I may sound like a broken record by now, but I love CapitalOne for my travel needs!
Right now, Capital One is offering a HUGE 75,000 signup bonus for their best travel credit card.
- Earn unlimited 2 miles per dollar on every purchase
- TSA pre-check reimbursement
- Trip cancelation services
- Trip delay protection
- Primary rental car insurance
- 2 Free Lounge visits per year
- No foreign transaction fees
Redeeming Miles for Maximum Results
Redeeming Capital One miles for maximum value takes some strategy.
Capital One miles are worth an average of 1.85 cents each in travel when you transfer them to airline and hotel partners such as British Airways, Turkish Airlines and Wyndham. But depending on what you book, it’s possible to get even more value.
Example:
For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card comes with a sign-up bonus of 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. That’s potentially enough to cover travel expenses like:
- A round-trip coach award flight to Greece
- Two round-trip coach award flights to Maui, Hawaii
Capital One Travel Portal
I purchased the flight using miles directly inside the Capital One Travel Portal. My miles were roughly worth 1 cent per mile, so my $550 flight cost 55,000 miles.
But, this is where I made my mistake.
Here is what I should’ve done.
I should have paid cash for my trip and then used points to cover the charge when I got back.
When browsing Capital One Travel, you’ll notice that you can pay with either cash or miles.
Below is an example of a flight to Knoxville, TN from Chicago, IL.
If you were to pay strictly with miles, your card would never be charged — and therefore, you would not earn any rewards.
But if you were to pay with your card, you would earn between 5 and 10 miles per dollar on this purchase, depending on which card you have (Capital One Venture or Venture X). That translates to either 915 miles or 1,830 miles.
I have the standard Capital One Venture, so I’d earn 5 miles per dollar spent (915 miles) on this flight.
Here's Where the Magic Happens
Capital One lets you cover travel purchases from your statement within 90 days of the purchase date at a rate of 1 cent per mile. Redeeming your rewards this way is the superior option because it allows you to earn miles for your spending.
For example, in the photo above, I have options to cover my purchases from Bangok Air and Thai Airways. So, I can use my Capital One miles to remove it from my statement.
Why would I want to do this? Well, when I paid for the flight, I earned 2x the miles for my purchase.
When I cover my purchases after my trip, I’m only using 1x point per dollar to “cover”.
The downside to doing this?
You likely will not earn hotel points or be able to use elite status benefits on bookings made through Capital One Travel. This is because the major hotel chains usually require you to book directly to receive these benefits.
Traveler Tip: Always, during any booking process, make sure to add your frequent flyer number before you fly.
In Conclusion...
Use the Capital One Travel Portal to book your flights, hotels and rental cars AND THEN offset the expense by redeeming your miles within 90 days of the purchase date to cover the charge.
Book Your Trip Now!
Below are my favorite companies I use time and time again when I book my travel.
- Rakuten – Get the Best Coupons & Promo Codes at places like Hotels.com, Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline and many more. Sign Up for a Free Account with Rakuten to Save Today!
- Chase Travel Portal – If you have a Chase account, this is by far the best way to book travel and earn miles/points while doing so. If you don’t have a Chase account, I highly suggest getting the best travel rewards credit card in the Chase Sapphire Prefered.
- CapitalOne Travel – In my opinion, the second best travel rewards credit card. Use the CapitalOne travel portal to book airfare, hotels and rental cars using your points & miles.
- HomeStay – Homestay is a popular form of hospitality and lodging whereby visitors share a residence with a local of the city to which they are traveling.
- SkyScanner – Skyscanner is a great flight search engine which searches a lot of different airlines, including many of the budget carriers that larger sites miss. While I always start with Momondo, I use this site too as a way to compare prices.
- Booking.com – Booking probably has the widest selection of budget accommodation in the world. In our studies, they constantly found the cheapest rooms. I also like their easy-to-use interface and no-money-down policy.
- RocketMiles – Book hotels on Rocketmiles and earn thousands of miles and points per night on every booking. Or, earn gift cards for your favorite purchases.
- Selina Hostel – This is the best hostel accommodation in the world. Their unique CoLive stays, artwork and location are the best. Not to mention, they are a great value travel brand!
For companies, check out my favorite travel companies section that includes even more of my favorite travel companies that will help you value travel!
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