Review of the Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card is a general-use travel credit card with a specific focus on hotels. It’s designed for excellent credit.

Cardholders get an amazing 10X miles per dollar from Hotels.com/venture, with 1.25X miles for every other purchase. Capital One began working with Hotels.com in January of 2018 to provide cardholders with this deal, and it will run through January 31^st, 2020.

Each mile can be worth up to 1 cent when redeemed for regular travel expenses, meaning you’ll get a cash back equivalent of 10% on purchases through Hotels.com/venture, and 1.25% for other purchases.

Capital One recently introduced a set of 14 airline partners to which you can transfer miles, giving this card more value and flexibility, and potentially allowing you to earn more than 1 cent per mile.

You won’t find offer this good for hotel spending on any other general-use travel credit card, with the flexibility to earn rewards at any hotel (as long as you can find it on Hotels.com). Rooms booked through Hotels.com won’t earn credit towards elite member status for hotel loyalty programs, however.

If you won’t spend money through Hotels.com, or you want to gain an elite hotel member status, you should probably look elsewhere for travel rewards. There are co-branded hotel cards that can provide an equal or better return on your spending, for example, but they’re limited to just one hotel brand.

An introductory bonus of 20,000 miles is available, for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. That will be worth $200 when redeemed.

You’ll get either a Visa Platinum or Visa Signature version of this card, depending on your credit limit when approved. Credit lines below $5,000 get a Visa Platinum, with basic protections. And limits of $5,000 or above get a Visa Signature, with better perks like the Luxury Hotel Collection.

There’s no annual fee to use this card. You won’t be charged a fee for foreign transactions. And you’ll get a 0% intro APR for 12 months for purchases, giving you a way to pay off some travel expenses over time without getting charged extra for interest before the 14.24%, 20.24%, or 24.24% Variable APR kicks in.

Capital One provides another Venture travel card, which has an annual fee but offers a slightly better rewards program:

Keep reading to learn more about the VentureOne Rewards card, and see if it would be a good choice to help lighten the load of your travel spending.

Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card

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Our Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

We give the VentureOne Rewards card 4 out of 5 Stars because it’s very rewarding for hotel bookings, and has no annual fee.

Why we like this card

• No annual fee
• 10X miles at Hotels.com/venture, and 1.25X miles everywhere else
• 20,000 bonus miles to earn from the introductory offer
• 0% intro purchase APR for 12 months
• Potential Visa Signature benefits, like the Luxury Hotel Collection and concierge service
• No foreign transaction fees

Why this card could be better

• Only provides a good rate at Hotels.com
• Must redeem for travel expenses to get the best value for your miles

If you won’t book through Hotels.com, the VentureOne Rewards card won’t be very rewarding. Take a look at some other travel credit cards below, which offer rewards for different types of purchases.

Insider Advice: Using This Card as Part of Your Credit Card Strategy

• Book rooms through Hotels.com/venture to earn 10X miles per dollar, and you’ll still get credits for being a Hotels.com member. For other purchases you can get a better rate with different reward or travel credit cards.
• Spend $1,000 in the first 3 months after opening the account to earn 20,000 bonus miles, equivalent to $200 when redeemed.
• Consider transferring your miles to an airline loyalty program where you may find a better value than 1 cent per mile for them.
• Take advantage of the 0% intro purchase APR for 12 months to pay off some pricy hotel stays over time, or any other expenses, without accruing extra interest, before the regular 14.24%, 20.24%, or 24.24% Variable APR starts.
• If you have a Visa Signature version of the card, use the Luxury Hotel Collection to find eligible hotels where you’ll have access to extra perks and complimentary services.
• Use this card outside the country because it has no foreign transaction fees, and it will be accepted anywhere that takes credit cards because it’s a Visa.

The Rewards

The VentureOne Rewards can provide the equivalent of 10% cash back when spending at Hotels.com/venture, and 1.25% cash back for every other purchase. This assumes you’re redeeming for travel expenses at 1 cent per mile, but you could find better deals through mile transfers.

