Bilt journey portal: Redeem and switch factors for flights, resorts and extra

TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.

In June 2022, Bilt launched its travel portal, which permits Bilt members to earn and redeem factors for flights, resorts and rental automobiles. You may as well use the Bilt journey portal to redeem factors for actions, together with theme park tickets.

Even when you do not have the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees), you may nonetheless use the Bilt journey portal to earn Bilt factors, which might be transferred to varied high-value worth applications, together with Air Canada Aeroplan, American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt.

Let’s look intently at what it’s essential to know concerning the Bilt journey portal and find out how to use it.

The Bilt journey portal is the place Bilt Rewards members can ebook journey. You possibly can redeem your Bilt Rewards factors at a hard and fast 1.25 cents apiece for flights, resorts and rental automobiles, however as we value Bilt points at 2.05 cents apiece, you are typically higher off transferring your Bilt factors to one among the program’s 16 airline and hotel transfer partners.

Nonetheless, reserving by means of the portal can typically be extra advantageous if award area is not accessible on your most well-liked flight or resort keep. Moreover, because the factors value is tied to the money value of the flight or resort keep, you could possibly probably save factors if you happen to’re reserving a reasonable flight or resort keep by redeeming by means of the portal.

Expedia powers the Bilt portal, so you may ebook most journey by means of it.

Associated: Earn points on rent: Your complete guide to the Bilt Rewards program

To entry the Bilt journey portal, you’ve got two selections: utilizing the app or going to travel.biltrewards.com and signing in to your Bilt account.

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On each the app and web site, you may ebook flights, resort stays, automotive leases and even issues to do.

Do not forget that whenever you ebook resorts by means of the portal, you sometimes won’t earn resort factors and elite credit and should not obtain elite status perks as a result of it is thought-about a third-party reserving.

Nonetheless, flights booked by means of the portal will sometimes earn frequent flyer miles and qualify for elite standing.

Associated: 9 things to consider when choosing to book via a portal vs. booking directly

The way to ebook flights by means of the Bilt journey portal

Reserving flights by means of Bilt is straightforward. You possibly can both seek for flights by means of the app or web site. Nonetheless, we might usually suggest utilizing the app because it allows you to test one-way award availability throughout all of Bilt’s switch companions, due to the Point.me integration. This will help you determine if it is most advantageous to switch your factors to one among Bilt’s airline switch companions or redeem your factors at a hard and fast 1.25 cents every within the app.

To begin a search, enter your arrival and departure airports, journey dates, variety of vacationers and your required cabin and hit “Search.”

For instance, listed below are the search outcomes for a one-way flight from Charlotte Douglas Worldwide Airport (CLT) to Dallas Fort Price Worldwide Airport (DFW) in enterprise class utilizing the switch companion plug-in (which, once more, is simply accessible by means of the app).

On this case, there’s an choice to switch 20,500 Bilt factors to British Airways Executive Club to ebook the one-way flight in enterprise class on American Airlines.

We all the time suggest confirming availability with the companion program earlier than transferring your factors. Bilt factors can typically take up to 24 hours to appear in the account you’re transferring to, so you may additionally wish to contact the airline to place the ticket on hold. That manner, you will not lose your award ticket whereas ready on your Bilt factors to transform to Avios. (TPG has present in assessments that Bilt factors often switch to British Airways’ loyalty program inside minutes, but it surely could possibly be value staying on the secure facet.)

American Airways additionally sells this ticket for $380.61, which might require 30,449 factors to ebook. Regardless that you’d earn AAdvantage miles (or miles together with your most well-liked Oneworld service) on this flight, it will probably make extra sense to switch 20,500 Bilt factors to Avios after which pay the $6 in taxes and costs.

Nonetheless, redeeming your Bilt factors towards a money ticket on the Bilt journey portal could be a good possibility when there is not award area accessible.

You may as well ebook flights by means of the Bilt journey portal whenever you’re not redeeming factors.

Bilt Rewards members with out a Bilt Mastercard earn 1 level per greenback on flights, resorts and rental automobiles booked by means of the portal, whereas members with a Bilt Mastercard earn 2 factors per greenback spent. For reference, the Bilt Mastercard earns 2 factors per greenback on flights, resorts, rental automobiles and cruises booked immediately with the journey supplier.

Bilt members are conversant in all the advantages that come each first of the month on Bilt Rent Day. For February, Bilt is providing a one-day-only status-based switch bonus to Aeroplan.

