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Bilt Rewards has had a busy year. Changes have happened left and right, and the program has added several Bilt transfer partners. The latter is a big deal if you collect Bilt Points via paying rent and prefer to use them to fund award travel. Today, Bilt brought two more partners into the fold: TAP Air Portugal and Accor Live Limitless. You can now initiate transfers to either program.
Here's what you need to know about Bilt's newest transfer partners — and whether they're worth transferring your hard-earned Bilt points.
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Transfer Bilt Points To TAP Air Portugal 1:1
TAP Air Portugal is Bilt Rewards‘ 13th airline transfer partner and the fifth member belonging to the Star Alliance. Whether you've aspirations to travel to Portugal or want to use miles to book travel on alliance partner airlines such as United or Turkish Airlines, 1:1 transfers to TAP Miles&Go can help you make it happen.
However, it's worth noting that the TAP Miles & Go program isn't the most rewarding loyalty program out there. Quality award redemption options are few and far between. However, there are some fair redemption options with TAP's Star Alliance partners — and even select redemptions on its own flights, though they'll run you a hefty sum of miles. For example:
- Miami to Lisbon in TAP business class: 100,000 miles + $33 one-way.
- Newark to Addis Ababa (via London) in United & Ethiopian business class: 115,000 miles + $32 one-way.
- San Francisco to Auckland in United business class: 130,000 miles + $86 one-way.
Should you transfer Bilt Points to TAP Air Portugal?
It's worth reiterating that TAP Air Portugal is one of many Bilt transfer partners that belong to Star Alliance. Unless you're already working with a sizable stash of Miles&Go miles (and will utilize transfers from Bilt to top off your account), you might be better off leveraging Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, or United MileagePlus to book the aforementioned awards instead. Doing so will be an easy way to save thousands of Bilt Points.
To showcase this, here's a mock itinerary between Washington D.C. (IAD) and Lisbon: Booked through TAP, you'll redeem 100,000 Miles&Go miles + $31 for a business class seat:
Or, you can redeem the following amounts of partner miles (also 1:1 Bilt transfer partners) for the same business class award:
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 60,000 points + $76 CAD (~$55)
- Avianca LifeMiles: 69,000 miles + $27.80
- Turkish Miles & Smiles: 90,000 miles + $5.60
- United MileagePlus: 88,000 miles + $5.60
The math is clear. At least on this itinerary, you can save tens of thousands of Bilt Points by skipping the TAP Air Portugal option and going right to Air Canada or Avianca LifeMiles. While there might be value in transferring to the Miles&Go program, these circumstances might be few and far between.
Transfer Bilt Points to Accor Live Limitless (All) 3:2
Today, Bilt also added a fifth hotel transfer partner to the Bilt Rewards program: Accor Live Limitless (ALL). Accor has a much larger hotel presence than you might realize, operating over a dozen unique brands across over 100 countries. Unlike Bilt's other hotel transfer partners, the ALL option stands out because Bilt offers 3:2 conversions instead of 1:1 — meaning you'll get 2,000 Accor points for every 3,000 Bilt Points transferred.
Comparatively, Bilt's transfer ratio is better than you'll find with Citi ThankYou® Rewards (2:1) or Capital One Miles (2:1). Better yet, ALL points are generally pretty straightforward to redeem; 2,000 Accor points will always give you 40 euros in value towards the cash rate for the hotel room you want. Put differently, you'll have 40 euros to spend on an Accor stay for each increment of 3,000 Bilt Points you transfer to ALL.
Should you transfer Bilt Points to Accor Live Limitless?
Of all the Bilt hotel transfer partners, Accor likely takes the second spot in terms of value. Hilton, Marriott, and IHG are generally poor transfer options, considering their average value is under 1 cent each, and Bilt points transfer 1:1 to these programs. Without a transfer bonus, one Bilt Point is almost always worth more than one hotel point in any of these programs.
World of Hyatt is a clear front-runner, thanks to the program's valuable fixed award chart. You can book rooms at Category 1 Hyatt properties from 3,500 points per night — or Category 2 properties from 6,500 points per night. Transfers from Bilt to Hyatt are 1:1, and you can potentially unlock more value through these transfers than on transfers to Accor.
For example, if you're planning a trip to Prague, you could secure a night at Hyatt's Lindner Hotel Prague Castle from 3,500 points per night and score almost 2.5 cents per point (after currency conversions). You'll need to transfer 4,000 Bilt Points to Hyatt to make this redemption.
Alternatively, you could stay at the nearby ibis Praha Wenceslas Square for as little as $77 (after taxes). To make this redemption, you'd need to redeem at least 4,000 Accor points — which is now possible by converting 6,000 Bilt Points.
Like with TAP Air Portugal it's, at the very least, worth comparing the options in front of you before you take advantage of Bilt's new transfer partners. Sometimes, it'll make sense to book an Accor property with Bilt Points, and sometimes it won't. Moreover, you have plenty of hotel transfer partner options now, so you should be able to lock in the best rate if you choose to book with points.
Our Take
Bilt just added two new transfer partners: TAP Air Portugal and Accor Live Limitless. While more transfer options are never a bad thing, these new additions aren't particularly exciting compared to the other Bilt transfer partners. Both are overshadowed by other programs that offer more compelling value to members.
With these additions, Bilt grows to 18 partners — 13 airlines and five hotels — so you have plenty of options for redeeming your Bilt Points.
But with so many options, you'll need to navigate them all carefully. Some partners offer substantially more value than others. For example, if you're booking a flight on TAP Air Portugal (or another Star Alliance partner), you're nearly always going to be better going through a partner program such as Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca LifeMiles. Leveraging the wrong transfer partner could mean redeeming tens of thousands of more points than you should.
Hopefully, any new transfer partners Bilt adds in the future will emphasize quality over quantity. Adding TAP is a little puzzling since Bilt already has better Star Alliance options, but Accor makes a little more sense. There's something to be said about offering transfer partners members will actually use; the potential use case of the newest partners remains to be seen.
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