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Updated 3 February 2020 – the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card’s Hotels.com benefit has now been removed.
Earlier I wrote a post in which I explained why I’m finding myself making more and more hotel bookings through various online travel agencies and how Hotels.com is one of my preferred agencies to use.
Well, if I’m going to continue to make bookings through Hotels.com (and it looks as if I am) there is one credit card that I should almost certainly add to my portfolio – the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card.
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Annual fee:
$95 (waived for the first year)
Earnings:
- 2 miles/dollar on all purchases with no cap
- 10 miles/dollar on all bookings made through Hotels.com (through January 2020)
Primary Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- $100 credit towards Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
- Miles can be used to offset the cost of travel booked using the card
- Miles can be transferred to a variety of airlines
Earn With Hotels.com:
Through January 2020 the Capital One Venture Rewards Card is offering 10 miles/dollar on all spending with Hotels.com as long as users book through the dedicated site set up for such earnings (this date may be extended).
Redeem For Travel Or Travel Credits
With the Capital One Venture Card 1 mile is worth 1.0 cent towards all flight and hotel bookings made through the Venture Rewards portal and, to redeem your miles, all you need to do is simply sign in to your online Venture Rewards account and do one of two things:
- Redeem miles as statement credits
- Book new travel
Statement Credits:
You can redeem miles (at a rate of 1 cent each) as a statement credit offsetting any eligible travel purchases made through the Capital One Venture Rewards card in the preceding 90 days.
The definition of eligible travel covers airfares, hotel bookings, AirBnB, taxis/Uber/Lyft and more.
Book New Travel:
You can use the Capital One travel portal to book flights and hotels just like you would with any other travel portal. If you don’t have enough miles for your booking you can use a credit card to make up any difference.
One of the best things about using a reward currency directly for airfare and hotel bookings is that you don’t have to face blackout dates and you don’t have to find award flights – you are simply booking a regular flight or room and using your miles/points as your currency of choice (rather than cash).
This also means that you’ll earn miles/points/status credits on all the fights you book (not the case when you book award flights with airline miles) and you’ll earn hotel points for all the stays you book too.
Transfer To Airline Partners
Capital One’s 14 airline loyalty partners are:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Alitalia MilleMiglia Program
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Emirates Skywards (2:1)
- Etihad Airways Etihad Guest
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (2:1)
Capital One Venture Miles convert at a ratio of 4:3 except where noted above.
Thoughts
For anyone who frequently books through Hotels.com this is a no-brainer card and that’s why I think it will be the credit card I get next.
With miles being worth 1 cent each the 10 miles/dollar on offer for Hotels.com bookings is essentially the same as a 10% rebate and, when that rebate is considered alongside the free night on offer through the Hotels.com Rewards program, this offer becomes one of the best hotel deals you’ll find….possibly even the best hotel deal you’ll find.
When considered as pure cash back the earnings from Hotels.com will save you 10 cents per dollar on all paid travel and the earnings from every day spend will save you 2 cents per dollar.
When transferring miles to airline partners every dollar spent at Hotels.com will earn Venture miles worth between 5 and 7.5 airline miles….and that’s a great return when you consider some of the airline programs involved.
Personally, I’d probably transfer miles across to Flying Blue to make the most of its Promo Awards or to Etihad to make the most of its generous award chart for American Airlines bookings or to Avianca to book cheap (and surcharge-free) premium cabin Star Alliance awards.
Bottom Line
It will be interesting to see if the Capital One/Hotels.com partnership is extended past January 2020 but, with 9+ months before the relationship will possibly end, I’m going to get this card and get as much out of it as I possibly can.
I’ve got quite a few hotel nights I still have to book (so they’ll probably be booked through Hotels.com) and I have quite a bit of foreign unbonused spend as well so I should be able to rack up a decent number of points before any changes kick-in at the start of next year….and if the Capital One/Hotels.com relationship is extended so much the better.
