Bilt Rewards Provides TAP Air Portugal and Accor As Switch Companions

Bilt Rewards, a loyalty program recognized for letting customers earn rewards on hire and its co-branded bank card, retains increasing its listing of switch companions. As of Oct. 10, 2024, Bilt has added two extra switch companions: TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go and Accor Reside Limitless (ALL). Now you can switch Bilt Rewards factors to TAP at a 1:1 ratio and Accor at 3:2 ratio.

These new companions provide you with extra flexibility in how you utilize your Bilt factors. TAP Air Portugal, a Star Alliance member, opens up alternatives for inexpensive flights to Europe and past. In the meantime, Accor Reside Limitless expands your lodge choices, particularly in Europe and luxurious markets.

Extra choices are often factor, however on this case — until you’ve a selected sweet-spot award in thoughts — these companions are principally a wash in comparison with others already accessible via Bilt Rewards.

Earlier than transferring, make certain to judge your journey plans and take into account potential drawbacks, reminiscent of award availability and point-transfer ratios. These companions could be useful for European journey particularly, however it is best to run the numbers to get probably the most out of your Bilt factors.

TAP Miles&Go has a couple of aggressive mileage redemptions for award flights between the U.S. and Europe, Europe and Africa and inside Asia. You may e book one-way business-class flights to Europe for comparatively low level prices in comparison with different airways on sure journey days. That’s a giant benefit in case your dates are versatile.

TAP can be a Star Alliance member, which suggests you possibly can e book award flights on over two dozen associate airways. That sounds spectacular, however Bilt Rewards members are spoiled for selection with different Star Alliance airways. Bilt Rewards additionally switch at a 1:1 ratio to:

TAP Miles&Go redemption charges range. Should you’re versatile with dates, you will discover some offers together with:

• One-way in enterprise class between the U.S. and Europe for 100,000 miles with minimal taxes and charges.

• One-way in financial system between the U.S. and Europe for 29,000 miles. 

• One-way in enterprise class between Europe and Africa for 66,000 miles. 

There are some main hurdles to utilizing the TAP Miles&Go program. First, TAP’s web site is notoriously buggy and could be tough to make use of.

As soon as you’ll be able to run searches, the award costs additionally is probably not meaningfully cheaper than what you will discover with different airways. Award availability could be restricted, particularly for business-class seats. Some routes could embrace surcharges, which cut back the general worth of your factors.

In case you are flying TAP Air Portugal on miles, the route will nearly at all times require you to attach in Portugal, which could be inconvenient for individuals flying to different locations.

So whereas including TAP Miles&Go as a Bilt switch associate is a optimistic improvement for a couple of particular use instances, most Bilt Rewards members must also verify different switch choices.

Accor Reside Limitless (ALL) is one other area of interest, new switch associate for Bilt. The Accor portfolio contains well-known manufacturers like Fairmont, Sofitel and Ibis, providing choices from budget-friendly to luxurious stays. This makes ALL a possible possibility for European journey or high-end properties all over the world.

ALL doesn’t have any candy spots. As an alternative, the rewards perform extra like a rebate program — and each 2,000 factors is value 40 euros (or about $44) towards the money worth of your keep.

Should you switch 3,000 Bilt Rewards, you’d get 2,000 ALL factors. So 3,000 Bilt factors could be value round $44, or roughly 1.5 cents every. That’s not a foul redemption contemplating different lodge manufacturers like Marriott are solely value about 0.9 cent every when redeemed for award stays — and that is with a 1:1 switch ratio with Bilt.

You possibly can use ALL factors for inexpensive lodge stays in Europe, particularly at mid-range manufacturers like Novotel and Ibis. As a result of this system doesn’t require you to pay for all the reserving in factors, you could possibly additionally use a mix of money and factors to offset the excessive value of luxurious lodges like Fairmont and Sofitel properties.

Contemplating the worth of ALL factors is mounted, you could possibly notice greater worth on an award stick with one other lodge program.

Bilt Rewards additionally companions with Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt — all of which have comparatively massive lodge collections. You need to be actually dedicated to staying at an Accor lodge to redeem your Bilt factors this manner. The three:2 switch ratio may nonetheless cut back the worth of your factors in comparison with different 1:1 lodge switch companions.

Accor has a restricted footprint within the U.S., making it much less interesting if most of your journey is home.

Prime photograph courtesy of TAP Air Portugal.