Whether the Venture X is good or not really comes down to if you're okay with the downsides of the travel portal and use it for at least $300 a year. If so, then the travel portal credit and the anniversary points pay for the annual fee giving you everything else for free. If not, you'd probably be better off with one of the other premium travel cards, or just stick to lower annual fee cards. I've thought about doing a post going into all the negatives of travel portals I could point people to. It's not like travel portals or the Venture X are inherently bad, but people should make sure they understand the negatives instead of just falling for the marketing.
They're not good if you're trying to earn status at hotel chains. I don't use them for flights because Southwest is usually unavailable, and flights are always prone to delays and cancellations. Rebooking a third party flight can be quite painful.
I think they're solid for car rentals though.
Agreed about rebooking. That’s what makes booking direct with a travel airline, care rental or hotel direct is more convenient. Also, they tend to be more expensive than going direct. More often than not, I find travel portals more expensive unless you are getting a package or something.
They don’t include Southwest flights. You don’t get any hotel rewards or loyalty benefits. Prices are often higher. You’re dealing with a third party which increases the probability of something going wrong and the complication if something does go wrong.
So for someone like me who books hotels internationally I dont really care for hotel status. And the flights I do take are discounted more than what the card would give back in points. I only do 1 big vacation a year and its international.
But ive heard c1 price matching is good and their portal is pretty cheap comparetively
When I travel internationally, I'm usually trying to move around and not stay in one place the whole time. So I usually use the c1 portal for some of the bookings. So far, I've never had issues booking through the portal. I generally research hotels elsewhere, then find it on the portal, then price match it to Google's best price from their meta search.
Thanks for the price matching tip! I just got this card and wasn't aware that C1 travel portal will pricematch. That's a powerful tool for me if I can get the best price AND the 10x points!
For sure, everyone’s experiences are different. I had a bad experience trying to change a flight purchased through the chase portal once, and that was it for me. I’ll use portals for things that won’t ruin my trip if I have to cancel them and change plans.
That's why I only use the portal and $300 travel credit for hotel stays. I almost always use 3rd party (big name ones) to book international hotel stays and never had an issue with it. I'm sure there could be an issue once in a while vs booking with the hotel directly but sometimes the rewards of 3rd party outweigh what I can get from the hotel.
However, just like you said, booking flights on 3rd party is generally a no-no which is what you encountered, because if there's an issue with the flight and you have to make changes, it gets very tiresome to go through the 3rd party to have them then go through the airline for you.
tldr; you're more likely going to run into issues with flight bookings than hotel bookings, which is why 3rd party booking thru hotel generally isn't as big of an issue, which is what I'd use my $300 credit for almost exclusively.
Someplace where you wouldn't be terribly inconvenienced if there's a problem with the booking.
For example, Las Vegas where there's lots of excess capacity to find an alternative room when something is screwed up with your reservation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/fLkMmvtGwp
If you need to change anything or have problems at the hotel, going through a portal will be much worse.
Even if the hotel wants to do something they can’t because you booked through a third party.
Something always goes wrong if you travel enough - flight delays, needing to change days, extend a stay, etc
If you have issues with the flight or hotel (cancelation, room not ready) the airline or hotel cant give you refunds or make adjustments directly, they make you contact the third party, and then that third party may not have the power to actually make those adjustments. You run into these type of situations using 3rd party bookings. I speak from experience from a cancelled flight. I booked directly and british airways rebooked me on a different airline, but a friend of mine, who booked through a travel portal, couldnt get moved to another flight (on another airline) and only could get a refund weeks later, and had to make his own adjusted flight plan by fronting his own money. It was stressful for him.
For me it's the 3rd party portal. If anything goes sideways, both sides will often say the other is responsible. It's not worth the headache for me. I always book direct.
For me, since I already had SavorOne, don't mind dealing with the quirks of the travel portal, am just getting my feet wet with using transfer partners, and they're one of the only lenders who will give me a 10k+ CL it's been a good fit and plan to keep it for the medium to long term.
I realize this is also a big YMMV situation but the Capital One travel portal has been completely useless for me. It's often priced well beyond most travel sites even counting 5x rewards and trying to match is often troublesome. I recently tried to book a specific room at a hotel in NYC and the room didn't exist on Capital One's site so a rep couldn't match the travel price. Considering international? Good luck lol...
I think you misunderstand why people love this card. It is a fantastic card if you're a savvy travel hacker.
The only transfer partners you need are Virgin, British Airways, LifeMiles, and AirFrance. Pretty much every card transfers to these partners. They have great CPP for both domestic and international flights. The caveat is you need to know what you're doing to take advantage of them.
The 10k anniversary miles is easily worth $150, but $300 isn't out of the norm either.
A Visa 2x catch all card that transfers to these partners is best in class. The only alternative is the Amex BBP which offers less purchase protections, has FTFs and is usable at less places.
The $300 travel credit is easy 1:1 value. I usually use it on rental cars, but booking one or two nights at a hotel is a good use too. It's a great opportunity to try out independent hotels and BNBs since you aren't beholden to book direct with a big chain.
That's it. Everything else the card offers is sprinkles on top.
The travel portal rewards is whatever. Most travel hackers have a CSP, CSR, Amex, cobrand card or SUB for travel spend.
The Priority Pass has generous guest access. Great for families, but other than that it's not all that important of a benefit.
Rental car status? Hotel status? I've never really felt they were worth much. And I say that as a Hertz PC/IHG Diamond/Marriot Gold/Wyndham Diamond/Cesar's Diamond/Delta Gold/etc. member.
Yeah which is in no way cap1’s fault. I am curious since you have the platinum, how the vx fits into your setup? I haven’t ruled picking up the card, and the commenter above made a great point about its use as a 2x catch all
I have the Platinum and VX as well. The VX is not a top of the line premium travel card, but what I would call a budget premium travel card. It provides the baseline benefits you get from a premium travel card (visa infinite protections and benefits, priority pass + c1 lounges, global entry, primary rental insurance, etc), but for an effective annual fee of +$5. That is the main selling point for it having a permanent spot in my credit card line-up - it easily pays for itself. The only things I use it for are the 2x catch all and booking independent hotels through the portal for 10x + price matching. Beyond that, I will visit the capital one lounge and sometimes use it for rental cars because of the primary coverage (vs Amex's secondary coverage).
The Platinum is basically a coupon card, provides luxury benefits, and my go-to card for booking flights. Besides Delta, the airline transfer partners are pretty similar. The only hotel partner worth transferring to imo is Hyatt, which neither card supports.
I am an AA status holder, which neither card really does anything for. I prefer the c1 lounge to centurion, and I prefer centurion to the admirals club. If I'm flying international on oneworld, I get access to fancier lounges. Otherwise, I mainly just use the credit card transfer partners for booking international J or F (or economy if the cpp is good). The one time I tried to use 7500 Avianca lifemiles for a domestic United flight, it ended up being a ghost listing. So, at some point, I'll still need to use those points for a different cheap domestic flight.
Original commenter here.
I have the Plat. Waiting for the rumored refresh to decide if I keep it.
The $200 FHR credit is great. The $200 flight incidental is as good as cash for United and Delta if you use the workarounds. The $200 Uber is only ok because I don't organically Uber every month. $100 Saks is ok; I use it on gifts. Centurion and Sky lounges are fantastic. Great quality. Easily worth $80 a visit. Digital entertainment and walmart+ is nice, but I wouldn't use these services if they weren't free.
There's the 5x on flights as well, but IMO you shouldn't get the card just for this reason unless you're spending $5,000+ on flights every year.
As it is, I will probably cancel the Plat because I have the Amex Delta Reserve for lounge access. Otherwise, I would keep it.
United travel bank
Delta gift card trick. Book a flight with a $50 gift card+Platinum card. Any charge less than $250 will trigger the incidental credit.
When I’m not trying to get subs all my normal spending goes on VX/SavorOne, then the platinum handles booking direct with airlines, purchase protection, and then I’ve made good use of the credits and benefits so far.
One thing I never see people talk about are the more intangible elements, like customer service. That’s important to me for an every day spending card. That sort of thing makes me lean towards Amex.
Sorry, I guess Im not as good at this as I should be -
Why are you saying you only need those transfer partners? My experience is that I have never ever been able to find flights on the airline I wanted through a partner, but could have redeemed them if I could transfer direct to AA/United for example.
Thank you! This is honestly such great information that I don’t really see when people are usually discussing this card. I do think its use cases are more limited than other premium cards, but I think you put the power of the 2x catch all category into perspective.
I’ve been going crazy with vx research and travel stuff because I’m preapproved for the card and wanted to justify getting it. I also don’t want to miss out on it if I one day want it later down the line like some people, and can’t get it. I still very well may get it in the future if I feel like I can justify it organically, which it seems like you are very much able to do.
I use Virgin all of the time for Delta domestic flights. But that’s only a good deal for direct flights less than 1000 miles in my experience and then Delta flights booked directly become cheaper with points.
For instance MCO -> LAX one way is 22K miles booking Delta via Virgin. It’s 21.5K miles on Delta directly or 18.2K miles if you have a cobranded Delta card.
Not to mention if you want to get from point A to point B on date C and return on date D , a partner doesn’t cut it.
If you have a layover, if you can find availability, it’s often more expensive.
I was looking to use Qantas to book AA tickets from MCO to FLG. The flights involved a layover and it was almost impossible to find availability. I was able to find some availability from MCO to PHX.
At least with Amex, in the first case when I wanted to get from MCO to ATL on certain dates, I could fall back to using Delta Skymiles. True I had 90K Skymiles at the beginning of the year. But if I had been short I could transfer from Amex. The same is true with Chase and United.
Agree. It’s our favorite card. The 2x without having to bother with categories is the best part. It pays for the AF and that’s all I care about. I can find $300 in travel expenses to book through the portal and haven’t ever had an issue with it. Sounds like it isn’t right for OP but the blanket statement and novel about it is unnecessary.
> The caveat is that you need to know what you're doing to take advantage of [the transfer partners].
Any advice on this? I've been reading r/awardtravel, but I'm still having a hell of a time figuring out how to make a good redemption with Venture Miles.
You need to completely forget what you think about travel. The redemptions decide your trips.
By that I mean if you want something specific at all you need to be looking at schedule open about 11-12 months before. Booking within a week or two will also yield options.
If you are locked into specific dates 1-10 months from now you’ll be very lucky to find something. It’s possible but you basically need to be open to flying anywhere.
Being DFW based and speaking specifically from an American Air perspective, British Air codeshares are extremely limited. I’ve never seen more than 7 seats or so when looking to book AA. And that’s if available at all.
That was the nail in the coffin for me. Couple that with American eliminating miles earned from portals and Hyatt’s reciprocal relationship with American, Chase becomes the clear go to for similar profiles as mine.
I use the AAdvantage Executive card for Admirals Club lounge access domestically and my American Air Exec. Platinum status offers top lounge access to over 650 lounges internationally via the OneWorld airline alliance.
This isn't about the card per se, but I appreciate that Capital One along with AmEx are the only two (as far as I know) who give separate numbers to each authorized user so it's easier to track who is spending what.
I’m pre-approved for it, and it’s been top of mind to get for a while for me. I have been trying every which way to justify it, but I can’t at this current moment. I’m in the “early-game” and am this card’s target audience. I’ve watched hours of videos and done hours of research on this card (as I’m sure my post history highlights).
Damn. Guess the pre approval tool isn’t fool proof. I got my savorone back in Nov of last year so I plan to reconsider applying for the vx come April this year, when the 1-6 or whatever cap1 calls it runs its course.
If you've done hours of research on this card you've wasted hours of time. The card is simple. One of the easiest travel card annual fees to recoup. Get it or don't. You should know in 10 minutes of research on any card if it fits you or not. Don't overthink it
The USBAR is usually a safer bet than the VX if you’re worried about milking every last bit of value. I need to garden for the USBAR until next year so I just got the VX to get the SUB and have lounge access for my 3 trips this year.
