If you travel at least a few times per year, you likely find yourself spending hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, on hotel rooms. While searching for a hotel room for a large event in Las Vegas recently, I found I could get a bargain deal using my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Here’s a look at how I made the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card more rewarding when making a hotel reservation and how you can follow the same steps to maximize your card’s value.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One’s most premium travel card is packed with extras that put it firmly in competition with other upscale credit cards, but at an annual fee that leaves the others far behind.
- Annual fee lower than others in its category
- Annual travel credit through Capital One Travel and anniversary miles alone could justify the annual fee
- Miles are easy to earn and easy to use
- Lack of domestic airline and upscale hotel travel partners
- Capital One lounge network in its infancy
- Lack of hotel status benefits
- Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options
- Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
- Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Capital One Lounges and the Partner Lounge Network
- Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
Capital One Venture X Hotel Benefits
While the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (rates & fees) has a significant $395 annual fee, it’s easy to earn that back and more with just a few trips per year. Here are the top two ways I get the most value from the hotel-eligible benefits:
- $300 travel credit. The first benefit you may notice when reviewing Capital One Venture X benefits is a $300 annual credit for travel booked through Capital One Travel. If you were going to spend at least $300 per year on travel anyway, that quickly wipes away the majority of the annual fee. The benefit works on other travel booked through Capital One as well, but I put it to work recently for a hotel reservation.
- 10 points per dollar on hotels booked through Capital One Travel. For hotel reservations made through Capital One Travel paid for with a Venture X card, you’ll earn 10 miles per dollar spent. For example, if you were to make a $500 hotel booking, you would earn 5,000 miles worth $50 when redeeming through Capital One. That’s like 10% off for frequent travelers. If you move miles to a Capital One transfer partner, you could get even more value.
- Capital One Travel features. When logged in to the Capital One Travel website, you can search for hotels by location and features. The travel portal includes tools advising you when to book for the best rate. Prices are very competitive with other travel booking options.
For premium hotel bookings, Capital One also offers bookings with hotel partners in its Premier Collection and Lifestyle Collection. Premier Collection hotels come with a $100 experience credit and daily breakfast for two. Lifestyle Collection bookings come with a $50 experience credit and room upgrades when available.
How I Scored a Deal Using the Venture X for Hotel Bookings
While preparing to attend a conference in Las Vegas with tens of thousands of attendees and room blocks at multiple hotels, I had some work to do to find the best deal. Because it’s such a big conference, hotel deals are few and far between, so I decided to compare options through Capital One Travel with my new Venture X card.
I found a deal at a nearby hotel just across the street from the Las Vegas Convention Center, the event’s main location. To my surprise, I could get a closer, cheaper room through Capital One than through the room blocks, some of which were more expensive to stay in and I’d need a taxi or rideshare to get back and forth.
But the deal didn’t stop there. In addition to finding a lower-cost room that was more convenient, I was able to use my Venture X benefits to maximize the value for my stay. Using my Venture X credit, the cost was $300 less. And for the remainder that I had to pay, I earned 10 miles per dollar.
After my travel credit, I was on track to pay less than $100 per night out of pocket for the hotel. If I had booked through one of the event’s room blocks, I would have easily paid more than double.
Other Capital One Venture X Perks and Benefits
If the $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel and 10 miles per dollar for hotel bookings wasn’t enough, the card has other big benefits that help offset the cost of the annual fee (rates & fees). Some of the best perks include:
- 10,000 anniversary miles. Every year on the account anniversary, cardholders get 10,000 bonus miles worth $100 in travel. When you add that to the annual travel credit, you’ve covered the annual fee.
- TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry credit If you use the Venture X card to pay for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, you’ll get reimbursed for the cost up to once every four years.
- Airport lounge access. One of my personal favorite benefits is airport lounge access. With the Venture X, you can get into Capital One and Priority Pass airport lounges. If you fly often, the complementary meals and beverages can save you money and also make your airport visit or comfortable.
It also has cellphone protection, no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees) and other valuable purchase and travel protections. When you put it all together, the value of Venture X is tough to beat. When you compare the Venture X vs. American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees), which has a similar annual fee (rates & fees), you’ll likely find Venture X gives you a lot more for a reasonable cost.
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Making the Most of the Capital One Venture X
The Venture X is a premium credit card with a high annual fee (rates & fees), but if you travel regularly, you’ll likely find you get much more back than the cost of card ownership. As you can see with my hotel booking in Las Vegas, I’m already coming out ahead compared to many other travel options. And that’s all thanks to my new Capital One Venture X 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.
To view rates and fees for American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.