Earlier this week, Bilt announced the ability for a primary cardholder to decide whether spending on an authorized user card would earn points and status for the primary cardholder or the authorized user. We hadn’t previously considered adding me as an authorized user on my wife’s Palladium card, though it would probably be more useful for me to earn Bilt points and Bilt status, since I receive the household Rakuten transfers and would be more likely to be taking advantage of any transfer bonuses.
I’m intrigued by the possibility, but my main hesitation is in wondering whether it will work right and knowing that I’ll need to track whether it has. As it is, I didn’t expect much hassle tracking the Points Accelerators, which need to be activated after each $5K in spend (if you’re using Bilt Cash to earn 3x on the Palladium card), but like much of Bilt 2.0, that hasn’t gone quite as expected. My wife crossed the first $5K in purchases 4 days ago, and we still can’t select a new accelerator, meaning that we’re only earning 2X. It’s a good thing we haven’t had any major purchases over the past few days. I certainly hope that I’ll be able to enable the next accelerator before rent day.
That makes me a little hesitant to spend $95 on an authorized user card. It isn’t a big gamble in terms of the money, but the added complication of needing to be sure that the points post correctly is the part that makes me roll my eyes a bit. We’ll probably give it a go, but I can’t lie that I’m less excited than I’d like to be. It is an innovative idea for sure, I just hope it is more fully baked than Bilt’s last few innovations.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Ouch: Citi decreasing transfer ratio to Choice Privileges and Preferred Hotels iPrefer on 4/19/26
Queue up the violins, Citi is reducing transfer ratios to Choice Privileges and Preferred Hotels as of 4/19/26. While Citi has long offered outsized value for hotels through these two programs, neither will be nearly as exciting when Citi changes the ratios next month. This post has the devaluation details.
Citi devalues hotel transfers | Coffee Break Ep98 | 3-24-26
Citi has built a rep in recent years for the fact that they have offered some interesting opportunities to get outsized value for hotels, primarily via transfers to Choice Privileges or Preferred Hotels iPrefer. Unfortunately, Citi is devaluing transfers to those two programs as of April 19, 2026. On this week’s Coffee Break, Greg and I talk about why that devaluation is painful and whether or not it makes sense to consider a speculative transfer before the ratios change.
Preferred Hotels worth 4X transfers from Citi before it’s too late
It turns out that Greg is indeed considering a large speculative transfer to Preferred Hotels iPrefer ahead of the devaluation. Personally, I think he’s kinda crazy. On the one hand, he has the flexibility to plan a trip around a great redemption and will probably prioritize using those IPrefer points sooner rather than later. But the flip side is that none of us know the IPrefer program well enough to have confidence that it won’t change without notice. Having a million IPrefer points sounds nice enough, but with such a loosey goosey program where some hotels just opt out of accepting points, and so little information about the propensity for devaluations or commitment to providing value for members, I think I’d be hesitant to transfer over a lot of points speculatively.
Find Preferred Hotels bookable with points (updated in advance of Citi devaluation)
Whether you’re planning a big speculative transfer or you’re just curious where your points can take you in terms of Preferred Hotels, this post provides all the information you need to know in order to find Preferred Hotels. I had mostly ignored this program for a long time, but I finally have an upcoming trip where there are a number of Preferred Hotels options, some of which I found specifically through this post.
Best uses for Virgin Points (Sweet Spot Spotlight)
One of the reasons I think it is a little nutty to consider a huge speculative transfer to Preferred Hotels is that Citi still has great airline transfer partners, one of which is Virgin Atlantic. In fact, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red partner with most of the major transferable points currencies, which makes them very easy to amass. What’s more, we see very frequent point transfer bonuses to Virgin, which can make the sweet spots shine a little brighter yet. Speaking of those sweet spots, we have fully updated this post for 2026 with the best current uses of Virgin points. Keep in mind that the award pricing shown here does not assume a transfer bonus, but there is one from Citi available at the moment.
What are Hyatt points worth?
Sadly, Hyatt points are on a slight downward slide, with our most recent analysis of data from Gondola.ai showing that the median value has dropped from 1.8c per point to 1.7c per point. That’s not a huge change, and Hyatt retains its competitive advantage in terms of having much more value through its points than what we see from Hilton, Marriott, and IHG. However, the slide is a concerning trend, especially when you consider that Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the all-inclusives are dragging the program down — and the Mr. & Mrs. Smith acquisition is still relatively new, and Hyatt continues to expand all-inclusive offerings. When the new “award charts” launch in May, I expect the value of points to slide a bit further.
