Bilt Updates: Bilt Cash Expiration, Hotel Redemptions, Rental Car Status Matches & Daily Rewards
Justin Vacula of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast is joined by returning co-host Darren to explain major Bilt Rewards changes, including improved Bilt Cash expiration rules, changes to hotel redemptions, new rental car status matches, Daily Rewards, updated annual credits, and changes to how cardholders can earn rewards on housing payments.
One of the biggest improvements is a change to Bilt Cash expiration. Instead of most Bilt Cash expiring at the end of the calendar year, Bilt Cash will now expire 12 months after you earn it, giving cardholders more time to use their rewards. Justin and Darren also discuss changes to Bilt Cash hotel redemptions. Instead of a monthly hotel redemption opportunity, Bilt plans to offer the benefit twice per year.
They examine whether the added flexibility around expiration makes up for having fewer hotel redemption windows. Bilt is also adding new rental car status opportunities for 2027, including status matches with Sixt and Hertz.
Justin and Darren discuss how rental car elite status can provide benefits such as upgrades, faster service, and other perks for travelers. Another major change involves Bilt’s housing rewards structure.
Bilt is retiring the flexible Bilt Cash mode, which offered 4% back in Bilt Cash. Cardholders will instead default to an option providing a 1.25x housing rewards benefit tied to the card anniversary unless they opt out. Justin and Darren compare the value of the previous 4% Bilt Cash option with the new 1.25x structure and discuss which cardholder may benefit more.
Annual credits are also moving from the calendar year to the cardmember anniversary year. The episode also covers Bilt’s upcoming Daily Rewards feature, which rewards activity such as making housing payments and interacting with neighborhood partners.
Prizes include points and other rewards, with top prizes advertised as high as $1 million toward a home or 10 million Bilt points. Justin and Darren also react to the upcoming Bilt Rent Week promotion, review their own Bilt points, Bilt Cash balances, spending totals, and redemptions, and answer listener questions.
Timestamps
00:00 Show Intro Theme
00:32 Welcome And Episode Setup
01:44 Bilt Basics And Card Perks
04:03 Bilt Cash Expiration Update
06:56 Hotel Redemption Changes
08:52 Rental Car Status Matches
10:03 New System vs. old 4% Bilt Cash
13:30 Annual Credits Move To Anniversary
15:40 Daily Rewards Sweepstakes
19:43 Support The Show
20:25 Bilt Business And Future Outlook
23:28 November 2026 Rent Day
25:21 Bilt Stats And Redemptions
27:46 Listener Questions And Strategy
31:19 More Updates And New Partners
34:17 Upcoming Travel Plans
36:52 Wrap Up And Outro
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Rough Transcription
Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures, tales to be told. Make and save money, the world will unfold
Fight the war on happiness, pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold
You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you save money, make money, and travel the world at low cost. Bilt released major updates for credit card holders in 2027, positive changes to Bilt cash expiration, changes to hotel bookings, rental car loyalty program statuses, new Bilt daily rewards, and much more.
Returning co-host Darren joins me today to discuss the [00:01:00] new Bilt updates and check in on our Bilt spending, Bilt redemptions, and much more. Welcome back to the show, Darren. Thank you, Justin. Good to be back. There are lots of things to talk about that just came out yesterday.
Unfortunately, one of them is not, this is a spoiler alert I guess, changing of Bilt cash to Bilt bucks. They had their chance, Justin. Ah. What happened? What happened? They had their shot right there in the situation. Everything that happened. Lots of positives I’m really liking. I’m back from the Chicago Points Travel Festival.
Nice to meet fans there. My voice returned to normal. I got very sick, and the last two episodes were remastered episodes. But we’re back here to record new content with lots of updates.
But first, for listeners new to Bilt, a short introduction. Bilt is a loyalty program with a credit card component. Darren and I both have the Bilt Palladium Credit Card. This gives a base two times points on spending, [00:02:00] and the option Darren and I chose is 4% back on spending for a second currency, Bilt Cash.
