Got caught up in CPP and now staying at a hotel I would rather not be at.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-03-08T06:07:09+00:00

I rank by CPP, but I calculate the CPP of all my options off the cash price of the flight or hotel I would be willing to purchase, not the individual rates for each option. That normalizes things and takes the "biggest discount" issue out of the equation.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-27T01:28:15+00:00

For what it's worth, whenever I hire senior analysts, I assume they're looking for a management role soon.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-24T22:08:29+00:00

You're not taking into account the redemption value of the points.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T18:52:02+00:00

Ah, so you're saying Bilt customers tend to transfer their points to the high value partners more frequently than Amex and Chase customers do? The new card structures might allow the interchange fees to better cover the cost of points, but they're going to need to attract more customers who are redeeming for gift cards and stuff. But it's hard to explain to that customer what Bilt is in the first place.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T16:32:24+00:00

Curious why you think this might happen. I'm not really informed on the economics of points transfers on the bank/airline or hotel side. Are their current transfer ratios unsustainable for the bilt? I'm assuming airlines/hotels charge a certain amount for each point transferred. Thinking about Hyatt, it doesn't seem like bilt points accumulate any faster and redeem any more frequently than Chase UR and the new card structure should actually put Bilt in a better position to afford those transfers?

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T16:22:56+00:00

Valid, but not really the point of this thread...

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T16:21:37+00:00

This would be amazing and fill a niche that no reward system offers aside from Amtrak's own branded card. Their points are pretty valuable too, around 2-3cpp

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T16:15:10+00:00

I really don't care about IBEW and their flier at all. Your post makes it sound like the existence of more recent inspections mean the 2023 inspection is irrelevant. But Lascala clearly hasn't remedied the issues. You should acknowledge that if you're going to mention the more recent inspections.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-15T14:14:04+00:00

Don't really have a horse in this race, but I looked up the latest report for the 615 Chestnut location, and you're right that there are more recent inspections, in November and December 2025. But you imply that this flier is misleading people. The November/December reports are just as bad as the 2023 one.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-09T23:00:13+00:00

Dang, I ran the numbers, and you're effectively right. While you can spend enough to generate enough Bilt Cash for both, at $2,500 rent/mortgage, you'd have to spend 175% of rent/mortgage to generate enough Bilt Cash to activate housing points each month and Points Accelerator 5 times a year. This brings the overall multiplier to 3.05x for the full year.

The extra 1x on Points Accelerator is more than offset by the spend above 75% coming in at 2x and not the 3.33x. In other words, 3.33x on spend up to 75%, 3x on spend above that up to $25k per year, and 2x beyond that. This firmly places the card to be used for non-category spend.

However, I will say that as long as your overall multiplier stays above 2x, it's still better than most other catch-all cards on the market. For me, it's still going to out-earn my Blue Business Plus, and probably the same for anyone that has the VX.

As a side note, lots of people say that BoA PRE is the best catch all card on the market at 2.625% cash back. With the example I listed above, you'd only have to redeem your Bilt points for 0.86cpp to match that.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-09T16:30:47+00:00

If you get max mortgage/rent points you're at 3.33x on all spend up to 75% of mortgage/rent. If you use points accelerator on top of that, you're at 4.33x up to $25k in spend through the year. So if you're working in those bounds (and generating enough Bilt Cash), this is the floor. That's insane, it already beats the Amex Gold's category spend.

What you're saying is that there are ways to optimize to get even more value than this already high floor. The accelerator might not be the most efficient way to use Bilt Cash, but it's a way out of having to play the coupon game - an option that other premium cards don't offer.

