NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New Valley
Ventures, an investment vehicle managed by Douglas Elliman's parent
company, Vector Group (NYSE: VGR), announced today a renter
rewards program via strategic investment in Bilt Rewards, the first
loyalty program and co-brand credit card for renters. The
investment comes as Douglas Elliman officially joins the Bilt
Rewards Alliance, a network of more than 2 million rental units
across the country where renters can enroll in the loyalty program
to earn points on rent with no fees.
"We are proud to support and align ourselves with Bilt Rewards
as its program fills a gap in the market to set renters up for
financial success and encourage a path towards homeownership," says
Scott Durkin, CEO of Douglas
Elliman.
"New Valley Ventures is dedicated to investing in innovative
tech-driven solutions for the greater real estate community," adds
Dan Sachar, Managing Director of New
Valley Ventures and Vice President of Enterprise Innovation for
Vector Group.
The funding round, which also counts Mastercard, Wells Fargo and
other leading real estate property owners including AvalonBay
Communities, Equity Residential, GID, Lennar, The Moinian Group,
Morgan Properties, Starwood Capital Group, and Related Group as
investors, will propel Bilt Rewards to further expand its loyalty
partner network, grow its organic distribution channels, and open
the Bilt Rewards platform and Bilt Mastercard more widely to the
public.
Launched this June by Kairos HQ, Bilt Rewards is the
first-ever loyalty program and co-brand credit card for renters,
enabling the country's 109 million renters to finally earn points
on their largest monthly expense with no fees. By offering the Bilt
Rewards program to tenants across Douglas Elliman's rental
portfolio including new development projects, residents can
now earn points with every on-time rent payment.
"Douglas Elliman is continuously looking for new ways to improve
the renting experience and build long-lasting relationships with
our residents," says Matthew
Villetto, Executive Vice President of Douglas Elliman
Development Marketing, on the investment and partnership. "Bilt is
unique in that it offers a true win-win platform for renters and
property managers where everyone can benefit."
Additionally, Douglas Elliman residents will be among the first
to receive an invitation for the Bilt Mastercard, the first credit
card that allows users to pay their rent with no fee. With the
card, Douglas Elliman residents can earn 1x points on every dollar
of rent, 2x points on travel purchases, 3x points on dining, and 1x
points on all other non-rent purchases, allowing them to maximize
rewards potential, all with no annual fee.
Through Bilt, renters can redeem points for travel across over
100 major airlines and hotels, fitness classes at the country's top
boutique studios, and can even use points towards rent credits or a
future down payment on a home. When paying rent through the Bilt
Rewards app, members can also have their rent payments reported to
the credit bureaus at no cost, which can help build credit history
for millions of young renters.
Bilt Rewards CEO and Founder Ankur
Jain continues, "Our relationships with the country's top
real estate owners, property technology investors, property
managers, and brokerages, now including New Valley Ventures
and Douglas Elliman, has helped us to develop the best value
proposition for everyone involved in the renting equation. We are
excited to work hand-in-hand in building a program that will
transform the renting experience as we know it for millions of
people across the country."
New Valley Ventures continues to invest in promising,
next-generation technologies in order to propel the real estate
industry into the future and further benefit the agent, renter and
buyer experience. In doing so, New Valley Ventures utilizes its
deep industry knowledge through Douglas Elliman to advise on
meaningful digital development, tech solutions and financial
software.
"We are excited to offer our residents access to this
trailblazing program and to work with Bilt in growing this
product," explains Hal D. Gavzie,
Executive Manager of Leasing at Douglas Elliman. "This partnership
underscores Douglas Elliman's commitment to fostering long-term
relationships with our clientele, from renters to homeowners and
landlords, in addition to generating creative solutions to ease the
home seeking process."
For more information on Bilt Rewards,
visit BiltRewards.com or download the Bilt Rewards
app.
ABOUT VECTOR GROUP
Vector Group is a holding
company for Liggett Group LLC, Vector Tobacco Inc., New Valley LLC
and Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC. Additional information concerning
the company is available on the Company's
website, www.vectorgroupltd.com.
ABOUT DOUGLAS ELLIMAN
Established in 1911, Douglas
Elliman Real Estate is the largest brokerage in the New York Metropolitan area and one of the
largest independent residential real estate brokerages in
the United States.
With approximately 7,000 agents, the company operates
approximately 100 offices in New York
City, Long Island, The
Hamptons, Westchester,
Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Texas. Moreover, Douglas Elliman has a
strategic global alliance with London-based Knight Frank Residential for
business in the worldwide luxury markets spanning 61 countries
and six continents. The company also controls a portfolio of real
estate services including Douglas Elliman Development Marketing,
Douglas Elliman Property Management and Douglas Elliman Commercial.
For more information on Douglas Elliman as well as expert
commentary on emerging trends in the real estate industry, please
visit elliman.com.
ABOUT BILT REWARDS
Launched by Kairos HQ in
June 2021, Bilt Rewards is the
first-ever loyalty program that allows renters to earn points on
rent with no fees and builds a path towards homeownership. Through
a partnership with the nation's largest real estate owners
including Avalon Bay Communities, Equity Residential, Related,
Starwood Capital Group and more, Bilt Rewards enables renters in
more than two million units across the country to earn points just
by paying rent. Bilt Rewards boasts one of the highest value
rewards programs on the market today, including one-to-one point
transfers to 9 loyalty programs allowing travel across over
100 major airlines and hotel partners; fitness classes at the
country's top boutique studios including SoulCycle, Rumble and
Y7; limited-edition and exclusive
collections of art and home decor through the Bilt Collection, and
the ability to use Bilt points for rent credits or towards a future
downpayment. Bilt has also partnered with Mastercard to create the
Bilt Mastercard - the first and only credit card that can be used
to pay rent with no fees. For more information,
visit BiltRewards.com.
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SOURCE Douglas Elliman