Earning

Capital One and Hotels.com are working together to offer 10X miles on purchases from Hotels.com/venture. You must book hotel reservations directly through Hotels.com/venture and pay with your VentureOne card to get the 10X rate. If you just go to Hotels.com you won’t get the offer, and you’ll only earn 1.25X miles per dollar.

The miles you earn from Hotels.com purchases may take up to two billing cycles to appear in your account. Miles will never expire, as long as your account remains open and in good standing. You can earn an unlimited number of miles.

These miles can be redeemed for 1 cent each for past travel expenses. So you’ll get a cash back equivalent of 10% for purchases from Hotels.com/venture, and 1.25% back for all other purchases. The introductory bonus of 20,000 miles is worth $200 at that rate.

You can also transfer your miles to a variety of airline loyalty programs, where you might find a better value than 1 cent per mile.

The VentureOne is an excellent choice for booking hotels, because you won’t usually find a 10% rate like this on other general-use travel rewards cards. You can get similar deals through some co-branded hotel credit cards, but then you’d be limited to that single hotel brand.

This card gives you the flexibility to earn miles at any property you can find through Hotels.com. And you’ll also be able to earn Hotels.com membership rewards as you shop, like special low rates and a free night stay for every 10 nights you pay for.

If you’re not going to book through Hotels.com, this won’t be the card for you because the 1.25X miles you’ll earn for other purchases isn’t very rewarding. There are other travel credit cards that will probably be better for your spending habits.

Redeeming

You’ll have three basic options when redeeming your miles.

• Travel expenses: Provide 1 cent per mile
  • Past travel expenses from the last 90 days can be paid for with miles using the Purchase Eraser system
  • New travel reservations can be booked with miles through Capital One’s website or by calling customer support
• Cash back statement credits, gift cards, merchandise: Provide less than 1 cent per mile
• Mile transfers: Provide various mile values, depending on the deal.

We recommend always redeeming for mile transfers or travel expenses because you’ll get at least 1 cent per mile. We’ll explain how to redeem for travel expenses first, and then we’ll go over mile transfers.

You can redeem for either past or upcoming travel expenses. Miles don’t expire, so you can hold on to them until you can redeem in this way.

The Purchase Eraser system will let you find eligible travel expenses from the past 90 days, and you can use miles to pay them off. Partial redemptions are available to pay for part of a purchase.

The types of eligible travel expenses are:

Miles can also be used to pay for travel reservations as you make them. You’ll need to book travel either through Capital One’s website or by calling customer support to redeem miles in this way.

Mile Transfers

You can transfer your Capital One miles to 14 different airline loyalty programs, where you might find a better value than 1 cent per mile.

Most of the transfer rates are 2:1.5 (2 Capital One miles for 1.5 partner miles), although some partners have a lesser rate.

The Benefits

The VentureOne Rewards card comes with benefits from two different sources:

• Card and account features from Capital One
• Protections and benefits at either the Visa Platinum or Visa Signature level

You’ll be given either a Visa Platinum or Visa Signature version of this card. The version you get will depend on your credit limit when approved: Visa Platinum cards are for credit limits less than $5,000, and Visa Signature is for $5,000 and above. The credit limit you get will depend on your creditworthiness when you apply.

Visa Platinum cards are pretty basic, with just a few shopping and travel protections. Visa Signature cards have more valuable benefits, including opportunities for discounts and special services.

Below, you’ll find the Visa Platinum benefits your card will come with, and the potential Visa Signature benefits you’ll get if your credit limit is high enough. You can also check the Guide to Benefits for each version of the card yourself, as provided by Capital One:

• Visa Platinum Guide to Benefits
• Visa Signature Guide to Benefits

Visa Platinum Benefits

If you’re approved for a card with a credit limit less than $5,000 you’ll get a Visa Platinum version of the VentureOne Rewards. It will only come with the following protections:

• Extended Warranty: Eligible items purchased with your card can have their manufacturer’s warranty doubled up to an additional year, for warranties of three years or less.
• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver: Decline the rental company’s own insurance to get coverage against collision damage and theft, for eligible rented vehicles.
• Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: Access to a variety of services like medical and legal referrals, emergency transportation or ticket replacement, and pre-trip assistance.
• Travel Accident Insurance: Provides up to $100,000 in coverage for accidental loss of life, limb, sight, speech, or hearing while traveling by common carrier.