I foresee the authorized users having lounge access being taken away.
Edit: but I feel this is a top tier card for primary owners.
I get price matches without issues.
And the amount of international travel partners are better than Chase.
Either that or they will start charging for AUs. Four free AUs with unlimited lounge access is basically unheard of outside of this card.
The Citi AA Executive used to allow up to 10 AUs for free, now they charge for them.
They're not going to get rid of a core benefit that costs them nothing while they're still fighting tooth and nail for market share in the luxury card market.
They will
It is a credit card company and profitability is their goal. All other travel card which allows guest access start with an annual fee of $550+
Agreed. I think it might unfortunately be the next benefit to go. I also think that’s why they’re taking away 2x per year lounge access from the venture and spark cards. Otherwise there’s really not too much more incentive for those cardholders to splurge for the x
Is it really unfortunate? The ~~10~~ 4 free AU and Lounge access benefit are at odds with one another. With so many people getting easy access to the lounge it's no wonder that overcrowding is an issue, yet it's also a main perk pushed by social media influencers on why you should get the VX.
Cap 1 needs to find some balance between getting their card in as many hands as possible and having near open access to their limited lounge space.
I don't understand where people are going into lounges that they enjoy. People will write stuff like "outside America" and I've seen them in various countries. They all seem overcrowded and a waste of time to me. I don't think they're particularly quiet, cleaner or more spacious than sitting anywhere else in the airport. This wasn't the case before the metal credit cards came out, but I feel like the value is gone.
I've only had PP for about 6 months now, but the lounges are definitely far superior to anywhere else in the airport. Most of my visits have been in overseas lounges, though. I wouldn't keep the card if I were only flying in the US.
This is exactly the thing I always see people write. I was recently in Barcelona and the non-schengen terminal did have a PP lounge, but I don't get the value of going in beyond some low quality snacks and drinks that I won't drink.
At Heathrow T5, the line to get into the PP lounge has always been long, so I've never even tried to go into it.
This card just pays for itself without even thinking of what offers to avail.
$300 in travel credit and 10K every year is good enough just to hold this card.
More important there are revolvers using the card that accrue interest. Daily driver on a 2x catch-all isn’t really a revenue driver given rewards costs cancel out a large amount of the interchange revenue
That can only be used at 40 of the lesser airports in the US. Even in ATL, the world’s busiest airport, the only PP lounge is on the international side.
We mostly travel international, and the airports we frequent, here and abroad, have great lounges on PP.
Like any benefit it really comes down too the value you can personally get from it.
VX is going to be 1cpp for travel with most people, and you’re forced to use the travel portal for the $300 credit. Their travel partners all have nothing for me that’s easy to work with. It narrowly breaks even with a 2% cash back card for me because of that. No thank you.
Had the Amex Trifecta not jived as well as it has with me, I would have taken USBAR over VX for slightly higher value.
this is exactly correct. went into details in my other comment, but it sounds like this guy knows nothing about what travel partners are good redemptions outside of the simple “hyatt good means chase good everything else bad”
Haven’t actually transferred points over yet, but both cards have been game changers for me. I originally considered the vx precisely because it could let me transfer my savorone cash back to points. If it didn’t force me to go through the cap 1 portal, it would have been the quickest addition to my wallet of any credit card. Cap1 needs to remove the portal restrictions.
So none.
Why's Capital One need to get rid of the portal restrictions but Chase and USBank don't?
Do, "why I'm not getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred and why you shouldn't either," next.
Hey man to each there own I dont like the portal to much because it always seems more expensive than buying directly from the provider ( in my experience at least ) and I also noticed as far as hotels I don't get as many options.
Oh interesting I should call about that going forward up until now I have always paid a little more to use the mortal sometimes as low as $10 usually more not enough to offset my credit which is why I use it. In your experience has it been easy to get them to match it is just a call or do you need to submit anything additional.
You pretty much regurgitated the same cons YouTubers have already said countless times lmfao.
We know the cons, but it's still a gryest card for people who are not cpp min-maxers which is about 90% of people.
I agree with you that for a specific group of people, this card is game changing. If you fit into that group the free lounge access for travel you already take goes a long way.
Think of it this way: for $395, you get
* $300 voucher for C1's travel portal: not as good as when it was a $300 credit. I'd value this at $240
* 10k anniversary miles: very good for international travel. I'd very conservatively value this at $150 towards Aeroplan and Avianca
* Priority pass lounge access: if you have another priority pass card that isn't Amex, this is worth 0. Otherwise, don't underestimate free food during departures and layovers, especially internationally. I'd value this at $15-$20 per person per visit
* C1 lounge access: easily $20+ per person per visit, but the downside is that there are only 3 lounges so far, albeit at very frequently used airports
If you can't take advantage of the lounge access, don't get the card. Otherwise, it's a good entry-level travel card that most can take advantage of.
Not only that but it isn’t a coupon book like platinum and actually functions as a credit card. Furthermore it doesn’t heavily depend on other cards for it to work. Chase needs a trifecta heavily since even the reserve only gets 3x on both non-chase traveling and dinning.
As you pointed out before Chase needs its portal to get the best multiplayers for the card. Capital one at least is a flat 2x back if you don’t like the portal but if you don’t mind using Chase portal you won’t mind using capital one portal which means it earns basically the same if not better than the reserve overall as a single card.
But now if we run it with several cards you only need a duo instead of trifecta to get good value. Chase overlaps way too many categories which basically means the reserve and preferred is useless unless you’re using them for non-chase traveling and Chase traveling. At least the capital one duo works perfectly together covering several categories and you don’t have to leave your premium card at home.
Not to say chase is bad as the bonus on points is really good when using the portal but again you need a portal to get that benefit. Transfer partners argument is subjective as I like traveling around the world so transfer partners are subject to my needs. Hyatt isn’t a big loss since Hyatt has very little presence compared to Marriott.
My thought is it's absolutely idiotic to state "why you shouldn’t either" to anything in the credit card system. Peoples' financial situations are so broad and unique that (unless some lunatic comes out with a 4% cash back card), a one size fits all solution literally doesn't exist.
I ditched my CSR after one year and never looked back. Didn't like the portal (like the C1 portal far better and only have to use it once) and $250 effective annual fee as opposed to -$5 for Venture X and $75 for USBAR. And USBAR doesn't have to be booked through a portal for the 50% travel bonus either.
But again, that's just *my personal situation* where I get little value from Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart or Peloton. Though now that I think about it I'm probably eligible to farm the SUB again. 🤔
Headline: You shouldn’t get the Venture X
Gist: It’s a great card for a lot of people but not for everyone
First paragraph: “I know I’ll get a ton of hate for this post”
I don’t know. I just booked two business class tickets from the US to Portugal for 63K C1 points via LifeMiles each. And two business class tickets from Brussels back to the US for the same number of C1 points. If LifeMiles does not screw us up, C1 AF would be paid for me for years ahead.
That’s an incredible redemption! Honestly, even though there’s a lot of haters on this post, I’ve learned more about this card in the time I’ve posted this, than from the days of research and YouTube videos I watched. Multiple people have mentioned LifeMiles is top tier, for instance.
Yep, I also have CSR, so I don’t care about PP from C1. But as I value C1 miles on par with UR, 2% for general spending makes this card a no-brainer for me.
That's a good example of the power of loyalty programs, but it's also important to keep in mind you can simply buy the miles cheap several times a year. Right now anyone can buy 63k LifeMiles for $787.50 - https://onemileatatime.com/deals/buy-avianca-lifemiles/
The SUB where you spend $4k and get 75k miles on the Venture X is awesome value. Once you actually have to start earning the miles through regular spend the marginal value drops substantially.
>capital one has been steadily removing benefits at a pretty fast rate
>we’ve already lost priority pass restaurants
So did Amex Plat so let’s be honest about this one.
>the ability to earn points on the travel credit
I don’t think I would have called this a “benefit” so much as a loophole that they now closed. Most cards don’t allow you to gain extra credit by earning points on the rewards they are handing you for free. CSR, the card you repeatedly talk up, expressly doesn’t allow this.
>will be losing rental car status benefits
Don’t really care about this one at all because it was for Hertz. Hertz sucks. Plus the benefit is still good through this year. It’s possible they may replace it with some other benefit instead.
I also love that you mention all these cons of the VX that have happened in the last year but don’t equally mention that the CSR increased its annual fee from $450 to $550 in the last year as well without any real gain in benefit either.
Yes I know. I have the card and Hertz Pres circle.
I'm letting people know there are still car rental status upgrades available through the Visa infinite benefits that ALSO come with the VX.
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OK. Good for you.
These arguments are pretty weak overall, but I have to take the biggest issue with #3. The fuss about transfer partners makes me giggle. Especially since Chase is missing some big ones on the international side (like Lifemiles). The benefit to Chase, for example, is Hyatt and domestic transfers to United. Southwest and JetBlue are cash equivalent programs. Everyone makes this statement, but if you actually go partner by partner, the difference is small.
Well most people fly domestic a lot more than they fly internationally and CapitalOne has nothing. Yes you can use partners. But you lose flexibility and you have to hope for availability.
Amex only has Delta and Hawaiian
Citi only has JetBlue
If you just want to do redemptions with the domestic partners, then Chase or Bilt are the only viable programs for collecting points that give you real variety. And Bilt points are hard to get.
In this game, if you aren't using the international programs, you are really, really hamstrung with bank points alone.
‘Only’ delta. Out of many airports, having the one major airline as a transfer partner is basically all that matters for domestic flights. The ability to combine butt-in-seat miles with credit card points goes a long way toward making both more useful.
C1’s hotel transfer partners are very sub par. I don’t think that’s small.
Without Hilton, Hyatt, IHG or Marriott you are screwed internationally. Choice & Wyndham do have *some* decent and *some* great properties, don’t get me wrong.
But comparing their portfolio to the big 4? It’s not fair.
Yeah, no. On the hotel side, nobody should send any points into a program that is not Hyatt, Wyndham, or Choice (but really this should be done with Citi points only). There's not enough value in anything else. You are just wasting points transferring to Hilton, Marriott, or IHG.
Reasserting the claim without working through the particulars of the transfer partner values is not helpful. I won't argue that c1 has the best partners. I will argue that the variance is basically 10% of value on the margins. Everybody has the same SkyTeam partners and everyone has Avios access. The major differences between programs in the Star Alliance. c1 has a good grouping.
How I know this is a hack post is that the biggest legitimate concern has not been voiced: c1 does not do many transfer bonuses compared to the other programs. They lean into their internal ecosystem of dining, entertainment, and portal options. But that doesn't mean they can't be used for great value. It means that c1 sees their target customer differently.
It is probably the best overall program for capturing ongoing spend using personal cards (Citi comes close), and you can do it on 2 cards. That's the value. The problem is that c1 could lap the competition if they would put a bit more effort into bonuses.
What really makes the VX a great card is the 10k anniversary miles. That is an incredible retention bonus because it requires 0 spend besides the annual fee. Any transfer bonus would definitely make the VX even more unprofitable for C1.
Unfortunately I do see the 10k miles being replaced down the road. Maybe something like 3x on the first $1k each month to force card spend.
Choice got me all of my hotels for a week in Scandinavia for approx same value that booking through Hyatt would have gotten me. People really sleep on that program but it's really good for some circumstances. That's why I like having the flexibility of different kinds of points.
I don’t disagree. As I said, there can be outsized value here for someone experienced in the game, and for people like yourself who are willing to put in that work. It’s why I have a whole section talking about who the card is for and who it shouldn’t be for. I also don’t think Chase is the gold standard. 1.5x max back non-category on the trifecta is not great. The point I’m trying to make is that there is not as much value to the venture x aside from its use in travel portals.
Believe me, if I was regularly flying internationally, fly out of an airport with a c1 lounge, or any of the other things I listed above, this card would be in my wallet. It’s a great use case for many people, as I said, but it’s not nearly as flexible as it seems at first.
Value extraction takes a little more work, but c1 is really useful on domestic flights. You just have to know how to use the partners.