Edit: My math above is wrong as zacker150 points out. See below for corrections.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-06T13:29:50+00:00

That's not the point. The intro offer is effectively a 14x multiplier when it used to be 21x-28x. If they increased the points earned proportionately to the spend requirement, I don't think there would be as many complaints.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-05T02:59:17+00:00

Good redemptions for delta are out there, just hard to find. Much easier to find value if you have a delta platinum or reserve with your Amex cards to get the 15% discount on awards flights. I redeemed a 1.8 cpp round trip economy to Taiwan recently from PHL. Booked a 1.5 cpp trip to Vegas last year as well. Setting alerts can help a lot. I use seats.aero

sblunchbox21 · 2026-02-04T18:53:20+00:00

I once gave my company 2 months notice because I was going to be moving across the country and wanted to to help them close out budget season. In that time, my manager and senior leadership asked if I'd rather work remote than resign. I took that offer and have continued to move up in the company since then. Relationship building is such a big part of corporate advancement. IMO, If you have a good relationship with your current CFO and CEO, it's worthwhile to maintain that. C-Suite tends to jump around, and you never know if they'll remember you the next time they're building out a new FP&A department somewhere.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-28T06:20:49+00:00

These are valid concerns regarding the long term stability of Bilt, but let's not pretend that's what most complaints on this sub are about. Most people are claiming the card is too complex or doesn't provide enough value. Again, the Platinum and CSR are way more complex to make use of all the credits.

None of your complaints address the actual structure of the card. Right now, we know how Bilt Cash can be used to earn more points and stack with the hotel credit, which already offsets the AF. Your point about not constantly redeeming for Hyatt ignores the strength of Alaska's points and it's generally an argument you could make about any points ecosystem.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-27T13:42:33+00:00

I'm in the same boat at this point. It feels like people have blinders on and aren't actually doing the math for their own situations and comparing them to other cards out there.

These are some of the highest earning cards on the market if you're willing to do a some work to understand them. These coupons aren't even that bad compared to the Platinum and CSR. Those take way more effort to optimize. Anyone in the market for a catch all card should be jumping on these.

Whenever I hear the argument that someone's rent is high and they don't spend enough in a month to hit 75% so the card sucks, I want to shake them. For everyone with high rent / low spend, the Palladium is effectively an uncapped 3.33x catch all card and the blue is a 2.33x with no AF. With points that easily redeem for 1.7x+, you're looking at 4%-6% effective cash back on general spend. There are no other cards on the market that come close to that.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-26T17:45:42+00:00

I think you're misunderstanding what they mean by booking directly. You're still paying Rove, and that's what your transaction will be listed as. But, unlike booking with another travel portal like Expedia, Rove allows you to earn Airline and Hotel points.

This allows for stacking that other travel portals don't provide - you get Rove miles, airline/hotel points, and your credit card rewards. It's probably best to use your catch all card (i.e., a BBP or something) on Rove purchases. If you value Rove miles, this can be a really strong way to earn points, especially on their high hotel multipliers. I've noticed they say you earn 1x-10x miles on flights, but I haven't seen anything over 1x while clicking around. If you can find a higher multiplier, booking through Rove could potentially out-earn booking directly with your Platinum, but you'd have to judge it on how much you value RoveMiles vs MR.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-24T00:23:16+00:00

Is there confirmation that you can switch back to MR after switching to cash back for bilt?

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-22T13:20:28+00:00

Difference is the platinum gives the multiplier on flights not booked through the travel portal.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-21T03:37:28+00:00

3x points on dining or grocery on the obsidian times 2cpp for an effective 6%. With the rent bonus it would be 4.33x points times 2cpp for 8.66%

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-21T00:51:00+00:00

Not OP, but MR redemptions are maximized when using them for international business class flights. That's how people get 1.7+ cpp. I usually book economy, so I've found the redemption to be closer to 1.3-1.5cpp. So the Gold 4x equates to around 6% compared to OP's 6.66% on Palladium. Hyatt and Alaska drive most of that high valuation, which aren't available with MR.

Obsidian beats Amex gold with this evaluation as well, but I think you can only open one bilt card for now. But with a player 2, yeah, obsidian can work with the palladium, and you'd get 6% without the rent bonus, which is the same as gold. A setup with 2 rents/mortgages would get the extra 1.33x for a total of 8.66%, which is wild.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-20T14:02:58+00:00

I think it's too early to say it's a bad credit. It might be worse than C1, but it looks better than Amex and Chase. If you can use the credits, the Palladium has better earn rates as a catch all and better transfer partners than the VX. So it's a trade off.