You’re getting at least 2X points and 4% Bilt Cash on all spending with the Bilt Palladium Credit Card. You can use Bilt points to transfer to travel partners, airline programs including Atmos Rewards for Alaska Airlines flights that can also get you on American Airlines planes. You can use points for hotel programs including World of Hyatt and even Amtrak as a recent partner.
You can use Bilt Cash, this secondary currency, when paying rent and mortgage payments to earn Bilt points. Bilt Cash can be used to boost your 2X spending on the Palladium Card to 3X, up to 25,000 in spend per calendar year with the point accelerator feature. You can also redeem Bilt Cash for hotel credits, dining credits, and more, and we’ll cover that in today’s show.
The Palladium Card gave [00:03:00] us a 50,000 point welcome bonus. You also get $300 in Bilt Cash as part of the Palladium Credit Card welcome bonus, and an annual $200 in Bilt Cash, which should post with card approval. You also get Bilt Gold status with the Bilt Palladium Card, which offers benefits like bonus points transfers to travel partners, bonuses for Blacklane rides paid with Bilt Cash, and much more.
You get two $200 hotel credits per calendar year, January through June, July through December, that can stack with $100 hotel credits for America Loves Math, $300 off two night or more stays with Bilt. There’s also an annual fee on the Palladium Card, but many of the benefits are offsetting that, and especially in year one with the sign-up bonus, I think there’s lots of value to be had.
We’re breaking it down today. We are, and that’s how it used to be, Justin, but is that how it still is after Bilt announced significant [00:04:00] changes to their platform? Let’s get into that. New changes from an October 27th press release. We’re hot on it, October 28th today recording. The press release includes updates to Bilt Cash.
From the release, “Your Bilt Cash is getting an extension, with no more year-end deadline. More time to use your Bilt Cash. Bilt Cash now expires at the end of the month, 12 months after it’s earned. No more year-end expiration or rollover. For example, $100 earned in February 2026 will now expire in February 28th, 2027.”
I think it’s a very good change, and something many have been asking for. We mentioned on the past episode that if Bilt Cash expired at year-end, the value in using Bilt credit cards would drop off, especially in November and December, because the Bilt Cash would expire shortly after earning it. Yeah. And always love to hear the terms and conditions voice.[00:05:00]
So sorry. This was the announcement voice. Announce, press release voice. The press release voice. Press release voice. Sorry. Sorry, listeners. So I’ll get it straight
in all seriousness, folks, I’m a little bummed, more psychological effect than anything, right? That I don’t have a YOLO excuse to just burn through all my Bilt credits here at the end of the year for funsies. But overall, yeah, this is a great change. And for once, I would say this is in fact what customers have been asking for, and what Bilt has delivered.
Kudos to them on this change. A real enhancement, and it’s really nice that they’re backdating it as well, that your Bilt Cash earned in early 2026 will have a longer date. It’s a good point. They didn’t have to do that. Some of these other benefits that you’re gonna outline and we’ll discuss here momentarily start beginning of 2027.
So they could have certainly done it that way and put up with the grumbling, or more grumbling. Of course everyone loves change, and there’s already grumbling about Bilt version 3.1 I [00:06:00] guess this is now. Yeah. Who’s keeping- But yeah. Who’s counting? Who’s doing that counting? That’s right.
Who’s counting? Who’s counting? We’re just here for the Bilt benefits, Justin. That’s what we’re here to do. It was an old reference from a Counter-Strike video, if any listeners remember that. Who’s doing that counting? But I think this will change the current BILT cash redemption strategy. I think there’s less pressure now or want to use BILT cash at the end of the year for the bigger redemptions, like the Blade helicopter rides, the Blacklane rides.
I think I’ll still take Blacklane. Blade was the first thing I thought of as well, Justin. But, Hey, I think it’ll still be a fun benefit to use. My wife and I’ll I’ve already kinda mentioned to her about going up to New York City, maybe taking the train up to the, Newark Airport, and then the helicopter into Manhattan just because we can with some BILT cash.
But to your point, maybe there’ll be some other ways to use that BILT cash. So there’s more about the press release. Yes, book hotels with BILT cash [00:07:00] twice a year Starting 1/1/27, Bilt Cash hotel redemptions change from monthly to twice a year. Redeem up to $50, Blue/Silver status, $100 per year, $100, Gold/Platinum status, $200 per year, or $200, eligible Platinum cardholders, 400 per year, in Bilt Cash toward eligible Bilt hotel bookings each time.