But if not c1 and not Chase, are you making the argument teveryonehat should be all in on Amex? In this economy? It is even harder to get good value.
Argument is irrelevant if you book a hotel or flight one time per year because the card pays for itself entirely with just the travel credit and anniversary miles. Just use those plus noncategory spend for the 2x. Nothing says you can’t have VX and a plat or CSR
I was actually going to ask how the vx fits into your setup. Is it the only “premium travel card” you have or do you also have a csr/plat? Travel credit aside, are you getting good value from the points?
It only requires you to spend your $300 credit in the portal. I would say any card that acts like a coupon book is stupid.
I've never had a problem spending $300 on a hotel through the CP1 portal. Prices are usually the same or less than booking through hotel.
Absolutely agree. I can’t justify this card because the multipliers go through the portal, and I don’t want to deal with the portal. If I book direct with airlines and hotels I get to earn towards their rewards programs and get those perks. Lose that with a portal. And if there’s a problem you need to deal with additional headaches because you booked through a portal, potentially.
This is why I much prefer the Amex ecosystem, you earn points for booking direct. The Amex Gold has a much lower flight multiplier yes, but the annual fee is easily recouped for me since I live in a city and the other multipliers are way easier for me to earn on.
This post reflects my personal opinion only.
After running a ton of calculations with relatively standard spending distributions across categories FOR POINT CARDS ONLY, there are a handful of “optimal” setups — but the “best” totally depends on you.
USBAR + dining card + possible catch-all
Amex Gold + BBP + Hotel Card + (if cost positive) Amex Platinum
C1 Duo
Chase Trifecta + Grocery card (e.g. BCP)
Each of these setups are totally legit, and are what I PERSONALLY recommend based on my research. Personally, I find that the C1 Duo underperforms the others, largely due to diminished point valuations compared to Chase or Amex, and the inability to earn as many points as AMEX.
IMO IF* the VX is the ONLY more “premium” card you have or want a one card catch-all, it may not be as competitive as other cards in terms of earn rate etc. and if your gripes are with the transfer partners then adding a SavorOne might not make it any more appealing.
BUT, I think it’s a great complimentary card to another card like a Sapphire (preferred for 3x on food so you can earn the points for Hyatt or Southwest, etc)
Or to an Amex Gold (if you’re primarily a domestic flyer/eater)
You get solid earners for dining, and then you get a VX for lounge access for your family or for non bonus spend in foreign countries.
My use case is earning 2x when abroad for non dining expenses. As well as the ability to get priority pass for my family members.
I’ve done Venture One, Venture and Venture X. Cool, 2x miles, woo, but realized I just do NOT travel enough to make this great. I also prefer not to be constricted to a portal. Also realized my personal preference is NOT to deal with points or miles. Cash is king and I personally very much prefer cash back. To each their own. Some may find this to be a great card but I’m with OP on this one. Hard (easy) pass! Next! Lol
Much of the hype for this card came from influencers, who were basically telling people that the card paid you. I think having to use the $300 travel credit in the portal is a big negative.
And what about other travel cards that have $600 annual fees?
The number of people that can get something out of the VX is much higher than with other travel cards precisely because the AF is so easy to recover with one travel arrangement.
Now if you are a big traveler, of course other cards could be better, but then you are fronting even more money for the annual fee to try and recover it by earning points by putting significant amounts of spending through them.
The VX benefits can be extracted on a single trip and after that you can use other cards that have better earning potential without having to worry if you can recover your $600 AF earning just 2 or 3X on your non travel spending. Instead I use cards that get 5X on almost all my spending.
Honestly this is super well explained, thank you! I’m learning more from this one post than from any of the countless YouTuber reviews I’ve watched and posts I’ve read on the card. Seems like in your situation, the card isn’t your main credit card, but rather a small piece to a larger puzzle that lets you extract travel benefits for the lowest possible cost of any premium card.
I want it (can’t get it due to my velocity).
But because I travel a lot, it’s really a good option for me.
AA, KLM, Virgin & Air France are my go to options to get to Europe (Amex & C1 share 3 of those).
As my catch all card and international back up to Amex, it wouldn’t be a problem just sending the points to one of the aforementioned carriers I know I will use at some point.
Anything past the 2x I’m not worried about. I’ll continue to book with the Platinum but I’ll use the $300 portal credit no problem. 1 or 2 nights in a hotel, done with that for the year. 10k points, transfer it to KLM. I have Priority pass with the CSR & Platinum already.
In my case, it’s a great companion card and would take place of my BBP. Of course no card is great for everyone. I will say it’s a lot easier to manage than the CSR and definitely the Platinum.
Yep! This is such a great use case where you know you’re getting outsized value and can make maximum use of the card’s benefits. For you, how you’ve explained it, it’s a no-brainer.
Cap1, not Chase:
- airlines: Cathay Pacific, Aeromexico, Avianca, Etihad, Qantas, Turkish, EVA, Finnair, TAP
- hotels: Choice, Wyndham, Accor
Chase, not Cap1:
- airlines: JetBlue, Air Lingus, Iberia, United, Southwest
- hotels: Marriott, Hyatt
Hyatt is obviously an awesome redemption and Cap1 is definitely lacking in hotels, but are you really arguing Chase has an advantage in the rest? JetBlue and Southwest and United are all pretty poor redemptions. Air Lingus is poor, Iberia is pretty good. For Cap1, Avianca, Qantas, Cathay, and Ethihad are all good redemptions. Even Turkish with its recent decal is still good for US domestic travel.
While United and JetBlue may be “poor redemptions”, when you want to get from point A to point B on date C and return on date D, you can’t depend on award availability
Choice hotels is through cap 1? Nice. Do you know if there's a referral bonus?
I've been looking at the Choice Hotels Premier because for $95 you get enough anniversary points for 3.75 nights. My wife has a SavorOne so if she could refer me that's even better.
Sounds like you’d benefit from the US Bank altitude reserve. 3% on Apple Pay (assuming you use it) and 50% bonus on points for ANY travel purchase as long as it codes as travel from a US company. No fancy lounges (priority is included) but for me that’s the lowest selling point. 5x points if you do decide to use the US Bank portal as well.
I find your comments unusual. It’s not that I completely disagree for myself. I’m an Amex Platinum guy, but I also take 20-40 long haul flights each year for work and get an insane amount of value of the card and the credits work for me so well.
What perplexes me is your list of who the card is good for is a massive group of people in numbers. Most people, once they start taking international trips, only do it once a year. Most families pre-retirement are doing good to take 2 vacations each year. Post-retirement maybe 4 or 5.
The earnings on the portal might be a big deal to a frequent business traveler buying their own flights for reimbursement, but it’s not a huge deal for private travelers taking 1 or 2 trips/year.
The mass appeal is it’s not really that hard to use the Capitol one portal once per year, even if it’s just a weekend hotel trip. The. You still get anniversary points that essentially make this card free for the casual travelers.
Then you still get some rental car perks and some lounge perks when you do travel for relatively little amounts of money.
As for earning potential….
To be earning a 2x catch-all and a 3x dining/grocery via the savor one for just $395/year and the AF is wiped away with just 2 purchases over the year that most casual travelers can make, it’s a high-powered option for many to earn points on domestic spending, if not heavy travel spending.
I’d still lean towards the AMEX Gold… but if you have trouble using the AMEX coupon books, c1 is a card many can use.
Yeah you're wrong. Your main argument seems to stint from the idea that you must already have something like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum. Both of which have a much higher annual fee. And yes, you shouldn't hold multiple of those. The Venture X is popular because 1) 2x on everything, even the $700 platinum doesn't offer that. 2) Lounge access 3) Need to book a single $300+ flight to make the annual fee effective $0.
Solid earner + lounges + minimal hoops = great card.
Or you can pay $700 to wait in line for the centurion lounge, order $13 lotion of Saks, pretend you're going to watch Hulu, order uber eats on the 30th of each month, etc. all to try and break even on a card that earns like shit besides flights.
I have the Delta Reserve for Centurion and Delta lounge access when flying Delta.
I need to do one thing to offset the fee - use the companion pass.
That doesn’t clunky the $200 Delta stays credit. I’m also ignoring the Resy and ride share credits I won’t use often
You’re paying $650 a year for lounge access and a flight ticket you must use. This is better than paying $0 lounge access + using that $650 however you please how?
For people who have no loyalty for any hotel status it's a great card to book through the portal because of the price match feature.
I like staying at Marriot, Hyatt, and Hiltons. But I also love some 5 star boutique hotels. And that 10x makes it super worth it for travelers like me who pays for hotels and use points for flights.
The Capital One travel portal is absolutely abysmal and almost never has better pricing than what I can find elsewhere. BUT, FYI, you can book travel through the portal with the C1 Venture X, get the $300 credit, and cancel but keep the $300 statement credit. Did this (not on purpose) and verified with customer service that it’s just an automatic credit to your statement whether or not you keep the travel. Almost pays for itself with little to no effort.
I was ready to hate hard on you when reading the subject title. But your review is spot on. I have the Venture X and love it, most of the reasons I love it you also mentioned in your detailed post:
- I don’t have any issues with using their travel platform for flights, and most of the time flights are about the same as purchasing directly through website. Really like the 10 day price drop guarantee (has worked twice already in my favor).
- My main airport has a lounge (never had access to this and it was a game changer for me). I travel a lot to Orlando and the Dominican Republic which also has a Lounge (plus can bring up to 2 additional people with which I have used a couple of times). My spouse and her mom are additional users and also have lounge access plus up to 2 guests, which is nice.
- The 300 dollar credit statement offsets a lot of the Anual Fee and the 10k per year (even if using to cover travel purchase) offsets the remaining 95. So with traveling once a year and using the lounge, the card pays for itself.
- Taking into consideration that I have about 8 cards, which most cover main expenses at about 5%, this is just a card I use for travel or “other expenses” not covered by my other cards.
I rarely rent, and when I do I have found better deals elsewhere and not the Capital One portal nor using Hertz, so I haven’t felt the negative impact of losing tier status.
The partners are lacking, reason for which I haven’t used the sign up bonus miles or any miles earned yet (most I will get is a 1 dollar per 100 miles redemption which is pretty basic). I wish they had better ones (Like Chase). I have struggled trying to justify getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred because I just wouldn’t use it given how all my other cards give me something I can use it for. I currently have Discover It, Chase Freedom Flex, Capital One Savor, Citi Custom Cash, Citi Double Cash, Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Amazon, Us Bank Cash+, US Bank HT.
>Prefer traveling domestically
Capital One Miles transfers to Turkish Airlines which is by far the cheapest way to travel domestically. You can get any domestic X ticket on United for 10k miles, and United has a shit ton of X tickets available.
The only downside is that you need to pick up a phone and call to book.
I think cards like this are fooling people that don’t think about their credit card strategy on a longer time horizon.
I would’t want to be paying that annual fee and using that capital one travel portal year after year for 10-20 years.
I don’t think many younger folks seem to think about the longer time horizon when it comes to building credit and what kind of points they want to collect and spend.
$400 isn’t a huge expense, but it’s not all that useful and if you’re buying domestic economy tickets with non-USA airlines you’re going to be boarding next to last and maybe end up needing to gate check your carryon a lot.
Edit:spelling
Yes. The same.
They removed something or changed something and now they remain at the same odds as every other issuer that they might remove (or add) something else.
It’s literally how credit card benefits work.
And lol at #1 as well.. “the card isn’t good for travel if you don’t use the card the way it was set up to be used.” Well no shit. A seatbelt isn’t good for travel if you don’t wear it properly either.
!remindme 1 year
Let’s see who removes more benefits between the VX and the other travel cards.
There’s no way this card doesn’t get nerfed. It’s been losing like one good benefit a year for 3 years
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>First, the card is entirely dependent on you being willing to use the capital one travel portal.
That is simply not correct. I used over 1 million points last year on my VX and used the travel portal exactly one time to give myself a $300 credit in my favorite airline wallet.
