Bilt Rewards has added TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go as a 1:1 points transfer partner, and Accor’s ALL – Accor Live Limitless as a 3:2 points transfer partner. Both partnerships are now live.
TAP is Star Alliance airline, giving them access to a broad array of partners for redemption. The program is already a Capital One transfer partner. While seemingly niche, they offer surprising value and sweet spots. For instance,
- TAP lets you redeem miles for qualifying miles for those looking to earn status with them.
- TAP Air Portugal partners with Emirates and doesn’t impose fuel surcharges on these tickets. What’s more, their pricing is more reasonable than you’ll find through most programs, listed at U.S. to Europe for 100,000 miles and to the Mideast for 115,000 miles each way in business class. The program’s access to economy award seats has been consistent, however for the past few years access to business class inventory hasn’t always been available.
- They’ve moved to flexible redemption pricing for their own flights, so more often than not it’s possible to find award space between the U.S. and Europe, and that pricing can be lower than what U.S. airlines will charge for their own flights. That’s not something you can redeem for using partner miles – you need TAP’s own miles for this.
- Flights within mainland Portugal start at just 3,250 miles one-way, while intra-Europe travel starts at just 7,500 miles.
As for Accor, they have 55 brands – like Fairmont, Sofitel, Raffles, and Orient Express at the high end – though their footprint is limited in the United States. The points program is revenue-based program, where points equate to fixed value towards hotel stays.
Accor is a Capital One and Citi transfer partner but at 2:1, so Bilt is offering a better transfer ratio. At current exchange rates you’re getting 1.46 cents per Bilt point to spend at Accor since 3,000 Bilt points gets 2,000 Accor points worth 40 euros. That’s reasonable though not outsized value.
Here are Bilt’s current transfer partners:
- Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles & Smiles, United Airlines MileagePlus, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards
- Hotels: Hyatt, IHG Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless
These two new partners have strategic uses, though without big transfer bonuses I don’t anticipate making transfers myself. I generally see Hyatt, Alaska, Air France KLM, and Air Canada as the best transfer partners though of course when there are 100% bonuses or greater (as only Bilt generally offers) I may be tempted to use points with others.
You are missing the Avios programs from your OneWorld list.
I’ve not seen a ton of value in TAP, but Bilt is good about promoting possible routes and uses. I look forward to seeing their spin on it.
The Accor partnership is pretty good. 3:2 won’t blow anyone away, but it is a respectable rate for getting value. If the Euro strengthens against the dollar, that program will become more interesting.
Been getting great value at Accor hotels across Asia and South America. Yes, you may be better off transferring to airlines, but one can only fly so much! If you have a lot of points, and don’t mind wrapping your head around an eccentric Loyalty Program (ALL), Accor is well worth a transfer. The Beachfront Mercure Sanur or Kuta goes for $70 or 3000 Accor Points or 4500 Bilt. Toss in an Accor Plus membership for deals and 50% off food, and it just gets better and better!
I’m DONE with the Bilt card – it was nice while it lasted but my card has now been hacked for the third time in 3 years!!! I have had only one other CC compromised in the last 10+ years so I suspect that this may be an internal WF issue. Their customer service is an absolute joke – they did not believe my prior fraud claim a year ago at first, claiming I made multiple Uber Eats purchases in Brazil while I had multiple regular transactions in the US on the same days. And this time around, although they caught hotel charges from Texas as fraudulent, the number they provided to call in from the alert text message did not work – I spent over a week trying to get through only to be hung up on repeatedly. I tried to flag the items as fraud online but – guess what? – you can’t do that with Bilt. I finally called the general WF number and the rep didn’t even give a sh&t, saying I should call the number on the back of the card! Why then would you send a text message saying to call a completely different number in your fraud alert!?!?