The headline Bilt Rewards October 2024 Rent Day promotion is a status match with Hilton Honors that will yield Hilton Gold status through 12/31/24 with the opportunity to extend status until March 31, 2026. While some readers will surely already have Hilton Gold status by virtue of the Hilton Honors Surpass card or an Amex Platinum card, this is a nice offer for those who don’t have those cards and are looking for an easy path to “free breakfast” status (at least at foreign properties, or “food & beverage credit” status domestically) with Hilton.
Bilt’s Hilton Gold Status Match
If you’re interested in this match, you’ll need to activate the status match in the Bilt Rewards app on between 12am Eastern on October 1, 2024 and 2:59am Eastern on October 2nd.
Once activated, your Hilton status will update to Gold with the opportunity to keep that Gold status or upgrade to Diamond with stay activity:
- Stay 8 nights at a Hilton property before December 31, 2024 to keep Hilton Gold status until March 31, 2026
- Bilt Blue, Silver, and Gold members who stay 14 nights at a Hilton property before December 31, 2024 will be upgraded to Hilton Diamond status through March 31, 2026
- Bilt Platinum members who stay 10 nights at a Hilton property before December 31, 2024 will be upgraded to Hilton Diamond status through March 31, 2026
Those offers are somewhat similar to Hilton status matches that we’ve seen in the past, but what makes this special for many is the lack of any need to have existing status in another program. Anyone can join Bilt Rewards and avail themselves of Hilton Gold status for at least the next couple of months, enjoying the Hilton Gold food & beverage credit domestically or free breakfast for two internationally.
There will also be Happy Hour experiences at select Hilton properties that will be bookable in the Bilt Rewards app on October 1st.
Virgin Voyages Limited Edition BOGO
Bilt Members can also once again take advantage of a “Buy One Sailor, Get Second Sailor 100% Off” promo when booking an eligible Virgin Voyage using the Bilt Access Key. This offer requires booking a Sea Terrace Cabin and using the Bilt Access key after clicking through from within the Bilt app between 9/26 and 10/2/24 at 3am Eastern time.
Keep in mind that it makes sense to shop this around. I haven’t paid much attention to going rates for Virgin Voyages cruises, but you may have access to other discounts or matching opportunities. In short, I don’t know whether this promo actually saves you much versus other discount opportunities. That said, if you’re intending to book a Virgin Voyages cruise, it’s obviously worth comparing.
Targeted elite benefits
Bilt noted that they are also launching some targeted offers for elite members. It looks like the initial benefits will be extra points on Bilt Dining (which certainly might be worth it to you) or extra value when redeeming points toward rent (don’t do this as the value is still very poor). I’m not yet sure how widely targeted or useful future offers will be, but if you have Bilt Rewards elite status, it is worth keeping an eye on your app over the next few days to see if you get an offer of interest and then perhaps keeping an eye out in future months for the same.
Remember that double points are now very limited
Keep in mind that Bilt Rewards cardhodlers earn double points on the 1st of the month, but you are now limited to earning 1,000 bonus points and of course rent and now tax payments are excluded. It’s still worth using your Bilt card if you’re dining out on Rent Day, but the double point bonus has mostly lost its appeal.
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Hi, will participating in this status challenge effect any other opportunity to status match with Hilton in the next year or two? Thank you!
I’m looking at BILT rent day terms from October 1 and seeing the following: “The following purchases and transactions are excluded from earning bonus points: tax payments, third party payment accounts, at online marketplaces, **with retailers who submit purchases using a mobile or wireless card reader or if you use a mobile or digital wallet.**” It seems like apple pay and google pay is out? What;s the deal with purchases made “with retailers who submit purchases using a mobile or wireless card reader?”
Irrespective of the language, the Rent Day bonus is limited to 1,000 points. As a practical matter, the Rent Day bonus has been completely gutted. As a practical matter, the Bilt card’s primary value is in collecting points on rent and nothing more.
I’d call out dining in addition to rent. Plenty of people are earning 3x on dining on some card, so the Bilt card could be a good fit for that with no annual fee and what is arguably the best slate of transfer partners.
Granted. As WF builds out its stable of transfer partners, I think the Autograph becomes the new card (sans rent).
I also want to know what “online marketplaces” means. I assume that’s Facebook Marketplace or similar, and not, e.g., online shopping in general?