Capital One Venture X Review
Tl;dr: With premium benefits, excellent base earning rates, and a net-negative annual fee, the Venture X is the best credit card on the market.
The Venture X is the single best credit card on the market. It has it all. Despite the $395 annual price tag, it can be held for no net cost, given that each year you’ll receive $300 in credit toward travel on Capital One’s booking portal plus 10,000 Capital One miles (worth $100+ toward travel) on renewal. The bonus is excellent, clocking in at 75k points, worth at least $750 toward travel (probably enough for a trip to Europe). The earning rates are good, too, with an excellent 2x per dollar on base spending, plus big bonuses on travel booked through Capital One. Likewise the protections, as the Venture X’s suite of travel and purchase insurances being among the best in the industry. The Venture X also offers some luxurious upsides, like access to Priority Pass and Capital One lounges, concierge service, and Hertz President’s Circle status (Hertz’s highest tier). And if all that isn’t enough, you can also add up to 4 authorized users for free, giving those trusted friends or family members the same lounge access, concierge service, and Hertz status.
As I said in my original review, I had some concerns that the $300 Capital One Travel credit wouldn’t really be “worth” $300. But I have had no trouble getting the full value from Capital One Travel. For flights, it tells you when the ideal time to buy is, and if you purchase a ticket when they recommend it, they will refund you up to $50 if the price drops in the next 10 days. Capital One Travel also offers a 24 hour price match guarantee and offers the ability to add cancellation protection to flights (even basic economy tickets) for a fee. I recently booked a rental car via Capital One and then found a cheaper price on Expedia, and Capital One matched the price over the phone in a matter of minutes.
Check out some card details below, and consider applying through our referral link.
Quick ratings
1️⃣ #1, Best Cards 2024
💎 Elite card
💸 Earner
🆓 No net fee
🦥 Lazy
🤓 Points nerd
⬆️ Upgraded travel
🛡️ Travel protections
🔒 Shopping protections
Bonus
Apart from its launch offer in late 2021 and early 2022, The Venture X’s welcome offer has always been 75,000 miles. So you can feel pretty comfortable signing up at that rate (e.g., with this link).There have been better non-public offers out there, though, like this referral promotion for 90k miles back in October 2023. If you want to hold out, there’s a chance you could snag a better deal than the usual 75k.
Net fee
Annual fee:
$395
Credits and offsets:
$300 in annual travel credit when booking via Capital One’s travel portal.
10,000 bonus points on renewal (minimum value of $100 when used to “erase” travel expenses)
Typical net annual fee:
-$5 (yes, that’s negative)
Laziness rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
On its own terms, the Venture X is extremely straightforward to use, earning 2x on everything. You’ll need to make sure you actually use the $300 travel credit to ensure that you break even on the annual fee, but that is not difficult and the only thing that requires ongoing attention.
There is some setup involved–you have to set up your Priority Pass enrollment and any authorized users, but these are 5-10 minute processes that are fairly painless.
You’ll want to remember the bonus points available when booking travel through Capital One’s portal (see below) and will likely want to find another card or two that offer better earning rates on common categories like dining or gas.
Earning
10x: Car rentals and hotels booked via Capital One Travel
5x: Flights booked via Capital One Travel
2x: All other spending
Perks
Capital One's Dulles lounge.
Lounge access: Capital One, Priority Pass (no non-lounge experiences), Plaza Premium
Hertz President’s Circle Status (Guaranteed upgrades, ability to choose your vehicle in the President’s Circle section, no additional driver fee for a spouse or domestic partner in the U.S., 50% bonus points, expedited pickup, skip the counter, eReturn, dedicated call center (some limited to participating locations)
Visa Infinite concierge
Up to 4 authorized users free (each receives lounge access and Visa Infinite perks)
Capital One Dining, Entertainment (early and exclusive access)
Capital One Cafe. Take a 50% discount on handcrafted beverages at your local Capital One Cafe.
Protections
No foreign transaction fees ✅
Trip Delay Insurance (6+ hour or overnight delay, up to $500) ✅
Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance ✅
Baggage Insurance ✅
Baggage Delay Insurance 🚫
Rental Car Insurance ✅
Purchase Protection ✅
Return Protection ✅
Extended Warranty ✅
Cell Phone Insurance ✅
Travel Accident Insurance ✅
Hacks
MileagePlus X. With United Airlines’ MileagePlus X app you earn United miles by buying e-gift cards. With the double points from the Venture X plus the bonus United miles from the app, you can generate extra rewards on purchases that otherwise might not otherwise earn a lot of points with your other cards. For example, MileagePlus X often offers 2 miles per dollar spent on Airbnb, and has offered 4 in the past. That could be 4-6 points on Airbnb purchases that otherwise might only get 3 (Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Green) or less.
Erase travel purchases. Capital One miles are worth 1¢ each when used to book travel through Capital One’s portal or when used to “erase” travel purchases. Always choose the second option to get that value plus the points on your spending. For example, if you booked a $100 hotel through the Capital One portal using miles, it would cost you 10,000 miles. Alternatively, you could use the card to pay cash on the booking, earn 1,000 miles with the card’s 10x bonus, then use the 10k miles to erase the purchase, reducing the net cost to 9,000. You could also book the hotel directly through the chain, for example earning 200 Capital One Miles, 1000 IHG points, and cash back or extra miles via a shopping portal.
Combine miles. Capital One lets you freely transfer points to other cardholders, so you can maximize your redemption opportunities when traveling with a partner or group.
Points/Rewards
⭐⭐⭐
Capital One cardholders can easily “erase” travel purchases at 1¢ per point and have a wide variety of travel partners to potentially eke even more value out of their points. However, lacking a domestic travel option or consistent bonus opportunity like those offered by Chase and Bilt, Capital One don’t stack up favorably with most of the competition.
Alternatives
For a 2%-earning card with no annual fee, consider the Citi Double Cash or Wells Fargo Active Cash. The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5% back, and can be redeemed as Ultimate Rewards with a 25% or 50% bonus if you have a Sapphire card as well.
If you’re not ready for such a big annual fee now, consider starting with the X’s younger sibling, the Venture Rewards card (especially if it has a killer offer). Although you don’t get anything of serious value for the $95 annual fee other than double points, it’s a good starter card and you can likely get another 75k points by upgrading down the line.
Card Pairs
Pair it with the Amex Gold for a perfect 1-2 punch: earn 4x on food (restaurants, delivery, and US supermarkets) and 3x on flights booked directly with the airline with the Gold, and 2x on everything and 10x on rental cars and hotels booked through the Capital One portal with the Venture X. Alternatively, keep all your points in the Capital One universe with the Savor card, earning 3x on groceries, dining, entertainment and certain streaming services.
Pair it with the Bilt Mastercard to get points on rent plus 3x dining and tons of maximization possibilities.
Conclusion
The Venture X’s luxury perks, high-end consumer protections, and base earning rates would make it a top card even if you had to pay for those features. With the card’s no-net fee structure, it’s probably the single best card to have in your wallet.
If you’re interested, consider applying via our referral link HERE.