Update: Justin has confirmed in the comments below that restaurants, spas, etc. are now showing their Priority Pass account which they obtained from their Citi Strata Elite card. With both the Strata Elite and Bilt Palladium cards being World Legend Mastercards (a relatively new designation), it seems that it might be related to the Priority Pass benefit that comes as part of being a World Legend Mastercard.
For several months, the World Legend Mastercard website has listed its Priority Pass benefit as:
Get access to 1,700+ airport lounges worldwide and special offers and discounts in the terminal on dining, retail and spa experiences.
Although there was that mention of dining, retail, and spa experiences, the corresponding Priority Pass memberships didn’t include that. Mastercard does allow customization of card benefits, so we’d assumed that neither Citi nor Bilt wanted to invest in a more expensive kind of Priority Pass.
However, the fact that it’s now showing for both those cards might mean that restaurants and spas were omitted inadvertently in the past—that they should’ve been accessible for Strata Elite and Palladium cardholders all along.
That said, perhaps this is a glitch on the Priority Pass membership, but it seems strange that it would only happen for the membership type that comes on these two specific cards. If you have travel in the coming week and you’d want to visit an airport restaurant or spa location, it’ll be worth verifying beforehand that it’s still showing for you because if this is a glitch, it could get pulled quickly.
Here’s the original post.
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When Bilt launched its premium Palladium card earlier this year, one of its benefits was a Priority Pass membership for the primary cardholder and authorized users (albeit with a $95 annual fee for each authorized user card).
In keeping with the vast majority of Priority Pass memberships that come as a benefit on some credit cards, it only provided lounge access—access to Priority Pass restaurants, spas, etc. wasn’t included.
That wasn’t too surprising as it’s a rare card that does offer Priority Pass restaurant access. Well, the Bilt Palladium has joined the ranks of said rare cards because its Priority Pass now does include non-lounge experiences.
That could be great news depending on which airports you fly out of and through. For example, Seattle-Tacoma airport only has two Priority Pass lounges: one in Concourse A and one in the South Satellite. There are twice as many restaurants though: two in the North Satellite, one in the Central Terminal, and one in Concourse C. The addition of those restaurants for Bilt Palladium cardholders will mean that you’ll have a far greater selection of options no matter which terminal you’re flying out of.
Reader Ivan also gave us a heads up via email about this development, along with some of the terms and conditions of how this feature will work. In keeping with other Priority Pass memberships that include lounge access, you’ll get to spend up to $28 at the restaurant. You can also guest in one person, so that would get you up to $56 of food and drink.
The membership includes access to other airport experiences like spas too. You’ll need to check the Priority Pass website or app to see the full details though, as the terms will vary from location to location. For example, at the Be Relax Spa in Houston airport you can get the following:
- Be Back 15-minute Lounger Massage plus O2 (a US$38 value)
- Be Back 30-minute Lounger Massage (a US$38 value)
- Polish Change plus Hand Massage (a US$38 value)
- Be Feet on lounger 10-minute plus O2 (a US$44 value)
This addition of Priority Pass non-lounge experiences is an excellent enhancement on the Palladium card which will make it even more appealing for someone who’ll be able to get good use out of it each year. Fingers crossed that this is a permanent change rather than some kind of temporary error on the Palladium’s Priority Pass membership.
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If true, this immediately cements the Palladium to being a “keeper” for me.
The card’s 2x$200 hotel credits (fairly easy to use) + $200 in BILT cash (for which one of the best applications is to use 2x$100 on those same hotel redemptions) are probably worth somewhere between $400-500 for me. Then, the fact that in my situation I can effectively get a minimum 3.33x points on all spend (vs 2x points on a few other cards being the next-best option) + gold/platinum status (and access to the best transfer bonuses) bridges most of the rest of the gap with the annual fee. That has made it a fringe keeper for me, though especially useful in times where I will have lots of non-bonused spend.
But PP restaurants is super useful for me. I’m probably in an airport without a lounge but with a PP restaurant about 5x per year. And with 2 people and $28 and 5x, it’s a nominal value of $280, and probably worth some reasonable fraction of that to me. This definitely pushes it into a definite keeper for me.
PP restaurants appeared for a moment this morning, and then they were gone by 11 AM EST. Hoping BILT Rewards brings back the benefit but not keeping hope comparing to C1VX, CSR, and other banks that dropped the benefit.
Not seeing any PP restaurants in SEA or JFK after signing up for PP with the Strata Elite
Agreed.
I have the Bilt Palladium and I am not seeing them either.
