Guide To Capital One Venture X $300 Annual Travel Credit

Guide To Capital One Venture X $300 Annual Travel Credit

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Link: Apply now for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (Rates & Fees) or Capital One Venture X Business (Rates & Fees)

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) and Capital One Venture X Business (review) are Capital One’s two premium cards. While each card has a $395 annual fee, the cards offer all kinds of perks that help offset that fee.

The way I view it, the two biggest perks that help justify the annual fee are the $300 annual Capital One Travel credit and the 10,000 anniversary bonus miles. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at the $300 annual Capital One Travel credit offered by the cards, and how exactly this perk works. Several premium credit cards offer travel credits, but they all work differently, so let’s get into all the details of how this one works.

How does the Venture X $300 annual travel credit work?

The Capital One Venture X offers a $300 annual travel credit, which can be redeemed through Capital One Travel. Here’s what you need to know about that:

  • The credit applies each cardmember year (or anniversary year, if you prefer), including the year in which you open the card; the credit timing isn’t based on the calendar year
  • The credit can be used across one or multiple transactions, until the $300 limit is reached
  • There’s no registration required to use the $300 annual travel credit
  • Any purchase through Capital One Travel qualifies toward using this credit, so this credit can be used toward flights, hotels, or rental cars
  • If you want to use the credit, simply select that you want to pay with the credit during checkout; when this benefit first launched it was issued as a statement credit after the fact, but that’s no longer the case
  • If you can cancel a refundable trip booked with the credit, then you can have that credit reinstated, up to the standard expiration date
The Capital One Travel credit shows in your account

What travel can you book through Capital One Travel?

Capital One Travel is Capital One’s travel portal, as you may have guessed based on the name. The portal is powered by Hopper, and Capital One is essentially acting as the travel agent here. You can use Capital One Travel to book everything from flights, to hotels, to rental cars.

In general, I’m not a huge fan of using travel portals, though in my opinion Capital One Travel is the best travel portal of any of the major credit card companies. You can easily search flights, hotels, and rental cars.

Capital One Travel portal

The portal has some nifty features. For example, when searching flights, there’s a calendar showing the dates with the best prices, which is something I wish we’d more consistently see from airlines.

Capital One Travel portal

Similarly, the option to filter results is great, better than with most other portals, in my opinion.

Capital One Travel portal

If you wanted to apply your $300 annual travel credit toward a purchase (like a flight), you’d just want to start the process of purchasing a flight. Then on the checkout page, you should see the credit automatically applied, unless you specifically choose not to apply it.

Capital One Travel portal

Keep in mind that the Venture X is also rewarding for purchases through Capital One Travel, so you can earn lots of miles for purchases beyond the amount that the credit covers. The card offers:

  • 10x Capital One miles on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
  • 5x Capital One miles on flights booked via Capital One Travel

For what it’s worth, I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so that’s like an 8.5-17% return on that spending.

Apply your $300 credit toward a flight

But isn’t booking through credit card travel portals annoying?

Some people are probably thinking “I don’t really want to book through a travel portal though.” I hear you. To be honest, I only rarely use travel portals. Even if a travel portal is great, there are downsides to using them:

  • On the flight front, in the event of schedule changes or wanting to cancel, it can be easier to do so if you book direct, especially in an era where airlines largely allow free ticket changes
  • On the hotel front, you don’t usually receive elite perks or earn points when booking through a third party
  • On the rental car front, there are often discount codes available online that can’t be used if booking through a portal, and elite perks also often don’t apply through third party bookings

That being said, I still think the credit is worth pretty close to face value, and have no issues whatsoever using it. What’s my strategy? To keep things simple, my strategy is to book a single flight that costs $300+ at least once per year, which triggers the $300 credit.

You still generally earn points and receive elite perks when booking flights through a portal, and the pricing is almost always identical. Therefore the opportunity cost to booking this way is limited.

The way I see it, having to book through Capital One Travel is hardly a huge deal or anything that prevents this from being maximized, and most people shouldn’t have any issues taking advantage of this.

Booking a flight through a portal isn’t a big deal

How does this compare to travel credits on other cards?

How does the Capital One Venture X $300 annual travel credit compare to the credits issued by other premium cards? Just to compare:

I’d argue that the Capital One travel credit isn’t as easy to use as the Chase travel credit, but is much easier to use than the American Express travel credit.

