Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card Review [2023]: Capital One’s Premium Travel Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a travel rewards credit card that earns miles for purchases you make. Like most travel cards, it comes with multiple perks and benefits that frequent travelers might find useful.

In this Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card review, we cover the strengths and weaknesses of this premium travel card from Capital One. Let’s see if it might make sense to make space for it in your wallet.

Who should get the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card?

As a premium travel credit card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards card has plenty of benefits geared toward frequent travelers. These include annual travel credits, airport lounge access, and receiving anniversary miles each year.

These perks can provide loads of value depending on your travel habits, but they could prove nearly useless if you don’t travel often. It’s also worth noting that paying a $395 annual fee wouldn’t likely make much sense if you’re not taking advantage of the card’s benefits.

But if you’re a frequent traveler who can find value in this card’s features, it should be more than worth it. The welcome bonus and benefits can provide plenty of value, including more than enough to offset the annual fee. Keep in mind, you typically need an excellent credit score to qualify for the Capital One Venture X Rewards.

Card basics

Card type	Travel
Credit card issuer	Capital One
Credit card network	Visa
Annual fee	$395
Intro bonus	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Reward rate	2 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day; 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, and 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel
Recommended credit score	Excellent
Foreign transaction fee	None

Capital One Venture X Rewards benefits and perks

• Generous welcome offer: Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• All-around earning: Earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day; 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, and 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel.
• Annual travel credit: Receive up to $300 in annual travel credits for bookings made through Capital One Travel.
• Anniversary bonus: Receive 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 through Capital One Travel) each account anniversary.
• Airport lounge access: Your card offers complimentary and unlimited access to Priority Pass lounges, as well as access to Capital One Lounges and Plaza Premium Lounges. Capital One has already opened a lounge at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and has plans to open two more in 2022 at Denver International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. Your lounge access also allows 2 complimentary guests per visit.
• Airport security programs: Receive up to $100 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® programs.
• Travel partners: In addition to other redemption options, your miles can be transferred to over 15 travel partners, including Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club, and Wyndham Rewards.
• Hertz elite status² : Receive complimentary elite status, called President’s Circle, with Hertz. President’s Circle benefits include skipping the rental counter, guaranteed upgrades, and picking from the widest selection of available vehicles.
• Visa Infinite benefits¹ : Visa Infinite cardholders receive benefits including cell phone protection, lost luggage reimbursement, trip cancellation/interruption reimbursement, extended warranty protection, and auto rental collision damage waiver.
• Capital One Entertainment: Receive special access to music, sporting, and dining events through the Capital One Entertainment portal. You have the option to use your rewards, your card, or a combination of the two to pay for tickets.

Drawbacks to this card

• Annual fee: The Capital One Venture X Rewards has a $395 annual fee. This is steep compared to most rewards credit cards, but actually lower than other premium travel cards.
• Travel credit: The $300 annual travel credit is helpful, but it’s slightly restrictive due to only working when you book through the Capital One travel portal. Travel credits on other cards can be more flexible, such as the $300 travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®. That credit works with nearly any travel purchase.
• Recommended credit score: You likely need an excellent credit score to qualify for the Capital One Venture X Rewards card. This isn’t surprising considering that’s what most premium travel cards require.

Earning & redeeming miles

Potential earnings in years one and two

Here's a look how your miles can add up with the Capital One Venture X Rewards. To calculate these values, we used a point valuation of 1.85 cents per point.

Remember, this is an estimation. The actual value will be determined by how much you spend and in which categories you spend.

Year one earnings: $2,232.00

Year two earnings: $844.50

These values are based on the FinanceBuzz Credit Card Rewards Valuation Model which takes a look at points earned via spending, the welcome bonus, and the annual fee. To calculate how many miles you could earn from spending, we used the base rate of 2 miles per dollar even though you can earn more on certain purchases. So depending on what you buy with this card, our estimate might be the low end.

We didn’t include the $300 annual travel credit or 10,000 anniversary miles in our calculations. But if you include these, you almost immediately negate the annual fee each year. This would increase your earning estimates a fair amount:

Year one earnings: $2,717.00

Year two earnings: $1,329.50

These numbers don’t include the further value you could receive from other benefits, such as airport lounge access, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® fee reimbursement, Visa Infinite benefits, authorized users with no annual fees, and Hertz elite status.

Best ways to earn

Capital One has made it easy to earn rewards with the Capital One Venture X Rewards card by offering an excellent rewards rate for its non-bonus categories. Overall you earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day; 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, and 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel.

If you compare credit cards, earning a 2X rate or higher on every purchase is rare. If you use the Venture X as your everyday spending card, you could quickly start racking up valuable miles to use on future trips. The bonus categories are somewhat disappointing, but could come in handy if you find yourself making bookings through Capital One Travel.

Categories	Rewards rate
Every purchase, every day	2 miles per dollar
Flights booked through Capital One Travel	5 miles per dollar
Hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel	10 miles per dollar

Maximizing your redemptions

Venture Miles typically offer the most value when you redeem them for travel. This could include bookings made through Capital One Travel for flights, hotel stays, or rental cars. Or it could be for transfers to Capital One transfer partners. Your Capital One miles are worth one cent per mile through the travel portal, but could be worth much more for specific redemptions made with travel partners.

You also have the option to redeem your miles for cash back, to make Amazon.com or PayPal purchases, or for gift cards. But these options typically provide less value than using your miles for travel.

Capital One transfer partners

As part of your redemption options with the Capital One Venture X Rewards card, you can transfer your miles to one of over 15 airline and hotel loyalty programs. This could potentially increase the value of your rewards to more than one cent per mile, depending on how you end up using the transferred miles.

Apart from the ALL - Accor Live Limitless and EVA Infinity MileageLands programs, all miles transfer at a 1 to 1 ratio. Here are the Capital One transfer partners:

• AeroMexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• ALL - Accor Live Limitless (2 to 1 ratio)
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Avios
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Choice Privileges
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Infinity MileageLands (2 to 1.5 ratio)
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Red Virgin Points
  
• Wyndham Rewards

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card FAQs

Other cards to consider

The Capital One Venture X Rewards card offers a well-rounded premium travel product that hits many of the right notes for travelers. But if it doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve or The Platinum Card^® from American Express.

The Sapphire Reserve has a higher $550 annual fee, but it also offers a $300 annual travel credit that applies to most travel-related purchases — which makes it more flexible. Additionally, your points are worth 50% more when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards or the current Pay Yourself Back categories. The Sapphire Reserve bonus categories, which include 3X points on other travel and dining, are likely more useful than the Venture X categories.

For more details, check out our Chase Sapphire Reserve review.

The Amex Platinum has a $695 annual fee, but it also offers over $1,400 worth of annual credits. And as for premium travel perks, it’s hard to beat the global airport lounge access you receive and complimentary hotel elite status with both Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy. For lounge access, Capital One Lounges are just getting started, while The Centurion Lounge network is already established with multiple locations. Select benefits require enrollment.

For more details, check out our American Express Platinum review.