As we know, the Bilt to World of Hyatt 1:1 transfer ratio is officially ending. Starting January 1st, the transfer rate drops to 4:3. A 25% haircut across the board,even for Palladium cardholders.
Why is this exactly happening? Anyone know?
Just got back from an 8-day trip to Maui, and I’m happy by how much we saved by leveraging Bilt transfer partners.
I’ve had the Bilt card for a little over a year. The bulk of our point balance came from a mix of paying rent and everyday spending (hitting the monthly transaction requirement and maxing out Rent Day dining bonuses).
Here is the exact breakdown of how we booked everything:
-Estimated Cash Price: ~$1,350 total for 2 round-trip tickets
-Points Used: 60,000 Bilt Points
-Out-of-Pocket: $22.40 total in taxes/fees ($11.20 per person)
-Estimated Cash Price: ~$2,800+ total (including resort fees)
-Points Used: 100,000 Bilt Points (Standard 20,000 pts/night off-peak/standard rate transferred to World of Hyatt 1:1)
-Out-of-Pocket: $0 for the room and resort fees (Hyatt waives resort fees on award stays! Parking and incidentals/meals were extra).
-Estimated Cash Price: ~$650
-Points/Cash Used: Used a split redemption of remaining points plus cash on the card.
-For the last two nights, we wanted a quieter boutique stay near Paia. We used our leftover points to cover part of the cost directly through the Bilt Travel Portal and paid the rest with our card (earning standard credit card rewards on the cash portion).
Key Takeaways & Lessons Learned:
-Always Compare Transfers vs. Portal First: Don't automatically assume transferring is always better. For Hyatt and Alaska, transferring 1:1 yielded incredible value (~2.8c/pt on the Hyatt stay), but for other bookings, checking portal pricing vs. partner award charts side-by-side is a must before moving points.
Instant Transfers: In our case, transfers to both Alaska and Hyatt landed immediately, though keep in mind times can vary depending on program activity.
Everyday Earn Stacking: Points build up much faster when you combine rent with everyday card spending, Rent Day promotions, and Bilt Cash mechanics.
Between the flights and the Hyatt stay alone, we avoided over $4,000 in out-of-pocket room and airfare costs. Literally funded a dream Hawaiian vacation just by paying rent through an app every month. 10/10 experience. If you aren't transferring your Bilt points to Hyatt or Alaska/United, you're leaving serious money on the table!
My wife is an authorized user on my Bilt card, but she also has her own Bilt account. We’re in Campbell and both use Lyft a couple times a month, usually to Diridon or SJC. Do the monthly Bilt Cash limits apply separately to each account, meaning we could each redeem a Lyft credit if both balances are funded? Or is the benefit capped once across the primary card account?
We're sitting at 4.2 stars with plenty of positive feedback, yet we barely show up when people search for the kinds of keywords we'd expect to rank for. We've got a good icon, decent screenshots, and users who download the app generally seem happy, but organic installs have barely moved over the past few months.
Someone recently told me we should be looking into ASO instead of general SEO. I honestly didn't even realize App Store Optimization was its own thing until then. I assumed good reviews would naturally make us more discoverable over time, but that clearly hasn't happened.
We've been approached by an agency that focuses on ASO and app growth, but I'm trying to figure out whether that's the logical next step or whether we'd be better off investing elsewhere.
Has anyone been in a similar position?
Few of my friends came over for the weekend and we decided to get absolutely hammered. Got two of these each ( Jack Daniels Honey, Jaggeirmeister and the legendary Old Monk)