Points are a form of currency, just like money, and the value of each Bilt Rewards point can fluctuate significantly based on how you use them. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the different ways to maximize your points, whether by booking through the Bilt travel portal or transferring to airline and hotel partners. The goal is to ensure you’re getting top value, with redemptions ranging from a straightforward 1.25 cents per point in the portal to potentially over eight cents per point with strategic transfers.
We’ll cover practical examples to make sure you’re spending wisely and getting the most out of every Bilt point.
Table of contents
The value of Bilt points when booking through the Bilt travel portal
Through the Bilt Rewards travel portal, you can use your points to book flights, hotels, travel packages, rental cars, and activities. No matter what you book, your points are always worth 1.25 cents each toward Bilt travel bookings.
The portal is powered by Expedia and will feel familiar to anyone who’s used Expedia before. On the search results page, you’ll see prices clearly displayed in cash and points.
While there are positives to using the Bilt travel portal, there are also a few negatives.
The positives include simplicity and a lack of guesswork on the value of your points. As points are always worth 1.25 cents each, you never have to wonder if you’re getting good value for your points. And you don’t have to search through transfer partners, understand how they work, and then send your points elsewhere to make the booking. Using the travel portal is easy, as you can search for multiple types of travel and compare various options in one place.
That ease of use comes at the expense of possibly getting more value for your points. You’ll never get more than 1.25 cents in value here. You may be able to get more value if you understand and use the airline and hotel transfer partners, which we’ll cover below.
The value of Bilt points when transferring to a partner
Bilt Rewards has crafted a growing list of airline and hotel transfer partners to which you can transfer your points. While understanding them requires more effort than using the travel portal, it also provides the opportunity to get more value for your points – though that’s not guaranteed.
The value of your Bilt points can range from below one cent to nearly ten cents per point. That ten-cent number isn’t common, but it is possible. Five cents is more typical.
You may get poor value for your Bilt points if you don’t understand transfer partners clearly. You’ll get less value than you would have through the travel portal. However, you also can get more value.
How do you know the difference in value? By understanding cents per point. This is the math you’ll use to figure it out: Divide your cash savings (the cost of anything you’re booking minus any copays involved) by the number of points required.
For example, let’s say you’re booking a $200 flight that requires 20,000 points plus a $10 copay. To figure out the value per point, you’ll divide $190 (cash savings) by 20,000. The result is 0.0095, which is 0.95 cents per point.
That’s less value than you’d get for your points using the travel portal, so booking there is better. However, if that flight costs $300, you’d get 1.45 cents per point using the airline transfer partner, making it a better redemption than using the travel portal.
As a baseline, you should redeem your Bilt points for at least 1.25 cents each with transfer partners, as that’s what you would get using the travel portal. However, it’s easily possible to get two, three, and, sometimes, even five or more cents per point. These higher numbers are especially possible when flights and hotels are expensive around the holidays or when you’re booking flights in business or first class.
Currently, Bilt’s list of transfer partners includes these programs:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific
- Emirates Skywards
- Iberia Plus
- TAP Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Red
- Accor Live Limitless
- Hilton Honors
- IHG One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
All of these transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio, except to Accor. Transfers from Bilt to Accor run at a 3:2 ratio.
Here are some examples of using your points with transfer partners to help you understand the way they work and the potential value per point.
World of Hyatt is a 1:1 Bilt transfer partner. Here’s a sample search for a weekend in Miami next spring. The Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami is charging $423 per night or 23,000 points, providing a value of 1.84 cents per point (though likely higher when you add taxes). That’s a much better value than you would get using the travel portal for 1.25 cents per point. The Hyatt Regency property offers even better value at 2.43 cents per point.
What about a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Chicago? Transferring points for a seat in economy class would be a good deal here, but first class could be better off booked in the travel portal.
Here’s an example of economy class seats selling for $281 or 15,000 United miles. Subtracting that $5.60 copay means you’d get 1.84 cents per point on this transfer. First class seats are selling for $601 or 60,500 miles, so you’d get just 0.99 cents per point if you transfer Bilt points to United. That’s less than what you’d get booking in the travel portal for 1.25 cents per point.
What can you get with your Bilt points?
Forgetting the “cents per point” talk, what’s actually available with Bilt points?
You can book flights on hundreds of different airlines, as Bilt has partners in all of the major airline alliances. Remember, being able to transfer points to a program like Air Canada Aeroplan means you can book flights not just on Air Canada but on its dozens of partners as well. Your Bilt Rewards points can fly you to nearly anywhere in the world.
The same applies to hotel stays across some of the biggest chains in the world. Starting at just 3,500 points, you can find dozens of hotel rooms in the World of Hyatt program. That’s the cheapest price available in the program’s off-peak award chart. If you find an off-peak night at a Category 1 property, 3,500 points is a great price.
However, the same also holds true at the other end of the spectrum, where luxury properties have high prices that make points redemptions valuable. This room at The Cape in Cabo San Lucas costs over $650 per night after taxes, so spending 25,000 points provides 2.6 cents per point in value.
