What is Bilt Rewards? (2026)
TLDR: You can earn Bilt points without having a Bilt card via the Bilt Rewards program.
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You might be surprised to find out that you don’t need a Bilt card to earn Bilt points. I have to admit I was surprised as well. All you have to do to get started is sign up online for a Bilt Rewards account—no credit card required. You’ll then be able to earn points via opportunities like Bilt Dining, Lyft rides and Bilt Neighborhood Fitness.
And you can then use your Bilt points for all sorts of things including transferring them to amazing airline & hotel partners.
How do you get a Bilt Rewards account?
In order to get a Bilt Rewards account, you’ll need to first go to the Bilt Rewards site. Follow the link below to get started:
And then you will see on the left where it says "Start earning today" or the top right that says "Sign up/Log in." Click on either CTA and follow the prompts to sign up (again, no Bilt credit card needed):
After completing the sign-up process, you will be directed to link your credit cards. Bilt typically is able to identify some of the credit cards you already have without your input.
In my case, they knew some of my existing cards but they didn't have all of them.
Linking your credit cards sets you up to earn extra Bilt points on different types of purchases. And I knew that there was an opportunity to link my new Bilt Rewards account to my Lyft account. I went to check my Lyft app to link the accounts but I saw that my Bilt & Lyft accounts were already linked! It seems as though they automatically link upon account creation—just double check your Lyft app to make sure.
How do you earn points with a Bilt Rewards account?
When your cards are linked to your BIlt Rewards account, there are a number of interesting ways for you to earn Bilt Points without even needing one of the Bilt credit cards:
- 1 Bilt Point per $2 of on‑time rent payments through Bilt when using a linked non-Bilt Mastercard, Visa, or Discover credit card
- 2x Bilt Points on Lyft rides (when Bilt and Lyft accounts are linked)
- Up to 3x Bilt Points on Neighborhood Restaurants
- Up to 3x Bilt Points at Neighborhood Fitness Studios
- Walgreens spend
- 2x Bilt Points on Walgreens‑branded products
- 1x Bilt Points on other Walgreens purchases
- 100 points on up to 26 prescription refills per year
- 1x Bilt Points on Bilt Travel Portal bookings
I find the 2x Bilt points on Lyft rides and up to 3x Bilt Points on Neighborhood Restaurants to be most intriguing. I live in the Greater Boston area and take Lyfts every so often. I previously was earning Atmos Rewards on my Lyft account but Bilt points are much more appealing. And earning extra points on restaurants is always great.
I’m salivating at the thought of getting 7% back with my Chase Freedom Flex® AND getting 2x or more Bilt points per $1 spent on dining.
Btw just to be crystal clear: these points are additive ontop of what you would normally earn with your credit card. So it essentially stacks on top of each other. For instance, for a $10 Lyft rideshare, here's how my rewards stack up:
- 5x points using my Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- 2x Bilt Points by linking my Lyft/Bilt accounts
So I get 7x total points across two powerful ecosystems for every $1 I spend on Lyft—very nice.
Why would I rather earn 2x Bilt Points on Lyft rideshare than 2x Atmos points?
It all comes down to transferability.
I can transfer Bilt Points to Alaska Airlines/Atmos Rewards, but I can also transfer them to partners like Hyatt, United, etc. Why would I earn 2x Atmos points when I have the ability to earn a more flexible travel currency?
Alaska/Lyfts's promotion is:
- 2x points per $1 spent on Standard rides (standard, XL, priority pick-up)
- 3x points per $1 spent on Airport and high-value mode rides (Extra comfort, Black, Black SUV)
Whereas Bilt/Lyft's promotion is:
- Earn 2X Bilt Points on Lyft rideshare once you’ve linked your Bilt and Lyft accounts and selected Bilt as your active loyalty partner.
I never ride "high value mode rides", so I'd always rather earn 2x Bilt Points than 2x Atmos Points.
What transfer partners does Bilt have?
Bilt has arguably the most extensive and best group of transfer partners.
Airline partners
- Spirit Airlines
- British Airways
- Aer Lingus
- Iberia
- Etihad Guest
- Virgin Red
- Avianca Lifemiles
- Qatar Airways
- Japan Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Atmos Rewards
- United Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- Emirates
- Cathay Pacific
- Air France–KLM (Flying Blue)
- Air Canada
Hotel partners
- Hilton Hotels & Resorts
- Accor
- Hyatt
- Marriott (Bonvoy)
- IHG Hotels & Resorts
How can you use your Bilt points?
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of all the ways you can use your Bilt points:
- Transfer to airline programs (Atmos, Cathay, etc)
- Transfer to hotel programs (eg Hyatt)
- Redeem on Bilt Travel (for 1.25 cents apiece)
- Student loans
- Fitness classes
- Lyft rides
- Gift cards
The best way to use your Bilt points are to transfer them to airline & hotel partners. My personal favorites are Japan Airlines and Hyatt hotels. I also really enjoy Avianca LifeMiles for their inexpensive redemptions to and from South America.
How can you get more Bilt points?
If you’re looking to earn more Bilt points, it might be worth looking into one of the three Bilt 2.0 cards. To start, the Bilt Palladium Card card has a solid welcome bonus where you can receive 50,000 Bilt points after spending $4,000 in three months from the account opening on non-rent purchases + $300 of Bilt Cash upon account opening.
While the other two Bilt cards don't have Bilt Points as a part of their welcome bonus, you can get Bilt Cash upon account opening/approval that you can use to convert into points when redeeming them against your rent.
But all three cards have pretty solid earn rates on rent spending and non-rent spending. I won’t get all into the nitty gritty since we have written previous articles and have a calculator for the new cards.
Option 1 awards points based on how much nonrent spend relative to your rent you put on the card per month. So the earn rate varies significantly.
Option 2 earns 4% Bilt Cash for every dollar you spend on nonrent spend. If you redeem that Bilt Cash against your rent, you end up with the following earn rates for the three cards:
- Bilt Blue Card: 2.33 points per $1 spent
- Bilt Obsidian Card: 2.33 points per $1 spent
- Bilt Palladium Card: 3.33 points per $1 spent
You could absolutely redeem that Bilt Cash for other things, but there are a lot of limits/restrictions to be aware of.
Final Remarks
Signing up for Bilt Rewards is an easy way to potentially earn more Bilt points. For most folks, I see the easiest way to make use of Bilt Rewards via Lyft rides or eating out at Bilt Neighborhood dining restaurants.
And if your pharmacy is a Walgreens, you’ll earn extra points every time you shop there or pick up a prescription.
The best part is that you don’t even need a Bilt card to earn Bilt points. You will earn Bilt points by simply linking any credit card and taking advantage of the multitude of point earning opportunities. Of course if you’re looking for even more earning potential you might want to check out one of the Bilt 2.0 cards….