Capital One Venture Rewards Card: Adding a $100 Annual Hotel Credit; 75,000 Signup Bonus

According to FM, many longtime cardholders have received word of a new change to this card: it will add an annual $100 hotel credit. However, bookings must be made through Capital One Travel, somewhat similar to the hotel credit on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Not everyone has received the email yet, so the notice may roll out gradually to everyone. With that in mind, if you can use this travel credit, this card is effectively fee-free.

• Venture Rewards Pre-Approval Link (lets you see which Capital One card you may be approved for without a hard pull, including Venture Rewards)

Good news, your Venture card now includes an annual $100 stays credit for hotel and vacation rental bookings through Capital One Travel. Your credit will be renewed each year on your cardholder anniversary date with no enrollment needed. It will be ready within 72 hours of this message and can be viewed and applied at checkout.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Overview

Benefits

• 2x points on all purchases: If you like using just one card, this is still a decent 2% cash-back equivalent.
• Easy points redemption: After paying for travel-related purchases with this card, you can redeem points directly to offset the charge. The ratio is $1 = 100 points, which means the 50,000-point welcome bonus is worth $500. However, other purchases can only be redeemed at 0.5 cent per point.
• Global Entry and TSA Pre $100 reimbursement: Pay with this card and the reimbursement is automatic.
• Plaza Premium Lounge: You can visit Plaza Premium Lounge twice for free each year.
• Metal card: Apply now and you will receive a metal card

Drawbacks

• No other bonus categories

In recent years, Capital One has made a series of changes to its points program. Its points can now be transferred to airline miles and hotel points. It has officially joined the bank points transfer club, and point flexibility has improved significantly.

Capital One Points Overview

• Point Value: Average value is 1.2c/p, so 100 points = $1.2 (Point Values & Analysis)
• Redeem Directly: Redeem at 1c/p toward travel purchases or various gift cards; cash out directly at 0.5c/p
• Transfer Partners: Transfer 1:1 to Air Canada miles (good for US-China flights and infant tickets), British Airways (short nonstop flights, Avianca miles (good for US-China business class, ANA and Asiana US-China first class, and no YQ on award tickets), Qantas Airways miles (good for domestic US nonstop flights and flights from the US East Coast to Western Europe), TAP Portugal Miles&Go, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Flying Blue, Club Premier, Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Wyndham, and Choice. Transfer times range from instant to several days.
• Points Feature: You can pool all of your Capital One points into one account and use them together.
• My Take: Capital One has fewer transfer partners, so compared with some other programs it is a bit less flexible and valuable. The more useful partners are AC and Avianca. Redeeming points for travel at 1c/p is also a solid option, and you can still earn miles, which makes it much easier than transferring points for award tickets.
• Detailed Analysis: Capital One Points Guide>>

My Take

The welcome bonus on this card is pretty good. It also comes with TSA Pre and Global Entry reimbursement. For a card with a $95 annual fee, that’s still very generous. But over the long run, only earning 2x on spending makes it harder to offset the $95 annual fee.

Capital One Credit Card Application Guide

• Application status can only be checked by phone: (800) 903-9177
• Capital One applications usually pull reports from all three credit bureaus. You may be able to avoid a hard pull by freezing some of your credit reports.
• You can apply for only one Capital One credit card every six months, including both personal and business cards. If you force another application, it will likely be instantly denied, but it will not result in a hard pull.
• One person can hold at most two Capital One personal credit cards at the same time, counting only Capital One-issued cards.
• If you do not qualify for the card you applied for, you may be automatically approved for a different card instead, usually a lower-tier version. You can choose to accept or decline it, and there will be no additional hard pull.
• New applicants may be asked to upload ID during the application process.
• More on applying for Capital One credit cards

Application Link

• Capital One Venture Rewards