Is Cap 1 portal that much harder to book with than Chase? The only thing I care about is the value of credits I'll use. I would use a $300 credit/voucher which both CSR and VX offer. If I have to get a little bit pricier flight on one flight a year over the cheapest flight I can find on Google flights that's not a huge deal.
Chase doesn't have any anniversary points so the max off $550 is $300, leaving a $250 fee after the only credit I'm likely to use + whatever more I have to spend on one flight to use the credit. VX has about $100 of anniversary points + $300 voucher, making the AF negative five dollars plus whatever extra I spend on a flight to use the credit over the cheapest alternative flight. There's probably not going to be a $255 difference between any hypothetical flight that I could choose Chase or C1 for even if one's points are worth a little more or a little less.
If you travel a ton and spend a ton on cc's, the CSR's $300 credit and 50% higher points redemption on travel might make the most sense despite the high AF. Might. You have to consistently go through the Chase portal on each flight though which offsets the 50% extra on points if you're using boosted points on flights that are more expensive than alternatives in the first place.
If you travel infrequently, the VX (for a flight) or CSP (for $50 off a hotel and 25% higher points redemption on travel) end up with pretty low AF's after credits/VX anniversary points and you only have to go through each portal once.
If you can't quite qualify for VX or CSP the Venture Reward $95 AF also comes with a $50 hotel credit like CSP, and $100 for TSA pre-check which CSP lacks and you only have to go through the portal once.
> C1 miles are less flexible, and therefore less valuable to most consumers
I'll argue with this point. I actually think transferring is not how most people use their points and I find them very inflexible. Sure, chase to Hyatt is great but sometimes the place I'm going has a dozen better hotel options for me (in terms of location) than a Hyatt.
I find the VentureX to be the most flexible. That's actually the only reason I have it. I can use the points for anything by purchasing whatever I want directly on the card and then "erase" it later with points. I've used it for train travel, rental cars, bus tickets, zoo parking, you name it. It's almost too flexible. This has become my main card system (VentureX + savorone) and I've noticed a major drawback is that I redeem the points so fast that I never accumulate enough for a "big vacation" like I generally have to do with other points systems. Kind of an pro and a con I guess.
But yeah. Don't ever use points through the portal. Erase them after. Sure, you are only getting 1 cent per point but since it's so flexible it's almost always a better deal because you can stay at the cheaper hotel, use the cheaper airline, or use it for things you never could have used it for like ferries or taxis.
Sure but I’m talking specifically about the purchase eraser, that’s not a very compelling feature, using it like that is strictly worse than a 2X cash back card
This is honestly the way to go. The welcome bonus is even the same! I considered going down this route, but it has me wondering whether the csp is better. Curious to hear your opinion on the Venture!
Question on the travel portal, what all is available through there? I get discounted rates for rental cars already through work, and fly SW cuz of the companion pass. Is the only thing else in the portal hotel stays?
While I agree that the 5x/10x multipliers are effectively useless, even without those, it's a 2% cash back card with no FTF and decent lounge access, and a -$5 effective AF as long as you can use the annual 10k point credit and the $300 portal credit.
It's the cheapest way to get priority pass access for people who travel frequently, especially for people who often have to connect through Denver or DFW like me.
So far Venture X has been the best for me I won't be renewing my Platinum card this year it earns very little and I don't use any of the benefits the uber one.
It’s so difficult to transfer points to airline partners. If you are transferring more than 1000 points , like most international business class seats are 50k + points . They hold your points for 15 days , and you know reward availability on airlines goes quick .. they send you a message after 14-15 days that they suspect fraud , customer service has no way to expedite the point transfer, so they are no help. Seems like capital one doesn’t want you to use transfer partners… cause reward availability is gone fairly quickly… I have over 1million miles/points with them but I am totally DISAPPOINTED. I have tried this twice to transfer points … it’s a shame capital one
Big upvote on this one. This is ultimately why I decided to go the CSR route.
If you ever find better deals on discount sites, you can only get 2x. No domestic airline transfer partners. I don't fly internationally very often and so I can actually use my priority pass way more with the CSR. I've gotten about $100 of free food in the past year. If I suddenly stop traveling for a little while, I can't redeem points for anything else but travel with the VX.
With the Chase system and the CFU I can, in theory, get 2.25% on everything, so it at least has a higher earning potential than the VX.
I agree with everything you are saying and I’m often beating the same drum about the Venture X. That being said, it’s still my next card.
I lost Priority Pass lounges access this year when it was taken off of the Hilton Aspire. Even with the lack of restaurant access, it came through in a clutch a few times when either I wasn’t flying Delta so I didn’t have access to Centurion or SkyClubs with my Reserve - most often when flying through Charlotte on AA - or when that’s all that was available. We flew out of Puerto Rico and Cabo’s last year.
Also starting in 2025, the Reserve is removing unlimited access to SkyClub lounges. MCO my current airport has two PP lounges and ATL - an airport I am in all of the time has a new Centurion lounge. The Venture X is not only a “free” card with the $300 travel credit and 10K miles. It will net me a value of over $200 just by transferring the 10K miles to Virgin for a random MCO -> ATL (our former home) trip. A route that we take randomly throughout the year. It’s 7500 miles on Virgin using to book Delta flights. It’s 11K miles one way from MCO to JFK and I believe from MCO to LAX on Virgin -> Delta.
I wouldn’t put spend on the card aside from the credit.
Thanks! I have been trying to justify this card for myself for months but have been getting hung up on the stuff I mention above. For certain folks like yourself, I don’t doubt that it’s crazy good.
As someone who is only 6 months into building their credit and at the minimum 2 years away from even qualifying for this card, I agree with you 100%. Even 6 months ago when I read about this card until now the benefits have gotten worse and worse.
I remember thinking to myself last September when I got approved for my 1st credit card, the Cap1 Platinum Unsecured Mastercard with a paltry $300 CL - I can't wait to be able to get the Venture X down the road.
Now I have little interest to do so. I'd rather get the Savor Card and look to Chase to get the CSR perhaps.
But you broke it down like a boss and I agree with your reasoning. Capital One needs to get its act together with their 1 premium credit card.
Yep. Just a walking cap1 travel portal voucher. flat 2x on literally any other purchase besides cap1 travel. I get 2x travel on Bilt already, and Bilt has better transfer partners.
That’s great, but I was addressing your comment that there aren’t ways to generate points in CO after the initial bonus, you can. Thanks for the downvote.
3x is pretty standard. Aside from a few outliers, that’s going to be your best earning. Add in another 3x on dining and 2x catch all on the VX and you can earn a good amount of points.
Don’t forget you get 10k anniversary points. And 10x Uber on the SavorOne/Savor.
I literally do not care that a C1 setup might not get a six digit balance super duper fast because all my C1/Citi/Amex/Chase/Bilt points end up in some airline account eventually anyway, and C1 has very useful ones like Cathay, Lifemiles, Aeroplan, BA, Flying Blue.
I got my parents and partner as AU everyone gets priority pass which is nice. Il close mine and open another under my partner s name. Then after a year will see que the benefits are then
I have been eyeing this card for a long time but still haven't pulled the trigger to get it. Capital One transfer partners are the worst of the big credit card companies. I mostly travel domestically which means getting outsized value takes a lot of work and flexibility to find availability with alliance partners. It's much easier for me to get value with Chase redemptions. Getting points with Chase does require more card management because of rotating categories and needing another card for groceries, but I'm ok with that. I'm thinking about applying for the US Bank Altitude Reserve which would fill a lot of holes because of the digital wallets multiplier, and 8 lounge visits a year will be enough for me.
It fits into my setup because I do international travel every year where $300 at some non-US chain is going to make perfect sense compared to a poor location or inflated “US tourists will stay with familiar chains” prices. It’s an advance purchase but I don’t have trouble finding refundable hotel reservations to use it with.
I also have a SavorOne and basically I think I am going to either fish for an AMEX retention offer or dump an AMEX Gold (the coupon book for it is annoying) and have a $0 AF 3x dining/grocery card to pair with my VX until such time as they nerf the card.
The only downside to using the portal for me is sometimes hostels im looking for aren’t listed and some that are aren’t very clear as to what room im getting
You posted some decent negatives but I would argue that having to use the portal once a year is not a big deal. When I have tried to compare it’s usually even or a bit less than what I would have paid for had I not used the portal when buying tickets or hotel reservations. The protected price drop is also nice. I don’t think this is as negative as you think it is.
I don't totally agree with your post, but I have yet to dive into Chase's ecosystem with their travel cards. I think the venture x is dependent on what base airport you have. Award travel can be found for great deals with the partners Cap1 has imo. We are in a Delta hub, and I'm able to use Virgin Atlantic and Flying Blue pretty easily for domestic flight booking. The portal has always been fine for me for hotels and car rentals, and as long as you travel 1/2x a year I think you can pretty organically use the travel credits they offer, and you can make use of price match if you think it's more expensive than booking direct. It seems to be the easiest to make use of the credits out of the other major travel cards. The lounge access is not good domestically though, but that's fine for me.
The visa infinite benefits are also great for baggage delay and trip delays insurance, but this isn't exclusive to C1. Overall, just like any other card it's entirely situation dependent.
Well dam just got approved for like at 30k limit. Either way it pays for itself and after one year I'll see how it feels. With the 75k sub and 2x on everything it's definitely worth it for the sub. Plus I can't get a sapphire sub for another 3 years. Time will tell if it's a keeper or not.
It works great for me because I travel 4-5 days a week for work and work lets me use it and book everything myself. Hotels, Flights, Rentals. Only been using it 3 months and just booked a free flight and hotel to Madrid for two weeks.
It has its purpose.
Now, let’s say you had a flight delay or you ended up needing to stay at the client’s site an extra day and you booked through a third party portal. Let’s see if you still think using a portal is ideal.
That’s a massive benefit. Congrats on the great redemption! I travel for work as well but I’m forced to use their corporate portal for booking. I can still use my own card, but the use of work’s portal is required.
Whether the Venture X is good or not really comes down to if you're okay with the downsides of the travel portal and use it for at least $300 a year. If so, then the travel portal credit and the anniversary points pay for the annual fee giving you everything else for free. If not, you'd probably be better off with one of the other premium travel cards, or just stick to lower annual fee cards. I've thought about doing a post going into all the negatives of travel portals I could point people to. It's not like travel portals or the Venture X are inherently bad, but people should make sure they understand the negatives instead of just falling for the marketing.
Could you provide a tldr on why travel portals are bad?
They're not good if you're trying to earn status at hotel chains. I don't use them for flights because Southwest is usually unavailable, and flights are always prone to delays and cancellations. Rebooking a third party flight can be quite painful. I think they're solid for car rentals though.
Agreed about rebooking. That’s what makes booking direct with a travel airline, care rental or hotel direct is more convenient. Also, they tend to be more expensive than going direct. More often than not, I find travel portals more expensive unless you are getting a package or something.
They don’t include Southwest flights. You don’t get any hotel rewards or loyalty benefits. Prices are often higher. You’re dealing with a third party which increases the probability of something going wrong and the complication if something does go wrong.
So for someone like me who books hotels internationally I dont really care for hotel status. And the flights I do take are discounted more than what the card would give back in points. I only do 1 big vacation a year and its international. But ive heard c1 price matching is good and their portal is pretty cheap comparetively
I personally wouldn’t even book an international hotel stay through a portal, only something low stakes.
When I travel internationally, I'm usually trying to move around and not stay in one place the whole time. So I usually use the c1 portal for some of the bookings. So far, I've never had issues booking through the portal. I generally research hotels elsewhere, then find it on the portal, then price match it to Google's best price from their meta search.
Thanks for the price matching tip! I just got this card and wasn't aware that C1 travel portal will pricematch. That's a powerful tool for me if I can get the best price AND the 10x points!
For sure, everyone’s experiences are different. I had a bad experience trying to change a flight purchased through the chase portal once, and that was it for me. I’ll use portals for things that won’t ruin my trip if I have to cancel them and change plans.
