Capital One Travel: Everything You Need to Know

Credit card travel portals offer ways for cardholders to use their credit card travel rewards on travel bookings, including flights, hotel stays, and rental cars. Many travelers are familiar with programs such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards, but Capital One’s travel portal, Capital One Travel, might be new to them.

The new Capital One Travel portal is powered by Hopper, a popular travel app, and offers features you might not see in other portals, such as an option to freeze flight prices and a price match guarantee. Let’s see how this new booking system works, who can use it, and whether it could help with your travel needs.

What is Capital One Travel?

Capital One Travel is a new travel portal available to Capital One cardholders for booking flights, hotels, and rental cars. You can use Capital One miles or cash to make these bookings, but you can access the portal only if you have certain Capital One credit cards (more on that later).

The Capital One Travel portal is powered by Hopper, which is a free travel app that can help you find deals on travel bookings. Because of this partnership, Capital One Travel includes features such as predictive pricing, free price drop protection on flights, and an option to freeze a flight price for added flexibility. There’s also a price match guarantee on flights, hotels, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

These aren’t typical features of similar booking sites, and they might prove valuable depending on your situation and preferences. It also doesn’t hurt that the portal is easy to navigate regardless of your travel research experience.

For example, when checking dates for a travel booking, Capital One Travel arranges the dates on a calendar by color. Dates in yellow or green are your better prices and best prices, whereas dates in orange or red are your higher prices. This is user-friendly and helpful for finding the cheapest dates for your booking.

Who can use Capital One Travel?

Capital One Travel is available to Capital One cardholders who have an eligible Capital One credit card. If you compare credit cards, you’ll see the eligible options are primarily travel-related cards from the Capital One credit card lineup.

Eligible cards for Capital One Travel include:

• Capital One Spark Miles for Business
• Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Walmart Rewards^® Card

How to book on Capital One Travel

If you have one of the eligible cards listed above, you’ll be able to access and use the Capital One Travel portal. Bookings can be made by paying with your credit card through the portal or by using available rewards.

You can access Capital One Travel by logging into your Capital One account and navigating to your reward redemption area, where there will be an option to “Book with Capital One Travel” or something similar. Or you can go directly to CapitalOneTravel.com and log in with your Capital One account info.

On the Capital One Travel website, you’ll see three options to choose from: Flights, Hotels, and Car Rentals. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to book all three of these options.

How to book flights on Capital One Travel

1. Navigate to the Capital One Travel website and log into your Capital One account

2. Select “Flights” at the top of the page

3. Select and fill in your flight details, including round-trip or one-way, airport locations, dates, and number of travelers

4. When you select your dates, you’ll see a color-coded calendar where green and yellow are cheaper dates, and orange and red are more expensive

5. Select “Search” and see what Capital One Travel recommends for your itinerary, as well as see options for freezing the price, watching the trip, and viewing the price prediction

6. If you scroll down, you’ll see the available flights and options to filter the search results

7. Selecting a flight will give you different fare options (if applicable)

8. Once you’ve selected your flight(s), click on “Continue,” add your travelers, select your seats (if applicable), and choose how you want to pay, and then select “Confirm and Book”

How to book hotels on Capital One Travel

1. Navigate to the Capital One Travel website and log into your Capital One account

2. Select “Hotels” at the top of the page

3. Fill in your destination, your dates, and the number of travelers

4. Select “Search” and you’ll see a list of available hotels, as well as a map of the area

5. Select the full screen option in the corner of the map if you want an easier interface for zooming in and moving around the map; clicking on a price will give you details about the hotel

6. Once you’ve selected a hotel, you can choose a room type and see the cancellation policy

7. If you’re ready to book, select the “Reserve” option

8. Now you can add traveler information and see the price breakdown for your room — select “Confirm and Book” to finish the booking process

How to book rental cars on Capital One Travel

1. Navigate to the Capital One Travel website and log into your Capital One account

2. Select “Car Rentals” at the top of the page

3. Fill in your pick-up and drop-off locations, as well as dates, times, and the driver age

4. Select “Search” and you’ll see a list of available rental options for your trip — you can filter the options by car type, price per day, rental car company, cancellation policy, and other specifications

5. Once you select a rental option, you’ll be able to see the price breakdown and can review other details about the rental, including the cancellation policy

6. Selecting the “Reserve” option will bring you to the final page where you can input the driver information, select your payment method, and finish the booking

Is using Capital One Travel worth it?

Whether Capital One Travel is worth using depends on your travel preferences. Let’s compare a few different scenarios.

Using Capital One Travel might be worth it if …

• You like the interface
• You want more ways to research your travel options
• You have loads of Capital One rewards
• You like the available features

Using Capital One Travel might not be worth it if …

• You don’t like the interface
• You don’t find the deals on Capital One Travel to be very competitive
• You typically transfer rewards to transfer partners, including directly to airline or hotel loyalty programs
• The available features aren’t useful to you

Overall, Capital One Travel isn’t too different from other credit card travel portals. Similar to other booking systems, you might not find every single flight or hotel stay available through the portal. There could be an airline missing completely or a car rental agency might not show up in your search. This is a common occurrence with online travel sites, which is why it’s important to compare your options.

As another resource for checking available options, such as prices on airfare, Capital One Travel likely serves its purpose. But you shouldn’t use it as your only resource if you want a comprehensive look at available bookings and prices.

FAQs

Bottom line

Similar to other credit card travel portals, Capital One Travel gives you the opportunity to use your credit card rewards (or cash) for flights, hotel stays, and car rentals. It’s a new and revamped booking portal that appears to provide helpful features and an intuitive customer interface for any traveler researching booking options.

If it seems like Capital One Travel wouldn’t be able to satisfy your travel booking needs, consider options from other credit card issuers, such as Chase and American Express. With many popular travel cards, you can earn either Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards — two of the most flexible rewards currencies available. For cards that earn these types of rewards, check out credit card offers with our list of the best travel credit cards.