Lazy Points of the Week
Story of the Week
Bilt adds two new transfer partners.
Our favorite rewards program (and card) added another two transfer partners this week, adding TAP Air Portugal’s Miles&Go and hotel brand Accor’s Live Limitless (ALL) as transfer partners. Any new transfer partner is great (especially with Bilt, where you can earn 100 Bilt points just for linking your loyalty programs), but Bilt points are already so valuable that it’s hard for a new partner to make a dent. Bilt points are redeemable for 1.25¢ each for travel through the Bilt portal and transferrable to Hyatt and Alaska Airlines where they can easily deliver even more value than that, so some past transfer partner additions (looking at you, Hilton) have fallen a bit flat in comparison. But both TAP and Accor are fairly interesting options.
Accor
Bilt points will transfer to Accor at a 3:2 ratio—3,000 Bilt points will become 2,000 Accor points. Accor points are, in turn, are worth 40€ ($43.80 as I write this) toward the price of an Accor hotel, a value of about 1.46¢/pt, which is better than Bilt’s portal bonus and at the upper end of what economy travelers can reasonably hope to get from their points. However, the fixed value means the points have no upside, so 12,000 Bilt points will only net you a 160€/night Accor hotel, while those same 12,000 Bilt points could easily net you a much pricier hotel if you transferred them to Hyatt.
TAP Air Portugal
TAP may not offer the best value out there, but what it does have is stable prices, a lot of options, and a lot of availability. The vast majority of its many European destinations can be booked for 58,000 miles and under $100 in fees.
These are full economy tickets, including carry-on, one checked bag, and seat selection. However, TAP does charge a 75€ change/cancellation penalty.
With 58,000 Bilt points being worth a minimum of $725 when booking through the portal, TAP wouldn’t seem to be an attractive option considering that you can always get to Europe for $500. I certainly wouldn’t use TAP points to get to a cheaper destination like Lisbon or Madrid. But given the full economy ticket and the often wide-open booking availability, TAP might be a compelling option if you want to fly with a checked bag on a particular date, particularly to a more expensive destination like Prague.
Summary
Although I plan to continue to use my Bilt points mostly for Hyatt stays and flights booked via Alaska, both TAP and Accor definitely bring genuine value to the program and I will be keeping them in mind for future travel plans.
Positive developments for lazy travelers
If you haven’t joined Marriott Bonvoy or Starbucks rewards yet, now might be a good time to do so. New members who join either or both programs for the first time can earn 1,000 Marriott points if they link their accounts by October 18th. (If you’re joining Marriott, be sure to get referred for extra points!)
Other card and points news
New Best Western credit cards. Hotel credit cards can be great, and Best Western has refreshed its credit card offerings. While Best Western isn’t my favorite hotel brand in the world, its new cards might be a solid option if you are a frequent BW customer, and the improvements might help it escape my previous “abysmal” rating.
Chase Sapphire Reserve cards get Maple Leaf Lounge access. Were the massages not enough to prompt you to get a Sapphire Reserve? Now Chase is adding access to many Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges (when flying a Star Alliance carrier like United) to the card’s suite of benefits. Another big win for Chase.
I finally saw a good business class deal. Although the points-influencer game is all about business class, to date I had never seen a business class deal I would personally consider “good” (≤$1500 worth of points, round-trip, from a non-NYC airport). Well, no longer. ThriftyTraveler sent me this deal the other day, for a flight from Philadelphia to Lisbon:
(AA taxes and fees were $67 round-trip)
Although I don’t live in Philadelphia, and economy flights to Lisbon are quite cheap, 90k points plus under $100 in taxes in fees is a price I would seriously consider paying for lay-flat business class seats to Europe. For reference, if you had a no-fee Bilt card and paid $2,000 per month in rent and spent $2,000 per month eating out, you would earn 96k+ Bilt points per year.
Earn Alaska Miles for your ski pass. If you’re going to buy a Mountain Collective pass, do it through Alaska Airlines to earn an extra ski day free and earn 5,000 bonus miles (10,000 if you’re an MVP member, perhaps from a credit card).
Bonus of the week
The Marriott cards from Chase (the no-fee Bold and $95-fee Boundless) are currently sporting their best-ever welcome offers, 125k points for the Boundless, and 60k plus a free night worth up to 50k points on the Bold. The Boundless has offered 5 free nights as a welcome offer in the past, and if you like higher-end properties, 125k points might not be enough for 5 nights. But if you like to stretch your points into free nights, especially when traveling abroad, 125k points can easily be stretched to 8-10 nights, so I would take the points, personally.
Although neither card earns points particularly efficiently, both are no-net-fee, with the Bold having no fee and the Boundless’s fee being offset by the free night redeemable up to 35k points. With those free cards in your wallet, you get pretty sizable discounts on Marriott stays (via the extra points the cards earn at Marriott properties) and elite perks.
