Saturday Roundup: More Bilt News, Save on Restaurants and Gas
No big post today, but a few fun recent developments:
Bilt adds another partner
Bilt’s quest for world domination continues, adding Avianca LifeMiles as a transfer partner. This comes on the heels of its addition of Marriott Bonvoy to its stable of partners. Much as before, Bilt points are probably more valuable when redeemed on Bilt’s portal or with partners like Hyatt, United, or FlyingBlue. But LifeMiles have some sweet spots and having the option to chip in Bilt points for a redemption (you should probably start with less valuable points like Capital One miles, if you have them) is certainly handy.
Get savings on gas for your Grubhub (Plus) orders
I’m still lamenting the loss of the Grubhub/IHG portal. It’s not all bad news, though. I did earn 500 IHG points by reserving a family dinner via the IHG/OpenTable portal the other day. And now Grubhub spending can earn discounts at Shell gas stations. If you have GrubHub Plus, which you can get free for a year with an Amazon Prime membership, you can turn your spending into savings at the pump. Every time you spend $50 at Grubhub, you can get 5¢/gallon off at Shell stations when you link your Grubhub and FuelRewards accounts. If you’re using your Amex Gold dining credits at Grubhub anyway, this is an easy, lazy way to save on gas the next time you happen into a Shell station.
Chase goes local
In the past week I’ve noticed that my IHG Premier has several merchant offers from local restaurants. Although the card often features offers from national chain restaurants, this is the first time I can ever recall seeing an offer at a local restaurant with a single location–and I have four such offers right now.
All of the restaurants are part of the RewardsNetwork dining programs, which I assume is related, though I haven’t been able to find anything to confirm that. At any rate, this now presents a great opportunity to quadruple-dip on rewards at these restaurants: with my card rewards (5x IHG points with the Premier), with the merchant offer (5% statement credit on the purchase), with the dining program (5x Delta miles with SkyMiles dining), and with Dosh (5% cash back at several of the restaurants with offers).
If you have a Chase card, check to see if you have similar offers available.
Extra points at Hilton
I am not a Hilton fan. But I’m not one to look a good deal in the mouth. You might as well sign up for the Points Plus promotion and earn an extra 2000 points for every Hilton stay you make between January 1 and May, 2024. You can also earn another 500 bonus points by using a digital key. For a promotion that lasts this long, I prefer to just sign up in case I happen to book a Hilton (unlikely, but you never know). But it is at least good to be aware of it so that you don’t miss out on the points if you end up staying in a Hilton in early 2024.
Open ended points searches (kind of)
Last but not least, we have new developments in the award-booking world. Point.me is a service that offers the ability to search for mileage redemptions. It’s been a fun free perk of Bilt card membership for a while now. But its utility is somewhat limited by the requirement to search specific routes for redemptions–a potentially laborious and decidedly un-lazy process.
But now it has launched an “explore” tool that will allow you to see the best mileage deals flying out of your local airport on the dates of your choice. It’s a great (if imperfect, as the linked article discusses) way to find deals without too much time and effort. Point.me is a somewhat expensive service, and one I haven’t spent too much time on, but if you want to find a points trip on the cheap, this might be an option worth checking out.