Keep earning Bilt Cash on milestones. You’ll keep earning $50 of Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt points. That’s nice that Bilt Cash remains, and the hotel redemptions, I don’t think it’ll change too much for most people, but it is a devaluation for those who would often use Bilt Cash hotel redemptions, maybe business travelers getting reimbursed if they’re using these credits every month.
But I imagine most in the audience were only using these hotel credits with the Bilt Cash, see, it’s a little confusing, sorry, twice a year, stacking with the Palladium or the Obsidian even [00:08:00] discounts, the benefit of the card plus the Bilt Cash, not just using the Bilt Cash.
I’ve taken the same approach as you have with $100 off a two-night stay. That doesn’t move the needle much for me. For the most part, if I’m staying that length of time, I’m probably looking to use points or some other currency to discount it more than $100, but I’m sure there are situations and examples where other folks have found value there.
I do like the $300 stack. Used it earlier this year with my wife, and looking to do something similar in the next couple weeks, Justin, in your second favorite city. Atlantic. Atlantic City, baby, yeah. Maybe gonna go see a show, get a hotel down there. I as you and I have previously talked gotta get on that MyVegas phone army.
But back to Bilt here. What else can you tell us about this press release? They talk about rental car loyalty programs. This is a new one. “Unlock status matches with [00:09:00] rental cars loyalty programs.
Members with elite status will unlock access to the following status match offers in 2027. Platinum members can unlock status matches to Sixt 1 Platinum status.” That’s S-I-X-T, Sixt. “And Hertz President’s Circle. Gold and silver members can unlock status matches to Sixt 1 Gold status and Hertz 5 Star.”
That’s the end of the section. Sounds good to me. No additional cost of Bilt cash or points. A total freebie, it seems, for these rental car loyalty program statuses, or as they called them, rental cars loyalty programs. RIP Darryl. I agree here. More is probably better. And I sure do hate waiting in line at the rental car counter, so anything, any opportunities I have to, for myself or my family or whomever, to bypass that line, walk right out, grab a car, drive out, is A-okay in my book.
Nice to see [00:10:00] Sixt and Hertz here.
We have another part of the release. Warning to listeners, they’re calling it a simpler way to earn with the Bilt Card. We’ve heard the word simple before, and usually it’s not simple, but we’ll try to make it simple. This is from the release. Starting on your card account anniversary, your Bilt card moves to a simpler set of benefits. Everyone earns up to 1.25x points on rent or mortgage. We’re simplifying the program and retiring Flexible Bilt Cash mode, which earns 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend.
If you’d like to keep earning in Flexible Bilt Cash mode, you may opt out of the new benefits in your card settings before your card anniversary date. This means you’ll keep any eligible annual credits, and you won’t be able to switch between Flexible Bilt Cash and Housing Only mode. That’s the end of that section.
For my spending purposes, spending a lot on the Bilt Palladium Card, the new [00:11:00] 1.25x simplified mode as they call it, is likely a bad deal compared to getting the 4% in Bilt Cash. I already opted out of the simplified mode in the Bilt app, opting in to the 4% mode to keep getting 4% Bilt Cash.
If listeners don’t yet have the Bilt Palladium Card, they have to get the card soon so that they can opt out or opt into the 4% Bilt Cash because there’s no choice in 2027. If you miss the deadline of signing up for the card before the end of 2026, then you won’t be able to get the 4%, and you’ll be stuck in the 1.5x simple mode
Simple and simpler are trigger words for me.
I’m not sure if everyone else feels that way when it comes to credit cards and programs, but I’ve been through enough of these simplifications and, quote, enhancements, unquote. Enhancements, yeah. Yes, correct. When people talk about [00:12:00] streamlining or simplifying or enhancing their programs I get a little twitchy.
And good reminder that you can go ahead and opt in or out of this, or I guess you have to opt out if you prefer the Bilt Cash. I heard Richard Kerr talking on the Miles To Go podcast and he basically said, “I’m definitely opting out.”
