At the end of 2021 Capital One launched the Venture X travel card. As a luxury offering it competes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex’s Platinum Card. But with an annual fee that’s significantly lower can it really stack up?
Sites like the Points Guy and Motley Fool gave it top honors in their year-end awards. But if a site’s whole business model relies on getting you to sign up for cards is it truly reliable? I’ve been using a Venture X card for a year now and this has been my experience.
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Venture X Costs and Benefits
When it was introduced the card came with a $395 annual fee. It included a $300 travel credit as well as a 10,000 point anniversary bonus. New cardholders received a very high 100,000 point bonus with a reasonable spending requirement. It takes an attractive offer to induce customers to sign up for a brand new card. This offer was very attractive. About as good as it gets in the credit card world and almost too good to be true.
Since then the only change has been bumping the welcome bonus down to a still-generous 75,000 points. The $300 travel credit takes no effort to use. You simply receive a credit on your statement for the first $300 each year you spend on purchases in the Capital One travel portal. Those purchases can be in any amount. I spent something like $295 shortly after getting the card. I later received a $5 credit on my next travel purchase.
The 10,000 points are worth one cent each in Capital One’s portal. So if you value them at $100 the card actually pays you $5 a year for being a cardholder. That’s before any of the other benefits factor in. At a glance those benefits are Priority Pass/Plaza Premium lounge access, cell phone insurance, $100 TSA Pre-check credit and more.
Using the Capital One Travel Portal
The Hopper app powers the Capital One travel portal . Essentially, the portal is the Hopper app. The only difference is it’s Capital One taking the booking commissions from travel providers. I complained before that Chase’s travel portal is difficult to use and often overpriced. Fortunately that’s not the case here. The portal is intuitive and competitive on price.
One of the benefits offered by the Venture X is price drop protection. In my first year I found this to be valuable and effortless to use. After the price of a flight I purchased dropped I received an email and a $50 credit automatically. Shortly after that it happened again on another trip, although that price only decreased by about $30. With a little luck you could spend the same $50 on flights several times a year. This benefit is separate from price matching, which the Venture X also offers.
Another unique benefit of booking in the Capital One portal is their Rapid Rebooking feature. If your flight is canceled or delayed by 2 hours or more Capital One will re-book you on another flight. You’ll go the same day if possible, or the next day, on a flight up to $5000. The feature is an add on at the time of purchase and adds about 10% to the ticket cost. If you’re flying a low-cost carrier that’s an amazing deal. They’re the most likely to delay or cancel flights. The cost to keep yourself out of airport purgatory can be as little as $10 or less.
Venture X Spending and Rewards
All the card issuers want to capture commissions that would otherwise go to sites like Expedia To induce the customer to book in their portal they’re very generous with the points. 5x On flights and rental cars is pretty standard. Usually the best move with hotels is to book directly. In some places abroad the big chains either don’t exist or don’t offer good value. The Venture X’s 10x points are a fantastic value proposition in that scenario.
The biggest knock against this card is that Capital One’s hotel transfer partners are undesirable. Wyndham and Choice are just not in the same league as Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG. If you’re going to Europe and want to stay with Accor the 2:1 transfer ratio is poor value. The lack of a US airline partner is also a drawback if your goals include domestic award flights.
Venture X’s 2 miles per dollar spent everywhere is perhaps its greatest strength. Unless an exceptional portion of your spending is in a particular category 2x return everywhere is a solid value. “Everything else” makes up a great deal of my own spending.
Lounge Access with Venture X
A Priority Pass Select membership is a premier feature of this card. Venture X also grants users access to Plaza Premium lounges (recently acquired by Priority Pass), as well as Capital One’s own lounges.
If you aren’t already holding a Priority Pass membership through another card, getting one through the Venture X is a no-brainer. Even without a lounge in my home airport this benefit has saved me well above $395 on food and drinks in airports. It’s crucial if you’re taking a trip that involves several flights to various cities like a swing through Southeast Asia.
I do have a bit of a gripe about Capital One’s own branded lounges. The only one currently open is at DFW. The Dulles and Denver locations have been “coming soon” since I signed up for the card a year ago, without any mention of an opening date. How long does it take to throw a bunch of tables and chairs in a room at the airport?
Although I’d never rent from Hertz again I did enroll in the top tier Hertz status that comes with this card. I matched it easily to several other rental companies.
So, How’d I Do?
In the first year my spending on the Venture X was $27,625. It was one of three cards in use over the last 12 months. That spending resulted in a balance of 142,711 miles. If you subtract the 75,000 bonus miles that works out to an overall return of 2.45x per dollar. Fantastic.
That kind of return makes this an ideal one card solution for anyone who wants a premium travel card without diving into the deep end of the points game. If you have a few cards this will likely be your number one, unless you’re already several cards deep with either Amex or Chase.
If you’re someone who is looking to go deep into the points and miles hobby it’s hard to imagine going without this card. Short of the bank increasing the fee substantially, it’s hard to imagine ever getting rid of it once you do have it. It’s that good.
A card that seemed too good to be true has delivered everything it promised. After a year the honeymoon still hasn’t ended. I’m ready to take this year’s travel credit and points and keep going.
