Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card review: A streamlined travel rewards experience

Flat-rate travel rewards cards like the Capital One Venture are a popular choice for people who want an easy way to earn rewards on all of their purchases. They’re an especially good fit for occasional travelers who can’t take full advantage of a high rewards rate on travel purchases.

With the Capital One Venture, you can earn an unlimited 2X miles on all purchases. Many other travel rewards cards only earn rewards at this rate on travel spending, so this is a valuable perk for people looking to go further with their everyday spending. 

You can redeem miles for any recent, travel-related purchase (such as vacation rentals, flights with any airline, hotels, rental cars, cruises, etc.). You’ll receive a statement credit in the amount of your redemption. This is another standout feature that you won’t find with co-branded travel cards that may restrict you to certain airlines or hotel brands.

Despite its value as a great everyday card, the Venture card lacks the extra travel perks available on some competing cards. That’s to be expected on a card with a low annual fee, but frequent travelers may get more value from a card with better travel perks.

The Capital One Venture Rewards credit card offers a nice blend of value and convenience for cardholders, but it has some shortcomings compared to other cards. The best card for you will depend on various factors, so here are a few things to consider when you compare the Venture Rewards card to other travel cards.

Welcome offer: Steep spending requirement

New cardholders can earn a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. This bonus is worth up to $750 in travel redemptions when you book travel through the Capital One Travel portal.

Although the current bonus is a step up from the card’s most recent bonus of 60,000 miles (after spending $3,000 within the first three months) it is not the card’s highest ever (100,000 miles after spending $20,000 in your first year) and requires quite a bit of spending to earn a payout that falls short of what you can find on other cards.

The current offer competes with other cards in the $95 annual fee range. For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 60,000 points after a $4,000 spending requirement in the first three months, worth up to $750 when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Additionally, unlike the Venture Rewards Card, you won't need to transfer points to redeem more than 1 cent per point with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

It’s worth noting the Venture card's welcome offer matches or nearly matches the bonus offered on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. It’s rare for a card with a $95 annual fee to offer a bonus as high as a card with a $395 annual fee, but this might say more about the Venture X card than it does the Venture card. 

Yearly perks: Lacks annual bonus points

The Venture Rewards card carries consistent value for purchases with its flat-rate rewards, but it fails to deliver on yearly perks and credits that bring additional value. Some cards have annual bonuses for cardholders that can sometimes bring upwards of a hundred dollars worth of value to your card account — just for being a card member or redeeming rewards each year.

For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with a $50 annual hotel stay credit and a 10 percent anniversary point bonus. With this benefit, Chase will reward you on each account anniversary with 10 percent of the points you redeemed in the previous year back. The Sapphire Preferred is just one example, but other travel cards like the Citi Premier® Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card also have annual benefits that can offset their respective annual fees.

Although these cards don’t have the same rewards rates, welcome offers, transfer partners or issuer portals as Capital One, they could be better choices for you if you are looking for a reliable way to offset all of the fees that accompany traveling. However, you’ll want to review all of those cards’ details before deciding because an annual bonus is just one feature.

Rewards value: The value of your miles is average unless transferred

According to Bankrate’s latest points and miles valuations, Capital One Miles have a baseline value of 1 cent per mile, which is average compared to other issuers’ rewards. Although Capital One Miles can be worth up to 2 cents per mile when transferred to a partner airline or hotel, you would need to find a valuable transfer partner and be making your booking during a time of year when and to a destination where you’ll need fewer miles to cover the cost than you normally would. It seems like many hoops to jump through because it sometimes is.

That said, if you’re looking for a simple, straightforward rewards program with valuable rewards for the easiest redemptions, you might want to consider a credit card with an issuer’s rewards program with a higher baseline point value, like Chase Ultimate Rewards. If you hold either of the Chase premium travel cards, the baseline value of your points can increase up to 1.5 cents per point, giving you top-tier rewards value without any transferring involved.

Given its small list of perks, it’s clear that this card’s main value comes from its straightforward travel rewards program. If you’re more of a “show me the money” type, the only ongoing Venture card feature with a clear monetary value is the up to $100 application fee credit you’ll receive every four years for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

That means you’ll have to rely primarily on rewards spending each year to make up for the $95 annual fee. Here’s a look at what you’d have to spend each year to offset the annual fee:

• 2X miles flat-rate spending: at least $4,752 per year if you get a 1-cent-per-mile redemption value ($2,375 if transferring miles, assuming an average mile value of 2 cents per mile)
• 5X miles on hotel and rental car booked through Capital One Travel: at least $1,900 per year ($950 if transferring miles, assuming an average mile value of 2 cents per mile)

Some competing cards in the Venture’s class provide more benefit value to offset annual fees. Depending on your spending habits, the $95 may not be much of a concern, especially if you plan to transfer miles for an average of 2 cents per mile (Bankrate’s valuation). The 75,000-mile sign-up bonus is pretty hefty, too — enough to cover the annual fee for at least seven years, even if you only get 1 cent per mile in redemption value.

Here’s a look at the first year and ongoing value you should expect based on a 1-cent-per-mile redemption value:

*Based on our formula used to calculate each card’s average rewards rates and average ongoing rewards value, using Bureau of Labor Statistics spending data and an assumed $15,900 yearly spend over three years ($1,325 per month).

Frequent Bankrate contributor Jacqueline DeMarco loves the Capital One Venture card for its streamlined rewards experience and has been collecting miles with it for the past seven years.

“I don’t enjoy figuring out which spending categories will generate the most credit card rewards. With the Capital One Venture, I was attracted to the simplicity of earning unlimited 2X miles on all purchases. For this reason, I use my Capital One Venture for most major purchases over $100, whether it’s to upgrade a phone, buy clothes or do some holiday shopping. If I charge $1,500 in a month, I know that I’ll earn 3,000 Capital One miles. It’s an uncomplicated calculation.”

“In the end, even with a $95 annual fee, my Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a bargain. This card gives me options, including flat-rate rewards, flexible flights and numerous protections.”

— Jacqueline DeMarco
Personal finance writer

The Venture card will have a large fanbase thanks to its ease of use and rewards structure. However, travelers who want to maximize their credit card rewards with strategic spending may be better served with another card.

Flat-rate rewards cards generally pair best with bonus category cards that align with your biggest expenses.

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card could be a great choice if you can take advantage of its unlimited 3 percent cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target). You can get even more value from your bonus categories by converting your cash back to Capital One miles, which the Venture can transfer to travel partners. The SavorOne card’s dining and entertainment categories can be lucrative while you’re traveling too.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is convenient if you prefer simple flat-rate rewards or don’t spend enough on travel to justify a bonus category card or the Capital One Venture X’s $395 annual fee.

That said, its rewards and benefits are a rung below the specialized features of a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred. And if you spend more than $300 on Capital One travel bookings each year, it may be worth upgrading to the Venture X due to its extra benefits and rewards potential, which could beat those of the Venture card and make it easy to recoup the higher annual fee.

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

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