{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Strong New York Podcast","title":"Everything You Know About Renting is Wrong with Sam Bakhshandehpour","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/4dc70a1b\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4106,"description":"This week on Strong New York Podcast, Kenny sits down with Sam Bakhshandehpour, President of Merchants at Bilt, the platform that turned paying rent — historically \"the worst day of the month\" — into a rewards-earning, community-building experience.\nSam's story starts long before Bilt: fleeing Iran with his mother at age 6 during the revolution, believing his father had been executed, then rebuilding a life from nothing in America. That immigrant grit carried him through decades in hospitality — running 80+ hotels and 50+ restaurants, including time at the Ritz-Carlton — before he came in-house at Bilt to help build what he calls a \"B2B2C\" neighborhood commerce network connecting your home, your merchants, and your travel into one loyalty ecosystem.\nIn this episode, Kenny and Sam get into:What Bilt actually is (hint: it's not just a credit card) and how it evolved from a rent-rewards program to a full lifestyle platformWhy one in four apartment buildings in the U.S. — and over 100,000 mortgages a week — are now on the Bilt networkHow Bilt's AI concierge orchestrates everything from dinner reservations to Lyft rides to gym check-insThe hospitality lessons Sam learned running nightlife, restaurants, and hotels — and what \"the gold standard\" of hospitality really meansWhy merchants are racing to connect with new tenants the moment they move inBilt's next frontier: health and wellness, HSA/FSA integration, and Sam's vision for AI-personalized nutrition and recoveryBuilding real community in a hyper-connected, increasingly isolated worldIf you've ever wondered how your rent, your credit card, and your neighborhood favorite restaurant are all quietly becoming part of the same ecosystem — this one's for you.\nCONNECT:  \nFollow Kenny: @kennysantucci\nFollow the Strong New York Podcast: @strongnewyorkpod\nFollow Sam Bakhshandehpour:  @sambakhshandepour\nFollow Bilt:  @bilt\n#StrongNewYork #Bilt #KennySantucci #RentRewards #Hospitality #Fintech #NYCPodcast #Wellness...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/2Xk0ZfTav_YYXRVY33jR580T6b9XsLam3nbonxuWOrE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ODY5/ODY1MDY4ZWQyNzg0/OWQxOThmY2JlMTc3/MDExOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}