Capital One Venture X Review
Disclosure: None of the links are affiliate or referral links. The author does not earn any commission from any of the links on the website. All the links are unpaid links. This is the author’s personal blog and hobby. The author is expressing their opinion, it should not be taken as financial advice. None of the content on this blog is sponsored by any entity including but not limited to airlines, hotels, credit card companies, etc.
Lower Spend Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 75,000 Bonus Miles when you spend $4,000 within 3 months of account opening
Capital One in 2021 came out with their premium credit card offering, a space dominated by American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. While 2021 was the headline year for those cards with new perks and credits with an increased annual fees, Capital One’s announcement for a premium card with easy-to-use and understand credits stole the spotlight.
This card is ideal for those who find it hard to justify the high annual fees Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve charge and getting the worth of the annual fee back from those cards, becoming increasingly difficult. It’s become what I call, an entry-level Premium Credit Card with benefits very easy to understand and simplified credits.
Here’s what you need to know before you apply for Capital One Venture X.
The Basics
In this section, we cover the basic information like bonus categories, credits, and annual fees related to this card.
Points Earning:
10 Miles per dollar spent on Car Rental and Hotels through Capital One Travel Portal
5 Miles per dollar spent on Flights Booked through Capital One Travel Portal
2 Miles per dollar spent on all other purchases
This is a very simple to track bonus categories structure and if you prefer a no-nonsense card with a very simple card setup, Capital One Venture X with 2X Bonus Points on all other purchases can easily help you rake in a lot of Capital One Miles for every day other purchases in your credit card setup.
Credits:
$300 Annual Capital One Travel Credit
The biggest credit to offset the annual fee amount is extremely simple to use, unlike American Express Platinum. Each account year, you get $300 back in statement credit whenever you purchase any form of travel i.e. Car Rental, Hotel, or Flight through Capital One Travel Portal.
It is important to know, for credit to be applied the purchase MUST BE made through Capital One Travel Portal. Hotels, Car Rentals, and Flights booked directly with the respective companies or any other form of OTA (Online Travel Agencies like Expedia, Kayak, SkyScanner, Hotels.com, etc.) do not qualify for the statement credit.
10,000 Miles Anniversary Bonus
Starting your first card anniversary, you get 10,000 Bonus Miles each year just to keep the card open.
This effectively in conjunction with the annual Capital One Travel Credit brings the Effective Annual Fee for the Capital One Venture X down to -$5. Yes, you heard it right, this makes the card not just free after the first year but you get paid $5 to keep the card.
$100 TSA PreCheck and Global Entry Credit
Every 4 years, you are eligible to receive statement credit of up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Application.
The important thing to note is that you must pay the application fees with the Capital One Venture X card directly, purchase made through PayPal will not be eligible.
Benefits:
No Foreign Transaction Fee
Lounge Access (More Details Below)
Elite Status with Car Rental Company
With Capital One Venture X, you get complimentary Hertz President’s Circle elite status. You must enroll for this status by following the instructions provided on the card benefits section in the Capital One mobile app or the website.
Additional Authorized Card Members
Capital One Venture X lets you add up to 4 additional authorized card members for FREE.
Capital One Premier Collection
Annual Fee: $395
Capital One Venture X has an annual fee lower than American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. The card also pays for itself very easily with simple and easy-to-use credits.
Lounge Access:
Capital One Venture X provides you with complimentary Priority Pass Select Membership giving you access to over 1300 airport lounges across the globe.
Capital One Venture X also provides you with access to Capital One’s proprietary lounges, named The Capital One Lounge. Currently open at DFW, Capital One Lounges are expected to open at more airports in near future.
Venture X also provides you access to Plaza Premium Lounge Network enabling access to some of the Plaza Premium Network Lounges not accessible through Priority Pass.
You and 2 guests accompanying you are allowed to access the lounge.
It is also important to note that each additional card member gets their own Priority Pass Membership. The Priority Pass Select Membership with Capital One Venture X also gives you access to participating restaurants, a feature missing from the membership you get from AmEx Platinum. Capital One Announce in late 2022 that Priority Pass provided by Capital One will no longer have access to Restaurants participating in Priority Pass program. This leaves Chase Sapphire Reserve the only card to provide Priority Pass Membership which provides access to restaurants.