Most credit cards come with a basic set of protections like these, provided by the card’s network: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express.

Luxury Hotel Collection

The Luxury Hotel Collection is a Visa Signature benefit, which provides special perks at select hotels around the world. You’ll get seven services in particular:

• $25 food and beverage credit
• Best available rate guarantee
• Automatic room upgrade on arrival, when available
• VIP Guest status, with services and amenities that differ by property
• Complimentary in-room WiFi, when available
• Complimentary breakfast for two (if not available, you’ll get a different benefit of equal value)
• Late check-out upon request, when available

You’ll be able to search for participating hotels in different parts of world and see what they’re rated, along with the services you can expect there. Visa rates hotels on 10 different factors, including “Spa and Fitness,” “Generosity & Value,” and “Wow / Hip Factor.”

There are also quite a few special offers available at select locations, which come and go over time. These let you get some particularly good deals on hotel bookings, with free night stays and discounts.

Here are a few examples of the special offers:

• Get every third night free at The Towers at Lotte New York Palace, in New York City
• A $100 dining credit at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, in Florida
• A 20% discount at Carneros Resort & Spa in Napa Valley, California

This perk would pair very nicely with the 10X miles you’ll get from Hotels.com/venture. It might be a bit more work to find hotels that qualify for both the 10X category and the Luxury Hotel Collection, but the miles and benefits you get will be worth the effort.

Shopping Discounts

Use your Visa Signature card to get discounts at certain retailers. There are usually a few dozen offers available here, for both online and physical stores.

Some of the current discounts and offers are:

• Receive $50 in Ting mobile service credit
• Free two-day shipping on online purchases of $50 or more from Ugg®
• Save up to 30% on select Lenovo PCs and more
• Save 25% on purchases of $150 or more from Levi’s® Stores online
• Save 12% on your next order from Overstock.com
• Save $60 on a purchase of $300 or more from Zales.com
• Save $5 on purchases of $50 or more from Target.com

These deals can help you save a bit of money, although they probably won’t be too useful for your regular, everyday purchases. They’re worth checking when shopping around for larger expenses, however.

Many credit card companies offer a shopping portal like this, so if you have several cards you have a better chance of finding an eligible offer. Chase has Shop Through Chase, American Express has Amex Offers, Citi has Citi Easy Deals, etc.

Fine Wine & Food

This benefit is similar to the shopping discounts above but it’s focused on food, with a bit of wine thrown in too.

There are currently only a few offerings here, and only one regarding wine:

• Benefits at over 50 wineries in Sonoma Wine County, California:
  • buy one standard tasting, get one standard tasting free
  • preferred pricing on non-wine purchases over $50, where applicable
  • savings on wine purchased in tasting rooms
  • savings on reserve tastings and special wine-and-food pairings
  • learn more about Visa Signature benefits in Sonoma

The rest of the discounts are for more common merchants, and the current offers are:

• 25% off regular menu price orders at PapaJohns.com
• $5 off a $25 online order from PizzaHut.com
• Get 5% off a $25 gift card for Krispy Kreme
• Get 10% off a $25 gift card for Cold Stone Creamery
• Buy one pretzel, get one free at Auntie Anne’s
• Save 15% on your entire purchase at Omaha Steaks

Sports and Entertainment Offers

Get exclusive discounts and offers at sports events and a variety of other experiences. Some of the current deals are:

• Save 5% on a $25 AMC Theaters eGift Card
• Save 15% on rentals from Silvercar
• Save 20% on 1-hour airboat and Gator Park combo tickets at Wild Florida Airboats
• Save 20% on up to four general admission tickets to Sea Life Park Hawaii
• $14 off general admission tickets to CSI: The Experience, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

Usually these entertainment-style offers are limited to some big cities around the country, like New York, Las Vegas, Miami, etc. That’s also how the Membership Experiences that American Express offers typically works, and the Preferred Experiences by Chase.

