If you’re wondering whether a travel rewards credit card is right for you, consider your travel goals and determine which card fits your lifestyle the best and whether it’s worth paying the annual fee.
If your goal is to save on travel, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card might be a great fit since you can redeem your rewards for travel or transfer them to Capital One’s 15-plus transfer partners. This card comes with a $95 annual fee (see rates and fees).
Here’s what makes the Capital One Venture Rewards card worth it.
Capital One Venture Welcome offer
For starters, this card is currently offering new applicants 75,000 bonus miles after making $4,000 in purchases during the first three months, plus a $250 Capital One Travel credit in the first cardholder year.
Those bonus miles alone are worth $750 when redeemed toward travel, but potentially much more if you’re able to leverage Capital One’s various airline and hotel partners, easily offsetting the annual fee.
As such, TPG’s July 2024 valuations peg this sign-up bonus at $1,638 after you factor in the $250 travel credit.
Earning miles with the Capital One Venture
One of the top reasons many people love the Capital One Venture Rewards is its straightforward earning structure of 2 Capital One miles per dollar spent on virtually anything you buy. You also don’t have to worry about miles expiring as long as you keep your account open, and there’s no limit to how many miles you can earn.
One factor that makes this card so appealing is that there are no categories to memorize or quarterly bonus categories to activate — it’s an ideal card for busy people who want to simplify their earning strategy and redemption options. It’s also a great card to fill in any gaps that may exist in your reward-earning strategy.
Related: How (and why) you should be earning lots of Capital One miles
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Redeeming miles with the Capital One Venture
This is where the card truly distinguishes itself. The two foremost ways to redeem your Capital One miles are at a fixed value or by transferring them to airline and hotel partners.
You can redeem miles at 1 cent apiece with the fixed-value option toward eligible travel expenses charged to the card. For example, say you reserved an Airbnb for $750 for an upcoming vacation. You could redeem the 75,000 miles earned from the welcome bonus to offset the Airbnb purchase and cover the entire stay from the miles earned on your Capital One Venture.
This particular redemption option comes in handy when you don’t want to jump through hoops to find award availability, or if you like to stay at non-chain hotels. This is also a popular redemption approach when you find cheap airfare and prefer to save your other valuable transferable points for more aspirational redemptions.
Related: How to use your Capital One miles at a fixed value
Capital One Venture benefits
The Capital One Venture proves its worth with other ongoing benefits, too. They include:
*Benefit available to accounts approved for the World Elite Mastercard product, subject to terms, conditions, and exclusions in the World Elite Mastercard Guide to Benefits. See Account Terms or Application Terms for more details. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply.
The benefits of the Capital One Venture Rewards card can help provide peace of mind while you travel.
Bottom line
The Capital One Venture is a favorite among travelers for a few reasons. Its simple earning structure of 2 miles per dollar makes it easy to maximize on almost every purchase. The ability to redeem miles both directly for travel at a fixed rate and to transfer to various airline and hotel partners makes it extra versatile. Then there are the value-added benefits like relatively robust travel and purchase protections, making this card a great one to carry in your wallet.
In short, it’s a strong all-around choice for travelers, both frequent and otherwise and well worth the $95 annual fee. For more information, read our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards card.
Apply here: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply