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- š³ Bilt revamps its elite program
š³ Bilt revamps its elite program
Plus, we play a game where we book an EPIC trip using only $0 annual fee credit cards.
Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 15 seconds
š Need to renew your U.S. passport? Now is the time! Processing times have returned to pre-pandemic levels, with service now taking six to eight weeks and expedited service (for an additional $60) requiring two to three weeks, effective for applications submitted on or after December 18. Read more here.
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Good morning from an airport lounge somewhere in the world. I donāt know about you, but I REALLY missed Daily Drop these last four daysā¦
Thankfully, Iāve got some fun travel hacks and interesting news to share with you before we finish off the year:
āļø How to book an amazing trip using $0 credit cards
šŖ Tasty Travel Tidbits
š³ Bilt Revamps their elite status tiers
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9e5fff27-94c9-4b47-8ba0-7c79a15245aa/hr-3-16.png)
āļø How to book an amazing trip using $0 credit cards
We often talk about some premium credit cards and how we can leverage the points, bonuses, perks, credits, etc., to book amazing trips around the world.
Even aside from those, most cards we talk about (including our all-time favorite, the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]]) still have at least some annual feeā¦
So, I thought itād be fun to play a game:
Megan and I each sat down (without consulting one another) and picked three credit cards, each with no annual fee.
With the welcome offers on the cards, a prefixed amount of spending to earn points, and some other minor parameters, we each booked the most epic trip we could think of and recorded a podcast episode about it.
In the episode, we break down which cards we picked (and why), which types of rewards we earned, and how we planned our trips - all with ZERO dollars in annual fees.
Neither of us knew which cards the other person picked or what each otherās trip looked like, and somehow, we went COMPLETELY in different directions (and different continentsā¦ š).
It was actually a ton of fun.
To make things even more fun, weāve decided to make it into a competition where YOU will vote on which trip you liked best.
So, after youāve listened to the short podcast episode, come on over to the Daily Drop Lounge and vote on your favorite. š
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šŖ Tasty Travel Tidbits
š° A passenger steals $23,000 in cash on a flightā¦ and gets caught
š® Southwest just got fined $140 million for last yearās meltdown
āļø Qatar Airways bans popular aviation YouTuber because of a negative review
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š³ Bilt Revamps their elite status tiers
We talk about Bilt fairly frequently. The [[ bilt-mastercard.name ]] is dope AF, their points are valuable, and they have amazing Rent Day promos every month.
But thereās a component of Biltās program that we never talk about: Bilt elite status.
Thatās right. You may not have even known that Bilt members can earn elite status.
The reason youāve probably never heard of it is because itāsā¦ meh.
As things currently stand, the perks for having Bilt status include stuff like:
Bonus points on rent for new leases or lease renewals
Earning interest on your Bilt points
Thatās pretty much it.
Yeah, itās VERY underwhelming. The one major reason for people to earn Bilt status is Rent Day promos.
There have been a few Rent Day transfer bonuses that were based on Bilt status, including a recent transfer bonus to Emirates, where top-tier Bilt elites were offered a 150% transfer bonusā¦ which makes up for ALL of the other drawbacks of the program.
But how do you earn Bilt status in the first place? Itās easy - simply earn a certain amount of Bilt points per year:
Silver elite status: 25,000 Bilt points
Gold elite status: 50,000 Bilt points
Platinum elite status: 100,000 Bilt points
Wellā¦ that isā¦ until a few days from now.
You see, Bilt has announced that earning elite status will be harder beginning in 2024. In fact, it will be TWICE as hard. All of the requirements for earning status will double beginning on January 1st.
To (sort of) make up for this, Bilt will also be offering a āfast-trackā for earning status based on spend. In the end, here is how you can earn elite status in 2024:
Silver: Earn 50,000 points or spend $10,000 through Bilt channels
Gold: Earn 100,000 points or spend $25,000 through Bilt channels
Platinum: Earn 200,000 points or spend $50,000 through Bilt channels
When I say āBilt channels,ā I mean spending money in the following ways:
Spending on the Bilt Mastercard (excluding rent)
Lyft rides
Bilt dining
Biltās travel portal
SoulCycle classes booked through the Bilt app
While there are many ways to accrue spend toward those thresholds, itās still a pretty big ask. After all, if youāre spending that much on the Bilt card, youāre sacrificing spending on other, potentially more valuable cards.
So hereās the bottom lineā¦
I was not expecting Bilt to take the most āmehā aspect of their program and suddenly devalue it. Unless Bilt adds some serious value to its elite benefits, itās difficult to justify pursuing Bilt elite status.
Still, those Rent Day promos make me think twiceā¦ if they keep offering insane transfer bonuses, these elite requirements might look more appealing.
What are your thoughts about Bilt elite status? |
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Thatās all for today, friends! Weāve only got a couple more newsletters left this year, and I couldnāt be more excited for another jam-packed year of Daily Drop fun times.
In the meantime, however, take care, and Iāll see you bright and early tomorrow. ā¤ļø