Visa Signature Concierge

You can call your Visa Signature concierge service any time at 1-800-953-7392. They’re ready to help with a wide variety of non-emergency tasks, very much like a personal assistant.

The concierge can provide assistance in four main ways, although you aren’t limited to these categories:

• Travel: For help coordinating trips, booking flights and hotels, and finding the best deals
• Sports and Entertainment: Your concierge can look for good prices on season tickets and may be able to find tickets to sold-out shows
• Fine Wine and Food: Get assistance finding and making reservations at a variety of restaurants, from family-style to five-star
• Shopping: Help finding special gifts, sending flowers, or searching for the best prices

Concierge services can be used for many different tasks, but they’re probably most useful when traveling, like if you’re visiting a new city. Call them up to find the best places to eat, or to book a room at a hotel that fits your budget.

Visa Signature cards often come with this service, as do many other travel credit cards. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Barclays Arrival Premier World Elite Mastercard (Review) each offer a concierge. The Discover it Miles, another no-fee travel card, does not provide a concierge.

Visa Signature Travel Protections

• Roadside Dispatch: Call 1-800-847-2869 for help while driving, for services like towing, winching, and fuel delivery.
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement: Provides up to $3,000 in reimbursement to cover the cost of lost or damaged luggage.

Visa Signature Shopping Protections

• Purchase Security: If an eligible item you buy is lost or damaged, you can be reimbursed up to $500 per claim.

Other Visa Signature Benefits

• Lost/Stolen Card Reporting: Call customer support to report your card as lost or stolen at any time.
• Emergency Card Replacement and Cash Disbursement: After reporting your card as lost you can quickly and easily get a replacement, or an emergency cash advance.
• Year-End Summary Statement: A detailed summary of your yearly spending is available upon request.

Capital One Benefits

• CreditWise Credit Monitoring: See your VantageScore 3.0 based on your TransUnion credit report, and check data from your TransUnion report.
• Personalized Payment Date: Choose your own due date to make paying bills more convenient.
• Security and Account Alerts: You can be notified about changes to your account or unauthorized activity.
• Capital One Second Look Fraud Coverage: Automatically monitors your account 24/7 for fraudulent activity.
• Zero Liability Protection: You won’t be held responsible for fraudulent charges made to your account.

The Terms & Fees

The VentureOne Rewards card doesn’t come with many fees — there’s no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee, and no balance transfer fee. So it can be completely free to use as long as you avoid interest charges on purchases by paying your balance in full each billing period, and don’t use the card for balance transfers or cash advances.

You’ll get a 0% introductory rate for purchases for 12 months, giving you some time to pay off large expenses like hotel stays. During this intro period you don’t need to pay your full balance to avoid interest, but you will need to pay at least the minimum payment. If you don’t, you can lose your intro rate.

What is the Credit Limit of the VentureOne Rewards Card?

The VentureOne Rewards card is issued as either a Visa Platinum or Visa Signature card.

Your card will come with a credit limit of at least $2,000. If your credit limit is less than $5,000 you’ll be given a Visa Platinum card. If the limit is $5,000 or above, you’ll get a Visa Signature with upgraded benefits, as described above.

Cardholders can request a credit line increase from Capital One at any time, though we recommend waiting about 6 or 12 months between requests. Capital One may also increase your credit line automatically if you show responsible credit behavior.

You cannot upgrade from Platinum to Signature once your card has been issued, even if your credit limit is increased above $5,000.

Customer Support

Phone Support

You can speak to Capital One about your existing account by calling the first number above. If you don’t have a Capital One card you can call the second number to speak with a representative.

In our experience Capital One usually provides solid customer support. Sometimes it may take a few minutes to reach a human you can speak with, but once you get a representative on the line the process is usually pretty fast. Capital One’s reps have been friendly and helpful, able to answer our questions without much delay.

We called Capital One with a question about the VentureOne Rewards card. Since it’s available at either the Visa Platinum or Visa Signature level, we were wondering if it would be possible to upgrade from Platinum to Signature if you already had the card.

