Capital One Venture Credit Card Review
Capital One Venture Credit Card
What we like:
Travelers who love staying in hotels
| Intro Offer | 50,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening |
| Rewards Rate | 2 miles per $1 spent on everyday purchases 10 miles per $1 spent on thousands of hotels, through Jan 2020 |
| Regular APR | 15.25% – 25.24% |
| Annual Fee | $95 (waived on first year) |
Card Details
Pros
The following are some of the main upsides to the Venture card:
- Simple rewards structure means you earn miles with no categories or opt-in requirements
- No foreign transaction fee and many travel-related benefits making it good for international travelers
- Large sign-up bonus
- 10x miles on thousands of hotels through hotels.com/venture until January 2020
- Miles can be transferred to 15 airline partners
- Application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck, plus other travel benefits
Cons
- $95 annual fee after the first year
- There’s no intro APR offer
- You’ll only earn 10 miles per dollar on certain hotels. Everything else earns 2x miles
- If you redeem miles for cash, you’ll get half the value compared to redeeming for travel
- You’ll need to have great credit to qualify
- The card might not be ideal for travelers who use a particular hotel loyalty program
Recommended Credit Score
Good/Excellent
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Is it Worth It?
The Capital One Venture Rewards credit card is often named as one of the best travel credit cards available, but how true is that? In general, it is a good option for frequent flyers if they travel internationally. The card offers quite a few travel-related perks, and cardholders can earn a whopping 10x miles on certain hotel purchases for a limited time.
But there are some possible downsides to be aware of, too. Keep reading to find out.
In this review:
- Capital One Venture Card Rewards and Benefits
- Downsides of the Capital One Venture Card
- How It Compares to Similar Cards
Capital One Venture Card Rewards and Benefits
Most of the perks and benefits that come with the Capital One Venture Card are geared toward travel—and international travel in particular.
Sign-Up Bonus
There’s a competitive one-time bonus of 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 within three months of account opening. That’s equal to $500 when redeemed for travel and could easily cover a plane ticket.
Rewards Program
When booking through the Venture program on Hotels.com, cardholders can earn 10 miles for each dollar they spend through January 2020. It’s unclear how these purchases will be valued in 2020, but currently, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better rewards rate on any of the best hotel credit cards.
All other purchases earn an unlimited 2 miles per $1 spent—a solid general rewards rate with no special categories or spending caps. Miles are worth one cent apiece when redeemed for travel, and if you book through Capital One’s travel center, you can find good deals on hotels, flights, rental cars, and vacation packages.
Rewards don’t expire, and cardholders can book through any site or service and redeem their travel miles. Miles can also be redeemed for cash back or a statement credit, but at a lower value.
There is also the option to transfer miles to one of more than 15 Capital One partner airlines including Air Canada, Air France, JetBlue, and Qantas. When cardholders redeem miles with airlines, there aren’t blackout dates.
If you book your travel outside of Capital One, you may qualify for Capital One Purchase Eraser, which allows cardholders to get a statement credit reimbursing them for their travel purchases.
Capital One Travel Insurance & Other Perks
As a leading travel rewards card, there are a number of travel perks associated with the Venture card.
First, cardholders will receive travel accident insurance, auto rental collision damage waivers, and 24-hour travel assistance services if they run into trouble while on a trip they paid for with their Venture card.
Next, cardholders will qualify for a $100 fee credit to put toward an application for Global Entry or TSA Precheck if they pay for the application with their Venture card. This can get you through security lines and onboard—or in the airport lounge—faster than ever.
Also, there are no foreign transaction fees if you use your card while shopping abroad.
Finally, Capital One offers Eno, an online program that monitors your accounts 24/7, sends alerts when something seems wrong, and generates virtual card numbers so you can protect yourself when shopping online.
Downsides of the Capital One Venture Card
One downside of the Capital One Venture Card is the $95 annual fee. This is a fairly standard fee for travel cards, and it’s waived for the first year. However, for $95, there are several other airline credit cards with attractive benefits, including companion passes, free checked bags, and even complimentary lounge access.
Also, if you decide to redeem miles as cash back or a statement credit instead of toward travel, the value of your miles is cut in half.
While you can transfer miles to airline partners, none are U.S. domestic carriers, so the card may only make sense for those planning to travel internationally. And when you transfer miles to partner airlines, you only get 1.5 miles for every 2 miles you’ve earned on your Venture card.
Finally, to earn the maximum hotel rewards, you have to book through hotels.com/venture, and only certain hotels are part of this program.
How It Compares to Similar Cards
The Venture Card is one of the best Capital One Credit Card available, and it’s a solid option for people who like to travel internationally and don’t want to be loyal to one airline. However, its benefits do start to dwindle for people who aren’t global travelers, or who don’t travel with Capital One’s partners.
Capital One Venture vs Chase Sapphire Preferred
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a travel and dining rewards card. Cardholders earn 2x points on travel and dining worldwide, and there’s currently a 60,000 bonus point offer which is worth $750 in travel if it’s redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards. On everyday purchases outside of eligible travel and dining, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns just 1x points. Both cards have a $95 annual fee, but Chase doesn’t wave its card for the first year.
Overall, the Capital One Venture Rewards Card comes out on top because of the bonus category earnings at Hotels.com and the double miles earning capabilities on everyday spending. However, you should look at both cards’ hotel and airline partners to determine which makes more sense for you.
Capital One Venture vs. VentureOne
The VentureOne card from Capital One is the lower-tier version of the Venture card. It has no annual fee, which is its one advantage over the $95 Venture card. The VentureOne earns an unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on all purchases and the same 10x miles on the hotels.com purchases through January 2020.
The welcome offer with the VentureOne card is lower as well—20,000 bonus miles for spending $1,000 on purchases within three months after opening an account—a smaller but more attainable spending bonus.
The VentureOne card might be a good option for someone who doesn’t travel quite enough to warrant paying for the Venture card. But bigger spenders would pay for the annual fee after spending $4,750, and the rest would be profit.
Bottom Line: Is the Capital One Venture Credit Card Right for You?
The Capital One Venture card is a premium card option that works well for people who spend a fair amount annually and who travel often, particularly internationally. It’s highly competitive to other similar travel cards, and the perks and flexible rewards you get make it a solid choice for travelers.
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