How I Turned My Brooklyn Rent Payments into a Flight to Ireland

I’ll be honest: My rent in Brooklyn is more than I care to admit out loud. It’s the kind of number that makes me involuntarily wince every first day of the month, even after almost a year of paying it. So when I started hearing about Bilt — a membership program that lets you earn points on rent and mortgage payments — I was curious in that cautiously optimistic way you get when something sounds too good to be true but you really, really hope it isn’t.

It was not too good to be true. Last fall, I booked a flight to Ireland using points I’d accumulated through Bilt. My rent check, the most unavoidable bill in my entire life, had quietly been building toward something I actually wanted.

Here’s what you need to know.

Bilt is a membership program built to reward you for the things you’re already swiping on. You pay your rent or mortgage through the platform, earn Bilt Points in the process, and can then use those points to unlock exclusive benefits in your neighborhood. Points can then be transferred 1:1 to more than two-dozen airline and hotel partners, including United, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Alaska Airlines.

But the earning doesn’t stop at your monthly housing payment. Bilt also has a network of 50,000+ neighborhood merchant partners (think: local restaurants, fitness studios, pharmacies, Lyft, parking garage,s and more), where members who link their credit or debit cards to Bilt earn points on top of whatever rewards their existing card already earns.

I did not expect to have enough points to do much with — at least not quickly. But between my monthly rent payments and neighborhood matcha runs, a few dinners out, and Lyft rides to the airport, the points accumulated steadily. The flexibility is genuinely one of the more impressive parts of the program. Beyond flights and hotels, Bilt Points can go toward fitness classes, Amazon purchases, gift cards at 120+ brands, student loan balances, and even a future rent or mortgage payment — which, if you’re also renting in New York City, might be the most motivating item on that list.

By the time I started seriously looking at flights to Dublin, I had more than enough points to make a meaningful dent on a ticket. The Bilt Travel Portal made booking straightforward, and transferring points to a partner airline was seamless. It can often be non-refundable (what’s that saying about nothing in life being free?), but I was happy to take that risk. And I was even happier when I touched down in Ireland and explored the countryside and pubs, and even saw some of my extended family over a few blissful days on the Emerald Isle.

If you’re already paying rent every month like I am, Bilt is one of the more logical things I’ve come across in recent years. It doesn’t ask you to change your spending habits or sign up for something elaborate. You pay the bill you were already going to pay, through their platform, and the points accumulate in the background.

For me, the proof was a boarding pass to Dublin. For you, it might be a hotel stay, a few fitness classes, or a head-start on a future down payment. The point is that it turns the most fixed cost in your budget into something with an actual upside.

Sign up for Bilt here.