If the guy that’s in charge of the loyalty program would prefer Bilt Cash, that’s good enough for me. What do you think, Justin?
I’m keeping the 4% earning. I think it could make sense for people who don’t spend a lot on the Bilt card, and they’re not gonna use the Bilt Cash.
But for us enthusiasts, hobbyists, maximizers, I think the 4% is almost certainly going to be the better choice. I agree. There’s a lot more opportunities and options through the Bilt Cash program that allows you to do things like points accelerator program in a more meaningful way.
I guess that’s gonna be available on both sides of [00:13:00] this program now, but seems like there’s gonna be more options to redeem Bilt Cash for things that we’re gonna find valuable. So that’ll be the way I’ll plan to go as well. You’d be giving up a lot of that Bilt cash in exchange for 0.25 more.
They will give you more Bilt cash at the start of the year, but overall, playing the long game, I think that 4% is going to be the better way. But there’s even more, Darren. The press release continues. Palladium and Obsidian cardholders, your annual Bilt cash credits are dropped on your card account anniversary.
Any annual Bilt cash credits you get with your card are now deposited on your card account anniversary instead of January 1st. Palladium and Obsidian cardholders, redeem Bilt cash for point accelerator. All Obsidian and Palladium cardholders with the new set of benefits will still be able to redeem Bilt cash for point accelerator.
Palladium cardholders, [00:14:00] $600 Bilt cash annual credit. Your $200 Bilt cash credit and $400 hotel credit become one $600 Bilt cash credit each year. Use it toward eligible hotel stays or across all our redemptions. Obsidian cardholders, $100 Bilt cash annual credit. Your $100 Bilt travel hotel credit becomes $100 of Bilt cash every year.
Use it toward eligible hotel stays or across all our redemptions. Your everyday points stay the same. The point multipliers you earn on everyday purchases with your Bilt card aren’t changing. So this is extra Bilt cash on cardholder anniversary, not January 1st. Probably won’t matter much to listeners because they’ll be flushed with Bilt cash from earnings in 2026 now that Bilt cash expires 12 months after it’s earned.
That seems likely to me as well. I don’t know how much the change to the card member year versus calendar year. Presumably this protects against the double or triple dip, now that maybe there’s some upgrade and downgrade options on [00:15:00] the table.
That’s kind of a non-factor for me. How about you? Not much a factor for those who plan on keeping Bilt.
I think that will be the case. I think I will keep as well. But some who would wanna cancel, there’d be a scenario where they would otherwise get Bilt Cash at the beginning of the year, use all the Bilt Cash, and then just cancel when the annual fee posts, and then they ran away with the Bilt Cash and didn’t keep the card.
But I don’t think too much of a change there. Just have to be patient and just get your spend in October, November, December so you’ll have your Bilt Cash at the start of 2027. And still more with this press release. There’s lots going on. But wait, there’s more, Justin. What they call daily rewards Coming in 2027, daily rewards.
Introducing daily rewards. Earn rewards every day with a chance to win a $1 million toward a home. Beginning 1/15/27, the rewards you earn at home and the ones you earn in your [00:16:00] neighborhood come together in daily rewards. Every on-time monthly rent or mortgage payment earns a daily reward. So does one daily activity with a qualifying neighborhood partner, a meal, a class, or a ride.
Each daily reward reveals two rewards, and you choose one to claim. Rewards range from instant prizes like Bilt Points and Bilt Cash to collectibles that build toward the chance to win a grand prize, including $1 million towards the purchase of a home, 10 million Bilt Points, free rent or mortgage for a year, free Lyft rides for a year up to $5,000, and your dream getaway.
Daily rewards will be how you’re rewarded for paying rent or mortgage with a bank account, debit card, or credit card. Every on-time housing payment and applicable daily neighborhood visit unlocks a reward, instant points, credits, or progress towards grand prizes. If you are a Bilt cardholder, your point earnings [00:17:00] don’t change.
You keep earning Bilt Points on rent and mortgage just as you do today, and daily rewards are added on top. We created daily rewards so even more of your life in your neighborhood can be rewarded with even bigger prizes on the table. We’ll release more prizes and rules in the new year. All prizes subject to terms to be provided before 1/15/27.