A Capital One customer support specialist told us that no, you cannot upgrade from the Platinum to the Signature. He knew the answer, and didn’t need to put us on hold to look it up. This was a nice change of pace compared to some credit card issuers, who might transfer you twice before you speak with someone who can help.

Every year J.D Power conducts a Credit Card Satisfaction Survey, asking consumers how they feel about the major credit card issuers. Capital One used to come in pretty low, in 8^th place out of 11 credit card companies up until 2015. Not too good. But they’ve improved quite a bit since then, and were ranked 3^rd place last year in 2017. If you’ve been avoiding Capital One credit cards because of their customer support, you might want to reconsider.

Web Support

Sometimes it’s hard to find the information you’re looking for on a credit card issuer’s website. But Capital One bucks that trend and actually makes it quite easy.

You’ll be able to clearly see the VentureOne’s rewards and benefits, along with the terms and fees. Capital One provides a link to the Guide to Benefits for all of their cards, which is very useful when you’re researching the best card for your particular lifestyle. There’s a link to both the Visa Platinum benefits and the Visa Signature benefits, so you can see exactly what you’ll get. We included those links above.

Capital One cardholders can speak with them online, through their live web chat. And anyone can reach them at their Twitter customer support account, @AskCapitalOne. Never reveal your personal or account information on Twitter or other social media sites.

The Bottom Line

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card is a great pick for earning rewards on hotel bookings, although your spending options will be a bit limited.

If you’ll spend a lot of money with Hotels.com, this card can provide a consistent 10% cash back equivalent for all your purchases. There are also Hotels.com member benefits to get, which can contribute to providing an even better value.

This card has become more valuable since Capital One added the ability to transfer to airline loyalty programs, giving you more flexibility in redemptions with options that could provide more than 1 cent per mile.

Your card benefits will come at the upgraded Visa Signature level if your credit limit is $5,000 or above, otherwise you’ll just get more basic protections. These can potentially save you some time and money while shopping and traveling.

There’s no annual fee to pay, and you’ll get a 0% introductory interest rate for purchases for one year, with a 14.24%, 20.24%, or 24.24% Variable APR after that. That will let you pay off a vacation or some hotel trips over time, lessening the blow to your bank account.

The VentureOne Rewards card is very rewarding for certain hotel bookings, but if you need more than that you’ll have to look elsewhere. Check out some other travel credit cards below, which offer points or miles for different kinds of travel expenses.

How to Apply for the VentureOne Rewards Card

You can apply for the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card securely on the Capital One website.

Most applicants will get an instant decision, but not all. In some cases Capital One may request more information.

This card is designed for excellent credit, meaning a FICO 8 Credit Score of about 700 or above. But this isn’t a direct requirement, and you may be approved if your credit scores are close, depending on your other financial information.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Must not have applied for a Capital One credit card two or more times in the last 30 days
• Must not have five or more open credit card accounts with Capital One
• Must not be past due or over the credit line with any Capital One credit accounts
• Must be 18 to apply
• Personal identifying information, including SSN, address, and phone number
• Total annual income, and source of income
• Monthly mortgage/rent payment

Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card

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Alternatives to the VentureOne Rewards Card

• Capital One® Venture Rewards® Card (Review): Higher annual fee, more miles per dollar, no intro APR
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (Review): Higher annual fee, 2X points for travel and dining, 50,000 introductory bonus points for spending $4000 within the first 3 months
• Discover it® Miles (Review): No annual fee, 1.5X miles for every purchase, double miles the first year
• Hotel and Airline Credit Cards: Co-branded with specific hotels and airlines, where they provide rewards and benefits

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

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The Capital One Venture Rewards Card (Review) is a more expensive version of the VentureOne, with slightly different terms. It also comes as a metal credit card, while the VentureOne does not.

The Venture card also has a $95 annual fee after the first year, which can be offset by spending $950 at Hotels.com.

Rewards

So you still get 10X miles for hotel purchases, but other purchases get 2X miles per dollar instead of 1.25X. Miles will still be worth 1 cent each for travel redemptions, so you’re getting 10% cash back from Hotels.com/venture and 2% back for other purchases.

And, like the VentureOne, you can transfer your miles to airline partners where you might find a better value than 1 cent per mile.