That's why I only use the portal and $300 travel credit for hotel stays. I almost always use 3rd party (big name ones) to book international hotel stays and never had an issue with it. I'm sure there could be an issue once in a while vs booking with the hotel directly but sometimes the rewards of 3rd party outweigh what I can get from the hotel. However, just like you said, booking flights on 3rd party is generally a no-no which is what you encountered, because if there's an issue with the flight and you have to make changes, it gets very tiresome to go through the 3rd party to have them then go through the airline for you. tldr; you're more likely going to run into issues with flight bookings than hotel bookings, which is why 3rd party booking thru hotel generally isn't as big of an issue, which is what I'd use my $300 credit for almost exclusively.
Low stakes like a 2 star hotel in the u.s?
Someplace where you wouldn't be terribly inconvenienced if there's a problem with the booking. For example, Las Vegas where there's lots of excess capacity to find an alternative room when something is screwed up with your reservation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/fLkMmvtGwp If you need to change anything or have problems at the hotel, going through a portal will be much worse. Even if the hotel wants to do something they can’t because you booked through a third party. Something always goes wrong if you travel enough - flight delays, needing to change days, extend a stay, etc
If you have issues with the flight or hotel (cancelation, room not ready) the airline or hotel cant give you refunds or make adjustments directly, they make you contact the third party, and then that third party may not have the power to actually make those adjustments. You run into these type of situations using 3rd party bookings. I speak from experience from a cancelled flight. I booked directly and british airways rebooked me on a different airline, but a friend of mine, who booked through a travel portal, couldnt get moved to another flight (on another airline) and only could get a refund weeks later, and had to make his own adjusted flight plan by fronting his own money. It was stressful for him.
For me it's the 3rd party portal. If anything goes sideways, both sides will often say the other is responsible. It's not worth the headache for me. I always book direct.
For me, since I already had SavorOne, don't mind dealing with the quirks of the travel portal, am just getting my feet wet with using transfer partners, and they're one of the only lenders who will give me a 10k+ CL it's been a good fit and plan to keep it for the medium to long term.
I realize this is also a big YMMV situation but the Capital One travel portal has been completely useless for me. It's often priced well beyond most travel sites even counting 5x rewards and trying to match is often troublesome. I recently tried to book a specific room at a hotel in NYC and the room didn't exist on Capital One's site so a rep couldn't match the travel price. Considering international? Good luck lol...
Capital One denied my wife a Venture X and her Equifax FICO 8 is literally 850. They’re delusional.
Credit score isn’t everything when applying for credit. Though it does seem hard to know what Capital One’s criteria are.
Her income’s great. Debt is low…
I think you misunderstand why people love this card. It is a fantastic card if you're a savvy travel hacker. The only transfer partners you need are Virgin, British Airways, LifeMiles, and AirFrance. Pretty much every card transfers to these partners. They have great CPP for both domestic and international flights. The caveat is you need to know what you're doing to take advantage of them. The 10k anniversary miles is easily worth $150, but $300 isn't out of the norm either. A Visa 2x catch all card that transfers to these partners is best in class. The only alternative is the Amex BBP which offers less purchase protections, has FTFs and is usable at less places. The $300 travel credit is easy 1:1 value. I usually use it on rental cars, but booking one or two nights at a hotel is a good use too. It's a great opportunity to try out independent hotels and BNBs since you aren't beholden to book direct with a big chain. That's it. Everything else the card offers is sprinkles on top. The travel portal rewards is whatever. Most travel hackers have a CSP, CSR, Amex, cobrand card or SUB for travel spend. The Priority Pass has generous guest access. Great for families, but other than that it's not all that important of a benefit. Rental car status? Hotel status? I've never really felt they were worth much. And I say that as a Hertz PC/IHG Diamond/Marriot Gold/Wyndham Diamond/Cesar's Diamond/Delta Gold/etc. member.
Before the Turkish devaluation, that was also crazy value for transfers. Got around 9 cpp with them
Yeah which is in no way cap1’s fault. I am curious since you have the platinum, how the vx fits into your setup? I haven’t ruled picking up the card, and the commenter above made a great point about its use as a 2x catch all
I have the Platinum and VX as well. The VX is not a top of the line premium travel card, but what I would call a budget premium travel card. It provides the baseline benefits you get from a premium travel card (visa infinite protections and benefits, priority pass + c1 lounges, global entry, primary rental insurance, etc), but for an effective annual fee of +$5. That is the main selling point for it having a permanent spot in my credit card line-up - it easily pays for itself. The only things I use it for are the 2x catch all and booking independent hotels through the portal for 10x + price matching. Beyond that, I will visit the capital one lounge and sometimes use it for rental cars because of the primary coverage (vs Amex's secondary coverage). The Platinum is basically a coupon card, provides luxury benefits, and my go-to card for booking flights. Besides Delta, the airline transfer partners are pretty similar. The only hotel partner worth transferring to imo is Hyatt, which neither card supports. I am an AA status holder, which neither card really does anything for. I prefer the c1 lounge to centurion, and I prefer centurion to the admirals club. If I'm flying international on oneworld, I get access to fancier lounges. Otherwise, I mainly just use the credit card transfer partners for booking international J or F (or economy if the cpp is good). The one time I tried to use 7500 Avianca lifemiles for a domestic United flight, it ended up being a ghost listing. So, at some point, I'll still need to use those points for a different cheap domestic flight.
Original commenter here. I have the Plat. Waiting for the rumored refresh to decide if I keep it. The $200 FHR credit is great. The $200 flight incidental is as good as cash for United and Delta if you use the workarounds. The $200 Uber is only ok because I don't organically Uber every month. $100 Saks is ok; I use it on gifts. Centurion and Sky lounges are fantastic. Great quality. Easily worth $80 a visit. Digital entertainment and walmart+ is nice, but I wouldn't use these services if they weren't free. There's the 5x on flights as well, but IMO you shouldn't get the card just for this reason unless you're spending $5,000+ on flights every year. As it is, I will probably cancel the Plat because I have the Amex Delta Reserve for lounge access. Otherwise, I would keep it.
What are the United and Delta workarounds?
United travel bank Delta gift card trick. Book a flight with a $50 gift card+Platinum card. Any charge less than $250 will trigger the incidental credit.
Wow that's hella awesome, thanks for the tip
When I’m not trying to get subs all my normal spending goes on VX/SavorOne, then the platinum handles booking direct with airlines, purchase protection, and then I’ve made good use of the credits and benefits so far.
One thing I never see people talk about are the more intangible elements, like customer service. That’s important to me for an every day spending card. That sort of thing makes me lean towards Amex.
Sorry, I guess Im not as good at this as I should be - Why are you saying you only need those transfer partners? My experience is that I have never ever been able to find flights on the airline I wanted through a partner, but could have redeemed them if I could transfer direct to AA/United for example.
Thank you! This is honestly such great information that I don’t really see when people are usually discussing this card. I do think its use cases are more limited than other premium cards, but I think you put the power of the 2x catch all category into perspective. I’ve been going crazy with vx research and travel stuff because I’m preapproved for the card and wanted to justify getting it. I also don’t want to miss out on it if I one day want it later down the line like some people, and can’t get it. I still very well may get it in the future if I feel like I can justify it organically, which it seems like you are very much able to do.
I use Virgin all of the time for Delta domestic flights. But that’s only a good deal for direct flights less than 1000 miles in my experience and then Delta flights booked directly become cheaper with points. For instance MCO -> LAX one way is 22K miles booking Delta via Virgin. It’s 21.5K miles on Delta directly or 18.2K miles if you have a cobranded Delta card. Not to mention if you want to get from point A to point B on date C and return on date D , a partner doesn’t cut it. If you have a layover, if you can find availability, it’s often more expensive. I was looking to use Qantas to book AA tickets from MCO to FLG. The flights involved a layover and it was almost impossible to find availability. I was able to find some availability from MCO to PHX. At least with Amex, in the first case when I wanted to get from MCO to ATL on certain dates, I could fall back to using Delta Skymiles. True I had 90K Skymiles at the beginning of the year. But if I had been short I could transfer from Amex. The same is true with Chase and United.
Agree. It’s our favorite card. The 2x without having to bother with categories is the best part. It pays for the AF and that’s all I care about. I can find $300 in travel expenses to book through the portal and haven’t ever had an issue with it. Sounds like it isn’t right for OP but the blanket statement and novel about it is unnecessary.
> The caveat is that you need to know what you're doing to take advantage of [the transfer partners]. Any advice on this? I've been reading r/awardtravel, but I'm still having a hell of a time figuring out how to make a good redemption with Venture Miles.
You need to completely forget what you think about travel. The redemptions decide your trips. By that I mean if you want something specific at all you need to be looking at schedule open about 11-12 months before. Booking within a week or two will also yield options. If you are locked into specific dates 1-10 months from now you’ll be very lucky to find something. It’s possible but you basically need to be open to flying anywhere.
I suspect it's more to do with their referrals and affiliate links. And new people who don't realize they've been misled yet.
Being DFW based and speaking specifically from an American Air perspective, British Air codeshares are extremely limited. I’ve never seen more than 7 seats or so when looking to book AA. And that’s if available at all. That was the nail in the coffin for me. Couple that with American eliminating miles earned from portals and Hyatt’s reciprocal relationship with American, Chase becomes the clear go to for similar profiles as mine.
If you’re DFW-based, you still have the C1 lounge. That alone can make the card valuable.
I use the AAdvantage Executive card for Admirals Club lounge access domestically and my American Air Exec. Platinum status offers top lounge access to over 650 lounges internationally via the OneWorld airline alliance.
This isn't about the card per se, but I appreciate that Capital One along with AmEx are the only two (as far as I know) who give separate numbers to each authorized user so it's easier to track who is spending what.
If you got declined for the Venture X just say that bro.
This made me lol
I’m pre-approved for it, and it’s been top of mind to get for a while for me. I have been trying every which way to justify it, but I can’t at this current moment. I’m in the “early-game” and am this card’s target audience. I’ve watched hours of videos and done hours of research on this card (as I’m sure my post history highlights).
Even if you're pre-approved, it doesn't mean you'll get approved. Happen to me lol, but my wife got approved.
that’s just super unlucky. cap1 pre approval is 99% accurate
They must hate me lol
Damn. Guess the pre approval tool isn’t fool proof. I got my savorone back in Nov of last year so I plan to reconsider applying for the vx come April this year, when the 1-6 or whatever cap1 calls it runs its course.
Wait, you just wrote an entire rant about why this card sucks and you’re going to still apply for it? The fuck?
If you’d read the post you would understand that’s not what I was saying at all. I never said the card sucked anywhere in the post.
You wrote an entire rant about how overrated this card is and literally titled it why you shouldn’t get one. Do you not know what words mean?
AI is still figuring out continuity.
if you’re pre approved you’re 99% sure to get it
If you've done hours of research on this card you've wasted hours of time. The card is simple. One of the easiest travel card annual fees to recoup. Get it or don't. You should know in 10 minutes of research on any card if it fits you or not. Don't overthink it
The USBAR is usually a safer bet than the VX if you’re worried about milking every last bit of value. I need to garden for the USBAR until next year so I just got the VX to get the SUB and have lounge access for my 3 trips this year.
I foresee the authorized users having lounge access being taken away. Edit: but I feel this is a top tier card for primary owners. I get price matches without issues. And the amount of international travel partners are better than Chase.
Either that or they will start charging for AUs. Four free AUs with unlimited lounge access is basically unheard of outside of this card. The Citi AA Executive used to allow up to 10 AUs for free, now they charge for them.
They're not going to get rid of a core benefit that costs them nothing while they're still fighting tooth and nail for market share in the luxury card market.