Yeah, some interesting writing there, some really complex sentences that can be broken apart a little bit, will be added, are added, can be rewarded. Make this a little simpler to use a word that they say. A little bit of RIP Darryl there for those who knew Darryl McEwen, now deceased. He was critical of press releases, casino marketing, and much more with their errors.
But that is the end of that section. I listened to Richard Kerr of Bilt on the Miles To Go podcast you mentioned, and he compared this to, or at least thought of the McDonald’s Monopoly game. It may be a long shot to win something big with these [00:18:00] daily rewards, but it’s nice to see at least a chance.
There are also smaller advertised prizes like 1,000 Bilt Points, $10 Bilt Cash, and neighborhood credits like $10 off certain dining merchants, fitness classes, and so on. But you’re saying there’s a chance, Darren, for 10 million Bilt Points or 1 million towards a home. I’ll take one of each. Thank you, Justin.
Where do I sign up? The McDonald’s Monopoly game’s probably a good analogy here you could win a free drink or an apple pie or I guess there was big cash prizes as well.
This also reminds me of the daily rent quizzes.
I heard or read that you would answer a certain question to get bonus points, but now it’s been devalued in a way where Jennifer Lopez, as they said in South Park-
is gonna answer some questions. Jennifer Lopez, of course, JLo, is going to answer questions. But those seem to be long shots as well, as I answered their questions and I almost always [00:19:00] lose and get nothing. Yeah. Yeah. That’s how these big sweepstakes- … work typically, right? The grand prize. Yeah. The grand prize is not something that either one of us is likely to win, nor probably anyone we even know. But I’ll take a couple of thousand Bilt points along the way, or $10 in Bilt Cash. And I think it’s another cheap way another way at least for Bilt to engage and encourage engagement with their platform during the rent day or first of the month or whatever that is.
Sure. Seems like a fun thing. One more reason for me to check on my Bilt account, and now that I’m platinum, it’s still got a little bit of that shiny new status feel. You know what I’m saying, Justin? Very good. We’ll take a short break, moving on from the press release to other Bilt considerations.
If you like what you’re hearing, please support me through links at HurdyGurdyTravel.com and by becoming a Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast supporter on subscribestar.com or YouTube. If you’re [00:20:00] not yet a Bilt member, feel free to use my Bilt referral link that’s also at HurdyGurdyTravel.com. Wanna reach out with questions, tips, show ideas, or support?
Email info@HurdyGurdyTravelPodcast.com. Now back to the episode with Darren talking about Bilt and changes coming in 2027. We’ve covered the press release, and we have some other developments.
He was on the Milenomics Podcast . Richard Kerr called Bilt a technology suite . He also says that the Bilt operating system now powers one in four apartment buildings in the United States, hundreds of thousands and soon to be millions of mortgages, and is synced with 50,000 merchants.
Kerr also compared Bilt to Amazon, saying that if you want to do e-commerce in the US, you go to Amazon, and if you want to do neighborhood commerce, you go to Bilt. Kerr [00:21:00] also claims that less than 10% of Bilt’s revenue comes from Bilt credit cards, and only 5% of his work involves the Bilt credit cards. I think this is good for Bilt’s future.
They’re linked in so many ways, seem successful, many different revenue-generating parts. Some doubted Bilt’s staying power, but updates like these strengthen my Bilt confidence
I agree. And shout out to Trevor and Tom for the Milonomics podcast on, with Richard. I thought it was really interesting insight and context with how Bilt is evolving.
I think certainly they started with, hey, you can pay your mortgage with a credit card and earn points, and that was their kinda one-trick pony. Clearly they have moved well beyond that now to become, it seems like, one of the premier rent payment platforms in the United States.
That seems like a big deal. And they’re using that [00:22:00] information to go out to local merchants and try to drive traffic to those merchants within those, I would guess, primarily urban centers.
I do think it’s a pretty big comparison for Bilt, and for Kerr to say Bilt is like Amazon. But hey, a long time ago, Amazon was just an online bookstore, right? Maybe one day people will talk about how Bilt was back in the day was just a way to get points for paying rent. And now they’ve evolved to who knows what next.
