Why the Capital One Venture X is great for saving on your next trip
Key takeaways
- The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card lets users redeem miles for several types of travel, including airfare, hotels and vacation rentals through the Capital One Travel portal.
- This card also comes with an annual travel credit worth $300 toward Capital One Travel purchases, which can be used directly for vacation rentals.
- Other notable benefits of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card include access to Capital One airport lounges, a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, 10,000 miles each cardmember anniversary, a fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership and more.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card stacks up pretty nicely when you compare it to premium travel credit cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and Chase Sapphire Reserve® that have dominated this niche of the market for years. This is partly due to its reasonable annual fee, which is easy for most customers to justify the first year and beyond. The fact the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card earns flexible travel points that transfer directly to airlines and hotels also adds to its appeal, along with the card’s annual travel credits and perks like airport lounge membership.
When you break down the details of this travel credit card, it’s easy to see why anyone might want it — especially during year one. Read on to learn about the major benefits of this card and why you might want to use it for vacation rentals, traditional hotel bookings, airfare and more this year.
Quick details of the Capital One Venture X
| Welcome bonus | Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening |
| Earning rewards |
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| Annual fee | $395 |
| Benefits |
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One of the first details you’ll notice about the Capital One Venture X is its $395 annual fee, which is much lower than the annual fees charged by other premium cards. The up to $300 annual travel credit is nearly enough to make up for the annual fee on its own if you use it, and cardholders also get 10,000 bonus miles worth $100 when they renew their card each year.
Also, note that members get other valuable perks such as credit (up to $100) toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership and Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership (valued at $469). Cardholders of the Capital One Venture X can also access Capital One airport lounges.
Finally, don’t forget that Capital One miles are extremely flexible, especially for travel. Not only can you use your miles to cover travel charged to your account, but you can transfer miles to Capital One airline and hotel partners. These miles are worth about 1.7 cents cents each when transferred to high-value partners, according to Bankrate valuations. You can also redeem your miles for cash back, statement credits, gift cards and merchandise.
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Why the Capital One Venture X is a good option for vacation rentals
The Capital One Venture X is better for vacation rentals than many other travel credit cards, and for more reasons than one. Here’s an overview of reasons you should use this card for more than just hotel stays:
It offers a $300 travel credit that you can use for bookings
While the Capital One Venture X came with a $200 vacation rental credit when it first hit the market in 2021, that credit is no longer available for new or existing cardholders. That said, the Capital One Venture X can still be very attractive for travelers who love to book vacation rentals due to the $300 annual travel credit that applies to travel bookings made through Capital One Travel.
This credit is easy to use for available vacation rentals, which you can find through the Capital One Travel portal. For example, a quick search on the platform led to us finding one- and two-bedroom apartments at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Myrtle Beach Oceanfront — an IHG Hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — starting at just $142 per night.
In Panama City, Florida, we found two-bedroom vacation rentals at Club Wyndham Panama City Beach starting at just $130 per night over dates this fall.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, you could use the $300 annual travel credit to stay in a two-bedroom villa at the Hilton Vacation Club Polo Towers Las Vegas starting at around $215 per night.
These are just some of the vacation rental-style lodging options you can find within the Capital One Travel portal, but there are many others. The key to maximizing your $300 travel credit for vacation rentals is being as flexible as you can with your travel destination and your travel dates.
It allows you to redeem miles for Vacasa vacation rentals
Since Wyndham Rewards is a Capital One transfer partner, cardholders can unlock another way to book vacation rentals with miles. Wyndham Rewards can be used to book participating Vacasa vacation rentals throughout North America, which cost 15,000 or 30,000 points per bedroom, per night.
Vacasa vacation rentals you can book with Wyndham Rewards points are located in destinations like Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and British Columbia. Capital One Venture X cardholders can transfer their miles to Wyndham Rewards at a ratio of 1,000:1,000.
It earns boosted rewards for bookings through Capital One Travel
Not only can you book vacation rentals through Capital One Travel, but you can also earn boosted rewards for these purchases if you opt to pay instead of using miles. That’s because the Capital One Venture X gives you 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Vacation rentals may not be “real” hotels, but the ones available through Capital One Travel count when it comes to earning these bonus rewards.
This means spending $3,000 on a week-long vacation rental getaway you were already planning could net you 30,000 miles if you booked through Capital One Travel instead of using another platform. If prices on other platforms were similar either way, it would definitely make sense to make your booking through Capital One and net the additional miles.
Using your miles to book vacation rentals
You can use your Capital One miles to book and pay for vacation rentals in more than one way. Instead of paying with only miles, you can also use a combination of miles and cash to cover your vacation rental, which can make sense when you’re short on miles to cover your entire trip. You can also pool your Capital One rewards from other credit cards onto your Venture X to increase the amount of rewards you have to make your booking.
Here are your options when it comes to using rewards for a vacation rental:
- Book vacation rentals through Capital One Travel. You can book available vacation rentals through Capital One Travel using miles and get one cent per mile in value. This means the 75,000 mile welcome offer on the Capital One Venture X is worth approximately $750 in vacation rentals booked through the platform.
- Redeem for statement credits. You can also use Capital One miles for travel statement credits after charging a vacation rental to your card. Once again, you’ll get 1 cent per mile in value with this option, so 75,000 miles are worth $750 in travel. In order to use miles for travel statement credits on your card, however, you have to redeem your miles to cover travel purchases within 90 days. Redeeming your miles like this can allow you to cover charges made without going through the travel portal, such as for vacation rentals through VRBO or Airbnb.
Other travel cards to consider
If you’re considering a premium travel credit card because you want access to superior benefits like airport lounge access and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership, the usual suspects like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve can make a lot of sense. After all, both of these travel credit cards offer these perks and more, albeit with much higher annual fees ($695 for the Amex Platinum and $550 for the Chase Sapphire Reserve).
Maybe you’re trying to avoid forking over hundreds of dollars for a travel credit card. In that case, you can always consider the traditional Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which comes with a $95 annual fee and offers:
- 5X miles on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One
- 2X miles on all other spending
This card also has a generous welcome offer for 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening.
Another budget option that’ll provide you with transferable rewards points without having to pay more than $100 per year is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. This card offers 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. In the meantime, you also earn:
- 5X points on travel booked through Chase Travel℠
- 5X total points on Lyft rides (2X on general travel and 3X-point bonus, through March 2025)
- 3X points on online grocery purchases, dining and select streaming services
- 2X points on other travel purchases
- 1X points on everything else you buy
The bottom line
The Capital One Venture X is an excellent credit card for vacation rentals, but it’s also useful for other types of travel. The first-year welcome bonus and ongoing rewards can also make it a solid rewards credit card for all your spending and bills.
Even so, it never hurts to compare other credit cards, including other credit cards from Capital One. And if you can’t settle on a single travel credit card, don’t be afraid to sign up for more than one — provided you’re able to get enough value out of them to justify their annual fees.
