Bilt Appoints Sam Bakhshandehpour as President of Local Merchants, Expanding Its Hospitality and Neighborhood Commerce Ecosystem

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 17, 2026--

Bilt, the membership for where you live, today announced the appointment of Sam Bakhshandehpour as President of Local Merchants. In this role, he will lead Bilt's continued expansion across dining, hotels, travel, retail, and neighborhood commerce.

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Ankur Jain and Sam Bakhshandehpour

Bilt has redefined loyalty by enabling members to earn rewards on housing – the single largest consumer expense – and is continuing to build a national ecosystem connecting where people live with where they dine, travel, and shop. With more than 45,000 merchant partners and relationships spanning airlines, hotels, fitness, and lifestyle brands, Bilt has become a powerful operating engine for neighborhood commerce.

Bakhshandehpour will lead the strategic growth of Bilt's merchant platform, partnering with leading restaurant groups, hotel and travel operators, premium retailers, and lifestyle brands to deepen member engagement and deliver measurable value to merchants.

"We’re building far more than a traditional loyalty platform: we’ve created a membership for where you live, connecting housing, hospitality, retail, and local commerce at scale," said Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO of Bilt. "Sam is the perfect addition to the team to bring this to life, having built and operated complex global hospitality platforms. He also understands how to align premium brands within an ecosystem that drives both guest experience and long-term value."

Bakhshandehpour brings extensive global hospitality, travel, and investment expertise to Bilt. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive Officer of José Andrés Group, overseeing a portfolio of more than 50 restaurants across nine markets and expanding the company's luxury hotel partnerships. Previously, he was President and CEO of sbe Entertainment, leading a global platform spanning more than 80 hotel, dining, and nightlife venues worldwide. He began his career at J.P. Morgan in investment banking, leading the Global Gaming and West Coast Real Estate & Lodging practice. He has been recognized on Observer's Nightlife & Dining Power List in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

"I've spent nearly three decades building and operating hospitality platforms at scale," said Bakhshandehpour. "Bilt is building the connective layer between those experiences and the everyday lives of members. The future of loyalty lies at the intersection of where people live and where they spend their time, and that requires an integrated ecosystem delivering measurable value for both consumers and the operators who serve them."

About Bilt

Bilt is the first membership for where you live that allows members to earn rewards on rent – while building a path to homeownership – as well as mortgage and HOA payments. The Bilt Alliance, developed in partnership with some of the nation’s largest residential owners and operators, is a network of more than 5.5 million homes across the country that rewards residents on each housing payment and enables property managers to increase resident loyalty and cost savings. Launched in June 2021, Bilt boasts the highest value rewards programs on the market today: including one-to-one point transfers for travel across major airlines and hotel partners; fitness classes at the country's top boutique studios; and the ability to use Bilt Points for rent credits, rideshare, home delivery, parking, toward a future down payment on a home or eligible student loans, and more. For more information, visit www.bilt.com.

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Deniz Sonmez |[email protected]

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA NEW YORK

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: RESIDENTIAL BUILDING & REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL BUILDING & REAL ESTATE CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY

SOURCE: Bilt

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PUB: 02/17/2026 12:04 PM/DISC: 02/17/2026 12:05 PM

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