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Capital One today announced major improvements to its Venture line of credit cards, making its flagship card - the Capital One Venture Rewards card - arguably a must-have for any award traveler.
There are a few different kinds of credit card rewards, but generally, the most valuable kind is transferable points. That means that you can transfer the points you earn from everyday spending to certain partners; generally, airline frequent flyer programs. Transferability generally offers the most flexibility, allowing you a few different redemption options, and give points a higher potential value.
Until now, the only way to redeem Capital One Venture miles was to apply them as a statement credit against specific purchases that were classified as travel, with each mile being worth 1¢.
Today, Capital One announced that beginning next month, Venture cardholders will be able to transfer their miles to any of 12 new airline frequent flyer partners, significantly increasing the potential value of Capital One miles.
Cardholders will continue to have the option of using miles to erase travel purchases, and every other feature about the card will remain unchanged. Those with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card - a no-annual-fee, but slower-earning sibling to the Venture - will also be able to transfer points to airline frequent flyer partners, as will those with the Capital One Spark Miles for Business and the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business credit cards.
The 12 airline partners are:
The reason that transferable points are more valuable is because booking frequent flyer "award tickets" is different than buying reservations outright - you can read more about how it works here. In most cases, the cash price and the miles price of a ticket aren't linked, so in a scenario where a ticket's cash price is high, but its award price is low, you can get more value from your credit card points by transferring them to the relevant frequent flyer program and booking the flight as an award ticket. The alternative - paying with your card and using points to "erase" the purchase - would mean you spend many more credit card points in that scenario.
Capital One miles will transfer to each partner at a ratio of 2:1.5 - meaning you'll get 1.5 airline miles for every 2 Capital One miles. While many other programs - like American Express' Membership Rewards program or Chase's Ultimate Rewards - offers 1:1 transfer ratios, the Capital One Venture earns unlimited 2x miles on every single purchase, regardless of purchase category or country.
That means that for every dollar you spend, you'll effectively earn 1.5 airline miles (if you decide to transfer Capital One miles to the airline).
While the Capital One Venture has long been a solid rewards credit card - at least, for a card that earned fixed-value rewards points - the ability to transfer miles to airline partners elevates it to one of the more competitive cards available.
Adding to the card's value: the ability to earn a tremendous 10x miles on every dollar spent on hotel bookings when you book and pay through Hotels.com/Venture. Given the 2:1.5 transfer ratio, that means earning up to 7.5 airline miles per dollar spent on hotels. Hotels.com also operates its own loyalty program that offers a free night after 10 paid nights.
Given the airline transfer ability, combined with the earning rate of 10x miles on hotels through the Venture portal, and 2x miles on everything else, along with other benefits added by Capital One this year, the Capital One Venture has rapidly ascended to be one of the most potentially valuable rewards credit cards of 2018 - even if the partner airlines aren't quite as useful as Chase's.
To top off the announcement, Capital One is offering a 50% higher sign-up bonus for new applicants, but only for a limited time - an end date hasn't been announced.
The current bonus is 75,000 miles when you spend $5,000 on the card in the first three months - up from 50,000 miles. That's worth $750 of travel when used to erase travel purchases, or potentially more when transferred to airline miles - you'd get 56,250 airline miles at the 2:1.5 ratio.
The bonus may not be around for long, so this is the time to apply for the card, especially if you can use holiday shopping and travel to help meet the minimum spending requirement. The Capital One Venture has a $95 annual fee, but it's waived the first year.
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