BILT, issued by Wells Fargo, recognised the immense potential of travel as a key driver for increasing engagement and card usage. To bring this vision to life, BILT partnered with Odynn to make travel a central feature of its platform, enhancing customer experience and maximising revenue opportunities.
The Challenge
BILT, known for offering a unique rewards ecosystem that allows users to earn points on rent and everyday spending, faced two significant challenges in optimising travel as a core rewards category. Many credit card users lacked awareness of how to leverage transferable loyalty programs effectively, leading to missed redemption opportunities. Additionally, the existing transfer process required cardholders to move their membership points before knowing how much they needed or where they intended to use them, creating a confusing and inefficient experience that deterred engagement.
Odynn’s Approach
By integrating Odynn’s technology, BILT transformed the travel experience for its users, offering seamless point transfers, intuitive price comparisons, and a frictionless booking process. With Odynn’s capabilities, users can seamlessly transfer their BILT points to BILT’s loyalty program partners within the platform, removing previous limitations and enhancing flexibility. Additionally, Awayz – powered by Odynn – presents point values in an intuitive format, and with the upcoming version 2.0, users will also have access to cash price comparisons, ensuring more informed redemption decisions. To further streamline the experience, booking is completed directly on loyalty partners’ websites, eliminating data storage concerns and hidden fees while ensuring a smooth and secure process.
Impact & Results
BILT’s partnership with Odynn made an immediate and measurable impact on user engagement, loyalty point transfers, and travel-related redemptions at a critical time when consumers are increasingly looking for flexibility and maximized value from their rewards programs. With rising travel demand and shifting consumer behaviours, BILT needed a seamless solution to empower users with smarter and more efficient travel redemption options. Odynn provided the technology and expertise to transform travel into a frictionless, high-value experience that met these evolving expectations.
The collaboration generated widespread media attention, with over 35 media outlets covering the launch and ongoing mentions from influencers, creators, and publishers. Within just 24 hours of introducing a new transfer partner, millions of BILT points were seamlessly transferred through Odynn’s embedded functionality. User activity on the platform also surged, with visits to BILT’s travel tab more than doubled from August 2023 to February 2024. Additionally, travel quickly became a top redemption choice, jumping from the fifth most popular category (11%) to the second (40%), reinforcing its newfound importance within the BILT rewards ecosystem.
By leveraging Odynn’s proprietary technology, BILT was able to offer a streamlined, user-friendly experience that removed friction, provided transparency, and enhanced engagement. The ability to compare points and cash values, coupled with direct booking integration, enabled users to make more informed redemption decisions – converting passive points holders into active travellers. The results underscore not just the success of the integration, but also the urgency for financial services to modernize their loyalty programs with scalable, intelligent solutions like those offered by Odynn.
Measurable Success
BILT’s travel program has demonstrated sustained user growth, high engagement, and exceptional conversion rates. Weekly active users and new unique users interacting with BILT Transfer Partners have steadily increased, with the former growing at an impressive 38% rate and an average session duration of 4 minutes. User activity peaks have aligned with key US travel seasons and media exposure, underscoring the program’s growing relevance and appeal.
The platform’s exceptionally low bounce rate of ~5% – far outperforming the industry benchmark of 20% – 45% – reflects a highly engaging and valuable experience for users. Additionally, 99.8% of hotel searches leveraged Awayz’s proprietary calendar function, powered by Odynn, with nearly half of BILT users proceeding to book through the hotel partner’s link – more than double the industry’s 20% average conversion rate.
Seasonal Usage Trends
Activity peaks aligned with key US travel seasons and media attention, highlighting the program’s growing relevance.
Industry-Leading Retention Rates
- The Awayz bounce rate sits at ~5% significantly outperforming the industry average of 20% - 45%.
- This reflects a highly engaging and valuable experience for users.
Powerful Search & Conversion Rates
- 99.8% of users who performed a hotel search engaged with Awayz’s proprietary calendar function, powered by Odynn.
- Nearly half of BILT users who searched via the Awayz points calendar proceeded to complete a booking— more than double the industry’s 20% conversion average.
Next Steps: Expanding the Travel Ecosystem
BILT is continuing to enhance its travel offerings by exploring new opportunities and deeper integrations. The goal is to provide users with a seamless and flexible booking experience while maximising the value of their loyalty rewards. By leveraging innovative technology, BILT aims to improve real-time pricing transparency and optimise redemption options. Future developments will focus on strengthening partnerships and enhancing the user experience, ensuring travellers have access to a more intuitive and rewarding booking process.
Why Banks Should Leverage Travel Portals & Loyalty Programs
As competition in financial services intensifies, banks must look beyond traditional rewards to drive engagement, increase spending, and build deeper customer relationships. Travel portals and loyalty programs offer three significant advantages. First, they create a compelling reason for customers to keep their cards top-of-wallet, as travel remains one of the most desired and frequently redeemed rewards categories. Second, they enhance brand loyalty by providing seamless, high-value redemption experiences that increase customer satisfaction and long-term retention. Third, they generate additional revenue opportunities, as customers who engage with travel rewards are more likely to increase their overall card usage, leading to higher transaction volumes and interchange fees.
Conclusion
BILT’s strategic partnership with Odynn has transformed travel rewards into a key driver of engagement, card usage, and customer satisfaction. With intuitive pricing insights, and a frictionless booking experience, BILT has set a new standard in loyalty rewards. As the ecosystem continues to evolve with innovations like Cash & Miles Flight Search and enhanced loyalty data integration, the potential for growth remains limitless.
To explore how Odynn’s cutting-edge technology can enhance your financial services offerings, visit Odynn on the NayaOne platform today.