I agree with you. I think this is good news overall for us that are fairly invested in the Bilt ecosystem and have a fair number of Bilt points because it means that they’re not gonna go the way of, say, Mesa, Justin, or … a lot of Mesa comparisons out there on the interwebs and social media.
This is good news. Now, with Bilt having more revenue streams than this, the credit cards, does that [00:23:00] mean they’re also gonna start moving away from some of the things we love about the credit cards and incentivize people to spend money locally in these merchants?
Presumably that’s where they’re also making money. Seems like we’re already seeing some of that if the daily rewards incentivizing for neighborhood purchases. As long as the credit cards still continue to offer value, Justin, I know you and I will still be on board
and with all that in mind the only question is, Justin, what fantastic rent day opportunity will there be in November?
Ooh. There’s no guessing this time. We had guessed in previous episodes. I was thinking it was going to be JetBlue, because Bilt recently added JetBlue as a transfer partner, but my guess was wrong. We have first Bilt offering a bonus on gift card redemptions, redeeming points for gift [00:24:00] cards, notably a 75% bonus with gold status and a 100% bonus with platinum status.
But historically, I’ve checked, redeeming for gift cards, even with some bonuses, has been low value for points compared to transferring points to travel partners. Next, we have what they’re calling rent week now, not even rent day, for the purposes at least of this promotion, $150 off a hotel stay with Bilt during this rent week.
But, and it’s a big but here, the spend requirements are high relative to the credits. Get 150 off 1,000, 100 off 750, and $50 off 500. This sounds like a stinker for most people, Darren.
Yeah. Wow, you fell asleep a little bit there. Yeah, little big yawn about yeah. Sorry, listeners. Yeah, sorry. Sorry, everybody. That was just wipe a little drool off the side of my mouth there. I was with you. I also thought that JetBlue would be the most likely [00:25:00] rent day bonus, but maybe they need to plan those ahead of time and it just didn’t quite work out timing-wise.
They can’t all be winners. Maybe it’s some crappy rent day options make the other ones more exciting. What do you think?
Maybe they’ll do something big for the November rent day or even December as we get closer to Christmas. Let’s hope, Justin. Let’s hope.
Next, we’ll check in with our current BILT stats as we’re approaching the end of October 2026. I’m very close to BILT Platinum status with $49,000 in spending this year out of the $50,000 target.
My plan is to max out the goal with bonused spending on rent day in November and December. I don’t wanna go much over 50,000 spend on this card because that’s only getting 2X and no progress towards status. I also maxed out all my point accelerators
For the bonus 1X points. I now have $917 in Bilt Cash, and I’ve been using it on monthly Lyft [00:26:00] credits, sometimes $25 dining credits when in Las Vegas and one time in Washington, DC, $10 Walgreens credits, $10 Grubhub credits, rent payments, and before the end of the year, a Blacklane ride and a hotel credit.
And recently, I stacked the $10 Grubhub credit from Bilt with a $10 Grubhub credit from Amex, and I enrolled in Grubhub Premium for a free year trial, and all three of those credits stacked.
The elusive triple stack, Justin. Congratulations. Well done, sir for my BILT status, yeah, I hit 50k to get platinum status intended for this rent day. I had such high hopes, Justin. But as Steinbeck says “The best laid plans of mice and men,” right?
In retrospect I would have gotten it prior to the October rent day bonus because I did transfer about 50,000 BILT points over to Amtrak.
My family, my wife and I, we use Amtrak quite a bit up the [00:27:00] northeast corridor to get up to New York City. Certainly our preferred way to travel into the city. I have about 410,000 BILT points left, so not millions like some, but enough to keep me engaged in the system, and I have about $700 in BILT Cash.
I’m thankful I won’t have to use before the end of the year. I do have some plans, maybe Blacklane maybe still a Blade helicopter ride. That could be fun. Maybe if you do it around Christmas, you could see all the Christmas decorations.
Who knows? Both of us are in a pretty good spot with our BILT points and BILT cash. I always wanna say BILT bucks. I just can’t help myself Very cozy reaching the end of the year, so no pressure on having to spend in late December. That’s a good thing. We’ll move on to listener questions.
