Capital One VentureOne review: Simple rewards for travel card beginners
The Capital One VentureOne provides a straightforward approach to earning travel rewards without an annual fee, though its earning potential is limited compared to premium travel cards.
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Mariah Ackary is a freelance writer and editor. After putting herself through college, she became interested in using personal finance to achieve freedom—whether that means paying down debt or using credit card points to take a dream vacation.
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Gabriela Walsh is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® and a personal finance editor at Bankrate. Her previous work experience includes various editorial positions at FinanceBuzz. She combines her understanding of language and literature with her commitment to delivering content that empowers others to build healthy money management skills.
Updated September 11, 2024, 2:16 PM EDT
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The most basic of Capital One’s three travel credit cards, the VentureOne Rewards from Capital One, has two major draws: unlimited, flat-rate rewards on all purchases and no annual fee. That simplicity is hard to come by in the world of travel rewards. At the same time, what makes the VentureOne a refreshingly straightforward travel credit card also limits its value.
Fox Money rating: 6.9/10
The VentureOne is an excellent match for those looking to get into the travel rewards game without paying annual fees or strategizing their spending around bonus categories, but its earning potential is limited compared with top travel credit cards.
How the Capital One VentureOne Card works
Who said travel rewards have to be complicated? Every dollar you spend with the VentureOne — from the grocery store to online shopping — earns 1.25 miles. The one exception is hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, which earn 5X miles.
When you’re ready to redeem those miles, you’ll receive statement credits to cover eligible travel purchases with your VentureOne.
Pros
- Simple earning and redeeming process
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
Cons
- Low earning rate compared to other travel credit cards
- No boosted rewards rate for airline tickets
- Few travel perks
Capital One VentureOne Card rewards
Earning rewards
The VentureOne earns 1.25 miles on every dollar spent. That means that a $500 purchase will score you 625 miles. The exception to this 1.25X rate is hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One’s travel portal, which earn 5X miles.
So, a $1,000 hotel stay booked via Capital One Travel will net you 5,000 miles. That’s huge compared with the regular earning rate, so be sure to keep that in mind when planning travel.
Generally, this is a pretty low earning rate. We’ll get into this in the “earning rewards” section, but it means you earn 1.25 cents back on every dollar spent. To put it in perspective, nearly all rewards credit cards offer 1 cent per dollar on general spending — whether in the form of 1X miles, 1% cash back, or 1X miles. So it’s a little bit better than that, but not much.
The upgraded version of this card, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, charges a $95 annual fee and offers unlimited 2X miles on every purchase. That will earn you a free flight or hotel stay significantly faster.
Another, more similar option with a better earning rate is the Discover it® Miles credit card, which earns unlimited 1.5 miles on all purchases and has a similar redemption process.
Redeeming rewards
Redeeming your Capital One miles is fairly simple. Here are your options.
Statement credits
The most common way to redeem your miles is to use them to cover travel you’ve booked.
You can make those travel purchases directly with airlines or hotels, a third-party travel company like KAYAK, or a travel agent. Then, when you sign into your account, you can “cover” those purchases with your rewards, which will be added to your account as a statement credit.
One Capital One mile is worth one cent, and you don’t need enough miles to cover an entire purchase. For example, say you have 50,000 Captial One miles. That’s worth $500. You could apply that $500 toward a $600 charge for a hotel stay and cover the additional $100 out of pocket.
Capital One Travel
Another redemption option is to book travel (flights, rental cars, and hotel stays) through Capital One’s travel portal. You get the same value this way — 1 cent per mile.
This card’s redemption process is pretty simple, but it’s not the most valuable. For example, the ultra-popular Chase Sapphire cards also allow you to redeem rewards for a statement credit at a value of 1 cent apiece, but they also offer higher-value redemption options when you redeem them through the Chase Travel℠ portal.
Transfer to an airline or hotel partner
Capital One has 15+ travel partners, including British Airways, Air France, Emirates, and Choice Hotels. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t include any major U.S. domestic airlines, like Delta or American Airlines.
Keep in mind that not all partners offer 1:1 transfers (meaning 1 Capital One mile is transferred to 1 partner airline mile), which is the standard good transfer value.
Capital One’s transfer partners generally don’t compare to Chase’s (which includes Marriott, Hyatt, JetBlue, Southwest, and United Airlines) or American Express (which includes Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Hilton, and Marriott).