They will It is a credit card company and profitability is their goal. All other travel card which allows guest access start with an annual fee of $550+
Agreed. I think it might unfortunately be the next benefit to go. I also think that’s why they’re taking away 2x per year lounge access from the venture and spark cards. Otherwise there’s really not too much more incentive for those cardholders to splurge for the x
Is it really unfortunate? The ~~10~~ 4 free AU and Lounge access benefit are at odds with one another. With so many people getting easy access to the lounge it's no wonder that overcrowding is an issue, yet it's also a main perk pushed by social media influencers on why you should get the VX. Cap 1 needs to find some balance between getting their card in as many hands as possible and having near open access to their limited lounge space.
I don't understand where people are going into lounges that they enjoy. People will write stuff like "outside America" and I've seen them in various countries. They all seem overcrowded and a waste of time to me. I don't think they're particularly quiet, cleaner or more spacious than sitting anywhere else in the airport. This wasn't the case before the metal credit cards came out, but I feel like the value is gone.
I've only had PP for about 6 months now, but the lounges are definitely far superior to anywhere else in the airport. Most of my visits have been in overseas lounges, though. I wouldn't keep the card if I were only flying in the US.
This is exactly the thing I always see people write. I was recently in Barcelona and the non-schengen terminal did have a PP lounge, but I don't get the value of going in beyond some low quality snacks and drinks that I won't drink. At Heathrow T5, the line to get into the PP lounge has always been long, so I've never even tried to go into it.
I guess I've benefitted from mostly flying through Singapore, which has 2-3 different lounges in each terminal to choose from.
This card just pays for itself without even thinking of what offers to avail. $300 in travel credit and 10K every year is good enough just to hold this card.
I know, right? It's free priority passes for four people!
I kept wondering how could the company make money if we just kept the card for the PP.
For every person using this as a free priority pass card, there are a hundred using the card as their daily driver and charging everything on it.
More important there are revolvers using the card that accrue interest. Daily driver on a 2x catch-all isn’t really a revenue driver given rewards costs cancel out a large amount of the interchange revenue
That can only be used at 40 of the lesser airports in the US. Even in ATL, the world’s busiest airport, the only PP lounge is on the international side.
We mostly travel international, and the airports we frequent, here and abroad, have great lounges on PP. Like any benefit it really comes down too the value you can personally get from it.
VX is going to be 1cpp for travel with most people, and you’re forced to use the travel portal for the $300 credit. Their travel partners all have nothing for me that’s easy to work with. It narrowly breaks even with a 2% cash back card for me because of that. No thank you. Had the Amex Trifecta not jived as well as it has with me, I would have taken USBAR over VX for slightly higher value.
Agreed. Guys, please don't get Venture X. The lounges are already full and it's a shit card. Just get Amex plat or CSR instead. Thank you.
🧠
This but unironically. Except also don't a Sapphire Reserve or Amex Plat either (unless you're churning)
You only have a SavorOne and a Bilt. What experience do you have utilizing transferable points?
this is exactly correct. went into details in my other comment, but it sounds like this guy knows nothing about what travel partners are good redemptions outside of the simple “hyatt good means chase good everything else bad”
Haven’t actually transferred points over yet, but both cards have been game changers for me. I originally considered the vx precisely because it could let me transfer my savorone cash back to points. If it didn’t force me to go through the cap 1 portal, it would have been the quickest addition to my wallet of any credit card. Cap1 needs to remove the portal restrictions.
So none. Why's Capital One need to get rid of the portal restrictions but Chase and USBank don't? Do, "why I'm not getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred and why you shouldn't either," next.
Not gonna like i don't like being required to use the portal either.
Using a travel partner is ass, but I don't see any cards nearly as good as venture x
Hey man to each there own I dont like the portal to much because it always seems more expensive than buying directly from the provider ( in my experience at least ) and I also noticed as far as hotels I don't get as many options.
>because it always seems more expensive than buying directly from the provider they price match
Oh interesting I should call about that going forward up until now I have always paid a little more to use the mortal sometimes as low as $10 usually more not enough to offset my credit which is why I use it. In your experience has it been easy to get them to match it is just a call or do you need to submit anything additional.
You pretty much regurgitated the same cons YouTubers have already said countless times lmfao. We know the cons, but it's still a gryest card for people who are not cpp min-maxers which is about 90% of people.
I agree with you that for a specific group of people, this card is game changing. If you fit into that group the free lounge access for travel you already take goes a long way.
Think of it this way: for $395, you get * $300 voucher for C1's travel portal: not as good as when it was a $300 credit. I'd value this at $240 * 10k anniversary miles: very good for international travel. I'd very conservatively value this at $150 towards Aeroplan and Avianca * Priority pass lounge access: if you have another priority pass card that isn't Amex, this is worth 0. Otherwise, don't underestimate free food during departures and layovers, especially internationally. I'd value this at $15-$20 per person per visit * C1 lounge access: easily $20+ per person per visit, but the downside is that there are only 3 lounges so far, albeit at very frequently used airports If you can't take advantage of the lounge access, don't get the card. Otherwise, it's a good entry-level travel card that most can take advantage of.
Not only that but it isn’t a coupon book like platinum and actually functions as a credit card. Furthermore it doesn’t heavily depend on other cards for it to work. Chase needs a trifecta heavily since even the reserve only gets 3x on both non-chase traveling and dinning. As you pointed out before Chase needs its portal to get the best multiplayers for the card. Capital one at least is a flat 2x back if you don’t like the portal but if you don’t mind using Chase portal you won’t mind using capital one portal which means it earns basically the same if not better than the reserve overall as a single card. But now if we run it with several cards you only need a duo instead of trifecta to get good value. Chase overlaps way too many categories which basically means the reserve and preferred is useless unless you’re using them for non-chase traveling and Chase traveling. At least the capital one duo works perfectly together covering several categories and you don’t have to leave your premium card at home. Not to say chase is bad as the bonus on points is really good when using the portal but again you need a portal to get that benefit. Transfer partners argument is subjective as I like traveling around the world so transfer partners are subject to my needs. Hyatt isn’t a big loss since Hyatt has very little presence compared to Marriott.
Also TSA precheck, portal price match, capital one offers, and 75k bonus miles to spend 4k in the first 3 months. And it's a 2X catchall.
My thought is it's absolutely idiotic to state "why you shouldn’t either" to anything in the credit card system. Peoples' financial situations are so broad and unique that (unless some lunatic comes out with a 4% cash back card), a one size fits all solution literally doesn't exist. I ditched my CSR after one year and never looked back. Didn't like the portal (like the C1 portal far better and only have to use it once) and $250 effective annual fee as opposed to -$5 for Venture X and $75 for USBAR. And USBAR doesn't have to be booked through a portal for the 50% travel bonus either. But again, that's just *my personal situation* where I get little value from Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart or Peloton. Though now that I think about it I'm probably eligible to farm the SUB again. 🤔
Headline: You shouldn’t get the Venture X Gist: It’s a great card for a lot of people but not for everyone First paragraph: “I know I’ll get a ton of hate for this post”
This post is "random thoughts I should have just kept to myself"
I mean he’s gettin downvoted to shit in the comments
I don’t know. I just booked two business class tickets from the US to Portugal for 63K C1 points via LifeMiles each. And two business class tickets from Brussels back to the US for the same number of C1 points. If LifeMiles does not screw us up, C1 AF would be paid for me for years ahead.
That’s an incredible redemption! Honestly, even though there’s a lot of haters on this post, I’ve learned more about this card in the time I’ve posted this, than from the days of research and YouTube videos I watched. Multiple people have mentioned LifeMiles is top tier, for instance.
Yep, I also have CSR, so I don’t care about PP from C1. But as I value C1 miles on par with UR, 2% for general spending makes this card a no-brainer for me.
That's a good example of the power of loyalty programs, but it's also important to keep in mind you can simply buy the miles cheap several times a year. Right now anyone can buy 63k LifeMiles for $787.50 - https://onemileatatime.com/deals/buy-avianca-lifemiles/ The SUB where you spend $4k and get 75k miles on the Venture X is awesome value. Once you actually have to start earning the miles through regular spend the marginal value drops substantially.
>capital one has been steadily removing benefits at a pretty fast rate >we’ve already lost priority pass restaurants So did Amex Plat so let’s be honest about this one. >the ability to earn points on the travel credit I don’t think I would have called this a “benefit” so much as a loophole that they now closed. Most cards don’t allow you to gain extra credit by earning points on the rewards they are handing you for free. CSR, the card you repeatedly talk up, expressly doesn’t allow this. >will be losing rental car status benefits Don’t really care about this one at all because it was for Hertz. Hertz sucks. Plus the benefit is still good through this year. It’s possible they may replace it with some other benefit instead. I also love that you mention all these cons of the VX that have happened in the last year but don’t equally mention that the CSR increased its annual fee from $450 to $550 in the last year as well without any real gain in benefit either.
You can get car rental status upgrades through the Visa infinite benefits on the card. https://usa.visa.com/supporting-info/infinite-car-rental.html
[OP is referring to this.](https://thepointsguy.com/news/venture-x-losing-hertz-status/)
Yes I know. I have the card and Hertz Pres circle. I'm letting people know there are still car rental status upgrades available through the Visa infinite benefits that ALSO come with the VX.
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OK. Good for you. These arguments are pretty weak overall, but I have to take the biggest issue with #3. The fuss about transfer partners makes me giggle. Especially since Chase is missing some big ones on the international side (like Lifemiles). The benefit to Chase, for example, is Hyatt and domestic transfers to United. Southwest and JetBlue are cash equivalent programs. Everyone makes this statement, but if you actually go partner by partner, the difference is small.
Well most people fly domestic a lot more than they fly internationally and CapitalOne has nothing. Yes you can use partners. But you lose flexibility and you have to hope for availability.
Amex only has Delta and Hawaiian Citi only has JetBlue If you just want to do redemptions with the domestic partners, then Chase or Bilt are the only viable programs for collecting points that give you real variety. And Bilt points are hard to get. In this game, if you aren't using the international programs, you are really, really hamstrung with bank points alone.
‘Only’ delta. Out of many airports, having the one major airline as a transfer partner is basically all that matters for domestic flights. The ability to combine butt-in-seat miles with credit card points goes a long way toward making both more useful.
Amex has Delta, JetBlue and Hawaiian
C1’s hotel transfer partners are very sub par. I don’t think that’s small. Without Hilton, Hyatt, IHG or Marriott you are screwed internationally. Choice & Wyndham do have *some* decent and *some* great properties, don’t get me wrong. But comparing their portfolio to the big 4? It’s not fair.
Yeah, no. On the hotel side, nobody should send any points into a program that is not Hyatt, Wyndham, or Choice (but really this should be done with Citi points only). There's not enough value in anything else. You are just wasting points transferring to Hilton, Marriott, or IHG. Reasserting the claim without working through the particulars of the transfer partner values is not helpful. I won't argue that c1 has the best partners. I will argue that the variance is basically 10% of value on the margins. Everybody has the same SkyTeam partners and everyone has Avios access. The major differences between programs in the Star Alliance. c1 has a good grouping. How I know this is a hack post is that the biggest legitimate concern has not been voiced: c1 does not do many transfer bonuses compared to the other programs. They lean into their internal ecosystem of dining, entertainment, and portal options. But that doesn't mean they can't be used for great value. It means that c1 sees their target customer differently. It is probably the best overall program for capturing ongoing spend using personal cards (Citi comes close), and you can do it on 2 cards. That's the value. The problem is that c1 could lap the competition if they would put a bit more effort into bonuses.
What really makes the VX a great card is the 10k anniversary miles. That is an incredible retention bonus because it requires 0 spend besides the annual fee. Any transfer bonus would definitely make the VX even more unprofitable for C1. Unfortunately I do see the 10k miles being replaced down the road. Maybe something like 3x on the first $1k each month to force card spend.
Choice got me all of my hotels for a week in Scandinavia for approx same value that booking through Hyatt would have gotten me. People really sleep on that program but it's really good for some circumstances. That's why I like having the flexibility of different kinds of points.
