining, which is the going rate for all restaurant spending. Therefore, you’d earn a total of 13 points per dollar at participating restaurants.
But the deal gets even sweeter if you plan strategically and dine out on Bilt’s monthly Rent Day promotion, which is on the first day of every month. On Rent Day, you earn double the points on all Bilt Mastercard purchases. This means you earn 6 points per dollar on dining, totaling a jaw-dropping 16 points per dollar when combined with Bilt Dining.
Other Bilt Mastercard benefits
The Bilt Mastercard is well known for its ability to earn points on rent without incurring any additional fees. Bilt Rewards offers generous ways for members to earn points every month, and leveraging Bilt Dining is a small but mighty strategy to keep doing so.
Not a renter? No problem. This no-annual-fee credit card boasts an impressive earning rate: 3 points per dollar on dining, 2 on travel and 1 on all other eligible purchases.
In other words, even if you’re not dining at a participating Bilt Dining restaurant, the Bilt Mastercard remains a top pick for maximizing your restaurant purchases. You’ll still earn 3 points per dollar at all restaurants, or 6 points per dollar on Rent Day.
Bilt Rewards points are incredibly valuable, mainly due to its excellent list of travel transfer partners, including Alaska Mileage Plan, United MileagePlus, World of Hyatt and others.
Travel website The Points Guy values Bilt Rewards points at 2.05 cents per point, which means you’re looking at a return upward of 33% if you play your cards right.
Bottom line
With the rising cost of living (and going out to eat), taking advantage of these small wins is a great way to maximize your spending on everyday purchases. Bilt Dining is arguably one of the best dining programs we’ve seen recently, and it’s more than possible for members to earn an extraordinary return on their next bill.