Interestingly, you can often book United Airlines flights within the U.S. cheaper through the Avianca LifeMiles program than what United itself charges. United wants 30,000 miles each way per passenger for this flight from Chicago (ORD) to St. Louis (STL), while LifeMiles is asking for 6,500 miles – less than half the price.
Air France and KLM share the Flying Blue program, which publishes discounted award flights every month under its Promo Rewards. Here’s a Promo Reward flight from Seattle (SEA) to Paris (CDG) for 15,000 miles per passenger, requiring you to transfer 15,000 Bilt points to Flying Blue. Normally, these flights cost 20,000 miles per passenger, and you’ll pay $96.90 in taxes and fees.
If you’re looking for true luxury, flying with Emirates in first class is probably on your list. While you’ll pay 163,500 plus $838.70 per person for a flight from New York City (JFK) to Dubai (DXB), these flights typically cost over $15,000. That’s a redemption value of 8.66 cents per point.
The value of Bilt points when redeeming for Amazon.com purchases, statement credits, or gift cards
Beyond travel, it’s possible to use your Bilt Rewards points in other ways. These generally don’t provide as much value, however.
Amazon purchases: 0.7 cents per point.
Statement credits: 0.55 cents per point.
Down payment on a home: 1.5 cents per point.
Rent: 0.55 cents per point.
The best use of your Bilt points
- Travel partners when redeeming points above 1.25 cents each
- Down payment on a home; points are worth 1.5 cents each here
- Bookings in the travel portal where a transfer partner isn’t available
The worst use of your Bilt points
- Rent payments (0.55 cents per point)
- Statement credits (0.55 cents per point)
- Amazon purchases (0.7 cents per point)
- Travel redemptions with partners for less than 1.25 cents per point
Frequently asked questions about Bilt points
How much are 10,000 Bilt points worth?
Bilt Rewards points are worth anywhere from 1 to 5 cents each, making 10,000 points worth between $100-$500. For 10,000 points, you could get up to three nights at a Category 1 Hyatt property, a short-distance domestic United flight booked through LifeMiles, or $125 worth of travel bookings in the Bilt travel portal.
How much are 30,000 Bilt points worth?
30,000 Bilt points are worth $300 to $1,500. You could book a wide range of hotel properties with Hyatt, IHG, or Marriott for these points. You also could book multiple nights at some of their cheaper properties. These points are also enough for a round-trip economy class ticket to Europe through Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards. Alternatively, 30,000 Bilt points are worth $375 in the travel portal.
How much are 50,000 Bilt points worth?
Using our same numbers, 50,000 Bilt points are worth between $500-$2,500. You could book a one-way business-class flight to Europe through the Flying Blue program, at least one night at any hotel in the Hyatt portfolio, numerous properties in the other hotel programs (though not their most expensive options), or take multiple short flights with programs like Flying Blue, United, Avianca, and more. Alternatively, 50,000 Bilt points is enough to book $625 of travel in the Bilt portal.
How much are 75,000 Bilt points worth?
With 75,000 Bilt points, you can book $937.50 of travel in the portal or get between $750-$3,750 of travel through Bilt’s transfer partners. You could book up to three nights at a Hyatt Category 6 or 7 property, book some of the better hotels in IHG and Marriott’s programs (though not the most luxurious options), or fly five different one-way flights between the U.S. and Europe using Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards (noting that the available destinations change monthly).
How much are 100,000 Bilt points worth?
In the Bilt travel portal, these points are worth $1,250. With transfer partners, they’re worth between $1,000- and $5000. With 100,000 Bilt points, you could take a round-trip flight to Europe in business class through Flying Blue, unlock at least one luxury hotel night with any of Bilt’s hotel partners, book two nights at Hyatt’s most expensive Category 8 properties, or take numerous short-distance flights in the U.S. across multiple award programs.
How many Bilt points does it take for a free flight?
It depends on where you’re flying and which program you’re booking through. You might need 6,500 LifeMiles to book a short-distance flight on United Airlines in the U.S., or you could pay over 150,000 points for a first-class flight on Emirates from the U.S. to Dubai.
How many Bilt points to fly business class to Europe?
The number of Bilt points to fly business class to Europe varies by airline program. You could pay 50,000 points if you book through Flying Blue, at least 80,000 through United Airlines, or between 45,000-55,000 if booked through Alaska Airlines.
Do Bilt points expire?
No, Bilt points don’t expire as long as your account is open and active.
Summary
Bilt Rewards points are a flexible currency that can provide incredible value, depending on how you redeem them. Whether you’re after simplicity and guaranteed value through the travel portal or willing to put in the effort to leverage transfer partners for outsized returns, understanding the best strategies is key. Keep in mind that while there are redemptions that make your points value soar, there are also traps that can cut their worth in half. Use your points wisely, and you can unlock everything from free flights to luxury hotel stays.
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