Other Benefits:
Capital One Venture X comes with a host of other benefits which you may find useful.
Capital One Premier Collection:
The Premier Collection is a hotel booking program exclusively for Capital One Venture X cardholders.
It offers access to a curated selection of luxury hotels around the world, from boutique properties to major chains like Marriott and Hyatt.
Cardholders can book hotel stays through the Capital One Travel portal, which offers competitive rates and exclusive perks.
Benefits of the Premier Collection program include:
Room upgrades when available
Free breakfast
Hotel amenities credits
Late checkout
Complimentary Wi-Fi
There are no blackout dates or restrictions, making it easy for cardholders to book their desired hotel stays.
10X Capital One miles per dollar spent for Premier Collection Program
Travel Protection:
Trip Cancellation and Delay Insurance:
Up to $2000 per person for you and your immediate family members when you purchase your travel using Capital One Venture X
Trip Delay Reimbursement:
Up to $500.00 for each purchased ticket, for reasonable additional expenses incurred when a Covered Trip You purchased with Your eligible Account and/or rewards program associated with Your covered Account, is delayed for more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay.
Primary Rental Car Collision Damage Waiver:
Up to $75,000 primary coverage for your rental car in the event of it being damaged in a collision or getting stolen when you pay for the rental with Capital One Venture X
Lost Luggage Reimbursement:
Up to $3,000.00 per Covered Trip (for New York residents, coverage is limited to $2,000.00 per bag), provided the Checked Luggage and/or Carry-on Baggage and/or its contents were lost due to theft or misdirection by the Common Carrier.
Purchase Protection:
Purchase Protection:
Up to $10,000 per claim and Up to $50,000 per account when an item purchased with Venture X is damaged or stolen within 90 days.
Extended Warranty:
Additional 1-year warranty for items having manufacturer warranty of 3 years or less
Return Protection:
If unsatisfied with an item purchased within 90 days from the date of purchase, and the retailer will not accept a return, You can be reimbursed for the purchase price, up to $300.00 per item of personal property, and an annual maximum of $1,000.00, per Account.
Cell Phone Protection:
Every time you pay your bill with your Venture X card. If your cellphone is stolen or damaged, you’ll get reimbursed up to $800.
Other Visa Infinite Benefits:
Capital One Venture X is a Visa Infinite Card and comes with some really great perks like Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection, Concierge Services, etc. You can get more details here. Some of the benefits may not be available for this card like Airline Incidental credit.
Points Redemption:
Capital One Miles are valued at 1 cent per point when redeemed for travel on Capital One Travel Portal.
You can redeem your miles 1 cent per point for other travel purchases (made outside Capital One Travel) within the past 90 days
You can also redeem for gift cards valued at 1 cent per mile
You can redeem your miles for statement credit on other purchases for 0.5 cents per mile. We do not recommend this as it diminishes the value you can get out of your miles.
Capital One Miles can also be transferred to the travel partners which can help you get even greater value for your redemption.
1:1 Transfer Ratio
Aeromexico Club Premier
Aeroplan®
Asia Miles
Avianca LifeMiles
British Airways Executive Club
Choice Privileges®2
Emirates Skywards
Etihad Guest
Finnair Plus
Flying Blue
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
TAP Miles&Go
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Virgin Red
2:1.5 Transfer Ratio
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
2:1 Transfer Ratio
ALL - Accor Live Limitless
Bottom Line:
Capital One Venture X with its simplified rewards and credits makes it easier to earn and redeem miles and with the very easy way to offset the annual fee, this card probably can make sense for you if you want to try out premium cards but do not want to splurge with extremely high annual fee requiring quite a legwork to offset the fees for you like Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve.
This card basically pays for itself very easily and if you travel even less frequently, this card can make sense for you. It can also fit into your no-nonsense credit card strategy as a non-bonus spending card with its 2 Miles per dollar cashback, effectively giving you 2% cashback on your non-bonus purchases (Miles can be worth more through transfer partners). The card also provides you with comprehensive lounge access and some other travel and purchase protections.
The card makes a perfect choice for international travel as well with its zero foreign transaction fees.
For me personally, I have this card and I intend to keep it for the foreseeable future unless there are any undesirable changes.
You can read more about my credit card strategy for Summer 2022 here.