Bilt Rewards Revamps Elite Status Requirements

It’s been exciting to watch the Bilt platform grow over the last 2+ years — and equally exciting to earn and spend points within the program.

The company burst onto the scene by offering renters a long-awaited opportunity to earn points on rent and has only improved the program since then with the addition of transfer partners, a travel portal, monthly Rent Day promotions, and more.

Now, Bilt is reevaluating its rewards program and how members earn elite status. Unfortunately, that means that status will be harder to earn for many members.

Let’s take a look at what’s changing.

Bilt Rewards Elite Status

Up until now, Bilt Rewards had offered 4 levels of elite status that could be achieved by earning a certain amount of points:

• Blue: All members
• Silver: 25,000 points
• Gold: 50,000 points
• Platinum: 100,000 points

Starting January 1, 2024, there will be 2 ways to earn status, but the qualification thresholds will be much higher:

• Blue: All members
• Silver: 50,000 points or $10,000 in spend
• Gold: 125,000 points or $25,000 in spend
• Platinum: 200,000 points or $50,000 in spend

As you can see, the number of points needed to earn elite status has increased between 100-150%, depending on the level.

However, there is a new way to earn status, and that is with non-rent eligible spend (not points earned) on your Bilt Mastercard (closed to new applicants; rates & fees), booking Lyft rides with your connected account, paying for SoulCycle classes booked via the Bilt app, spending in the Bilt Travel portal, and using the Bilt Dining Progam using any card in your Bilt Wallet.

To qualify for status, you must hit either the point or spend qualifications between January 1 and December 31, 2024.

Why These Changes?

According to Richard Kerr, VP, Travel at Bilt Rewards, “Tier adjustments were necessary because of all the ways to earn Bilt Points that didn’t exist 2.5 years ago. Today, we now have double points on Rent Day, earning 10X points on fitness classes, up to 2X on the Bilt Rewards travel portal, up to 10X on Bilt Dining, and up to 5X points on Lyft rides.” You must use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points (See Rewards & Benefits).

That’s certainly true, as there are currently several great ways to earn Bilt Rewards points, especially on Rent Day — which has made elite status relatively easy for many to earn.

However, until this year, elite status didn’t hold as much value. But with the introduction of tiered transfer bonuses based on status and other perks, top-tier status has become much more valuable and Bilt promises to make it even more so.

Bilt has said that moving forward, there will be more tier-based benefits as well as the introduction of Milestone Rewards where members can unlock “special rewards” with every 25,000 points they earn.

Final Thoughts

Program devaluations and making elite status harder to earn are not something that most members and travelers look forward to.

However, the Bilt Rewards program has only improved since its inception, so this shouldn’t come as a shock to most people.

We’ll see if Bilt’s new Milestone Rewards and tier-based benefits will be enough to convince members to spend a lot more next year to reach the same elite status level they hold today.