It seems like Bilt might have scored a second own-goal in a little over a week when it comes to how it communicates with its members (#watchingthoseolympics).
Last week, Bilt Rewards ruffled some feathers with a “lightly announced” and very significant devaluation to its monthly Rent Day promotion. Currently, Bilt allows members to earn 10,000 bonus points on the first of every month, but on October 1st that will go down to a maximum of 1,000 bonus points.
That’s a massive change, but what made it even tougher to swallow for many folks (including Nick), was that the change was buried in the terms and conditions link at the bottom of a Friday afternoon e-mail to members from Bilt’s founder, Ankur Jain.
Turns out, there’s actually another negative change to Rent Day that was completely unannounced, as far as I can tell. Richard Kerr, who is VP of travel for Bilt, said the following in an interview with The Points Guy (whose founder Brian Kelly is an investor in Bilt):
We discovered that bonus points on tax payments during promotions accounted for 20% of our bonus category costs, yet only 0.8% of cardmembers (or 0.12% of our total members) use the card for taxes. That’s why as part of the above Oct. 1 Rent Day update, tax payments will be excluded from bonus point promotions. This allows us to reinvest in benefits that all members can enjoy.
Based on this it appears that, starting on October 1st, tax payments will no longer earn double points on Rent Day (or during any other Bilt promo).
Quick Thoughts
When I first read this interview, I assumed that I must have missed something, because TPG asked the question as though it was a known fact: “Was similar information used in the decision to remove bonus points on tax payments as of Oct. 1?” So, I went back to look at that original e-mail from Bilt with the terms that revealed the Rent Day changes…but I didn’t see anything about it. It could be that this change was talked about elsewhere, but the TPG interview is the first that I’d seen it.
Exempting tax payments from points promotions is something that will probably have an impact on less people than the cap on Rent Day bonus points, but to me it’s another example of oddly perplexing communication from Bilt. Negative changes happen in rewards programs all the time. While they’re never welcomed, when they’re clearly announced in advance, it gives members a fair chance to adjust their earning strategies to accommodate. Bilt certainly isn’t the first rewards program to drop a no-notice devaluation, but why not just rip the band-aid off and be upfront? After all, people will find out eventually.
Outside of simply affecting folks’ balances, points-earning is a big part of gaining status with Bilt. Given that, I don’t understand why these changes were seemingly hidden (or in this case unannounced) when they occur right in the middle of the qualifying year.
Regardless, if you were planning on using tax payments to get some Bilt points, or earn status, September 1st will be your last chance.
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