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If you’re in the market for a new premium travel rewards credit card that really packs a punch, look no further than the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which is currently offering an impressive 100,000-Mile welcome bonus. That’s enough to cover $1,000 worth of travel when booking flights and hotels through one of its 17 transfer partners or through Capital One Travel.
Earning Capital One Miles is easier than ever with the Capital One Venture X card. Not only can you pick up 100,000 Capital One Miles after spending $10,000 within the first six months of opening your account, you’ll earn 2X Miles on all purchases, plus 5X Miles on flight and 10X Miles on hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel. Cardholders also receive an annual up to $300 travel credit, 10,000 bonus Miles on each account anniversary, a $100 statement credit toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years and the chance to visit more than 1,300 Priority Pass and Capital One Lounges worldwide.
While the $395 annual fee may seem intimidating, remember that you’ll get $300 back in travel credits when booking through Capital One Travel and for a limited time, an extra $200 back via statement credits when booking vacation rentals through Airbnb, VRBO, Vacasa, or TurnKey. The annual fee really does pay for itself if you use all your perks properly, making the Capital One Venture X a top-tier premium travel rewards credit card.
Below, Select breaks down the best ways to maximize 100,000 Capital One Miles.
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Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
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Rewards
10X miles on hotels and rental cars, 5X miles on flights when booked via Capital One Travel; unlimited 2X miles on all other eligible purchases
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Welcome bonus
100,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening
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Annual fee
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Intro APR
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Regular APR
16.99-23.99% variable APR
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Balance transfer fee
Either $10 or 4% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater
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Foreign transaction fees
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Credit needed
Transfer Capital One Miles to airline partners
- Aeromexico (Club Premier)
- Air Canada (Aeroplan)
- Air France KLM (Flying Blue)
- Avianca (LifeMiles)
- British Airways (Avios)
- Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)
- Emirates (Emirates Skywards)
- Etihad (Etihad Guest)
- EVA Air (Infinity MileageLands) — transfer ratio is 2:1.5, not 1:1
- Finnair (Finnair Plus)
- Qantas (Qantas Frequent Flyer)
- Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer)
- TAP Air Portugal (TAP Miles & Go)
- Turkish Airlines (Miles & Smiles)
While there aren’t any domestic carriers listed as airline partners, that doesn’t mean it’s not impossible to fly them for free. Thanks to airline alliances, you can convert Capital One Miles to British Airways Avios, then use those to book domestic U.S. flights on American Airlines, its Oneworld alliance partner. You could also transfer Capital One Miles to Turkish Airlines or Avianca, then use those to book flights on Star Alliance partner United Airlines.
Redeem Capital One Miles for free nights at hotels
Capital One Rewards has three hotel transfer partners — Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless (AccorHotels) — letting cardholders cash in Capital One Miles for free nights at hotels worldwide.
Capital One Miles can be transferred to Choice Privileges points at a 1:1 ratio, allowing you to book free nights at more than 7,000 properties in over 40 countries at brands including Quality, Comfort, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Clarion, Clarion Pointe, and Surburban Extended Stay Hotel, Cambria Hotels and The Ascend Hotel Collection. Thanks to connections with Penn National Gaming, Inc., Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Nordic Choice Hotels, and AMResorts (all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Caribbean by brands like Dreams and Secrets) you can also redeem for stays at casino hotels and independent boutiques.
Here’s an idea of what you can redeem through Choice Privileges for 100,000 Capital One Miles:
- Four nights at the Comfort Inn Manhattan – Midtown West in New York City (25,000 points a night)
- Five nights at Avenue Hotel, Ascend Hotel Collection, in Los Angeles (20,000 points a night)
- Eight nights at Comfort Hotel Nation Pere Lachaise Paris 11 in France (12,000 points a night)
Wyndham Rewards also lets you transfer Capital One Miles at a 1:1 ratio, giving you access to free nights at over 9,000 hotels in more than 80 countries at brands including Wyndham, Wyndham Grand, Wyndham Garden, Registry Collection Hotels, AmericInn, Tryp, Dazzler, Esplendor, Wingate, Trademark Collection, Dolce Hotels and Resorts, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Ramada, Baymont, Microtel, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Hawthorn Suites.
With redemptions from 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night, here’s what transferring 100,000 Capital One Miles could yield:
- Three nights at Wyndham Grand Athens in Greece (30,000 points a night)
- Six night at Ramada by Wyndham Queenstown Central in New Zealand (15,000 points a night)
- 13 nights at Ramada by Wyndham Princess Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (7,500 points a night)
Thanks to a nifty partnership with Vacasa, you can also redeem Capital One Miles for free nights at more than 15,000 hotels, vacation clubs and home rentals, while a separate connection allows for redemptions at Caesars Rewards casino hotels around the U.S. Wyndham Rewards is also linked with Margarita Vacation Club, Club Wyndham, Cottages.com, Shell Vacations Club, Worldmark and Landal Greenparks so you can opt to redeem for vacation rental brands around the world.