If you support me through subscribestar.com, you could search Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on SubscribeStar. We’ll take questions for podcast episodes. The first question [00:28:00] is from podcast listener Danielle, who asks, “Which Bilt option should I go with? Should I stick with the 4% or go with the new 1.25?” We’ve discussed this one, and I think that for high spenders, savvy spenders, people into points and miles, probably the 4% option is going to be good for the enthusiasts.
You just have to keep up with the Bilt cash redemptions each month, use the Bilt cash, and get good value from it. But if you’re out there and you’re spending very low, then maybe that 1.25 would be the better option. But I would think most listeners, if you’ve been listening this far, you’re more advanced probably, and that 4% will be the way to go.
I agree. There is a Bilt calculator, like, decision thing that somebody posted in yes. It’s on nextcard.com. Okay. NextCard was on the show previously. John from nextcard.com. Okay. So [00:29:00] for those folks that are really concerned and to really dig into the details, you can go to nextcard.com, plug in your assumptions about what’s gonna happen next year in your spend, mortgage payments or rent, et cetera see what the best decision is for you.
For most folks here that are listening and have already engaged in the program at a significant level this year, are probably gonna be best off with the 4% going into next year. And I don’t know. A little bit of FOMO too, Justin. What happens if you switch and you can’t switch back, right?
Ooh. The Bilt calculator. The Bilt. Three times, which one should you use? Yeah. America loves math decision. Yeah, there you go. See if you can… maybe the simpler way is just staying with the 4% and not worrying about the 1.25. Yeah. Or, you get your p2 a new Palladium card and switch them to the 1.25, and you stick with the 4%, so then you can have the best of both worlds.
How about that? I think my way is simpler than their way. You have to opt in or opt out. You have to go in and click that bullet in the Bilt [00:30:00] app, and if you don’t do it, then you’re forced into the 1.25x. They didn’t do it the other way.
They didn’t say, “Oh if you can choose to change to it, you’ll remain at the 4%.” But no, you have to commit to the 4%. And that leads us into the next question from listener Mike C. “Should I opt into the old 4% Bilt Cash program now?” Another impression, do it now. Do it now. Yes, I think you should do it now so you don’t forget later, or you can wait, and if there are significant changes, then you can make that decision at the end of December.
But can there be significant changes between now and then? They said they made it simpler. Is this the last thing, or next month they’ll make another update if enough people complain? I don’t know, but I think I’m pretty comfortable opting in now and keeping this 4% system. I have the same approach. This is the way I’m leaning.
I’m gonna go ahead and opt into that program, and [00:31:00] I think as long… You can change your mind between now and January if something significant happens. It’s not a binding agreement until January 1st, right? So until then, you can switch back and forth but at least if you’re considering this as the most valuable of the options, I’d just go ahead and do it now so you don’t forget
Very good. Any other Bilt thoughts? I think the great thing about Bilt is they’re not done. We’ve been getting tons of content, that’s for sure. Well- there’s always something to talk about.
Yeah. I said a week ago, “Oh, we might not have too much to talk about at the end of the month,” and there it was. There was a release right in our laps, our virtual laps. Yeah, and there’s some event happening tonight in Miami I got notified about on the insiders, Bilt insiders. Ooh, the close friends
close friends. Thank you. I’m not in Miami but I could see even more information coming out. They were teasing a new partner. Don’t know who that might be in Miami. I have some guesses, but [00:32:00] I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Richard Kerr has been doing this in a lot of different roles for a long time now.
He knows what he finds valuable because he has been, for many years, and some could, would still argue one of us, someone that is trying to maximize their travel at free or low cost, something like that. What’s … anyway, he’s trying- Traveling low-cost with points and miles. See, you are the singer, Justin.
Anyway. So he’s one of us. He’s on the other side of that now, but I don’t think that mindset ever changes. He’s looking for value with his Bilt points just like you and I are looking for value with our Bilt points, and the nice thing now is he’s got a whole big framework of other ways to engage people and how to make those miles or points, those Bilt points more valuable.