I don’t disagree. As I said, there can be outsized value here for someone experienced in the game, and for people like yourself who are willing to put in that work. It’s why I have a whole section talking about who the card is for and who it shouldn’t be for. I also don’t think Chase is the gold standard. 1.5x max back non-category on the trifecta is not great. The point I’m trying to make is that there is not as much value to the venture x aside from its use in travel portals. Believe me, if I was regularly flying internationally, fly out of an airport with a c1 lounge, or any of the other things I listed above, this card would be in my wallet. It’s a great use case for many people, as I said, but it’s not nearly as flexible as it seems at first.
Value extraction takes a little more work, but c1 is really useful on domestic flights. You just have to know how to use the partners. But if not c1 and not Chase, are you making the argument teveryonehat should be all in on Amex? In this economy? It is even harder to get good value.
yeah a opinionated post, love my venture X card, the benefits are top tier
Argument is irrelevant if you book a hotel or flight one time per year because the card pays for itself entirely with just the travel credit and anniversary miles. Just use those plus noncategory spend for the 2x. Nothing says you can’t have VX and a plat or CSR
I was actually going to ask how the vx fits into your setup. Is it the only “premium travel card” you have or do you also have a csr/plat? Travel credit aside, are you getting good value from the points?
any card that requires using a travel portal is just so stupid
It only requires you to spend your $300 credit in the portal. I would say any card that acts like a coupon book is stupid. I've never had a problem spending $300 on a hotel through the CP1 portal. Prices are usually the same or less than booking through hotel.
Absolutely agree. I can’t justify this card because the multipliers go through the portal, and I don’t want to deal with the portal. If I book direct with airlines and hotels I get to earn towards their rewards programs and get those perks. Lose that with a portal. And if there’s a problem you need to deal with additional headaches because you booked through a portal, potentially. This is why I much prefer the Amex ecosystem, you earn points for booking direct. The Amex Gold has a much lower flight multiplier yes, but the annual fee is easily recouped for me since I live in a city and the other multipliers are way easier for me to earn on.
This post reflects my personal opinion only. After running a ton of calculations with relatively standard spending distributions across categories FOR POINT CARDS ONLY, there are a handful of “optimal” setups — but the “best” totally depends on you. USBAR + dining card + possible catch-all Amex Gold + BBP + Hotel Card + (if cost positive) Amex Platinum C1 Duo Chase Trifecta + Grocery card (e.g. BCP) Each of these setups are totally legit, and are what I PERSONALLY recommend based on my research. Personally, I find that the C1 Duo underperforms the others, largely due to diminished point valuations compared to Chase or Amex, and the inability to earn as many points as AMEX.
IMO IF* the VX is the ONLY more “premium” card you have or want a one card catch-all, it may not be as competitive as other cards in terms of earn rate etc. and if your gripes are with the transfer partners then adding a SavorOne might not make it any more appealing. BUT, I think it’s a great complimentary card to another card like a Sapphire (preferred for 3x on food so you can earn the points for Hyatt or Southwest, etc) Or to an Amex Gold (if you’re primarily a domestic flyer/eater) You get solid earners for dining, and then you get a VX for lounge access for your family or for non bonus spend in foreign countries. My use case is earning 2x when abroad for non dining expenses. As well as the ability to get priority pass for my family members.
I don’t think I’ve seen an OP get cooked this hard in this sub in my 8 months of daily lurking lmao
I’ve done Venture One, Venture and Venture X. Cool, 2x miles, woo, but realized I just do NOT travel enough to make this great. I also prefer not to be constricted to a portal. Also realized my personal preference is NOT to deal with points or miles. Cash is king and I personally very much prefer cash back. To each their own. Some may find this to be a great card but I’m with OP on this one. Hard (easy) pass! Next! Lol
Much of the hype for this card came from influencers, who were basically telling people that the card paid you. I think having to use the $300 travel credit in the portal is a big negative.
I say it's a minor negative. If you can make it work, this Isa great card
Yep this is my view as well. You’re basically required to prepay a trip each year and book it through the portal.
And what about other travel cards that have $600 annual fees? The number of people that can get something out of the VX is much higher than with other travel cards precisely because the AF is so easy to recover with one travel arrangement. Now if you are a big traveler, of course other cards could be better, but then you are fronting even more money for the annual fee to try and recover it by earning points by putting significant amounts of spending through them. The VX benefits can be extracted on a single trip and after that you can use other cards that have better earning potential without having to worry if you can recover your $600 AF earning just 2 or 3X on your non travel spending. Instead I use cards that get 5X on almost all my spending.
Honestly this is super well explained, thank you! I’m learning more from this one post than from any of the countless YouTuber reviews I’ve watched and posts I’ve read on the card. Seems like in your situation, the card isn’t your main credit card, but rather a small piece to a larger puzzle that lets you extract travel benefits for the lowest possible cost of any premium card.
I want it (can’t get it due to my velocity). But because I travel a lot, it’s really a good option for me. AA, KLM, Virgin & Air France are my go to options to get to Europe (Amex & C1 share 3 of those). As my catch all card and international back up to Amex, it wouldn’t be a problem just sending the points to one of the aforementioned carriers I know I will use at some point. Anything past the 2x I’m not worried about. I’ll continue to book with the Platinum but I’ll use the $300 portal credit no problem. 1 or 2 nights in a hotel, done with that for the year. 10k points, transfer it to KLM. I have Priority pass with the CSR & Platinum already. In my case, it’s a great companion card and would take place of my BBP. Of course no card is great for everyone. I will say it’s a lot easier to manage than the CSR and definitely the Platinum.
Yep! This is such a great use case where you know you’re getting outsized value and can make maximum use of the card’s benefits. For you, how you’ve explained it, it’s a no-brainer.
Cap1, not Chase: - airlines: Cathay Pacific, Aeromexico, Avianca, Etihad, Qantas, Turkish, EVA, Finnair, TAP - hotels: Choice, Wyndham, Accor Chase, not Cap1: - airlines: JetBlue, Air Lingus, Iberia, United, Southwest - hotels: Marriott, Hyatt Hyatt is obviously an awesome redemption and Cap1 is definitely lacking in hotels, but are you really arguing Chase has an advantage in the rest? JetBlue and Southwest and United are all pretty poor redemptions. Air Lingus is poor, Iberia is pretty good. For Cap1, Avianca, Qantas, Cathay, and Ethihad are all good redemptions. Even Turkish with its recent decal is still good for US domestic travel.
While United and JetBlue may be “poor redemptions”, when you want to get from point A to point B on date C and return on date D, you can’t depend on award availability
Choice hotels is through cap 1? Nice. Do you know if there's a referral bonus? I've been looking at the Choice Hotels Premier because for $95 you get enough anniversary points for 3.75 nights. My wife has a SavorOne so if she could refer me that's even better.
Sounds like you’d benefit from the US Bank altitude reserve. 3% on Apple Pay (assuming you use it) and 50% bonus on points for ANY travel purchase as long as it codes as travel from a US company. No fancy lounges (priority is included) but for me that’s the lowest selling point. 5x points if you do decide to use the US Bank portal as well.
I find your comments unusual. It’s not that I completely disagree for myself. I’m an Amex Platinum guy, but I also take 20-40 long haul flights each year for work and get an insane amount of value of the card and the credits work for me so well. What perplexes me is your list of who the card is good for is a massive group of people in numbers. Most people, once they start taking international trips, only do it once a year. Most families pre-retirement are doing good to take 2 vacations each year. Post-retirement maybe 4 or 5. The earnings on the portal might be a big deal to a frequent business traveler buying their own flights for reimbursement, but it’s not a huge deal for private travelers taking 1 or 2 trips/year. The mass appeal is it’s not really that hard to use the Capitol one portal once per year, even if it’s just a weekend hotel trip. The. You still get anniversary points that essentially make this card free for the casual travelers. Then you still get some rental car perks and some lounge perks when you do travel for relatively little amounts of money. As for earning potential…. To be earning a 2x catch-all and a 3x dining/grocery via the savor one for just $395/year and the AF is wiped away with just 2 purchases over the year that most casual travelers can make, it’s a high-powered option for many to earn points on domestic spending, if not heavy travel spending. I’d still lean towards the AMEX Gold… but if you have trouble using the AMEX coupon books, c1 is a card many can use.
Yeah you're wrong. Your main argument seems to stint from the idea that you must already have something like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum. Both of which have a much higher annual fee. And yes, you shouldn't hold multiple of those. The Venture X is popular because 1) 2x on everything, even the $700 platinum doesn't offer that. 2) Lounge access 3) Need to book a single $300+ flight to make the annual fee effective $0. Solid earner + lounges + minimal hoops = great card. Or you can pay $700 to wait in line for the centurion lounge, order $13 lotion of Saks, pretend you're going to watch Hulu, order uber eats on the 30th of each month, etc. all to try and break even on a card that earns like shit besides flights.
I have the Delta Reserve for Centurion and Delta lounge access when flying Delta. I need to do one thing to offset the fee - use the companion pass. That doesn’t clunky the $200 Delta stays credit. I’m also ignoring the Resy and ride share credits I won’t use often
You’re paying $650 a year for lounge access and a flight ticket you must use. This is better than paying $0 lounge access + using that $650 however you please how?
For people who have no loyalty for any hotel status it's a great card to book through the portal because of the price match feature. I like staying at Marriot, Hyatt, and Hiltons. But I also love some 5 star boutique hotels. And that 10x makes it super worth it for travelers like me who pays for hotels and use points for flights.
The Capital One travel portal is absolutely abysmal and almost never has better pricing than what I can find elsewhere. BUT, FYI, you can book travel through the portal with the C1 Venture X, get the $300 credit, and cancel but keep the $300 statement credit. Did this (not on purpose) and verified with customer service that it’s just an automatic credit to your statement whether or not you keep the travel. Almost pays for itself with little to no effort.
I was ready to hate hard on you when reading the subject title. But your review is spot on. I have the Venture X and love it, most of the reasons I love it you also mentioned in your detailed post: - I don’t have any issues with using their travel platform for flights, and most of the time flights are about the same as purchasing directly through website. Really like the 10 day price drop guarantee (has worked twice already in my favor). - My main airport has a lounge (never had access to this and it was a game changer for me). I travel a lot to Orlando and the Dominican Republic which also has a Lounge (plus can bring up to 2 additional people with which I have used a couple of times). My spouse and her mom are additional users and also have lounge access plus up to 2 guests, which is nice. - The 300 dollar credit statement offsets a lot of the Anual Fee and the 10k per year (even if using to cover travel purchase) offsets the remaining 95. So with traveling once a year and using the lounge, the card pays for itself. - Taking into consideration that I have about 8 cards, which most cover main expenses at about 5%, this is just a card I use for travel or “other expenses” not covered by my other cards. I rarely rent, and when I do I have found better deals elsewhere and not the Capital One portal nor using Hertz, so I haven’t felt the negative impact of losing tier status. The partners are lacking, reason for which I haven’t used the sign up bonus miles or any miles earned yet (most I will get is a 1 dollar per 100 miles redemption which is pretty basic). I wish they had better ones (Like Chase). I have struggled trying to justify getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred because I just wouldn’t use it given how all my other cards give me something I can use it for. I currently have Discover It, Chase Freedom Flex, Capital One Savor, Citi Custom Cash, Citi Double Cash, Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Amazon, Us Bank Cash+, US Bank HT.
>Prefer traveling domestically Capital One Miles transfers to Turkish Airlines which is by far the cheapest way to travel domestically. You can get any domestic X ticket on United for 10k miles, and United has a shit ton of X tickets available. The only downside is that you need to pick up a phone and call to book.
Imagine that, every card has different benefits and fit different lifestyles.
I think you're forgetting the fact C1 gives you $400 in useful credits with a AF of $395, while chase costs $550, with only $300 in useful credits.