This also doesn’t tell the full story of the card’s value proposition, though:

  • The Venture X has by far the lowest annual fee of the three cards
  • The $300 annual travel credit is only one of the annual perks the card offers — the card also offers 10,000 anniversary Capital One bonus miles, which can be redeemed for $100 worth of travel, or can be transferred to airline & hotel partners at a ratio of up to 1:1
  • For savvy travelers, the $300 travel credit plus 10,000 bonus miles should be worth more than the card’s $395 annual fee (Rates & Fees), not even factoring in anything else
The Venture X also offers 10K bonus anniversary miles

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture X (Rates & Fees) and Capital One Venture X Business (Rates & Fees) are incredibly lucrative. The cards have a $395 annual fee, and one of the primary things that offsets that fee is the $300 annual travel credit, which can be applied toward virtually any purchase with Capital One Travel.

While some people might find a slight hassle factor to using a portal, this really shouldn’t be that hard to maximize on a flight, hotel, or rental car. My strategy is to simply book a $300+ flight every year through the portal, and that gets me $300 back. There’s almost no opportunity cost, so I’d consider that to be pretty awesome.

To fellow Venture X cardmembers — what’s your strategy for using the $300 annual travel credit?

Conversations (9)
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  1. Kris Guest

    If I book a hertz car rental through the portal for $150 and use $150 of the $300 travel credit will I still get the presidents circle and also the primary insurance coverage for the rental through the venture x? (I will only use the credit instead putting on the card, so will the insurance still cover?) thanks.

  2. Garrett Guest

    I just opened the card 3 or 4 days ago, but there still doesn't show a credit available to use. I have a flight to book and wanted to use it, but if it's gonna take a minute to show up I'll go ahead and just book the flight without it.

  3. Ryan Guest

    i had a canceled flight and it shows as pending +$300 in my credits. anyone know how long it takes to no longer be pending and becomes useable again?

  4. Fi Guest

    Has anyone got this credit at $0. And not used it?

    1. Fi Guest

      I mean, it states I have $0 travel credit but I have not spent it at all this year.

  5. Dan V Guest

    Thanks for this, Ben, very helpful. However, I'm curious: if we opt NOT to have the credit automatically applied at checkout, will the credit then be applied to our account after the fact (just like it worked originally)? Or is this way now the ONLY way to get the credit? I'm just asking because I thought when I submit this flight for reimbursement it would be nicer for the credit not to appear anywhere... Thanks.

  6. Toby Guest

    This change is presumably a stealth devaluation, as previously I believe you got the 5x-10x points for the travel purchase and then the $300 statement credit, whereas now you (presumably) don't get the points.

  7. Kenneth Guest

    Be careful when you book air from CapitalOn Travel. If you cancel your flight the future flight credit is only good for ONE booking and if it is less than your original ticket cost, you do not get the residual credit - see Terms as below (last item);

    • Future Travel Credits are not offered for basic economy bookings.
    • The original ticket value is valid for one year from the date of issue...

    Be careful when you book air from CapitalOn Travel. If you cancel your flight the future flight credit is only good for ONE booking and if it is less than your original ticket cost, you do not get the residual credit - see Terms as below (last item);

    • Future Travel Credits are not offered for basic economy bookings.
    • The original ticket value is valid for one year from the date of issue of the original ticket. All travel must be completed within this validity period. Unused credit after this period will be forfeited by the airline.
    • The airline may charge a rebooking penalty when you rebook your new flight. Typically, this is the same penalty they would charge for changing your itinerary before the original departure date.
    • In addition to a rebooking penalty, the airline may also charge the difference between the original flight price you paid and the current price of the flight you are looking to book.
    • The credit amount is per individual ticket value and can only be used by the same passengers on the same airline as the original booking.
    • There may be limitations to the flight routing that this credit cannot be applied to.
    • Please note: You can only use your credit toward one booking. If your new fare costs less than your original booking, you’ll forfeit any remaining credit value.

  8. Omatravel Guest

    While you can no longer apply, you forgot the credit from the Citi Prestige Card. It's easy to use like the Sapphire credit, I just wish they hadn't stripped the other benefits. At this point with a Venture X and Citi card, I'll closing or downgrading after I use the credit at the first of the year.
    Would appreciate an article on the best way to do that and how to manage the points balance I still have with the card.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Kris Guest

If I book a hertz car rental through the portal for $150 and use $150 of the $300 travel credit will I still get the presidents circle and also the primary insurance coverage for the rental through the venture x? (I will only use the credit instead putting on the card, so will the insurance still cover?) thanks.

0
Garrett Guest

I just opened the card 3 or 4 days ago, but there still doesn't show a credit available to use. I have a flight to book and wanted to use it, but if it's gonna take a minute to show up I'll go ahead and just book the flight without it.

0
Ryan Guest

i had a canceled flight and it shows as pending +$300 in my credits. anyone know how long it takes to no longer be pending and becomes useable again?

0
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