Bilt has announced the details of the July 2024 Rent Day promotion, and most people in the travel points universe are pleasantly surprised. In fact, that’s putting it mildly, as this promotion with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is a return to the blockbuster offers we’d become accustomed to after a few months of less impressive deals. Not every month is a blockbuster, and it’s easy to forget the offers we’ve seen in 2024 alone.
- January – Air France/KLM, Virgin Atlantic and IHG up to 150% transfer bonus
- February – Air Canada’s Aeroplan with a 75% to 150% bonus
Since then, the deals have shifted focus to Bilt’s other offerings, such as Bilt Dining, Rent Payments, and Fitness Classes. These are beneficial for individuals interested in these services but not for those seeking transfer bonuses.
The WSJ Story
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Wells Fargo is experiencing significant financial losses, estimated at up to $10 million monthly, as a result of its involvement in the Bilt Mastercard program. The article highlights that these substantial losses stem from Wells Fargo’s decision to accept an agreement that other financial institutions declined, aiming to enhance its credit card portfolio and facilitate mortgage sales to renters. Moreover, the forecasted usage of the Bilt Mastercard by customers differed significantly from actual behavior. Despite Wells Fargo’s intention to renegotiate the future terms of the agreement, the contract remains in effect until 2029.
Despite many people claiming that Bilt was finished and wondering if people should leave while they still could, I wasn’t concerned about my points. There has been widespread curiosity about how Bilt managed to provide such fantastic benefits to its members. The story revealed that this was partially due to Wells Fargo bearing the majority of the losses from the deal they had agreed to.
Bilt Says Hold Our Alaska Miles
I can only imagine the people at Bilt reading these stories, knowing they were going to drop what would be the best promotion of the year in less than 2 weeks.
For transfers from Bilt to Alaska Airlines MileagePlan on July 1, 2024, members will receive the following transfer bonuses:
- Bilt Platinum members receive a 100% transfer bonus
- Bilt Gold members receive a 75% transfer bonus
- Bilt Silver members receive a 50% transfer bonus
- Bilt Blue members receive a 25% transfer bonus
Members will receive the transfer bonus on the first 50,000 points transferred. Admittedly, this isn’t the 75% to 150% transfer bonuses we’ve seen with other programs, but Alaska’s miles are more valuable, which justifies the lower percentages.
In addition, Bilt is offering a status match for Gold and Platinum Bilt members. In return for transferring 10,000 Bilt Rewards to Alaska MileagePlan through the dedicated status match page:
- Bilt Platinum members can receive Mileage Plan MVP Gold status
- Bilt Gold members can receive Mileage Plan MVP status
These points do not count for the transfer bonus or towards the 50,000-point max for the bonus offer.
Don’t Call It A Comeback
It didn’t take long for people to switch from disparaging Bilt to praising them for the best transfer bonus and status match offer we’ve seen in a while. Bilt has been surprising members with unbelievable offers for years now. (Remember the Hyatt and United status matches?) While I don’t know what the people at Bilt have planned for the future, the deal with Wells Fargo has several years left on it. I can see no reason to transfer out points now, unless I wanted to take advantage of the Alaska offer.
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