Lower-value options
You can use your Capital One miles to buy gift cards, pay for purchases on Amazon and PayPal, and even request a mailed check — but you won’t get the best value. With the VentureOne, these redemption options can devalue your miles. Instead of being worth 1 cent apiece, they can be worth 75 cents or less.
Capital One VentureOne Card benefits
Currently, Capital One is offering 20,000 bonus miles to new VentureOne cardholders who spend $500 within the first three months of opening an account.
The welcome offer is standard for a no-annual-fee card. If you’re willing to pay the $95 annual fee for the Venture Rewards Card, you’ll earn a much better welcome offer: 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year. The higher miles bonus does come with a higher spending requirement: $4,000.
Still, the value of the Venture’s welcome bonus covers the cost of the annual fee for over seven years. If you’d be spending $4,000 within three months anyway, the Venture’s welcome bonus may tip the scales in its favor — even for those wary of annual fees.
Additional perks
VentureOne’s additional perks are nice bonuses, but valuable travel perks are notably absent. That’s not unusual for an annual fee-free card, but if you’re looking for perks that will upgrade your travel experience, like airport lounge access, free checked bags, or trip delay insurance, the VentureOne leaves something to be desired.
Travel
- No foreign transaction fees
- Emergency card replacement
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
- Travel accident insurance
Shopping
- Capital One Shopping’s automatic coupon codes
- 50% off handcrafted beverages at Capital One Cafés nationwide
- Extended warranty
Dining and entertainment
- Capital One Dining: exclusive access to restaurant reservations and culinary events
- Capital One Entertainment: exclusive access to pre-sales for concerts, sporting events, and more.
Intro APR offer
If you have a large purchase planned, VentureOne allows you to split up your payments over more than a year without paying interest. New cardholders can benefit from 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, followed by a variable APR of 19.99%-29.99%.
Balance transfers made in the first 15 months will be charged a 3% balance transfer fee, and transfers made after that incur a 4% balance transfer fee at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer you at any other time.
Capital One VentureOne Card fees and charges
The $0 annual fee makes this card suitable for those who don’t want to commit to paying one — including many travel rewards beginners. The nice thing is that you can always apply to upgrade your card after using it for a while.
Usually, you can call Capital One and ask to be upgraded. Remember, though, that this option may cost you another hard credit check, and you likely won’t be eligible to earn the Venture’s welcome bonus — a huge part of the card’s appeal.
How the Capital One VentureOne card compares
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Who should consider the Capital One VentureOne Card?
Fee-averse travel rewards beginners can find this card the perfect mix of easy-to-use and valuable. However, it isn’t the best option, even among similar no-annual-fee travel cards. The Bank of America Travel Rewards Card and the Discover it Miles offer better earning rates on general purchases.
Plus, those cards offer the same one cent per point redemption value — but not just for travel redemptions, like the VentureOne. With the Discover it Miles, you can redeem rewards to cover any purchase on your statement — not just travel purchases — at a value of one cent per point. Bank of America includes both travel and dining in its one-cent-apiece redemption option.
If you like the Capital One brand over Discover or Bank of America, this card makes sense. You may bank with Capital One and prefer the convenience of having your accounts with one company, or you may worry about Discover being accepted at some merchants.
How we rated this card
Every card review we publish undergoes a rigorous editorial process to ensure accuracy and objectivity. Learn more about our methodology here.
Here are some of the factors that influenced this card’s overall score:
- Rewards: Capital One VentureOne offers a flat rate on all purchases. While consistent, the earning rate is lower than some of its competitors.
- Redemption flexibility: Capital One provides decent redemption options, including travel statement credits, bookings through their travel portal, and transfers to travel partners. However, some transfer ratios are less favorable than those of premium cards.
- Annual fee: The card charges no annual fee, making it accessible for those new to travel rewards or occasional travelers.
- Benefits: The VentureOne offers basic travel and shopping protections but lacks the premium travel perks of higher-tier cards.
- Welcome bonus: The welcome offer is modest compared to some competitors, but it's achievable with a relatively low spending requirement.
- Rates and other fees: The card offers a competitive intro APR period with no foreign transaction fees, which is great for international travelers.
The bottom line
The VentureOne Rewards from Capital One’s major selling points are its unlimited, flat-rate rewards on all purchases and the fact that it charges no annual fee. For some, especially Capital One loyalists, that kind of simplicity in a travel rewards card is valuable. But it’s certainly not the highest-earning travel credit card — even among no-annual-fee options.
Editorial disclosure: Opinions expressed are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included in the post.