So I’m excited. I think there’s gonna be more to come next week, next month, next year, [00:33:00] and I certainly wanna be part of it. The next Bilt Partner, Cheesecake Factory in Miami. Transfer your points or use your Bilt Cash at the Cheesecake Factory for more happiness, more cheesecake. No one’s ever sad eating a cheesecake, Justin, so there’s something to be said for that, but- Yeah I hope it’s not that.
I hope it’s something more substantial. I think it will be. They’re thinking creatively again. I think Amtrak is a good example of that. JetBlue is a good example of that. They continue to be the only transfer partner for Alaska right now, so lots of good options for earning and burning, which is what we love to do.
American Express did partner with Cheesecake Factory, and they did partner with Dunkin’ Donuts, so maybe there’s a double stack opportunity in the future. We shall see. Bilt continues to expand with all of these different partners. Now we just need Bilt to make a new online payment platform and give [00:34:00] $10 credits on more than $10 purchases up to 10 times per card.
Call it, Oh. We’ll call it- The new simple product. Yeah, we’ll call it Bills or Baze. Bilt’s Bills. Baze? Is that too close, too on the nose? I don’t know
All right. Any travel coming up? You mentioned Atlantic City coming up in a week or two. How close is it? Next weekend I think. Jon Stewart is doing a show at Ocean, not Oceans, Justin. I know … always concerned that people will get that incorrect.
We’re looking at options to stay probably through the Bilt Hotel program somewhere close.
Maybe be slightly outside of Atlantic City in Absecon, Galloway, maybe Egg Harbor a little bit further out. There are a lot of options. I’ll take a look. I think there’s a Marriott property maybe down there as well that’s within walking distance, so maybe that’ll be a better option and fewer resort fees to pay
And then I [00:35:00] have November 5th flying out to Chicago for Chicago Seminars, Hyatt Regency O’Hare Have November 22nd through the 27th in Nashville, coincidentally the same time as a marriage seminar that Dave Ramsey is hosting for the very low price of $800. I won’t be paying that. You should definitely go, though.
You should set up one of those tables that says “The answer to everything is-” Credit cards are good. Change my mind. Yeah, no, “The answer to everything is more credit cards. Change my mind.” Yeah. I can’t. That would bring me so much joy That, that could be fun.
I’m also looking at going to the Mount Holly International Buffet in New Jersey. Someone in Chicago recommended this as they are on the Resy network. How about that? So if I go in early November, my monthly Resy credits on my Delta Reserve credit card will have reset, and I think a lunchtime buffet could be a good choice, and I was also talking about hosting a meetup there, so that [00:36:00] might take place November 29th.
Then we have December 6th flying to Las Vegas, staying at MGM Grand, the 6th through the 11th, and then Wyndham Desert Rose the 11th through the 13th. Then I’ll be taking a cruise out of Los Angeles, flying to Los Angeles from Vegas, cruising out of LA to Catalina Island, coming back, and then we have December 20th for the next Willow Grove, Pennsylvania Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points meetup.
Looking forward to that. November and December travel is planned. Sounds good, Justin. I’m sure some folks will probably find you along the way, one of the places you’re speaking or eating or just having a generally good time.
All right. Thanks for joining me today. Always a pleasure. Enjoyed talking about Bilt, and look forward to hearing what our listeners think about [00:37:00] what they’re gonna choose for their 2027 Bilt Rewards. I predict the 4% for many listeners, but you could chime in the comments on YouTube or leave it on Facebook as I’ll post this episode there, of course, and many other social media platforms.
Thanks everyone for listening. Stay tuned for more content. For more between shows, follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and X. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on YouTube for daily travel videos, podcast clips, posts, and more. Visit HurdyGurdyTravel.com for more information, including episode transcripts.
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Join me for Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Join us for our next meetups November 15th and December 20th, 2026. I’ll be speaking at Chicago Seminars, Hyatt Regency O’Hare, November 6th through the 8th. Use my promo code HURDYGURDY, one word, for $10 off your ticket.
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Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures, tales to be told. Make and save money, the world will unfold
Fight the war on happiness, pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel [00:40:00] Podcast breaks the mold