Rakuten You Can Now Earn Bilt Points – What Are You Waiting For? Do it!!
You know that I love shopping portals AKA how to earn cashback/points or miles for online (and some in-person) shopping. I use both the AA shopping portal (to earn AA miles) and Rakuten which allows you to earn cashback or Amex Membership Reward points! But Rakuten recently upped their game and announced the opportunity to now earn Bilt Points as well. Let’s dive into why I think this is a huge opportunity that most shouldn’t miss!
What is Rakuten?
Rakuten is a shopping portal that allows you to earn cash back when booking travel, doing your holiday shopping or even opening bank accounts! If you are doing any of these activities, it will be eye opening to see how much money you could be putting back in your pocket!
For all of the details on Rakuten, check out my review/how to use post including what else you can earn cash back on, how you get paid and more!
How does Rakuten work?
If you’ve never used a cash-back shopping site or are just curious in general, you may be asking yourself how this works so here you go:
- If you are new to Rakuten,you can get $50 for signing up!
- You will then search for the merchant on Rakuten to see if they offer cashback (ie unfortunately Costco and *Amazon are two popular retailers that do not participate -*every once in a while, you can earn some cashback when Amazon pops back onto the portal but it’s not often)
- Either click on the Rakuten extension and activate the cash-back for the store OR Click on the store to activate cash back on the app*
- Rakuten will add a ‘tracking cookie’ as you make your purchase on the merchant’s site
- Once the purchase is processed and the order information is sent to Rakuten, you will be notified that cash back has been added to your account.
- You get paid by Rakuten every three months for any cashback earned and confirmed
Beautiful Tip: I strongly suggest using the app for your purchases as the tracking is more seamless but if choose not to or like to shop from a computer, you should definitely add the Rakuten extension to Chrome (unfortunately Safari security makes it harder to track purchases so I use Chrome if shopping via browser).
Another question you may have what is the cost? There isn’t any as it is free to join and there are no fees to use!
TLDR version: You shop with one small difference being that you do it through Rakuten. They get paid by the store for your business and then pay you in return for shopping through them – this is why the tracking cookie is so important!
Rakuten Update: Ability to Earn Bilt Points!
The rumors were true and as of November 2025, it’s possible to earn Bilt points for online shopping with Rakuten!
Key Details for Bilt and Rakuten Partnership
- For the next six months (or the next two payouts: February 15, 2025 & May 15, 2026 as Rakuten pays out quarterly), all Bilt members will receive a 1:1 conversion rate, meaning every $10 in Rakuten cash back equals 1,000 Bilt points
- After that introductory period, Bilt Silver, Gold, and Platinum members, will maintain that transfer ratio, while non-elite Bilt members will receive 50 Bilt points per dollar in Rakuten cash back
- Those rates remain subject to change over time, and note that points earned through this partnership don’t count toward Bilt elite status
How To Earn Bilt Points through Rakuten
How can you start earning Bilt points with Rakuten? If you’re not yet a member of Rakuten, I’d recommend signing up through a refer a friend link before you set up your account for this partnership. That’s because the current refer a friend bonus gets you $50 in rewards (5,000 Bilt points) upon completing eligible activity, while Bilt’s offer only gets you 2,500 Bilt points in rewards.
So once you have a Rakuten account, you’ll want to either visit this link, or go to the Bilt app. Once in the Bilt app or on the Bilt website, navigate to the “Rewards” section, and then select the “Everyday rewards” section. There you’ll see the “Earn points with Rakuten” heading, so click on “Get started.”
If you have an existing account (again use this a refer a friend link and get $50 once you have spent $50), click on the “Create account & link” button. Make sure that the emails associated with your Bilt and Rakuten accounts match.
An “account linking successful” message will then display.
In your Rakuten account, once you’ve successfully linked your accounts, under the “Account” section, and you’ll see that the account shows that you’ll be earning Bilt points as your reward. Reminder that all rewards amounts always show in cash, but are then converted into Bilt points at the rate of $10 in Rakuten cash back equals 1,000 Bilt points or in my case, I will get 22,757 Bilt points on 2/15/2026 (confirmed $139.32 +pending $88.25 = $227.57 x 100)
The great part about this is that even though I was originally earning Amex points, I was able to switch to Bilt points during this earning cycle and all cashback will be converted to Bilt points!
What is Bilt Rewards?
For those unfamiliar, Bilt Rewards is a loyalty program designed for renters to earn points on rent payments with no fees, as well as on everyday spending. It’s completely free to sign up, and you can start earning points immediately. You can transfer these points to major airline and hotel partners, including Accor, or redeem them for travel, fitness classes, and even rent credits.
Furthermore, a Bilt Mastercard allows you to pay your rent and EARN Bilt Rewards for doing so! If you do sign up for the credit card, please also use my link to create your Bilt Rewards profile otherwise Bilt will not grant me any referral points.**Note that Bilt is currently revamping their rewards + credit cards and is set to announce new products as well as the enhanced ability to earn on mortgages!!
What Makes Bilt Points (so) Valuable?
Bilt points are flexible and be be transferred to the following hotel and airline partners at a 1:1 ratio except for ALL and Marriott Bonvoy/
Some of the more interesting partners are Japan Airlines (whose only other partner is Capital One with a less favorable transfer ratio!), Atmos (Alaska + Hawaiian Airlines) and Emirates.
For many, the ability to transfer to Hyatt makes Bilt points extremely valuable as the only other partner is Chase bank.
Why You Should Do This (Some Real World Examples of Miles + Points)
For those wanting to maximize their spend, earning Bilt points through Rakuten takes things up several levels. How? The value that you get from converting to Bilt points then transferring to one of their airlines or hotel partners can be worth so much more than the cashback you would be getting in dollars.
Need a little more convincing – let me show you some real world values I have gotten from miles + points? Take the $227.57, I am slated to earn in cashback on 2/15/26. As I have selected to earn Bilt points, that $ will be converted to 22,757 Bilt points.
Bilt Airline Partner – United Airline (Direct Flight from Cabo to Denver)
Instead of shelling out $410+ each way to go to Cabo, I used 20,000 miles for my direct flight home on this epic trip that including seeing breaching whales (both on this amazing excursion and from my insane upgraded two bedroom villa!)
Bilt Hotel Partner – Hyatt (Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile – Paris2024 Olympics!)
I was able to go on a bucket list trip to the Olympics because only because of points! They were also how I managed to spend less than €1,500/$1,620 IN TOTAL for a 13 day attending Paris2024! One night at the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile cost only 18,000 Hyatt points instead of spending $874.93!
About Author
Rosemary is a travel hacker, points nerd and female solo traveler who’s explored 70+ countries without a trust fund, sugar daddy, or sponsored content. Every mile, upgrade, and trip is completely self-funded using a mix of points, miles, and cash or earned with elite status. And she shows you the receipts along with a mildly concerning amount of spreadsheets. Through firsthand experience and plenty of trial and error, she teaches everyday travelers the art of travel hacking and how they too can travel for cheaper, better, and more often. While Rosemary doesn’t take herself too seriously, she does take award travel (and searching for the best ice cream) seriously – because seeing the world shouldn’t be reserved for the rich, the retired, or content creators with brand deals.
