Capital One Venture Rewards Card review 2024: Easy-peasy travel rewards for a great price

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a travel rewards card with a generous welcome bonus and low annual fee. Rewards are a snap to redeem and don’t come with the restrictions many other travel rewards cards impose. Read more in our full Capital One Venture Rewards Card review.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card basics

• Annual fee: $95.
• Welcome bonus: Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
• Rewards: 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 2 miles per $1 on other purchases.
• APR: 19.99% to 29.99% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers.
• Other perks and benefits: Receive an up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years and Hertz Five Star elite car rental status.
• Does the issuer offer a preapproval tool? Yes.
• Recommended credit score: Excellent.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card review

If you’re looking for a simple travel rewards card that won’t break the bank, the Capital One Venture Rewards card delivers. You’ll earn an unlimited 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 2 miles per $1 on other purchases. However, the card does come with a $95 annual fee, and the travel perks aren’t as robust as what you’ll find on pricier travel rewards cards such as the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card * The information for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. .

But the simplicity of both earning travel rewards and redeeming them can make the card a great pick for those seeking rewards card ease. You can use your miles to book travel through Capital One, redeem them to cover a past travel purchase or transfer them to Capital One’s more than 15 travel loyalty partners. And the card’s generous welcome bonus of 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening also puts another check squarely in the plus column. 

You’ll also get some valuable perks, like a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee reimbursement credit every four years and Hertz Five Star car rental elite status, which grants perks like skipping the rental counter and choosing from a bigger selection of cars.

However, no card is perfect, and the biggest flaw for some will be that this card’s rewards are worth less than a penny per mile when you redeem them for options other than travel.

Pros

• Strong rewards: This card comes with strong flat-rate rewards. And unlike some travel cards, you can earn at a competitive rate on all purchases, not just travel expenses.
• Generous welcome bonus: If you spend 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. 
• Useful perks: The TSA PreCheck/Global Entry application fee credit, Hertz elite status and other benefits, like travel accident insurance and extended warranty coverage*, are solid for a card with an annual fee below $100. 

Cons

• Annual fee: The card does come with a $95 annual fee. If you value rewards at 1 cent per mile (which is what they’re worth to book new travel or cover past travel purchases), you’d have to spend $4,750 per year to recoup the annual fee in rewards earned.
• Rewards are best for travel redemptions. Although you’ll get a penny per mile in value when you redeem rewards for future or past travel, other redemptions are worth less than a penny per mile. If you’re someone who likes the ease of redeeming rewards for cash into your bank account, a cash-back card might be a better fit.
• Excellent credit required: You should have excellent credit to apply for the Venture Rewards card, which typically means a FICO Score of 740 or higher.

How high can your credit score go? Here’s what a perfect credit score means.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card rewards

Cardholders earn 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and purchases through Capital One Entertainment and 2 miles per $1 on other purchases. There’s no cap on how many miles you can earn, and miles don’t expire while your account is open and in good standing. Plus, you’ll earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

Using government data and other publicly available information, we estimate that a household in the U.S. that would be in the market for this card has $25,087 in expenses they are likely to be able to charge to a credit card. Here’s what you could earn on that spend using the Capital One Venture Rewards Card for all your credit card expenses:

SPENDING CATEGORY	SPENDING AMOUNT	MILES PER DOLLAR RATE	MILES EARNED
Hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One travel	$1,753	5	8,765
Other spending	$23,334	2	46,668
TOTAL	$25,087		55,433

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Capital One makes it fairly easy for cardholders to redeem rewards. There are a few ways you can redeem miles for travel — as a credit for past travel purchases or to book a new travel reservation, or by transferring miles to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners.

If you choose to redeem your miles for a past travel purchase made on your Venture Rewards card, you’ll receive a statement credit for it. Just be aware you must make the redemption within 90 days of the purchase. 

To book a new travel reservation, you’ll visit travel.capitalone.com to book your flight, car rental or hotel. When you check out, you’ll use your miles to pay for the purchase.

Experienced travelers may get the best value by transferring miles to their preferred airline or hotel loyalty program, then booking award travel directly. Most transfers are at a 1:1 rate, and Capital One’s travel partners include Air Canada’s Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club, Wyndham Rewards and more.

You can also redeem your miles as a check, statement credit or for gift cards. 

In our estimate above, a cardholder with the Venture Rewards card would earn 55,433 miles annually, worth $554.33 when used to book travel through Capital One or taken as a statement credit against travel. However, beware that if you redeem your miles as a statement credit for a non-travel purchase, you’ll get less than a penny per mile.

How the Capital One Venture Rewards card compares to other rewards cards 

Capital One Venture Rewards Card vs. Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card * The information for the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

The Capital One VentureOne is the $0-annual-fee sibling to the Venture card. In exchange for no annual fee, you’ll earn 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.25 miles per $1 on other purchases. This card also comes with a low introductory APR offer, which the Venture does not have. 

With the VentureOne you’ll get a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, then a variable APR of 19.99% to 29.99%. There is a 3% fee on each balance transfer in the first 15 months but no fee for amounts transferred at the purchase APR after the first 15 months. 

There’s a lower but still respectable welcome offer of 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. If you can’t stomach an annual fee, the VentureOne might be a better — although less lucrative — choice.

The VentureOne allows the same redemption options for your miles as the Venture card, including access to the same airline and hotel transfer partners.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card vs. Discover it® Miles

With the Discover it® Miles, you’ll earn 1.5 miles per $1 on purchases, and rewards can be redeemed for cash back or as a statement credit for travel purchases. With both options, a mile is worth a penny each. This makes it a more flexible option than the Capital One Venture Rewards. However, Discover doesn’t offer travel transfer partners like the Venture card does. 

Discover will automatically match all miles earned at the end of the first cardmember year.

The Discover it® Miles doesn’t charge an annual fee, but be aware that it also lacks the travel perks found on the Venture card.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you’ll earn 5 points per $1 on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per $1 on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per $1 on all other travel purchases and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

And, you could earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. You can redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points in multiple ways but will receive 25% more value if they’re redeemed for travel booked through Chase’s portal.  

For those who prefer to book award travel directly with a favorite airline or hotel, this card also allows you to transfer points 1:1 to more than a dozen travel loyalty partners.

The Sapphire Preferred does carry a $95 annual fee, but offers a robust lineup of benefits in exchange, including: primary rental car coverage, baggage delay insurance, trip cancellation and interruption insurance and up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel.

Is the Capital One Venture Rewards Card worth it?

The Capital One Venture Rewards Card is worth it for occasional travelers who can use the card’s perks enough to justify the $95 annual fee and want to earn rewards to use toward travel. 

If you’re trying to avoid an annual fee or take advantage of an introductory APR, you could opt for the VentureOne card instead. But if you’re looking for a simple, flat-rate rewards card with transferable rewards and decent travel perks, the Venture Rewards card is a great choice.

Capital One Venture Rewards is right for you if:

• You want a travel rewards card that earns at an easy to understand rate.
• You’re looking for rewards that are simple to redeem for travel.
• You’re unwilling to pay hundreds of dollars for a card with premium travel perks.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

^{*For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.}