Bilt Rewards has added a new partnership with Equinox, giving members a welcome offer when they join and another way to redeem Bilt Cash.
When I first saw the announcement, I immediately thought it sounded familiar.
After all, the American Express Platinum Card has offered an Equinox benefit for years. Cardmembers can receive up to $300 in statement credits each calendar year for eligible Equinox membership charges or an Equinox+ digital subscription.
Bilt’s new benefit can also provide as much as $300 in annual Equinox value, depending on your status. But despite the similar dollar amounts, the two benefits aren’t duplicates.
AMEX helps pay for the membership itself. Bilt lets members redeem Bilt Cash for personal training, Pilates and spa services. Bilt is also offering a welcome bonus to members who are new to Equinox.
There’s another major difference: You don’t need a Bilt credit card to use the Bilt Equinox benefits. They’re connected to your Bilt Rewards account and status, not to one of Bilt’s credit cards.
That means the AMEX and Bilt benefits aren’t really competing with one another. For someone who already belongs to Equinox—or is thinking about joining—they could potentially work together.
The AMEX Platinum Equinox Credit
The American Express Platinum Card offers up to $300 in statement credits each calendar year for eligible Equinox expenses after enrollment.
You can use the credit toward an eligible Equinox club membership or an Equinox+ digital subscription. You enroll in the benefit, pay Equinox with your Platinum Card and receive a statement credit for eligible charges, up to the annual limit.
That makes this a genuine card benefit. You’re spending money with Equinox, and American Express is reimbursing up to $300 of it.
The credit’s main weakness is that an Equinox club membership can cost several hundred dollars per month. Unless you already planned to join Equinox, a $300 annual credit probably isn’t going to convince you to take on thousands of dollars in annual membership dues.
However, cardmembers who don’t live near an Equinox club can use the credit for the Equinox+ digital fitness subscription instead. That’s particularly relevant for us because there isn’t an Equinox club in Orlando.
How The New Bilt Equinox Benefit Works
Bilt’s new Equinox partnership is different.
Bilt members with an active Equinox membership can link their Bilt and Equinox accounts and redeem Bilt Cash toward certain services at Equinox clubs.
The credits can be used for:
- Personal training
- Studio Pilates
- Spa services
They cannot be used for Equinox membership dues, retail purchases or purchases from the juice bar or café.
The amount available depends on your Bilt status:
- Blue: Up to $75 twice per year
- Silver: Up to $100 twice per year
- Gold or Platinum: Up to $150 twice per year
The first credit is available from January through June, while the second covers July through December. Unused credits don’t carry over, and the minimum Bilt Cash redemption is $50.
As a Bilt Gold member, I can redeem up to $300 in Bilt Cash annually for eligible Equinox services. Blue members can redeem up to $150.
But this isn’t the same as receiving a $300 statement credit from a credit card. You must have enough Bilt Cash available and redeem it to activate the Equinox credit.
You Don’t Need A Bilt Credit Card
This is where the comparison with the AMEX Platinum becomes somewhat misleading.
The AMEX Equinox credit is specifically a Platinum Card benefit. Without the card, you don’t receive the credit.
The Bilt Equinox benefits are attached to your Bilt Rewards account and status—not to a Bilt credit card.
My wife Sharon doesn’t have a Bilt credit card and only has Bilt Blue status, but she still received a notification about the Equinox offer. She’s eligible for the Blue-level benefits because she has a Bilt Rewards account.
A Bilt credit card makes it easier to earn Bilt Cash or reach a higher Bilt status, but it isn’t required to participate in the Equinox partnership.
That means anyone with an Equinox membership should probably have a free Bilt account, even if they have no interest in applying for a Bilt card.
Bilt Also Has A Welcome Offer For New Equinox Members
Bilt members who are new to Equinox can also choose from one of three welcome offers when joining through an eligible Bilt channel:
- 10,000 Bilt points
- One complimentary personal-training session
- One complimentary 50-minute Equinox spa service
This is separate from the semiannual Bilt Cash redemption opportunities.
The 10,000 Bilt points may be the safest choice for many members because of the flexibility they provide. Equinox already lists a complimentary personal-training session among its standard new-member benefits, so choosing another training session through Bilt could be somewhat duplicative.
On the other hand, a 50-minute spa treatment could be worth more than what you personally assign to 10,000 Bilt points. That decision will depend on which benefit you would otherwise pay for.
Can You Combine The AMEX And Bilt Benefits?
This is where the partnership gets interesting.
Because the two benefits apply to different expenses, an eligible new Equinox member may be able to use them together.
The AMEX Platinum credit could reimburse up to $300 of eligible Equinox membership charges. The member could also collect the Bilt welcome offer and redeem Bilt Cash for personal training, Pilates or spa services.
For a Bilt Gold or Platinum member, the potential combination looks like this:
- Up to $300 from the AMEX Platinum toward eligible Equinox membership charges
- 10,000 Bilt points, a training session or a spa treatment as the Bilt welcome offer
- Up to $300 in Bilt Cash redemptions for eligible Equinox services
Anyone planning to stack the new-member offers should enroll through the appropriate Bilt channel and complete the AMEX Platinum enrollment requirements. The membership must also remain eligible for the AMEX credit, and the Platinum Card must be used for qualifying payments.
Which Equinox Benefit Is Better?
For an existing Equinox member, the AMEX Platinum benefit is more valuable because it provides an actual statement credit toward an expense they’re already paying. Bilt’s partnership can add value by giving you another way to use Bilt Cash.
For someone who doesn’t belong to Equinox, the AMEX benefit is still more accessible because it can be used for the Equinox+ digital subscription. The Bilt Cash credits require an active Equinox club membership and must be used for services at a physical location.
However, the Bilt welcome offer has one major advantage: You don’t need to pay an annual fee or hold any Bilt credit card to qualify. You only need a Bilt Rewards account and must join Equinox through an eligible channel.
Final Thought
This isn’t really a competition between two credit card benefits.
The AMEX Platinum offers a $300 credit that can help pay for an Equinox membership or the Equinox+ digital subscription. Bilt offers a welcome bonus and lets active members redeem Bilt Cash for services that the AMEX credit generally doesn’t cover.
For someone already planning to join Equinox, using both programs could make sense. The AMEX Platinum can take a small bite out of the membership cost, while Bilt can provide additional points or services.
For those of us who don’t live near an Equinox club, the calculation is much simpler. The AMEX digital subscription remains usable, while we probably won’t be able to take advantage of most of the Bilt partnership.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