Can confirm that Citi Strata Elite PP APP now shows restaurants/experiences
Looks like this change is for World Legend MasterCards as I just checked my Citi Strata Elite’s Priority Pass entitlements and it’s now showing experiences and restaurants, too, which it never did before.
Ooh, thanks for confirming that – I’d just asked in our Facebook group about this very thing, so it’s great to know.
I can see it in the app but not on the website, so I’m not sure what is really going on.
Just created my Bilt PP login and not seeing any restaurants available.
Same — even after logging out and back in. My local airport has a restaurant that’s not showing, and I also looked at SEA and saw nothing. So this is either random, appearing slowly for some users, or an error. Certainly intriguing on a random Tuesday AM 🙂
Same
Same
Does the $95 authorized user card have this enhanced benefit as well?
The memberships should be the same, so I’d assume so.
This is a glitch on the Priority Pass sits. Still shows correctly without this on the Bilt app. It will be corrected. This is not a benefits change.
Yeah I don’t see it in the Bilt app or website.
I asked the Bilt concierge in the Bilt app and it says that restaurants are included:
😀
Well, I’d be happy to wager on which one of us – me or the Bilt concierge – is more reliable.
I think I am going to believe my own two eyes, which don’t show any PP restaurants in SEA either the Bilt app or using the membership to log into the PP website.
It’s a shame because the PP membership Bilt offers is basically useless for me given I carry an AMEX Platinum, Bonvoy Brilliant and C1 Venture X. I would gladly trade the “unlimited lounge access” (that I have through three different cards already) for something else (10 PP restaurant/”experience” visits a year would be infinitely more useful, which I suspect is rather the point since PP operates their own lounges through a different arm of their parent, Collinson Group- the money Bilt sends them gets kept in house if you go to a lounge, but goes to a third party if it goes to an airport restaurant).
I wish this too!
But of course their economic model assumes a certain percentage of cardmembers take Priority Pass and a certain percentage of those visit lounges, so this would be a net expense.
Looks like the Priority Pass through World Legend Mastercard may have been expanded. If so, this impacts Citi Strata Elite as well.
Where are you seeing that regarding World Legend Mastercards? Is it on this page? If so, the wording regarding dining, retail, and spas has been there for at least a few months, so it doesn’t seem like there’s been any change on that front from what I can tell, unless Mastercard had simply set up the Priority Pass memberships incorrectly all along.
Yeah, I checked the Wayback Machine and nothing has changed on the wording there (though odd to say “special offers and discounts in the terminal on dining, retail and spa experiences” without these changes honestly). If CSE has changed, then it may be connected to World Legend.
I’m not well-versed in Priority Pass and find it confusing if you have multiple cards providing a benefit. I read somewhere that you have to have a different PP account per card that gives access. Does the QR code within my Bilt app (under the card and then benefits) suffice for access? When i go the AmEx Platinum I registered on PP website and got a priority pass select card. Do i have to do that to use the Bilt provided access? Trying to keep things simple if possible. Thanks!
Just use your Bilt version. Put the version offered by any other card out of your mind. That’s the simple solution.
In my mind, there’s no way that this is not a glitch.
Read the comments. It’s live. These amenities are viewable in the PP app.
Indeed, but doesn’t mean this is not a glitch. Restaurants don’t show in Bilt app when searching priority pass, which you would think they would show there if this was intentional.
I’m guessing this is a glitch related to the transition from Priority Pass to Priority Pass+ app. But we’ll see.
I will say I’m not seeing this. For instance JFK is supposed to have a PP restaurant (Bobby van) yet I don’t see the option. But if it is true
Say what you will about BILT – and there’s lots to say – but I’m pretty sure this is one of the only two cards available for new signups that gives this
Other one being the BoA PRE. There’s some grandfathered cards but I’m not aware of others open for new entry
Always good to see someone realizing that Priority Pass alone is of dubious value when it’s duplicative on every card
We’ll be updating our post about cards with Priority Pass restaurant access, but another card that has restaurant access is the premium JetBlue credit card. A couple of UBS cards have it, but those are only for High Net Worth individuals and you have to apply over the phone.
Unless it got removed, I believe US Bank Connect card had priority pass that included restaurants.
Sure did — 4 free visits per year. No annual fee and had a $200 SUB (redeemable in gift cards) when I grabbed it a while back. I last used that benefit in early January.
It was a good use of Priority Pass back in the day, but Bobby Vans is permanently closed. Walked by there last week. Feel free to Google it.
Glad I saw this as I have some long layovers today – both spa and restaurants are showing available in my app!
The BILT App or the PP App?
PP app
Bilt: Please add Singapore and LHW as transfer partners.