Limited-time offer: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Limited-time offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Quick Facts

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Review

There's two big factors determining how user friendly a travel card is: how easy it is to earn points with the card, and how affordable it is to keep the card long-term.

 First, the points “rewards structure” should actually be simple to understand; second, it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to actually hold onto the card over years to come. 

Who is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card for?

This is also a useful card for anyone looking to beef up their points-earning strategy. The earning rate of two points per dollar on all eligible purchases could maximize the points you earn alongside more specialized, say, travel and dining cards in your wallet. 

How to use the welcome offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The current welcome offer can get you a wide variety of travel experiences. Here are some ideas of what you could do with those points:

• Three roundtrip, economy tickets from the West Coast to Hawaii (transfer miles to Air Canada Aeroplan)
• Three roundtrip, economy tickets from the East Coast to Paris (transfer to Flying Blue)
• Three roundtrip, economy tickets to Orlando, Florida (transfer to Qantas)

Earning points with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

• Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
• Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars purchased through Capital One Travel

Many credit cards offer multiple points for every dollar spent on purchases in particular categories. Some cards earn you 3 points per dollar (3x) spent at gas stations or 4 points per dollar (4x) spent at grocery stores. 

That’s all well and good, but it can sometimes be hard to keep track of which card earns how much and where.

A card like this comes in handy for two reasons. First, if you only want to carry one card in your wallet, the Venture is an all-purpose workhorse—you get 2x on everything! 

Second, with it, you’ll still get 2x for spending in commonly “non-bonused” categories like book stores or thrift shops (I am speaking from experience as a book lover and thrift shopper); a specialized card will often only get you 1 point per dollar for purchases made outside its target categories. 

This feature also makes the Venture a good complement to the cards you may already have that maximize your points-earning in certain categories but not in others.

Redeeming points with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The best way to maximize your Capital One Miles is by transferring them to Capital One's network of airline partners. 

You could also use your miles as a statement credit for travel purchases on your card. 

Capital One transfer partners

You can transfer your Capital One miles to these airline partners at a 1:1 ratio:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France / KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Red

In addition, Capital One miles transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands at a 2:1.5 ratio. This means that 1000 Capital One miles become 750 EVA Air miles.

Capital One Miles transfer to JetBlue at a 5:3 ratio. This means 1,000 Capital One miles becomes only 600 JetBlue True Blue points.

A one to one (1:1) ratio means that one Capital One miles is equivalent to one mile or point with most of these loyalty programs, once transferred.

Transfer times from Capital One to its travel partners vary. Capital One mile transfers to Cathay Pacific can take up to 24 hours. Meanwhile, mile transfers to EVA Air can take up to 36 hours. Points transfers to all other airline partners are relatively instantaneous.

Capital One hotel transfer partners

And these are Capital One’s current hotel partners. 

• ALL Accor Live Limitless
• Choice Privileges 
• Wyndham Rewards

Capital One miles transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards; points transfer to Accor at a 2:1 ratio. Miles transfers to all these hotel loyalty programs vary in speed. It can take up to two days for Accor, one day for Choice Privileges, and a few minutes for Wyndham.

On the whole, transferring miles to hotels rarely maximizes the value of your points. You’re better off sticking to points transfers to airlines to get the most cents per point when you compare the cash price to the points cost.

Transferring Capital One miles vs. Capital One Travel Portal

I highly recommend transferring your Capital One miles to an airline partner rather than using the miles to pay for travel through the Capital One Travel portal. You will rarely maximize the value of your credit card points by using them in travel portals. 

Do the math: Your 75,000 points are worth only $750 through the travel portal, whereas those four roundtrip tickets to Orlando could cost as much as $1,400. Transferring your points to airlines will stretch the value of your points way farther than they could ever go in a travel portal. 

Additional benefits of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

• Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck(R)
• Miles won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how many you can earn
• Use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase-or redeem by booking a trip through Capital One Travel
• Transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs

Alternatives to the Capital One Venture Rewards Card