Bilt, the New York rewards and membership company built around rent and housing payments, acquired Sion, a commission management and reconciliation platform for travel advisors, for $30 million, it announced on 11 March 2026.
Sion will continue to operate independently under its co-founders, Irving Betesh and Alfons Musry, and will keep its existing customer relationships and services. The form of payment was not disclosed.
It is Bilt's second acquisition in 11 months. The company said the deal extends what it calls its hospitality platform, which already serves residential properties and neighbourhood merchants, to travel advisors.
What Sion built
Sion, founded in 2018 and based in New Jersey, sells software that helps travel advisors and agencies track and collect the commissions that travel suppliers owe them. It reconciles bookings against payments, automates follow-ups on unpaid invoices and helps advisors manage payments.
The platform manages more than $7 billion in travel booking revenue and is used by more than 8,000 travel advisors, according to Bilt. Sion reports an 85% success rate on invoice follow-ups.
The sources did not report Sion's revenue, headcount or any outside funding.
Sion's software has four main parts. Commission tracking gives advisors live data on bookings and the commissions they should expect. Reconciliation automatically matches incoming payments, including TACS and electronic funds transfers, to bookings. Commission chasing generates invoices and sends them to suppliers when payments are late, and agent statements work out commission splits for individual advisors inside an agency.
Sion runs separate portals for travel agencies and for hotels and other suppliers. Betesh is co-founder and chief executive, and Musry is co-founder and chief operating officer. In May 2025 the company won the American Society of Travel Advisors' Entrepreneur of the Year award, presented at ASTA's Travel Advisor Conference in Salt Lake City.
“Our customers rely on Sion daily, and that won't change.”
Why Bilt is buying
Bilt launched in 2021 as a rewards programme and credit card for renters. Members earn points on housing payments, use local services and redeem points for flights, hotels, dining and fitness. Its residential network, the Bilt Alliance, covers more than 6 million homes through partnerships with property owners and operators.
Travel is one of the most popular ways Bilt members use their points. Buying Sion gives Bilt the technology and team to build a network of travel advisors who can plan and book trips for its members. Founder and chief executive Ankur Jain said Bilt's hospitality platform already helps properties and merchants deliver their best customer experience, and the deal extends that "by giving travel advisors the tools to run their entire business more effectively."
"This is what building a membership truly centered around where you live looks like," Jain said.
Jain said the aim is a network of strong advisors. "By giving travel advisors the tools to run their entire business more effectively, we're building a network of the world's best travel advisors, and our members benefit from that," he said, according to Travel Weekly.
What happens to Sion's customers
Sion's founders said little will change for current users. "Our customers rely on Sion daily, and that won't change," Musry said. "What changes is what we're now able to build."
The two companies plan to work on better commission reconciliation and tracking, more automated invoice follow-up and new tools for managing bookings and payments.
Betesh presented the deal as support for independent advisors rather than competition with them. "Travel businesses don't need another intermediary trying to compete with them," he said. "They need modern infrastructure and software that solves real operational problems."
Musry called the sale a meaningful milestone for Sion and a step forward for its customers. Travel Weekly reported that Sion will be run independently by its co-founders under the Bilt umbrella while adding Bilt's platform and network.
Rewards programmes move into travel services
By owning software that thousands of advisors already use to run their businesses, Bilt aims to connect those advisors with its members, who already redeem points for flights and hotels.
Bilt did not say how quickly members would be able to book through Sion-connected advisors.
