Bilt Rewards stormed onto the scene last year, giving renters an unparalleled way to earn points on monthly rent payments without hefty transaction fees – and some great ways to transfer those points to airlines and hotel chains, to boot. Those options just keep expanding.
On Wednesday, Bilt Rewards announced it has added United MileagePlus as its latest transfer partner and will add Cathay Pacific Asia Miles come mid-April, eventually bumping out its portfolio of airlines and hotels to 11. Like the rest of Bilt's transfer partners, these reward points will transfer on a 1:1 basis – though points must be transferred in increments of 1,000.
Adding Asia Miles to Bilt's repertoire just makes it even easier to pile up those miles to book flights on Oneworld airlines – especially short-haul redemptions in addition to a handful of niche sweet spots. You can already earn Asia Miles by transferring from Capital One, American Express, and Marriott Bonvoy.
But the addition of United is particularly interesting – aside from their longtime transfer partnership with Chase, United has been stingy about pairing up with transferrable points currencies. More to the point: You can now transfer Bilt Rewards points to both American and United. Having two of the major U.S. airline programs at your disposal is unique.
Here's the full list of Bilt transfer partners with these latest additions
| Program | Type | Transfer Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | Airline | 1:1 |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | Airline | 1:1 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Airline | 1:1 |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | Airline | 1:1 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Airline | 1:1 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Airline | 1:1 |
| British Airways Avios | Airline | 1:1 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Airline | 1:1 |
| Emirates Skywards | Airline | 1:1 |
| Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles | Airline | 1:1 |
| Iberia Avios | Airline | 1:1 |
| Turkish Miles & Smiles | Airline | 1:1 |
| United MileagePlus | Airline | 1:1 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Airline | 1:1 |
| World of Hyatt | Hotel | 1:1 |
| IHG Hotels | Hotel | 1:1 |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Hotel | 1:1 |
*Cathay Pacific Asia Miles expected to go live mid-April 2022
How Does Bilt Rewards Work?
Bilt Rewards is a fairly new rewards program that allows qualified U.S. renters the ability to earn rewards by paying their rent through the Bilt Rewards app. Eventually, you’ll be able to earn points on your rent payment no matter where you live.
Despite the fanfare surrounding this new program, Bilt isn't available to everyone just yet. You can join the waitlist for the service on the Bilt website, though there are promo codes floating around the internet to skip the waitlist and get early access to Bilt.
At launch, you’ll need to be renting from a property management group in the Bilt Rewards Alliance. If your landlord is a member of the Bilt Rewards Alliance, you will be able to pay your rent electronically through the Bilt Rewards app by securely linking your bank account. According to Bilt, the current members of the Bilt Alliance make up more than 2 million rental units. Here are just a few of the property management groups that are already a part of the program:
- The Blackstone Group
- The Related Companies
- Equity Residential
- GID
- AvalonBay Communities, Inc.
- Camden Property Trust
- Cushman & Wakefield
- Trammell Crow Residential
- Highmark Residential
- AMLI Residential
- Morgan Properties
- SL Green Realty Corp.
- Starwood Capital Group
- LivCor
- The Moinian Group
- Veritas Investments
- Artemis Real Estate Partners
- …and more
Renting someplace that doesn’t make this list? By paying your rent through Bilt, the company can send your landlord a paper check via USPS First Class mail for your rental amount, similar to Plastiq. Bilt says it will take five to seven days to process.
No matter where you live, these rental payments via Bilt are completely fee-free.
Read More: Bilt Rewards: Earn Transferable Points for Paying Rent (+ No Fees)
Earning points on these payments is quite simple. Program members will earn a minimum of 250 Bilt Points per month by paying their rent through the Bilt Rewards app, no matter how much your monthly rent costs. Simply pay through the Bilt app and you’ll receive 250 points each and every month.
While it’s not necessary in order to earn these transferrable points, renters can drastically accelerate their earning by paying their rent with a new co-branded Bilt Rewards Mastercard and climbing the tiers of Bilt status. Bilt overhauled both their Mastercard and status levels last fall to make them even better.
This $0 annual fee card is the key to earning more valuable points. So long as you make at least five transactions per statement period, you'll earn:
- 1x point per dollar spent on rent on up to $100,000 in rent annually
- 2x points per dollar spent on travel when you book directly with the airline, hotel, rental car agency, etc.
- 3x points per dollar spent on dining
- 1x points per dollar on other purchases
Learn more about the *Bilt Mastercard*.
Bottom Line
Building out a rewards program for renters was one thing, but Bilt continues to innovate and think outside of the box with the addition of both Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and United MileagePlus as its latest transfer partners.