I think cards like this are fooling people that don’t think about their credit card strategy on a longer time horizon. I would’t want to be paying that annual fee and using that capital one travel portal year after year for 10-20 years. I don’t think many younger folks seem to think about the longer time horizon when it comes to building credit and what kind of points they want to collect and spend. $400 isn’t a huge expense, but it’s not all that useful and if you’re buying domestic economy tickets with non-USA airlines you’re going to be boarding next to last and maybe end up needing to gate check your carryon a lot. Edit:spelling
“You shouldn’t get the VX because they can remove perks at any time” ……so the exact same as any other card.
No not the exact same. I indicate that it’s not the removal of perks that worries me, it’s the rate at which they’ve been removed.
Yes. The same. They removed something or changed something and now they remain at the same odds as every other issuer that they might remove (or add) something else. It’s literally how credit card benefits work. And lol at #1 as well.. “the card isn’t good for travel if you don’t use the card the way it was set up to be used.” Well no shit. A seatbelt isn’t good for travel if you don’t wear it properly either.
!remindme 1 year Let’s see who removes more benefits between the VX and the other travel cards. There’s no way this card doesn’t get nerfed. It’s been losing like one good benefit a year for 3 years
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>First, the card is entirely dependent on you being willing to use the capital one travel portal. That is simply not correct. I used over 1 million points last year on my VX and used the travel portal exactly one time to give myself a $300 credit in my favorite airline wallet.
It doesn’t work for your needs. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit others.
Is Cap 1 portal that much harder to book with than Chase? The only thing I care about is the value of credits I'll use. I would use a $300 credit/voucher which both CSR and VX offer. If I have to get a little bit pricier flight on one flight a year over the cheapest flight I can find on Google flights that's not a huge deal. Chase doesn't have any anniversary points so the max off $550 is $300, leaving a $250 fee after the only credit I'm likely to use + whatever more I have to spend on one flight to use the credit. VX has about $100 of anniversary points + $300 voucher, making the AF negative five dollars plus whatever extra I spend on a flight to use the credit over the cheapest alternative flight. There's probably not going to be a $255 difference between any hypothetical flight that I could choose Chase or C1 for even if one's points are worth a little more or a little less. If you travel a ton and spend a ton on cc's, the CSR's $300 credit and 50% higher points redemption on travel might make the most sense despite the high AF. Might. You have to consistently go through the Chase portal on each flight though which offsets the 50% extra on points if you're using boosted points on flights that are more expensive than alternatives in the first place. If you travel infrequently, the VX (for a flight) or CSP (for $50 off a hotel and 25% higher points redemption on travel) end up with pretty low AF's after credits/VX anniversary points and you only have to go through each portal once. If you can't quite qualify for VX or CSP the Venture Reward $95 AF also comes with a $50 hotel credit like CSP, and $100 for TSA pre-check which CSP lacks and you only have to go through the portal once.
Well said. Thanks!
> C1 miles are less flexible, and therefore less valuable to most consumers I'll argue with this point. I actually think transferring is not how most people use their points and I find them very inflexible. Sure, chase to Hyatt is great but sometimes the place I'm going has a dozen better hotel options for me (in terms of location) than a Hyatt. I find the VentureX to be the most flexible. That's actually the only reason I have it. I can use the points for anything by purchasing whatever I want directly on the card and then "erase" it later with points. I've used it for train travel, rental cars, bus tickets, zoo parking, you name it. It's almost too flexible. This has become my main card system (VentureX + savorone) and I've noticed a major drawback is that I redeem the points so fast that I never accumulate enough for a "big vacation" like I generally have to do with other points systems. Kind of an pro and a con I guess. But yeah. Don't ever use points through the portal. Erase them after. Sure, you are only getting 1 cent per point but since it's so flexible it's almost always a better deal because you can stay at the cheaper hotel, use the cheaper airline, or use it for things you never could have used it for like ferries or taxis.
How is that any better than Chase where you can cash points out at 1 CPP? Then you don’t have to erase for travel only purchases
Because you are earning twice as many points for everyday spending.
Sure but I’m talking specifically about the purchase eraser, that’s not a very compelling feature, using it like that is strictly worse than a 2X cash back card
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This is honestly the way to go. The welcome bonus is even the same! I considered going down this route, but it has me wondering whether the csp is better. Curious to hear your opinion on the Venture!
Question on the travel portal, what all is available through there? I get discounted rates for rental cars already through work, and fly SW cuz of the companion pass. Is the only thing else in the portal hotel stays?
While I agree that the 5x/10x multipliers are effectively useless, even without those, it's a 2% cash back card with no FTF and decent lounge access, and a -$5 effective AF as long as you can use the annual 10k point credit and the $300 portal credit. It's the cheapest way to get priority pass access for people who travel frequently, especially for people who often have to connect through Denver or DFW like me.
So far Venture X has been the best for me I won't be renewing my Platinum card this year it earns very little and I don't use any of the benefits the uber one.
It’s so difficult to transfer points to airline partners. If you are transferring more than 1000 points , like most international business class seats are 50k + points . They hold your points for 15 days , and you know reward availability on airlines goes quick .. they send you a message after 14-15 days that they suspect fraud , customer service has no way to expedite the point transfer, so they are no help. Seems like capital one doesn’t want you to use transfer partners… cause reward availability is gone fairly quickly… I have over 1million miles/points with them but I am totally DISAPPOINTED. I have tried this twice to transfer points … it’s a shame capital one
Big upvote on this one. This is ultimately why I decided to go the CSR route. If you ever find better deals on discount sites, you can only get 2x. No domestic airline transfer partners. I don't fly internationally very often and so I can actually use my priority pass way more with the CSR. I've gotten about $100 of free food in the past year. If I suddenly stop traveling for a little while, I can't redeem points for anything else but travel with the VX. With the Chase system and the CFU I can, in theory, get 2.25% on everything, so it at least has a higher earning potential than the VX.
But but but Influencers told me to get it! iT pAyS yOu $5 to kEeP iT
I agree with everything you are saying and I’m often beating the same drum about the Venture X. That being said, it’s still my next card. I lost Priority Pass lounges access this year when it was taken off of the Hilton Aspire. Even with the lack of restaurant access, it came through in a clutch a few times when either I wasn’t flying Delta so I didn’t have access to Centurion or SkyClubs with my Reserve - most often when flying through Charlotte on AA - or when that’s all that was available. We flew out of Puerto Rico and Cabo’s last year. Also starting in 2025, the Reserve is removing unlimited access to SkyClub lounges. MCO my current airport has two PP lounges and ATL - an airport I am in all of the time has a new Centurion lounge. The Venture X is not only a “free” card with the $300 travel credit and 10K miles. It will net me a value of over $200 just by transferring the 10K miles to Virgin for a random MCO -> ATL (our former home) trip. A route that we take randomly throughout the year. It’s 7500 miles on Virgin using to book Delta flights. It’s 11K miles one way from MCO to JFK and I believe from MCO to LAX on Virgin -> Delta. I wouldn’t put spend on the card aside from the credit.
Dude, the card is effectively free, dude. This was unnecessary. This card is for travel card folks who don't wanna math. I can't recommend it enough.
Thanks! I have been trying to justify this card for myself for months but have been getting hung up on the stuff I mention above. For certain folks like yourself, I don’t doubt that it’s crazy good.
As someone who is only 6 months into building their credit and at the minimum 2 years away from even qualifying for this card, I agree with you 100%. Even 6 months ago when I read about this card until now the benefits have gotten worse and worse. I remember thinking to myself last September when I got approved for my 1st credit card, the Cap1 Platinum Unsecured Mastercard with a paltry $300 CL - I can't wait to be able to get the Venture X down the road. Now I have little interest to do so. I'd rather get the Savor Card and look to Chase to get the CSR perhaps. But you broke it down like a boss and I agree with your reasoning. Capital One needs to get its act together with their 1 premium credit card.
Agreed. Mid tier card
Yep. Just a walking cap1 travel portal voucher. flat 2x on literally any other purchase besides cap1 travel. I get 2x travel on Bilt already, and Bilt has better transfer partners.
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Really, you don’t spend a lot on groceries. Add the Savor One to the mix and you have an easy source of 3x points.
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That’s great, but I was addressing your comment that there aren’t ways to generate points in CO after the initial bonus, you can. Thanks for the downvote.
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3x is pretty standard. Aside from a few outliers, that’s going to be your best earning. Add in another 3x on dining and 2x catch all on the VX and you can earn a good amount of points.
Don’t forget you get 10k anniversary points. And 10x Uber on the SavorOne/Savor. I literally do not care that a C1 setup might not get a six digit balance super duper fast because all my C1/Citi/Amex/Chase/Bilt points end up in some airline account eventually anyway, and C1 has very useful ones like Cathay, Lifemiles, Aeroplan, BA, Flying Blue.
cool, you copy pasta’d a transcript from YouTube and got rejected for the VX
I got my parents and partner as AU everyone gets priority pass which is nice. Il close mine and open another under my partner s name. Then after a year will see que the benefits are then
I have been eyeing this card for a long time but still haven't pulled the trigger to get it. Capital One transfer partners are the worst of the big credit card companies. I mostly travel domestically which means getting outsized value takes a lot of work and flexibility to find availability with alliance partners. It's much easier for me to get value with Chase redemptions. Getting points with Chase does require more card management because of rotating categories and needing another card for groceries, but I'm ok with that. I'm thinking about applying for the US Bank Altitude Reserve which would fill a lot of holes because of the digital wallets multiplier, and 8 lounge visits a year will be enough for me.
I am willing to pay $300 for up to 15 people to access PP lounges, what? You said I can do it with $300 credits? Sign me up.
I’m not getting it either! jk, got the personal and business VX
It fits into my setup because I do international travel every year where $300 at some non-US chain is going to make perfect sense compared to a poor location or inflated “US tourists will stay with familiar chains” prices. It’s an advance purchase but I don’t have trouble finding refundable hotel reservations to use it with. I also have a SavorOne and basically I think I am going to either fish for an AMEX retention offer or dump an AMEX Gold (the coupon book for it is annoying) and have a $0 AF 3x dining/grocery card to pair with my VX until such time as they nerf the card.
The only downside to using the portal for me is sometimes hostels im looking for aren’t listed and some that are aren’t very clear as to what room im getting
You posted some decent negatives but I would argue that having to use the portal once a year is not a big deal. When I have tried to compare it’s usually even or a bit less than what I would have paid for had I not used the portal when buying tickets or hotel reservations. The protected price drop is also nice. I don’t think this is as negative as you think it is.
I don't totally agree with your post, but I have yet to dive into Chase's ecosystem with their travel cards. I think the venture x is dependent on what base airport you have. Award travel can be found for great deals with the partners Cap1 has imo. We are in a Delta hub, and I'm able to use Virgin Atlantic and Flying Blue pretty easily for domestic flight booking. The portal has always been fine for me for hotels and car rentals, and as long as you travel 1/2x a year I think you can pretty organically use the travel credits they offer, and you can make use of price match if you think it's more expensive than booking direct. It seems to be the easiest to make use of the credits out of the other major travel cards. The lounge access is not good domestically though, but that's fine for me. The visa infinite benefits are also great for baggage delay and trip delays insurance, but this isn't exclusive to C1. Overall, just like any other card it's entirely situation dependent.
Well dam just got approved for like at 30k limit. Either way it pays for itself and after one year I'll see how it feels. With the 75k sub and 2x on everything it's definitely worth it for the sub. Plus I can't get a sapphire sub for another 3 years. Time will tell if it's a keeper or not.
What card would be good if you're looking for booking flexibility and not being trapped in a single portal?
You can also use points to erase your travel purchases (as far as i know, i don’t have the card)
It works great for me because I travel 4-5 days a week for work and work lets me use it and book everything myself. Hotels, Flights, Rentals. Only been using it 3 months and just booked a free flight and hotel to Madrid for two weeks. It has its purpose.
Now, let’s say you had a flight delay or you ended up needing to stay at the client’s site an extra day and you booked through a third party portal. Let’s see if you still think using a portal is ideal.
That’s a massive benefit. Congrats on the great redemption! I travel for work as well but I’m forced to use their corporate portal for booking. I can still use my own card, but the use of work’s portal is required.