The introductory bonus is more than twice as large, at 50,000 miles ($500 when redeemed). But it will also take more than twice as much spending to get.

Benefits

The Venture Rewards Card comes at the Visa Signature level, with all the same benefits described above. The VentureOne may come as a Visa Platinum, with lesser benefits.

In this category the Venture will be at least as valuable as the VentureOne, if not more so.

Terms & Fees

The Venture Rewards card has an annual fee of $95, which is waived for the first year. There are no foreign transaction fees. It does not have a 0% intro purchase APR.

Cardholders of the Venture Rewards will get an initial credit limit of at least $5,000. And you can offset the annual fee with as little as $950 in spending, assuming you do it through Hotels.com.

Both the VentureOne and the Venture provide 10X miles at Hotels.com/venture, which is the main selling point for these cards. You’ll have slightly less overall earning potential with the VentureOne, but it also has no annual fee to pay, along with a year-long 0% interest rate before its 15.24%–25.24% Variable APR starts.

So which card should you use? If all you care about is hotel spending, the VentureOne would probably be better because it offers a great rate for no fee. But if you want to use the card for other spending too, the Venture will offer more miles at the 2X rate.

You may be able to earn more with the VentureOne than the Venture, depending on how much you spend. Here’s how much you’ll earn with each card in terms of cash back equivalent, after subtracting the annual fee from the Venture card. This doesn’t take into account any purchases from Hotels.com/venture.

If you’re going to spend more than $12,667 per year outside of Hotels.com, the Venture card will end up being more rewarding. If you’ll spend less than that, you’ll get more out of the VentureOne, even though it offers miles at a lesser rate.

Read more in our Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

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The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (Review) is a general-use travel card with some limitations on where you can earn points, but it has a point transfer system that many people take advantage of. It’s made of metal, like the Venture Rewards card above.

The $95 fee of the Sapphire Preferred is waived for the first year, and you can offset that with as little as $2,970 in spending with the card.

Rewards

So there is no impressive 10X hotel category here, but you will get 2X points on travel expenses and at restaurants. Points will usually be worth 1 cent each, like the VentureOne, but Chase will also add a 25% bonus when you redeem through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

That means your points will be worth 1.25 cents each. This comes out to an equivalent of 2.5% cash back on travel and dining, with 1.25% cash back everywhere else.

You can earn 50,000 bonus points here, quite a bit more than the 20,000 you get from the VentureOne. In this case you’ll need to spend four times as much to get it, however.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to a variety of airline and hotel travel partners, at a 1:1 rate. This is a good deal compared to some other travel cards, where the transfer rate isn’t always in your favor. The value of your points will vary when you transfer them, depending on how and when you use them. We’ve found redemption offers that provide the equivalent of 3.3% cash back, when earning points at the 2X rate.

The Sapphire Preferred can’t compete with the 10% cash back equivalent you can get with the VentureOne. But if you have a variety of travel and restaurant spending in your future, and won’t just shop through Hotels.com, the Chase card could be right for you. And it’s a great option if you want to transfer points, something you can’t do with the VentureOne.

Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Preferred will come as a Visa Signature card, with a decent set of benefits and protections. Many of the same Visa benefits mentioned above will be included.

Chas provides some other card features as well:

• Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection: When staying at participating properties, you’ll get a daily breakfast for two, room upgrades if available, unique gifts that vary by location, and more.
• Shop Through Chase: Earn 1–15% cash back at a variety of retailers, including Staples, Sephora, Macy’s, Nike, Bose, Walmart, and many more.
• Chase Preferred Experiences: Get invitations or preferred access to exclusive events, like VIP trips to sports games, golf championships, and music festivals.
• Direct Access to Customer Support: Call to be immediately connected with a customer support specialist, without having to work your way through a phone menu.
• Invite Friends for Bonus Points: You’ll get 10,000 bonus points for every friend you refer who successfully applies for the Sapphire Preferred, up to 50,000 points per year.

These perks from Chase have the potential to be more valuable than the extra card features you get from Capital One with the VentureOne card. That’s especially true if you get the Visa Platinum version of the VentureOne.

