How To Use The Capital One Travel Portal

You can apply for the Capital One Venture X rewards credit card.

Understanding Capital One Travel is a key part of maximizing the Capital One Venture X rewards credit card. The Capital One Travel portal has just been extended to a lot more Capital One card members, so I wanted to take an updated look at how it works.

What is the Capital One Travel portal?

You can book flights, hotels, and rental cars through Capital One Travel. Most of the major credit card companies have portals like these that are similar to online travel agencies.

The travel portals can be a win-win.

• Credit card companies get a commission when you book your travel through one of these portals, and often you’ll pay the same you’d pay if booking direct
• Credit card companies often offer additional rewards to cardmembers when booking through their travel portal, and in some cases give significant incentives for using it

Which credit cards get you access to the Capital One Travel portal?

Customers with Capital One rewards cards in the US can now use the Capital One Travel portal. The following cards are included.

You can access the Capital One Travel portal by logging in with your Capital One online account credentials. After being approved for a card, it can take a few days before you can access the portal, so don't expect to have access to it the second you are approved for one.

Why should you use the Capital One Travel portal?

There are a few reasons to book your travel through Capital One Travel. The Capital One Venture X is an example.

• The card offers a $300 annual travel credit valid for any purchase through Capital One Travel (the card also offers 10,000 bonus miles on the account anniversary every year, and those can be redeemed through Capital One Travel, but can also be redeemed in different ways)
• The card offers bonus miles on Capital One Travel purchases, as you earn 10x miles for hotel and rental car bookings, and 5x miles on flights; I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me that’s like an 8.5-17% return on Capital One Travel purchases, which is huge

Capital One cards have bonus rewards when booking through Capital One Travel.

• The Venture and VentureOne offer 5x miles for hotel and rental car bookings
• The Spark Miles and Spark Miles Select offer 5x miles for hotel and rental car bookings
• Capital One cash back cards offer 5% back for hotel and rental car bookings

Capital One cash back and Capital One miles can be redeemed for travel booked through Capital One Travel. You can redeem miles through the Purchase Eraser feature, where you can make a travel purchase directly with your card, and reimburse yourself after the fact. I don't think that is a big selling point of the portal.

Do you earn loyalty rewards when booking through the Capital One Travel portal?

Capital One Travel has a catch. The biggest catch is that you won't always earn rewards with the loyalty program of the airline, hotel, or rental car. As a general rule of thumb.

• You usually earn airline miles and elite perks when booking flights through Capital One Travel; there’s even an option to add your airline loyalty account number during the booking process
• You usually don’t earn hotel points or elite perks when booking hotels through Capital One Travel; there’s no option to add your hotel loyalty account number during the booking process, though you can always provide it when you check-in or in advance, and in some cases you may still receive some elite perks
• You usually don’t earn rental car points or elite perks when booking rental cars through Capital One Travel, though the policy does vary by rental agency

Capital One Travel is the least expensive way to book flights, so my strategy is usually to use it. Capital One Travel can be used to book independent hotels in some cases, as the opportunity cost is the least.

How do you book travel through the Capital One Travel portal?

Capital One Travel can be used to book flights on over 200 airlines, stay at over two million hotels around the world, and rent cars with nearly 200 providers. You can either pay cash or redeem miles for your reservation, and that can be decided on when you finalize your reservation.

If you're trying to book a flight, hotel, or rental car, let's go over the basics.

Booking flights with Capital One Travel

I think most of my portal use will be for booking flights since there is the least opportunity cost.

• I can use my $300 Capital One Travel credit toward a flight
• I earn 5x Venture miles for booking flights this way, and you even earn those 5x miles when you use your $300 statement credit (so that earns you another 1,500 miles)
• There’s very little opportunity cost to this, since I can still earn airline miles and receive elite perks
• You should find that pricing through Capital One Travel typically matches what you find through Google Flights and other online travel agencies; in some cases you might find lower prices through programs like the Amex International Airline Program, but that’s about it

Capital One Travel uses technology from Hopper and is an excellent online credit card portal.

• There are lots of options for sorting itineraries, whether you want to go by price, duration, number of stops, departure time, or arrival time
• The portal does a pretty good job distinguishing different fare options, from basic economy to first class
• The portal has a calendar feature where you can see how pricing varies over several weeks at a time, which can be useful if you’re flexible
• The portal has price predictions for flights, whereby the portal will recommend whether you should book now or wait, and it’s claimed that this saves consumers an average of 15% per flight; this is based on analyzing billions of data points and predicting how flight prices fluctuate
• The portal offers free price drop protection; if Capital One Travel recommends booking a flight and the price drops within 10 days, you can be refunded the difference, up to $50
• The portal allows you to “watch” a trip, and be notified by email when it’s the best time to book

Booking hotels with Capital One Travel

Capital One Travel gives you access to millions of hotels around the world, ranging from large chain hotels to independent boutique hotels. Capital One Travel adjusts prices to guarantee that they match or beat other travel sites. Capital One's interface for searching hotels is great, as you can sort by destination, price, star rating, and more.

Capital One Travel isn't the best place to book hotels.

• It could make sense to book an independent hotel through Capital One Travel, where the opportunity cost of booking this way is limited, and you can earn 5-10x miles per dollar spent; always make sure to compare prices, though, because you may sometimes find lower rates through other channels (especially if you’re a AAA member, a senior, etc.)
• If you’re engaged in major hotel loyalty programs and are staying at a chain hotel, it’s probably better to book direct, and be able to earn hotel points and receive elite perks; that being said, for some it could be worth booking through Capital One Travel, so you can earn 5-10x miles for these purchases instead
• For luxury hotels, there are typically better ways to book, like through Virtuoso, so you can score free breakfast, a room upgrade, a hotel credit, and more

Booking rental cars with Capital One Travel

Capital One Travel allows you to book rental cars. I don't book rental cars through this place because I don't want to earn bonus miles for rental cars. Why?

• There are so many opportunities to get discounted rental cars using websites like Kayak and Autoslash, so you often won’t get the best price when booking through a credit card portal
• You’re generally forgoing elite perks when booking a rental car through Capital One Travel; for example, the Capital One Venture X offers Hertz President’s Circle status, plus other rental car status on account of being a Visa Infinite, and you can receive those perks when booking direct with the car rental companies, rather than when booking through Capital One Travel

Capital One Travel best price guarantee

Capital One Travel has a price guarantee. If you find a better price on a flight, hotel, or rental car within 24 hours of booking with Capital One Travel, you can be reimbursed the difference. The request can be taken care of on the spot, if you just call.

I think it's important to point out that this only matches the best standard and published prices and won't always be useful. If a hotel has a cheaper members only rate or cheaper senior rate, that wouldn't be eligible for a best price guarantee. Rental car companies often have promotions for loyalty program members.

Bottom line

You can book flights, hotels, and rental cars through Capital One Travel. Capital One Travel is one of the reasons many of us will likely use it.

If you book a $300 flight every year through the portal, you can maximize the benefit of the Capital One Venture X credit, which is valid through Capital One Travel. It's a great incentive to go through there if you earn 5-10x miles for portal purchases.

Capital One credit is needed because the portal is as good as credit card portals. I find it easy to use and it has some unique features. This could be useful for the casual traveler who isn't good at planning travel.

Have you used Capital One Travel? Do you use credit card travel portals?