(NewsNation) — Bilt Rewards, a loyalty program that lets members earn points by paying their rent and making daily purchases, is partnering with Alaska Airlines, the company confirmed to NewsNation on Friday.
It’s a new transfer opportunity for Bilt Rewards members, allowing them to use their points for flights on Alaska Airlines and its partners, covering 1,000 destinations across the world.
“This collaboration marks an expansion of Bilt’s rewards ecosystem, allowing members to earn points on rent payments and neighborhood spend, including restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores, and then transfer these points on a 1:1 basis into Alaska miles, redeemable for flights on Alaska Airlines and its extensive network of oneworld partners,” Bilt said in a news release.
The best part: Americans can be Bilt Rewards members without owning a credit card.
Bilt Rewards founder and CEO Ankur Jain said Friday on “Morning in America” that the company wants to continuously reward their members no matter where they live in the U.S.
“For decades, rent has been the single largest expense for most people in this country. And yet, it’s only expense where you don’t get rewards and benefits,” Jain said.
A recent report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. That’s over 22 million households.
An estimated 12 million of those renters are spending more than half of their income on housing, which is more than at any time in history, the report said.
“Over the last five years, we’ve built the largest loyalty platform where you get rewarded at your home and in your neighborhoods, starting with points on rent and then benefits in your neighborhood,” Jain said.
Living in any city these days is expensive, he said, and being able to earn rewards on essential expenses like rent will allow Americans to be able to enjoy life a little bit more.
“People have figured out that you can actually get value back from your other spend and use those miles to then book free flights, free hotels to travel the world, and we see that now with rent,” Jain said.
The partnership will also launch an offer that will benefit Alaska Airlines-branded credit card holders later this year, allowing them to be able to pay their rent with their credit cards. In addition, cardholders will receive three miles for every dollar they spend on rent, up to $50,000 annually.