Terms & Fees

The Sapphire Preferred costs $95 per year, and this fee is waived for the first year. There is no 0% intro rate, like you’ll get with the VentureOne before its 14.24%, 20.24%, or 24.24% Variable APR starts. The Sapphire Preferred has no fee for foreign transactions, like most travel cards.

You’ll get a credit line of at least $5,000 with the Sapphire Preferred card.

The $95 annual fee can be offset by spending about $2,970, if you earn at the 2X rate and get a good deal on a point transfer, like the one mentioned above. If you redeem through Ultimate Rewards, getting 1.25 cents per point, it would take $3,800 in spending to earn $95 worth of points.

Read more in our Review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Discover it® Miles

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The Discover it Miles (Review) is a travel card that looks a bit like the VentureOne, but there are quite a few differences in the rewards, benefits, and terms. There’s no annual fee for this card.

Rewards

It’s a very simple rewards program, with the same 1.5X-mile rate offered for every purchase. Your miles for the first year will be doubled, so you’ll end up getting 3X miles per dollar.

Discover miles are worth 1 cent each, no matter how you redeem them. You can redeem for travel expenses, like the VentureOne. But you can also use them for regular cash back statement credits, which will simply reduce the balance of your account, and still get the full 1 cent per mile. This is unlike most other travel cards, which make you redeem for travel expenses to get the best value. So the the Discover card is more flexible than the VentureOne when it comes to redeeming miles.

The Discover it Miles provides a cash back equivalent of 1.5% for every purchase normally. And in that first year you’ll get a 3% cash back equivalent, quite a good card offer for non-bonus-category spending.

You won’t be able to earn anything close to a 10% cash back equivalent, like you can with the VentureOne. But the Discover it Miles will be more rewarding for purchases that aren’t from Hotels.com/venture.

Benefits

Discover cards do not currently come with very many extra benefits or protections. You’ll get more with the VentureOne Rewards, whether you get a Visa Signature or even a Visa Platinum card.

Discover provides just a few useful card features worth mentioning, and a shopping protection:

• $30 Annual In-Flight WiFi Credit: Pay for in-flight WiFi with your Discover card to get up to $30 per year in statement credits.
• Social Security Number Alerts: Get notified if Discover finds your SSN on any one of thousands of risky websites.
• Freeze it: Quickly and easily freeze and unfreeze your card account, through Discover’s website or mobile app.
• Cash at Checkout: Get cash at checkout at participating merchants, by charging an extra amount over your purchase (basically like a debit card).

You won’t get much in the way of card perks from Discover, but you may find some of these benefits worthwhile.

Terms & Fees

The Discover it Miles has a set of terms and fees that’s similar to the VentureOne Rewards. There’s no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fee.

Discover also provides a 14-month 0% intro APR for purchases. That’s just a bit longer than the 12 months you’ll get from the VentureOne before its 14.24%, 20.24%, or 24.24% Variable APR starts, so there’s not a huge difference here.

Overall, the Discover it Miles is an inexpensive travel card, like the VentureOne. It doesn’t have the same huge earnings potential for hotels, but it offers occasional travelers a decent reward rate on every purchase. If you’re going to make a wide variety of purchases the Discover it Miles could be right for you, especially because you can redeem your miles for regular statement credits at the full value, without waiting for travel expenses. If you’ll do a significant amount of hotel spending, however, you can get more out of the VentureOne.

Read more in our Review of the Discover it Miles

Hotel and Airline Credit Cards

The VentureOne is a general-use travel card, with a focus on hotel spending. There are other types of credit cards, however, that are co-branded with specific hotels and airlines.

If you tend to fly with one airline or stay with one hotel brand more than others, a co-branded card like this might be a good pick for you. Your favorite airline or hotel most likely has a credit card associated with it.

Here’s an example of each kind of card.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

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The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express (Review) is designed for people who book a lot of nights at Starwood-brand hotels every year, spending $1,000 or more in the process.

Its $95 fee is waived for the first year, and you can offset that by spending just $750 with the SPG card, if you earn at the 4X rate. But that’s for a night’s stay at a category 1 hotel; if you want something higher class, it will take more spending.

