Capital One Venture X credit card review: Luxury perks for a reasonable annual fee

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information and offers.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card overview

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the issuer’s first foray into the world of premium travel rewards cards and knocks it out of the park. With an annual fee that undercuts the competition and plentiful perks that are easy to understand, the card is nearly a no-brainer for travelers ranging from luxury seekers to the more budget-minded. Chase and Amex, take notice. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

* Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

Over the last couple of years, premium cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and Chase Sapphire Reserve have taken center stage with major updates, including adding new perks and statement credits — along with increased annual fees.

However, the Capital One Venture X stole the limelight when it launched in November 2021, thanks to a phenomenal 100,000-point sign-up bonus and some incredibly valuable perks. Plus, with an annual fee of just $395, the Venture X is more affordable than its main competitors. The card also offers up to $300 in annual statement credits toward bookings made through Capital One Travel, which makes up for the majority of its annual fee.

The Venture X rewards cardholders with 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary (for even more free travel), plus extensive airport lounge access, excellent travel protections and rental car privileges — and even extends some of these benefits to authorized users (you can add up to four of those users for free).

Rather than overcomplicating its benefits as other premium cards have, the Venture X makes its perks incredibly easy to use. It’s simple to recoup the card’s yearly fee by maximizing two primary perks.

If you’re considering the Venture X, here is everything you need to know before clicking that “apply” button.

Official application link: Capital One Venture X with 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Capital One Venture X sign-up bonus

JOHN GRIBBEN/THE POINTS GUY

The Venture X card’s sign-up bonus is 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. According to TPG’s latest valuations, 75,000 Capital One miles are worth $1,388, thanks to the outsized value you can get from transferring Capital One miles to the program’s airline and hotel partners.

Even if you don’t want to navigate the complexities of transferable points, you can still use your Capital One miles directly for travel at a rate of 1 cent per mile — making the sign-up bonus worth $750.

Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable points

Earning miles with the Capital One Venture X

ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

The Venture X accrues miles at the following rates:

10 miles per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked via Capital One Travel.
5 miles per dollar on flights booked via Capital One Travel.
2 miles per dollar on other purchases.

This simplicity builds off the $95-per-year Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, a product that has been around for over a decade. In that way, the Venture X represents the best of both worlds — high earning potential on travel purchases, specifically, but a solid everyday earning rate that’s easy to keep track of.

Read more: Credit card showdown: Capital One Venture vs. Capital One Venture X

Redeeming miles with the Capital One Venture X

Capital One miles can be redeemed in several ways, but transferring miles to travel partners probably represents the most lucrative opportunity.

Transfer miles

Over the years, Capital One has made significant improvements to its mileage program, including shifting from solely fixed-rate redemptions to adding a host of airline and hotel transfer partners, most of which now convert at a 1:1 ratio.

Here is the full list of transfer partners and their respective transfer ratios from Capital One:

Leveraging transfer partners offers several sweet-spot redemption opportunities, including economy flights to Hawaii for just 7,500 Capital One miles by transferring to Turkish Miles & Smiles and redeeming for United flights, and business-class flights to South America for 50,000 Capital One miles transferred to TAP and redeemed on United.

Fixed-value redemptions

Capital One offers several fixed-value redemption options if you consider simplicity more important than cent-per-point value:

Book travel: You can book travel directly through Capital One Travel at a value of 1 cent per mile.
Pay off travel purchases: You can pay off travel purchases made in the past 90 days on your card statement without worrying about the complexities of loyalty programs. You’ll again get a flat value of 1 cent per mile.
Redeem for gift cards: You can use miles for gift cards at the same rate of 1 cent per mile.
Redeem for cash back: You should do everything possible to avoid this option, as it will only provide a redemption value of 0.5 cents per mile.

You should never use the last option here since it slashes the value you get compared to travel redemptions.

Capital One Venture X benefits

While a $395 annual fee might initially seem like a deterrent, it’s easy to see how the Venture X’s perks can offset the yearly cost with minimal effort:

Statement credit: Up to $300 back in statement credit annually for bookings made through Capital One Travel.
Anniversary bonus: 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary, starting on your first anniversary (worth $100 toward travel).
Lounge access: Complimentary access for cardholders, authorized users and up to two guests per visit to Capital One Lounges . For all other guests traveling with the cardholder or authorized user are welcomed at the standard rate of $65 to more than 1,300 Priority Pass lounges (excludes restaurants) worldwide.
Authorized users: Up to four authorized users can be added at no charge, and they also get the same guest access as the cardholder for the Capital One Lounge and Priority Pass.
Access to luxury hotels: The Capital One Premier Collection offers cardholders free breakfast, on-property credits and room upgrades (if available).
Rental car status: The primary cardholder and authorized users receive complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status**.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck: Up to $100 in statement credits for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance: Up to $2,000 per person for you and immediate family members for prepaid, nonrefundable tickets.*
Trip delay reimbursement: Up to $500 per person for reasonable expenses like hotel rooms, food, toiletries or clothes when your flight is delayed overnight or by six hours or more.
Lost luggage reimbursement: Up to $3,000 per covered trip if the airline damages or loses your bags.*
Cellphone protection: By using the card to pay your monthly wireless bill, you’re eligible for up to $800 in coverage per claim with a maximum of two claims and $1,600 per 12-month period. A $50 deductible applies per occurrence.
Primary rental car insurance: Up to $75,000 for damage caused by collision or theft to a rental car.*
Purchase, extended warranty and return protection: Up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account on purchases; warranties extended by an additional year; returns up to $300 per item and $1,000 per account.*

* Benefits available on Visa Infinite cards.
**Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

Which cards compete with the Capital One Venture X?

With a $395 annual fee, the Venture X falls within the premium travel cards category. Two main competitors come to mind; however, both of these cards come with significantly higher annual fees — $550 for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and $695 for the Amex Platinum (see rates and fees).

If you want loads of benefits: The Amex Platinum has a complicated assortment of benefits and perks, including at least 10 different built-in statement credits allotted in time frames ranging from monthly to every four years, making them difficult to keep track of. While you can offset the card’s hefty $695 annual fee with these included credits, it is a lot to manage — not to mention some of these perks might not be useful for certain cardmembers. For more information, read our full review of the Amex Platinum.
If you want more travel and dining rewards: The Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders earn bonus points at similar rates to the Venture X when booking through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, with 10 points per dollar on hotel and car rental purchases and 5 points per dollar on airfare. However, they also earn 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining, which beats the Venture X. The annual $300 travel credit on the Sapphire Reserve is easier to use. For more information, read our full review of the Sapphire Reserve.

For additional options, check out our list of the best premium travel cards.

Read more: The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison

Bottom line

With simple rewards and overall solid value, the Venture X has mass appeal, especially for those searching for (or switching from) a premium travel rewards card.

In addition, there are a lot of under-the-radar perks on the card, including Visa Infinite benefits with an extensive list of trip, luggage, car rental and purchase protections. Add in a burgeoning network of airport lounges, no-fee authorized users, Capital One’s robust transfer partners and a luxury hotel program, and you have a card that is nearly a no-brainer.

Official application link: Capital One Venture X with 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here.

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.

Additional reporting by Ryan Wilcox, Eric Rosen and Christina Ly.