Another hotel transfer partner of Capital One is ALL Accor Live Limitless, which offers hotel redemption options at a ratio of 2:1 and works a little differently from the last two programs. For starters, you’ll need to have at least 2,000 ALL Rewards in your account, which means you’d need to transfer over 4,000 Capital One Miles, and redeem them in increments of 2,000 ALL Rewards points — 2,000 points gets you 40 euros (about $45) off your stay, while 4,000 translates to 80 euros (about $90) and so forth.
While you likely won’t get the best value for your points this way, the ALL Accor Live Limitless program can still be beneficial depending on your travel plans and style, as award options through it include more than 5,100 hotels in over 100 countries at brands like Fairmont, Raffles, Faena, Delano, Sofitel, SLS, Museum Hotel, Mondrian, Pullman, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, Mantra, Novotel and Ibis, among others. While there are just 100 hotels in North America, Accor brands are seemingly omnipresent throughout Europe, Asia and Oceania, so this is still a valuable points-transfer option.
Book flights, hotels and car rentals through Capital One Travel
If you enjoy having the flexibility to book flights, hotels, and rental cars without having to worry about award availability or blackout dates, consider making your reservations through Capital One Travel, a new travel portal that offers added benefits like cancel-for-any-reason travel insurance (for a small fee), a freeze-your-price feature that helps you lock in lower rates, price drop protection (if you find a lower price, Capital One will refund you the difference), and a nifty price match guarantee (if you happen to find a better price within 24 hours of booking, you could get a refund).
While this also allows you to book travel at a fixed redemption rate of 1 cent per mile, it’s always worth comparing redemption rates — in other words, seeing how many points and miles are needed for an award redemption directly through the carrier or hotel versus booking through the Capital One travel portal.
Depending on your points and miles status goals, you may also want to consider booking travel directly to maintain elite status or double-dipping by reserving tickets or rooms through another third-party website, then simply “erasing” the travel purchase (more on that below).
Use Capital One Miles to “erase” recent travel purchases
One of the most valuable perks of the Capital One Venture X card is the ability to “erase” or redeem Capital One Miles to cover travel purchases made within the last 90 days. Simply use the card to book fights, hotels, car rentals or make other travel-related expenses (like Uber rides or Airbnb stays) then click on “Redeem Travel Purchases” to select which ones you’d like to cover or put your Capital One Miles toward — partial credit is fine, too, as long as you redeem more than 2,500 Miles.
Capital One Miles are worth 1 cent per mile when choosing this redemption option, meaning 100,000 miles could erase $1,000 in travel purchases.
Redeem miles for gift cards and online shopping
If you know you won’t be traveling for a while, there’s always retail therapy. With the Capital One Venture X card, you’ll be able to redeem Capital One Miles at a rate of 1 cent per point for gift cards to all your favorite restaurants and retail shops like Apple, Bath & Body Works and Starbucks.
Note that if you’re redeeming Capital One Miles for Amazon gift cards — or using Capital One Miles to shop online via Amazon or PayPal — the redemption rate drops to 0.8 cents per point (you’d get $0.80 cents in value per 100 Miles) so it won’t be the best value among all your other options.
Cash back is a low-value redemption
While this is the least valuable redemption option for your newly earned Capital One Miles, you can still opt to exchange them at a rate of 0.5 cents per mile for cash in the form of an account credit or a check.
Other cards with large welcome bonuses
If you’re interested in other cards with large welcome bonuses, consider the following. The value and utility of the rewards from each card varies, but you’ll still be able to get plenty of “free” travel with their hefty welcome bonuses.
The Platinum Card® from American Express
On the American Express secure site
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Rewards
5X points on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (starting January 1, 2021, this applies on up to $500,000 per calendar year), 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel, 1X points on all other purchases
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Welcome bonus
100,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $6,000 within 6 months of account opening. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card®, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu.
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Annual fee
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Intro APR
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Regular APR
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Balance transfer fee
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Foreign transaction fee
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Credit Needed
British Airways Visa Signature® Card
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Rewards
5 Avios for every $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL within your first 18 months from account opening, thereafter 3 Avios; 3 Avios for every $1 spent on hotel accommodations when booked directly with the hotel within your first 18 months, thereafter 2 Avios; 1 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
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Welcome bonus
Earn 100,000 bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, earn a Travel Together Ticket after you spend $30,000 on purchases every calendar year, and 10% off British Airways flights starting in the U.S. when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
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Annual fee
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Intro APR
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Regular APR
15.99% to 22.99% variable
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Balance transfer fee
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Foreign transaction fees
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Credit needed
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
Information about the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
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Rewards
12X points per dollar for eligible purchases on your card made directly with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio; 6X points for eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations; 3X points for other eligible purchases
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Welcome bonus
Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points plus a Free Night Reward after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first 3 months of card membership.
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Annual fee
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Intro APR
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Regular APR
15.74% to 24.74% variable
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Balance transfer fee
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Foreign transaction fee
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Credit needed
For rates and fees of the Platinum Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Surpass card, click here.
Information about the Capital One Venture X card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.
