Bilt Home Away From Home
The luxury travel space has become saturated recently. Just this week we wrote our guide to The Edit by Chase Travel. Additionally, most award travelers are already familiar with Amex's Fine Hotels & Resorts. Others rely on their luxury travel agent to get luxury stays packed with perks and benefits. But this week, the Bilt Home Away From Home luxury travel program launched. It seeks to reinvent the luxury travel experience. I was invited to New York to get a behind-the-scenes look at the program and celebrate the launch. I breakdown what we know so far.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for the trip to New York or for this article. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own and were not reviewed by anyone prior to publication.
The Bilt Backstory
When many people hear “Bilt Rewards” they either haven't heard of it or think “the card that gives you points for rent.” If they are not a renter, they might immediately dismiss the card. Folks, Bilt and Bilt Rewards are so much much larger than their credit card. Sure, the easiest way to achieve Bilt status, and take part in massive transfer bonuses with additional perks for highest status members, is having the card and using it for spend. But there are a ton of other ways to earn Bilt Rewards.
Have you heard of Bilt Neighborhood Benefits? Did you know you can earn Bilt Rewards and/or have access to member perks, even if not using the their card, while:
- shopping at Walgreens
- dining at certain restaurants
- attending classes at certain fitness studios
- riding in a Lyft
All of these are included in Neighborhood Benefits and are accessible to everyone with a Bilt Rewards account. The beauty of all these ways to earn is that the credit card is NOT required. You can use any credit card linked to your Bilt Rewards wallet and earn valuable Bilt Rewards for the transaction.
Bilt Big Picture
The idea behind Bilt Rewards Neighborhood Benefits is user experience. Bilt wants to offer rewards throughout your neighborhood, as there is so much more to “home” than paying rent. Over time, this program will fully integrate your experiences at home with your travel experiences away from home. For example, do you love taking spin classes on Saturday mornings? Bilt knows the right spot for you to go when you're out of town. Want to renew your lease early? Your landlord can send you bonus Bilt Rewards or a cash offer to renew, all directly in the Bilt app. Is your favorite local dining spot missing you because you've been busy and haven't visited? They can send you free drinks & appetizers to come by this week, all while you earn elevated Bilt rewards for the Bilt Dining experience. Even without the credit card, you can rack up Bilt Rewards for things you're already doing and get customized perks & offers along the way.
Introduction of Bilt Home Away From Home
Once you understand Bilt Neighborhood Rewards, you see that Bilt is more than just a credit card. It wants to transform your day-to-day life into a giant loyalty program, with perks and rewards for most everything you do on a regular basis. The Bilt Home Away From Home program expands this concept to travel. This luxury travel program gives you access to 1,700+ hand-picked properties around the world, with the added benefit of staying like a local. Bilt plans to bring its Neighborhood Rewards experience to anywhere and everywhere you go, all via the Bilt Rewards mobile app. Dine at the hot spots in London, sweat at the trendy spin studio in Milan, or get the can't-miss tour guide to see the Mona Lisa. This is the goal of this program. Not just to have a cool hotel, but to really find that hometown feel & vibe where ever you go.
Perks of This Program
For now, Bilt Home Away From Home is open to all Bilt Gold & Platinum members. It should roll out to other members in the future. When booking at one of these properties, you receive the following perks:
- $100 property credit
- Room upgrades on arrival
- Daily breakfast credit for two
- Early check in & late check out
- Complimentary travel concierge
Additionally, for any properties booked via this program, you earn 2X Bilt Rewards per dollar, even if you do not use their credit card, which would earn another 2X. So if you decided to pay for the hotel stay with a Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Reserve for Business, for example, you would earn 4X on the card for hotels and 2X Bilt Rewards for the Home Away From Home Booking (if the card is linked in your Bilt Wallet). These rates are NOT prepaid, but that might be an option in the future. The goal is to eventually allow members to redeem their Bilt Rewards for these bookings.
Remember: these are not portal bookings. They are luxury travel agency bookings (Bilt has partnered with Virtuoso for this program). The usual warnings about portal bookings do not apply, although you should always do your due diligence in advance.
Home Away From Home: ToP Thoughts
The concept behind Bilt's Home Away From Home is fascinating. Yes, it is another luxury hotel program in an already saturated market. But it is also much more than that. It gives (for now) Gold & Platinum members this program for a no annual fee card, which is unheard of. Likewise, Bilt wants this program to be more than just hotel bookings, as they want your Neighborhood Rewards perks to follow you where ever you travel. In today's increasingly connected and digital world, this concept makes total sense and I'm shocked that no one has thought of this before.
Personally, I am only a few thousand dollars away from earning Bilt Rewards Gold status and can't wait to gain access to this program. What about you? Have you tried Home Away From Home? Come over to our Facebook Group and let us know.
