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Capital One Venture X review: Credits and lounge access for frequent travelers

Kendall Little
·Senior Writer, Credit Cards
Updated 11 min read

If you’re a frequent traveler looking to save money and make traveling a little easier, you may want to add the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to your list. This premium travel card has a steep annual fee, but plenty of benefits and a simple rewards structure can go a long way toward maximizing your rewards earnings.

  • Annual fee: $395

  • Welcome offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months

  • Rewards: 10x miles on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel, 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and 2x miles on every other purchase

  • More details: $300 annual credit for Capital One Travel bookings, 10,000 annual bonus miles starting after your first year, airport lounge access, and more

After opening the Venture X card, you can earn a sign-up bonus worth 75,000 bonus miles when you spend at least $4,000 within the first three months of account opening (about $1,333 in monthly purchases).

If you redeem your miles for a value of at least 1 cent each through Capital One Travel, the bonus is worth $750 in travel spending — putting it among the top welcome bonuses we’ve found from travel cards available today.

Remember: you don’t want to risk taking on high-interest debt to earn a bonus. If the $4,000 spending threshold isn’t within your budget, interest charges could quickly surpass any value you’d get from the bonus miles.

The Venture X card has no intro APR offer for new purchases or balance transfers. The ongoing APR is a variable 19.99%-29.99%.

The Venture X Rewards card carries a $395 annual fee.

While this premium travel card may not be worth the fee for infrequent travelers, anyone who does travel often can recoup the cost. There’s an annual $300 travel credit, which can bring the effective annual fee down to under $100. From there, annual bonus miles, airport lounge access, travel insurance benefits, and more can go a long way toward offsetting the Venture X’s price.

This card has a relatively simple rewards structure, making maximizing rewards on your spending easy. You’ll get:

  • 10x miles on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel

  • 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel

  • 2x miles on every other purchase

With a baseline 2x miles on every purchase you make, you can rack up rewards over time with any category of regular spending.

You’ll earn the most rewards by booking your travel through the Capital One Travel portal. If you prefer to book directly with airlines or hotels, you may not earn the maximum value with a Venture X card. But if you don’t mind booking through the issuer portal, you’ll get between 5 and 10 miles for every dollar you spend on travel booking.

There’s no limit to the number of miles you can earn. Purchases on authorized user cards also earn miles, but non-purchase transactions like balance transfers and cash advances won’t earn any miles.

You can redeem the miles you earn in a few different ways — but like most travel cards, you’ll get the best value when you redeem for travel. Travel redemptions include:

  • Redeem miles for past travel purchases posted to your account: Choose “Cover Your Travel Purchases” within your online account. You’ll need to make the redemption within 90 days of the purchase posting to your card, and you can redeem miles toward the total cost or a portion of the travel purchase.

  • Book travel through Capital One Travel: Use your miles for airfare, hotels, or rental cars through the Capital One portal at a value of 1 cent per mile.

With a Venture X card, you can transfer your Capital One miles to more than 15 airline and hotel partners, for a minimum of 1,000 miles per transfer. Most partners have a 1:1 transfer ratio, with a few exceptions. You can find a complete list of transfer partner options on Capital One’s website.

If you want a non-travel redemption, you can choose between statement credits to your account, a check, or gift cards. Your miles won’t expire as long as your Venture X account stays open.

In addition to miles rewards, the Venture X card has several added benefits for travelers.

The $300 annual travel credit will help you save on travel booked through Capital One Travel. You can use it for one purchase or over multiple different bookings — but you won’t earn rewards on the value of the credit.

Another significant annual benefit is 10,000 bonus miles, added to your rewards balance each account anniversary starting after your first year.

The Venture X also has an extensive airport lounge access benefit. You’ll have unlimited complimentary access to Capital One Lounges, with the option to bring up to two guests per visit. These lounges are located at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Denver International Airport, and Dulles International Airport. For airports without a Capital One Lounge, you can access over 1,000 additional Plaza Premium Group and Priority Pass lounges worldwide.

Other benefits include no foreign transaction fees, up to $100 every four years toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fees, experience credits for eligible hotel stays, upgraded rental car status with Hertz, cell phone protection, rental car insurance, and more.

The Venture X is a great travel credit card for frequent travelers who want to access airport lounges and save on annual travel spending. Though it will cost a significant $395 per year, that’s less than other premium travel cards with similar benefits.

If you enjoy an airport lounge before a flight and don’t mind booking travel through Capital One’s portal for maximum rewards value, this card could be a great option. Plus, you’ll earn at least 2 miles toward future travel on every dollar you spend.

On the other hand, if you only travel once or twice per year and don’t care about accessing airport lounges, you may find a travel rewards card with a lower annual fee and benefits geared more toward everyday spending is a better fit for you.