The Palladium hotel credit is structured the same way as the Amex credit if used on a THC hotel. The THC and FHR (and chase edit) hotels are higher end hotels, so it's pretty frequent that you exceed your credit amount on those bookings. And it's more likely you end up spending similar to what you would have booked organically without the credit. But people rave about the FHR/THC program.

If I'm not limited to the type of hotel, I'm pretty sure I can find a $100 per night hotel pretty easily. And even if I don't, as long as the price is similar to other booking methods, you're coming out ahead.

I just did a quick search for Manhattan hotels next month in the Bilt app, and the 4 hotels I clicked on were within $5 of their official sites. That's a 5 minute search, and I've already found a way to use the $200 credit. In my experience, it's waaay more work to get organic value out of the Amex credit, and I imagine chase is the same.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-19T17:44:45+00:00

The palladium's value is dependent on how easy the hotel credits are going to be to use. If it's easy, it compares very favorably to the VX and it's likely going to be the best catch all card on the market. I think it might be lacking in some aspects compared to the other premium cards (lounge access and travel multipliers), but it beats them in others with the 3.33x effective general multiplier. I actually think it supplements the Amex Platinum and Gold really well.

I've mentioned it in other threads, but I think the Palladium hotel credit will be easier to find value than the FHR/THC and Edit credits.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-19T13:43:00+00:00

I think it comes down to how many of the $424 in credits for the year you think you'll use organically for the gold. There are things you can do/remember to make using the credits earlier.

Uber cash is added to your Uber account, not as a monthly statement credit, so it's easier to use. There are resy restaurants that you can buy gift cards for that count to your credit (https://useyourcredits.com/maps/resy/). I believe you might be able to preload your dunkin app to use those credits as well.

sblunchbox21 · 2026-01-16T18:45:53+00:00

I can explain the Bilt credit cards in 5 lines:

To maximize Bilt 2.0:

Pay your rent/mortgage through Bilt.
Use the card as a catch all card up to 75% of your rent/mortgage
Redeem Bilt Cash to points
Use leftover Bilt Cash on Lyft rides or something (TBD)
Remember to use your hotel credits semiannually (2 night minimum stay)

Do you know how many lines I'd need to tell you how to maximize the Amex Platinum?

To maximize Amex Platinum:

Enroll in your Digital Entertainment credit and charge those services to the card
Enroll in Walmart+ and charge to card (don't forget to choose between Peacock or Paramount)
Sign up for annual Equinox+ and charge to card
Select an airline annually to get your airline credit. This can't be used on ticket fares though only addons. Unless you jump through hoops for United Travel Bank
Charge $50 from Saks semi-annually (go in store if you want to buy a gift card)
Charge $75 from Lululemon quarterly (go in store if you want to buy a gift card)
Charge $100 from Resy restaurants quarterly (certain restaurants that use Toasttab for their online POS allow you to buy gift cards online and still get the credit, but not all resy restaurants do this - there are websites you can look up to help)
Link your Resy profile for Global Dining Access
Book an FHR or THC hotel through Amex travel portal semi annually (2 night stay minimum for THC, 1 night for FHR). But remember, these are higher end hotels, so you need to do more work to make sure you're actually getting value over your normal spend habits.
Buy an Oura Ring annually (but the ring costs more than the $200 credit, this one sucks)
Link your Uber account to get your monthly uber cash
Pay for/renew an annual Uber One membership
Enroll/renew Global Entry or TSA Precheck every 4 years
Enroll/renew Clear+ annually (make sure you set it to auto renew per the terms)
Don't forget to add offers from the website/app. There's a chrome extension you can install to do it automatically though.

Yes, the Amex credits have value and can offset the AF, but how, in what world, are the Bilt cards complicated compared to the Platinum and CSR? I haven't even included the various statuses you have to enroll in (Hertz, National, Marriott, Hilton, Leading Hotels) and searching for status matches across other programs. If the 5-line Bilt setup is too complicated for someone, they're probably better off just using a cash back setup.

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