3 Reasons Capital One Venture Rewards Card Is a Top Travel Card Pick
This travel card is a favorite among Kiplinger readers. See why so many recommend it.
When you shop for a car, paying full price is usually frowned upon. Should you use the same premise when booking your trips?
This is where the best travel credit cards come into play. With generous miles or points back, you can score significant discounts on your trips, along with a few other perks. To find the best travel rewards credit cards, we asked you, as part of our Readers' Choice awards — an online survey conducted every winter to recommend the best based on factors such as customer service, overall satisfaction and most recommended.
Here are three reasons why you chose the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card as the top option. I'll also include the other travel cards earning high rankings.
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1. Abundant travel perks
Here's an example of the many travel perks this credit card offers you:
Feature |
Detail |
Benefit to Traveler |
Lifestyle Collection Stay |
Receive a $50 experience statement credit on each stay |
Late checkout, early check-in and room upgrades, when available |
Travel Booking Bonus |
5 times miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. |
Maximizes earnings on major travel expenses. |
Redemption Rate |
Miles can be redeemed for 1 cent each against qualifying travel purchases. |
Versatile and simple redemption process |
Global Entry/TSA PreCheck® |
Statement credit up to $120. |
Covers the cost of essential expedited security programs. |
Transfer Partners |
Ability to transfer miles to more than 15 airline and hotel partners. |
Provides flexibility for maximizing value beyond 1 cent per mile. |
You'll earn elevated miles when using Capital One's travel portal. The other benefit of this approach is that it's among the most affordable for credit card portals, according to The Points Guy. It means not only are you receiving exceptional rewards for regular travel, but you're also not overpaying.
Furthermore, Capital One offers a price match. If you book flights, hotels or rental cars through their portal and find a lower price on another website within 24 hours, you can contact Capital One, and they'll issue a travel credit for the difference.
2. Flexible and easy redemption
One Kiplinger reader shared, "I never had a problem redeeming my points/miles. Very easy to do." There are a few ways to redeem miles easily:
- Pay for past purchases: After using your Capital One Venture Rewards card for travel purchases, you'll earn miles. Once those apply to your account, you can use these miles, at a rate of one mile per cent, to pay for some or all your recent travel purchases.
- Transfer miles to participating partners: Another option is to pool your miles and transfer them to more than 15 travel partners, including airlines and hotels. Some transfers could fetch you higher redemption rates, such as moving your miles to Air Canada.
Overall, these options give you more ways to redeem miles, helping you save even more on future trips. By removing complexity from the redemption process, this card ensures that your rewards are usable — turning miles into real savings rather than just numbers on a screen.
3. Proactive fraud detection
One of the main reasons this credit card received such a high ranking was the customer service Capital One provides, especially fraud detection. One reader noted, "The card has been excellent at holding fraudulent costs, waiting to ask. It has caught every legit fraud and rarely halts non-fraud. "
Overall, this card is a great fit for regular travelers who want to save on flights, access elevated hotel experiences, and redeem travel rewards flexibly. This card will not be great for travelers seeking airport lounge access, luxury travel perks and other credits, such as dining and shopping.
Along with Venture Rewards, these cards also ranked highly among our readers:
While the Venture Rewards card is a fantastic all-around choice for many, these alternatives offer different strengths — so consider which travel goals matter most to you before you apply.
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