Bilt Rewards is back with its Rent Day offers for February 1. The headline here is up to a 100% transfer bonus to Star Alliance program Avianca LifeMiles.
| Bilt Status | Avianca LifeMiles Transfer Bonus |
| Bilt Platinum Members | 100% bonus |
| Bilt Gold Members | 50% bonus |
| Bilt Silver Members | 40% bonus |
| Bilt Blue Members | 20% bonus |
Bilt does bigger transfer bonuses than anyone else, but instead of being available for several weeks they are one day only. They ran a LifeMiles bonus for September 1 Rent Day as well. That was a straight 50% offer.
I will likely make a small transfer to extend the expiration of my current points balance.
It’s a Star Alliance program that doesn’t add fuel surcharges to awards and offers really unique pockets of value, perfect for expert frequent flyers. For instance when you book tickets between the U.S. and Asia in business class, a connecting flight in coach usually brings the cost of the award down even though you’re flying more.
Sometimes you’ll find that LifeMiles doesn’t make awards available that other partners can book. And sometimes that is intentional. Program executives have told me multiple times in the past that they see some awards that are unprofitable for them to offer and those may be blocked.
Historically I’ve viewed Avianca LifeMiles as a real program for experts – reasonable redemptions, no fuel surcharges, and some absolute outstanding pockets of value but without great servicing. Reports are though that they’ve been much better with customer service lately, and their Chief Operating Officer recently walked me through the changes they’ve made that have made the program easier to work with.
Bilt Opens A Coffee Shop
Bilt Rewards has its office at 31 Bond Street in New York. And they’ve opened a ground floor coffee shop. They’re offering hot and iced black offee and a chocolate chip cookies free for Rent Day (show your membership in the Bilt app).
- January 27th: 9:00am – 6:00pm, free to first 50 members
- January 28th – January 31st: 7:30am -6pm, free to first 50 members
- February 1st: 8:00am – 4:00pm, free to first 500 members
They have limited-edition apparel and homeware “inspired by Bond Street” for purchase, from “premium branded sweatshirts to hand-crafted ceramic coffee mugs” available in the Bilt app starting January 27th at 9am Eastern and also available for sale at the cafe.
Credit: Bilt
J Balvin Tickets And Coffee
I’m not in on or hip enough to get the joke here. J Balvin is the Prince of Reggaeton. They’re offering two Back to the Rayo tour tickets and a special edition coffee blend from Colombia with proceeds to J Balvin’s nonprofit.
With the purchase of a canister, you’ll also receive two floor seat tickets to Balvin’s highly anticipated tour, Back to the Rayo in the city of your choice – worth a combined $400+ in value. The cost is 10,000 Bilt points or $200 for this offering.
This is available February 1 at 12:00pm Eastern. Concert locations:
- Atlanta (State Farm Arena) – March 20, 2025
- Miami (Kaseya Center) – March 22, 2025
- Brooklyn (Barclays Center) – March 30, 2025
- Boston (Agganis Arena) – April 4, 2025
- Las Vegas (Michelob ULTRA Arena) – May 3, 2025
- Los Angeles (Kia Forum, Inglewood) – May 9, 2025
Prixe Fixe Dining and Private Dining
Bilt’s Neighborhood Dining launched with some of the best restaurants in the cities they covered. They maxed the number of participating restaurants by launching with Rewards Network, which powers the branded dining programs of airlines and hotel chains. And most of their restaurants are mid (at best).
Now Bilt is partnering with OpenTable (owned by Priceline aka Booking Holdings) on private dining rooms at New York City restaurants.
- The Hawksmoor (Gramercy Park)
- Cha Cha Tang (Chinatown)
- Charlie Bird (Greenwich Village)
Seats start at $75 or 5,000 points, bookable beginning January 28th at 11:50 a.m. Eastern in the Bilt app or on their website for Platinum Members and Noon Eastern for others.
Their Neighborhood Dining fixed price meals for Rent Day also returns with “a curated tasting menu with dishes from renowned chefs and the option to add premium cocktails and beverages for Bilt Member exclusive pricing.” Participating restaurants seem more limited.
- NYC – Hudson Club
- NYC – Tucci
- Washington, D.C. – The Saga
- Washington, D.C. – Seven Reasons
- Arlington, VA -Surreal
- Atlanta, GA – Beetlecat
- Nashville, TN – Star Rover Sound
- Houston, Tx – Superica
- Houston, TX – Toca Madera
- Scottsdale, AZ – Toca Madera
Meals start at $40 or 2,500 points per person, bookable beginning January 28th at 11:50 a.m. Eastern in the Bilt app or on their website for Platinum Members and Noon Eastern for others.
Comedy Shows
Comedy shows were new last month. This month they have:
- NYC – Saint Theo’s
- Williamsburg Brooklyn – Fette Sau
- Washington, D.C. – 1789 Restaurant
- Chicago, IL – Lazy Bird
- West Fens, MA – Equal Measure
- West Hollywood, CA – Poppy
- Miami Beach, FL – Lucali
Seats start at $75 or 5,000 points, bookable beginning January 28th at 11:50 a.m. Eastern in the Bilt app or on their website for Platinum Members and Noon Eastern for others.
Double Points On Co-Brand Card Spend
As usual, 6x on dining; 4x on Travel; 2x on other spend excluding rent on February 1, now capped at 1,000 bonus points.
SoulCycle And Rumble Boxing
SoulCycle complimentary bike in the special-themed classes and one rider out of all the studios attending a Rent Day Ride will get a month of rent paid by Bilt, up to $2,500. Platinums get a 10 minute head start, otherwise bikes are bookable January 28 at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Rumble Boxing classes are also available in New York, Miami Beach, Chicago, West Hollywood, Washington, D.C., Frisco, and Alpharetta booked in the Bilt app. Platinums get a 10 minute head start, otherwise bikes are bookable January 28 at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Family Feud-Style Game Show To Win Free Rent
Rent Free game show. Family Fued-style game hosted this month with J Balvin, with the top 10 scoring members earning free rent and the next-scoring 500 members receiving Bilt points. Play by 3 p.m. Eastern on February 1, return to see your score after 4 p.m. Eastern.
I’ve had the BILT card via Wells Fargo for over a year now. The fundamentals are still good (earn points on rent, etc.), but gradually the program has descended from its former ‘greatness’. Specifically, the loss of AA as a transfer partner and the ‘Rent Day’ spend bonus capped to just 1,000 points are two of the main disappointments. There are little things too, like I wish they’d have kept the trivia–it was sorta ‘fun’ and an easy to earn extra points each month. For now, the platform still allows transfers to Hyatt and Alaska, so I’ll keep using it for that at the very least. As for this month’s offers, this ‘free (coffee, etc.) to first 50 members’ limit is simply not worth ‘lining up’ before 7:30AM on the streets of NYC in the sub-freezing windchill only to be told, ‘sorry, you are #54 in-line–no dice!’
@gary- how do you search for lifemiles? I tried months back, but always found their online systems super clunky. At least Aeroplan is relatively straightforward forward. I miss lifemiles being on seats.aero!
Thanks for any insights.
@Tim- usually Avianca and Aeroplan have similar availability for Star Alliance flights, so I do my broader searches on Aeroplan, then when I determine what flight I want to take, look it up in Avianca to compare costs.