Compare your most frequent spending categories, regular annual travel budget, and upcoming travel plans to decide whether this card could work for your wallet. Any new credit card should fit in with how you spend your money and how you prefer to earn rewards. Otherwise, you could end up losing value over the long run.

  • Simple rewards structure: With a minimum of 2x miles on every purchase, maximizing your purchases with this card is easy.

  • Transfer to travel partners: You can transfer Venture X miles to Capital One airline and hotel partners, including British Airways Executive Club, Air Canada Aeroplan, Emirates Skywards, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Wyndham Rewards, and more.

  • Annual credits: Between the $300 annual credit for travel booked with Capital One Travel and the 10,000-mile annual bonus (worth $100 toward travel), you’ll more than make up for this card’s cost if you travel often.

  • High annual fee: While frequent travelers can make up the cost, this card has a steep $395 annual fee — which may not be worth it for some cardholders.

  • Frequent travelers will get the best value: If you don’t travel often, you may not get the best use of this card’s lounge access perks, annual travel credits, and rewards earnings on travel expenses.

  • Requires booking with Capital One for best rates: If you prefer booking your travel directly with hotels and airlines, or through other travel sites, Venture X’s rewards may not work best for you. You can use your miles toward travel purchases you make elsewhere. But to earn top rates on travel spending, you’ll be restricted to booking through Capital One Travel.

Before applying for the Capital One Venture X card, here are a few things you should consider:

  • Annual fee: With a $395 annual fee, the Venture X is among today’s most premium travel card offerings. Make sure your regular spending and travel make the price worth its value.

  • Travel: While you may not need to be a weekly business traveler to maximize this card, you will get the most value if you travel at least a few times per year. With boosted travel rewards, travel redemption options, benefits, and annual travel credits — this card is best for travelers who can take advantage.

  • Spending: This card earns its highest rewards on travel spending — more specifically, travel spending through Capital One Travel. If you don’t spend a lot on travel each year, or you prefer to book elsewhere, you may want to choose a different rewards card.

  • Pre-approval: Like many travel credit cards, you’re most likely to get approved for the Venture X if you already have excellent credit. If you’re unsure of your approval odds, you can see if you’re pre-approved through Capital One’s site, without a hard credit check affecting your credit score.

  • When you apply: If the spending required to earn the Venture X’s welcome bonus isn’t within your normal budget, you may want to strategize when you apply. For example, say you have a trip coming up and you’ve already saved the money to book your flight, hotel, and other expenses. If you get approved for the card, then use it to book those travel expenses, you'll earn miles on the travel, work toward the bonus, and use the money you have saved to pay down the balance before you accrue any interest charges.

If you’re not sure the Venture X is right for you, these are a few more travel credit cards we like:

The Platinum Card® from American Express

The Amex Platinum may have a whopping $695 annual fee, but its benefits can more than make up the cost for frequent travelers. You’ll start with a welcome offer worth 80,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 within the first six months. For rewards, this card gets 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel (up to $500,000 in purchases annually), 5x points on prepaid hotels through American Express Travel, and 1x on other purchases. You can use points to book travel with Amex or transfer to Amex’s long list of travel partners.

The added Platinum Card benefits offer the biggest value, including up to $200 in hotel statement credits for eligible stays, up to $200 in airline fee statement credits on your chosen qualifying airline, up to $240 digital entertainment statement credits toward monthly charges for eligible subscriptions (with enrollment), up to $200 annual Uber cash ($15 per month and a bonus $20 in December)*, $189 CLEAR Plus credit, airport lounge access, and much more (terms apply; see rates and fees).

*You must have the latest version of the Uber App downloaded and your eligible American Express Platinum Card must be a method of payment in your Uber account; Amex benefit may only be used in United States

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

The Sapphire Reserve is Chase’s premium travel card option, charging $550 annually. It has a welcome offer of $75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months. Thanks to this card’s boosted travel redemptions of 1.5 cents per point, that bonus is worth $1,125 when you book travel through Chase.

Ongoing rewards include 10x points on hotels and rental cars booked through Chase Travel, 5x points on flights through Chase Travel, 3x points on other travel and dining, and 1x points on everything else. You’ll begin earning points on travel after the first $300 you spend on travel each year.

Like the Venture X, the Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual $300 travel credit — but this credit applies to your first $300 spent on any form of travel. You’ll also get airport lounge access through Priority Pass, up to $100 for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credits, and can transfer points to Chase’s travel partners.

If you’re not sure a premium travel card is right for you, the Venture Rewards Credit Card from Capital One may be a better way to maximize your travel for just a $95 annual fee.

Similar to the Venture X, its welcome offer is worth 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening. But you'll also receive a $250 credit to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year. Get 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2x miles on every other purchase, and enjoy the same redemption options, including transfers to Capital One travel partners.

Venture Rewards card benefits include up to $100 toward TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fees, upgraded status with Hertz for car rentals, extended warranty, travel insurance, and more.

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