As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover – and the same phrase can be applied to the annual fee on a credit card.
Take the Capital One Venture, for example. Although this premium rewards card has a $395 annual fee (see rates and fees), several ongoing valuable benefits help offset the entire cost of that amount.
These benefits are in addition to a nice one sign-up bonus: 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening your account.
One of the top benefits Venture X cardholders receive each year is $300 in annual credits applicable to bookings made through Capital One Travel. Let’s take a closer look at the annual Venture
What is the Venture
Venture That means you can get $300 in value from the Venture X immediately.
But there’s one caveat: the credit only applies to bookings made through the Capital One Travel portal.
The Capital One Travel portal is an online travel agency (OTA). It is best compared to those of other issuers such as Amex Travel and the Chase Travel℠ portal. What sets Capital One’s portal apart is that it partners with Hopper, a travel booking startup with excellent predictive pricing technology that can help cardholders ensure they get the best price.
Cardholders can log into the Capital One Travel portal to book things like airline tickets, hotel stays and rental car reservations. The $300 credit will then be applied to those purchases.
Even better, the credit can be used for one or more transactions until the $300 limit is reached, and no registration is required. This means the credit will automatically be applied to transactions until you reach the $300 limit, without you having to do any additional work to take advantage of this benefit.
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Related: A Complete Overview of Capital One Venture
Booking through Capital One Travel versus booking directly
At first glance, the requirement to use the Capital One Travel portal may feel like a limitation, especially when you consider the benefits of booking travel directly.
For example, when you book certain hotels or car rentals through a third-party service – including Capital One Travel and other credit card issuers’ travel portals – you typically lose the benefits of elite status and the ability to earn elite-qualifying credits and points within these loyalty programs.
However, for flights and independent hotels (including Disney resorts, for those who enjoy visiting the Disney parks), booking through the Capital One Travel portal still makes sense since you wouldn’t be earning hotel points anyway. Flights booked this way typically still earn points and elite qualifying miles just like booking direct.
Finally, Capital One Travel has a number of unique features thanks to its partnership with Hopper.
This includes an integrated price prediction and matching tool and a best price guarantee. Capital One also offers the option to purchase flight for any reason (CFAR) coverage, and price freeze protection, which allows people, for a fee, to lock in a price they find on the portal until they are ready or able to to book .
Earn miles through Capital One Travel
Aside from how easy it is to max out that $300 credit, there’s another excellent reason to use the Venture X to book travel through the Capital One Travel portal: the opportunities to earn bonuses.
The Venture However, it offers higher revenue rates for bookings made through Capital One Travel:
- 10 miles per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel
So by using the Venture
You should also explore how you can stack the benefits of a rental car with Hertz and the Venture
Upon enrollment, accessible via the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at the upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note: Enrollment through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g., Hertz.com) will not occur automatically. detect that a cardholder is eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status level. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Earn miles while you use the credit
Venture X cardholders can receive the $300 annual Capital One Travel credit while still earning miles (at the applicable rate).
For example, let’s say you booked a hotel for exactly $300 through the Capital One Travel portal. You’ll get $300 credited to your statement, and you’ll also earn 3,000 miles ($300 multiplied by 10 miles per dollar) for the “purchase.” That’s very generous on Capital One’s part.
How does this travel credit compare to other premium cards?
Two major competitors Company are in the premium card slot The Platinum Card® from American Express and Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Both the Chase and Amex products come with higher annual fees, but also offer a range of additional benefits that may be useful to some consumers. They each have travel-specific benefits that are worth comparing to the Venture X.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
The Chase Sapphire Reserve charges an annual fee of $550, and one of its notable benefits is a highly flexible travel credit of $300 per year. Unlike Capital One’s requirement to use its own booking portal, Chase offers Sapphire Reserve cardholders the opportunity to earn their $300 back on a wide range of travel transactions, whether they book directly with a hotel or airline or through Chase Travel.
Amex Platinum
The Amex Platinum charges a $695 annual fee (see rates and fees), with a range of built-in statement credits that help offset the card’s annual cost.
The two most similar benefits to Capital One’s are a maximum $200 credit for incidentals per airline per calendar year and an additional $200 credit on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings (of two or more nights) made through Amex Travel when you pay with your Amex Platinum. Registration is required for certain benefits.
In short
Premium credit cards typically have high annual fees, but often the protections, credits, and perks they offer make up a large portion of those annual fees.
In the case of the Venture save on travel. This also effectively reduces the cost of the annual fee to $95, once you’ve maxed out that $300 credit.
If you’re planning to apply for the Capital One Venture
Submit your application here: Capital One Venture with 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening your account.
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. Please see the respective Benefits Guide for further information as conditions and exclusions apply.