This card provides 2X Starpoints per dollar, in addition to what you’ll earn from being an SPG member. Cardholders get automatic Preferred membership with SPG, which provides 2X Starpoints per dollar spent at SPG properties. So most people will get 4X points per dollar at SPG properties. If you can raise your member status to Gold or higher you’ll get an extra Starpoint per dollar.

You’ll also earn Starpoints at Marriott properties, but this card isn’t as rewarding when booking there. There are better cards for Marriott spending, like the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card (Review).

There are many ways to redeem Starpoints, and the value you get will depend on how you redeem them. You can redeem for hotel nights, room upgrades, flights, exclusive experiences, and more. The most profitable methods are usually for hotel rooms, although Starpoints are valued highly for many different purposes, including point transfers.

We’ve found redemption deals with this card that provide the equivalent of over 13% cash back. That assumes you earn at 4X Starpoints per dollar, and then redeem your points to get your 5^th night free on an award stay of 5 nights. That’s a great return on your spending, even better than what you’ll get from the VentureOne’s 10X category.

Starwood Preferred Guest cardholders get several nice perks when staying at SPG properties:

• Fast track to SPG Gold and Platinum Status: Get credit for 2 stays and 5 nights per year towards a higher member status; spend $30,000 in a given year with the card to reach Gold status.
• Free In-room WiFi: Provide your SPG account number at check-in to get free WiFi for one room (regular members get standard WiFi, Gold and Platinum members get premium WiFi).
• Unlimited Boingo WiFi: Free WiFi at over one million Boingo hotspots around the world, for up to four devices.
• Cross-over rewards with other frequent traveler programs: Register to earn more rewards at select merchants with your card, including airline loyalty programs.
• Shopping and Travel Protections: Including Extended Warranties, Return Protection, Roadside Assistance, and Cell Phone Protection, among others.

The SPG credit card has an annual fee of $95, which is waived for the first year. There are no foreign transaction fees.

A card like this could be very rewarding if you spend a lot of money at SPG properties every year. But if you don’t usually stay with them, or you stay with many different kinds of hotels, this card won’t do you very much good.

Depending on how you redeem your points, you could offset the $95 annual fee by spending as little as $750, assuming you earn at the 4X rate. But that’s for a night’s stay at a category 1 hotel; if you want something higher class, it will take more spending.

Find the right card for you over at The Best Hotel Credit Cards

JetBlue Plus Card

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Barclays offers the JetBlue Plus Card for anyone who flies JetBlue Airways more often than not, and will spend about $1,000 per year with them.

It will take about $830 in spending on purchases from JetBlue to offset the $99 annual fee of this card. This assumes you earn at the 9X rate, redeem your points for 1.2 cents each, and get the 10% redemption bonus.

There are quite a few ways to earn points and statement credits with this card. Not only will you earn at a good rate for JetBlue spending, you’ll also get the restaurant and grocery store categories.

You’ll get at least 9X points per dollar when buying tickets from JetBlue, with more points for higher-class bookings. These points are generally worth around 1.2 cents each when redeemed for JetBlue award flights.

After adding in the 10% redemption bonus, that means you’ll get the equivalent of about 12% cash back for JetBlue spending. That’s a pretty significant discount, just for using a credit card to pay for flights you would’ve already booked.

A few airline perks are included as well:

• First checked bag free: You and up to three traveling companions on the same reservation will each get your first checked bag free.
• Fast track to Mosaic member status: Reach Mosaic status, which comes with more points per dollar and other benefits, by spending $50,000 with the card in a given year.
• 50% Discount on In-Flight Purchases: Eligible in-flight purchases are discounted 50%, including food and beverages but not WiFi access.

The JetBlue Plus card costs $99 per year, and there’s no foreign transaction fee. Cardholders get a 0% intro APR for balance transfers for 12 months, although this isn’t really a card designed for balance transfers.

Find the right airline card for you over at The Best Airline Credit Cards

Do you use the Capital One VentureOne Rewards card to earn miles on hotel spending? Leave your own review and let us know how you like it!

Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card

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