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Reading Time: 4 minRent is among the largest recurring expenses for Americans every month. In fact, Zillow estimates the average rent in the U.S. to be about $2,007. Typically, you have to pay rent via your bank account or check, missing out on a lot of potential credit card rewards.
However, thanks to Bilt, that’s no longer the case. The platform allows renters to earn points for these transactions each month.
But that’s only half the story: Bilt maintains transfer partnerships with many airlines and hotel brands, which allow members to get outsized value for the points earned from paying their rent (and other daily purchases).
One of my favorite uses of Bilt points is at luxury hotels, made possible by the transfer relationship between Bilt Rewards and the World of Hyatt program. Here’s how I leverage this partnership to score incredible value at top-tier hotels across the globe.
The World of Hyatt program remains unique among the major hotel programs largely because it maintains an award chart. This means you can always expect a Hyatt hotel to cost a set number of points, within a designated range, as long as award nights are available at the property you’re considering.
Contrast this with competitors such as Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy, where dynamic pricing means that hotel nights could cost — in theory — anything the hotel pleases. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see nights at Hilton properties exceeding one million points per night. Let that sink in.
At World of Hyatt, the most you’ll pay for its most expensive Category 8 properties is 75,000 points per night for a standard room at the Top redemption level. Note that this excludes Hyatt’s all-inclusive properties and Miraval Resorts, which operate according to their own award charts. But for our purposes, we’ll focus on the chain’s primary chart.
Properties that fall into Category 8 — the program’s highest standard tier — now price across five redemption levels: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, and Top. Rates vary by demand and top out at 75,000 points per night, but as long as there’s award availability, they will cost one of these published rates, and that’s good news for you as a traveler.
Some hotels that fall into this top-tier category include the Park Hyatt New York, Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, and the Park Hyatt Sydney. These hotels routinely cost well over $1,000 per night, making them prohibitively expensive — and great candidates for points redemptions.
Bilt Rewards members can transfer their points to World of Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. If you pay the national average rent of $2,007 per month (and many pay much more), you can earn up to 1.25 points per dollar on that payment with a Bilt card, adding thousands of points to your account each month and steadily building toward a Category 8 stay.
Remember, though, that how much you earn on housing depends on how much everyday spending you put on your Bilt card each month — the more you spend outside of rent, the higher your earning rate on rent climbs.
Further, remember you don’t need to redeem your points only at top-tier Category 8 properties to realize excellent value. Depending on where you travel, you can find luxurious hotels in all categories of the award chart. Nights at Category 1 properties start at just 3,000 points per night, meaning you could earn a free night at one of these hotels within a couple of months, depending on how much you pay for rent.
You don’t even need a Bilt card to earn Bilt points. Anyone can register for the program, link other credit cards to their account, and earn points on purchases made through the Bilt Neighborhood Benefits program.
If your building participates in the Bilt Alliance, you can earn points when you pay rent. Even if you don’t, you can use one of the new Bilt cards — including the no-annual-fee Bilt Blue Card — to pay rent and earn points for doing so.