MONACO — Forbes Travel Guide and Bilt joined forces at The Summit luxury hotel conference here on Thursday to unveil Bilt Verified, a new platform that connects the Forbes Travel Guide's network of rated hotels with Bilt's membership base of more than 5.5 million U.S. homes.
Bilt offers a loyalty program and credit card that enables renters and homeowners to earn points on rent or mortgage payments.
The Bilt Verified launch coincides with the debut of the Bilt Neighborhood Concierge, an AI-powered service designed to manage everything from rent payments to restaurant reservations, fitness classes and travel bookings for Bilt users.
Set to begin rolling out globally this April, Bilt Verified will plug Forbes Travel Guide's star-rated hotels into Bilt's concierge platform to surface personalized hotel recommendations. Bilt Verified will also connect to Bilt's Home Away From Home luxury hotel rewards program, which the company launched in collaboration with Virtuoso last year.
During a media press conference, Forbes Travel Guide chairman Jeff Arnold called Bilt Verified "the greatest matchmaking opportunity" in hospitality.
"What Forbes Travel Guide is doing is training the concierge all about Forbes Travel Guide-rated properties, so those properties can be discovered," explained Arnold. "Discoverability is going to be a really big deal. We're going to make sure [hotels are] discovered, we're going to make sure there’s matchmaking, and then we're going to do the experiential piece."
Eligible luxury hotels that join Bilt Verified will gain access to targeted demand generation, direct bookings, guest recognition and commission processing through Bilt. Hotels will retain control of their inventory, pricing, loyalty programs and travel advisor relationships.
Bilt users can also book fitness classes, make restaurant reservations and make other daily purchases via the Bilt platform, resulting in detailed member data that Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain said can ultimately make end-to-end trip personalization possible.
"We can arrange the car to the airport for you, we know you love Italian food in New York [and that] this restaurant right by the hotel is really similar, and we can arrange that reservation for you on your second night," explained Jain. "That end-to-end journey suddenly makes you feel like you’re at home on the other side of the world."
For travel advisors, Bilt Verified will connect directly to Forbes Travel Guide's Meridian platform, launched last year to serve its network of endorsed agencies.
According to Arnold, Bilt will be integrated into Meridian, which has now rebranded Meridian V, with the "V" standing for Verified. The integration will grant advisors access to Bilt's concierge tools, with a separate announcement on commission-related benefits and other advisor-focused features forthcoming.
Jain added that Bilt has continued to partner with Virtuoso to build tools for the advisor community, positioning Bilt's concierge as a resource for advisors, rather than a competitor.
"All of a sudden, with Bilt, you have our full concierge platform to help you with your clients, orchestrate 24/7 recommendations, escalate when you need it to the right people, and then drive the bookings," he said.