Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard® review: Plentiful perks for a mid-tier card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is often regarded as the gold standard of mid-tier travel cards. You’ll earn better everyday reward rates in more categories and have the flexibility of Chase’s travel partners to redeem points. 

While the Sapphire Preferred gives you more options overall, Virgin points are more valuable than Chase Ultimate Rewards points. And while the welcome offer is for fewer points than the Sapphire Preferred, you’re getting significantly more value. The Virgin Red Rewards can be the better choice if you need Virgin points, but the Sapphire Preferred is tough to beat if you prefer more freedom in using your points.

The Hilton Honors Surpass Card is another mid-tier co-branded card that provides outstanding value for its cost, which is higher than the Virgin Red. However, the annual fee can be offset with its quarterly Hilton credit, although that can be difficult for occasional travelers to maximize. 

Both cards provide spending incentives at $15,000, while the Virgin Red offers another perk choice at $30,000. Hilton points also aren’t nearly as valuable as Virgin points. While the Virgin Red provides multiple choices for flexibility, the free night the Hilton Surpass offers has no limit on its potential value. You’ll earn better value on spending with the Virgin Red, which also provides ongoing annual perks that the Surpass doesn’t. However, like with any co-branded card, brand loyalty is the main deciding factor for the card’s value.

If you have travel plans with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin hotels, this card can help you earn the points you need for award redemptions while providing excellent ongoing perks.

If you’re planning a cruise in the future, the Virgin Red is a great way to get value with one of the hottest cruise lines on the market. Choosing the Blue Extras or bar tab perk can provide you with extra value on board while you enjoy a great vacation.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2023 was $77,280 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $6,000

• Dining out: $3,900

• Entertainment: $2,500

• Gas: $2,400

• Apparel and services: $2,000

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 26 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.