Between midnight EST on Feb. 1 and a couple of:59 a.m. EST on Feb. 2, Bilt members can earn as much as a 150% bonus on Bilt level transfers to Aeroplan, relying on Bilt Rewards status. Bilt Blue members should switch 2,000 Bilt factors, however different tiers can switch as few as 1,000 Bilt factors.

The bonus charges are as follows:

• Blue: 75% bonus, so transferring 2,000 Bilt factors would get you 3,500 Aeroplan factors.
• Silver: 100% bonus, so transferring 1,000 Bilt factors would get you 2,000 Aeroplan factors.
• Gold: 125% bonus, so transferring 1,000 Bilt factors would get you 2,250 Aeroplan factors.
• Platinum: 150% bonus, so transferring 1,000 Bilt factors would get you 2,500 Aeroplan factors.

Keep in mind, it is a one-day-only switch bonus, so Bilt Rewards members need to act on Lease Day (Feb. 1) to obtain the supply.

At TPG, we sometimes do not suggest transferring factors with out a particular redemption in thoughts. However if you happen to’ve been contemplating a visit with Air Canada and are searching for a approach to earn Aeroplan points, this could possibly be a very good probability to switch your Bilt factors and ebook your flight.

Plus, TPG has discovered the Bilt transfer time to Aeroplan is often minutes after you provoke a switch between accounts.

Associated: How long do Bilt Rewards points take to transfer?

The way to ebook resorts by means of the Bilt journey portal

Reserving resorts is just like reserving flights on the journey portal. You are able to do it by means of the app or web site. The overall reserving course of is analogous.

This could be a helpful approach to ebook resorts that are not affiliated with main chains like Hyatt and IHG, each of that are switch companions of Bilt. Whether or not you ebook by means of the portal or elsewhere, evaluate the award charges of loyalty applications to seek out the most effective deal.

Here is a pattern seek for resorts in Victoria, British Columbia, which hosts largely boutique resorts.

As soon as you’ve got chosen your required property, room and price, you may specify what number of factors you wish to use on the checkout web page.

Then, run by means of the on-screen prompts to finalize your reserving, and you will get an e mail affirmation.

Associated: The best hotel rewards programs in the world

The way to ebook rental automobiles and actions by means of the Bilt journey portal

You may as well ebook rental automobiles and actions by means of the Bilt journey portal by utilizing the app or web site. The method of doing so is just like reserving flights and resorts. However there’s one key distinction — you may’t earn factors on actions.

To ebook a rental automotive, navigate to the “Vehicles” header from the primary touchdown web page and sort in your itinerary, even when it is a one-way rental. Then, choose “Search,” and the outcomes web page will pop up. When you select your automotive, you will be prompted to pick add-ons.

While you’ve completed choosing, you will head to the reserving web page, the place you will enter your private data and select what number of factors, if any, you’d prefer to redeem.

Lastly, click on “Issues to do” from the primary homepage to ebook actions. You possibly can enter your vacation spot and journey dates to see what’s accessible. For Universal Studios Hollywood, you should purchase a one- or two-day ticket. Parking is just not included on this ticket.

If you do not have sufficient factors for the complete exercise, you may apply the factors you’ve got at checkout and pay money for the remaining stability.

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Issues to contemplate concerning the Bilt journey portal

Listed below are some basic tips that could benefit from your expertise with the portal.

First, evaluate the factors required by means of the portal with these wanted for companion transfers, contemplating any extra taxes and costs. It is usually finest to keep away from reserving chain resorts by means of the portal in case you have elite standing or want to acquire it (or wish to earn factors in a given resort loyalty program). Stays booked this fashion often don’t depend towards standing and should not qualify for elite advantages.

For those who continuously ebook with money by means of Bilt’s journey portal, take into account opening the Bilt Mastercard. That manner, you will earn 2 factors per greenback as a substitute of simply 1 level per greenback. You must also think about using a card that earns high rewards on travel purchases, just like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which earns 3 factors per greenback. Although we have not examined utilizing this card within the Bilt portal, Chase sometimes codes on-line journey businesses as a travel-related buy; subsequently, it’s best to earn the class bonus in your Chase card.

Though you might discover higher charges by reserving immediately with the journey supplier, in case your plans are agency and the charges are comparable, reserving by means of the portal might be worthwhile for incomes additional factors.

Do not forget that reserving by means of third-party websites can result in issues if it’s essential to change your plans. Journey suppliers are usually extra prepared to help you if you happen to’ve booked with them immediately.

Associated: Why you don’t earn hotel points when booking through an online travel agency

For charges and costs of the Bilt Mastercard, click on here.
For rewards and advantages of the Bilt Mastercard, click on here.