The bright side of Hyatt’s (potential) Globalist shake-up | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep351 | 3-27-26
In addition to the launch of new award charts in May, Hyatt is rumored to be considering changes to its elite program. Those rumors are based on surveys, which always contain some ideas that don’t come to fruition. However, on this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, Greg and I discuss each of the rumored changes and where you might be able to find some bright side if Hyatt handles the milestone-ification of awards right.
JetBlue wants a suitor. Which is most suitable for 25 for 25ers?
JetBlue is seeking a suitor, which is news to no one. I think everyone (United included?) has expected that this deal is signed, sealed, and delivered for United. However, word came out this week that JetBlue is seeking an analysis of the potential for mergers with Alaska, Southwest, or United. Do they really anticipate additional interest, or are they just trying to drum up a bidding war?
Here’s how hotel Best Rate Guarantees work (Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, & more)
If you pay for hotel stays, you need to know about hotel Best Rate Guarantees. Each of the major chains has a policy to always display the best rate (and so do many hotel booking platforms). It is well worth knowing about these programs because they can sometimes save you a bundle. Beyond the simple savings angle, another thing to consider is maximizing the return on your stay. For instance, there may be a huge shopping portal rate available via one site, but a better price through another. It is sometimes possible to click through the portal and book at the more expensive site, then file a best rate guarantee claim to get the rate matched to the less expensive site. Whether or not you’ll still get portal rewards may vary, but depending on how the best rate guarantee claim works, you might.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals to make sure you grab those ending in March.
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Nick, FYI – rent day double points don’t stack with point boost, and those purchases don’t count towards the $5k limit either. I tested that last month, so not having a point boost won’t make a difference on rent day.
Secondly, I have observed that it takes anywhere between 1-2 business days after the transaction posts to your BILt account for the purchases to count against point boost, so it all depends on how soon your original purchase confirms to your BILt card. Most of my usage is with Costco online and all purchases confirm the day after my order ships and point boost amounts update the day after. I think it’s a reasonable timeline for most (normal/non-points maximizer) people. And I agree that the audience of this blog isn’t that category of ppl.
When you are saying it doesn’t stack, do you mean that you only got 4x? I wasn’t assuming that the accelerator would also double. I was assuming that a $1,000 purchase would earn 4,000 points — 2,000 from the card base rate (2x), 1,000from Rent Day, and 1,000 from the accelerator (extra 1x). Is that not correct?
Yes I only got 4x and then only 3x for other transactions. It will also depend on how large are your transactions. I had three transactions $250/$150/$359. The third transaction earned 4x on the first $100 and only 2x on the remaining $259. But a transaction of $125 that confirmed afterwards (4th transaction) earned 3x and counted towards point boost.
So, it seem it doesn’t matter the order in which you make the transactions but the order in which they post to your account matters (which you can’t control or predict)
Nick, regarding your Bilt authorized user issue, experiment with the AU toggles for points and Bilt Credits (Cash). There are nuances that might not be obvious. You’ll get a better understanding of how the points accelerator on your wife’s card plays out. In the end, a person can view the feature as “complex” or they can view the feature as affording the ability to “tailor” which cardholder gets what. Good luck with this.
Yum. Those tasty, tasty BILT boots. Happy licking, friend!
To me, Bilt is just a card and nothing more. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
Based on your many comments, it seems you can’t conceive of another person’s circumstances. That another person might somehow find value. Because the card doesn’t work for you, it can’t possibly work for anyone else. How self-centered.
The intensity of your many comments is singular. Bilt seems to be a very personal thing with you. As if you’ve been personally slighted. Are you a disgruntled former employee of Bilt? Or, did you know or work with the founders?
Speaking of hotel programs, as the metrics of Hyatt points move towards industry averages, the one metric that is still out-sized is the 1:1 transfer ratio. Either the banks are paying too much for points or Hyatt is too generous to members (relative to industry averages). I’m inclined to believe that the transfer ratio from the banks will eventually drop to 5:4 or 4:3. To be clear, I’m not hoping for this. I’m just saying it’s the one metric that is “off” with respect to Hyatt’s other metrics and would seem to be at risk.