Our Favorite Ways to Maximize the Capital One Travel Credit

Capital One’s top-tier offerings of the *venture x* and the *venture x business* come with useful travel perks ranging from access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass lounges to a $100 statement credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. The most valuable among these benefits is the annual $300 annual travel credit that comes with each card, which helps cardholders recoup paying the $395 annual fee.

Now, the *capital one venture card* is offering its own travel credit as a one-time bonus offer. bonus_miles_full. This limited-time offer ends on Monday, Sept. 9! 

There’s likely no better time to open a Venture X card or the Venture card to take advantage of the incredibly easy-to-use travel credits. You have to book through the Capital One Travel Portal, but you can redeem the credit in a multitude of ways to score a sweet discount on flights, hotels, and rental cars.

Let’s go over the Capital One travel credit and some of the ways you can maximize it. 

How the Capital One Travel Credit Works

Whether you have a Capital One Venture X card or the Venture card, the travel credit will essentially work the same. These credits are only redeemable on travel booked through the through the Capital One Travel portal. 

To use your credit, simply log in to your Capital One account online and click the “Travel” button under “Rewards” and then click “Book a trip.” Or you can head straight to the Capital One Travel site and log in there. 

Once you find something that you want to book, the credit will automatically be applied at checkout. You can use it up across multiple purchases or all at once. 

Unfortunately, since the credit is applied as a discount on the purchase price and not a statement credit, you won’t earn any extra Capital One miles on that credit. That’s a small bummer but not the end of the world as you’re still getting up to $300 worth of travel for free. 

Just know that pricing across all the different travel portals will vary wildly. Earlier this year, we found that with Capital One, prices charged were often higher than other booking sites, especially for hotels. So it’s important to do a little price shopping to ensure you’re getting a good deal. 

Read more: Capital One Travel Credit: Everything You Need to Know

Our Favorite Ways to Use the Capital One Travel Credit

Make a Cheap Flight Even Cheaper (Or Free!) 

One of the best ways to use your Capital One travel credit is to offset the cost of airfare – one of the most expensive parts of any trip. It gets even better if you can find a cheap domestic or international flight, and use your Capital One travel credit to cover most or all of the cost. 

Take this recent Colorado flight deal we sent to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, for example. 

Pairing one of the best travel credits out there with one of the best flight deals services is a match made in heaven. Of course, we’re biased, but one of our favorite ways to The best way to use the Capital One travel credit is to take advantage of our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deals and use the credit to offset the cost of airfare. For example, take this sweet roundtrip flight to Steamboat Springs (HDN) for ski season.

Just use Google Flights to zero in on the best roundtrip flight to Steamboat Springs (HDN), then head to the Capital One Travel portal to search for the exact same flights. 

Applying Capital One travel credit at checkout would make this roundtrip flight effectively free.

Of course, we’re biased, but waiting for a cheap flight deal from Thrifty Traveler Premium and then booking through Capital One using your credit is one of the easiest ways to make the most of your travel credit! 

Fly to Europe Roundtrip

Cheap flights to Europe are abundant right now. In fact, they are so affordable that you could possibly fly there and back for as low as $400!

Depending on your Capital One credit card, you could effectively book a trip for 50% to 75% off using your travel credit. Take this Iberia-operated flight to Barcelona (BCN) as an example.

This roundtrip flight to Europe after applying the travel credit would be cheaper than most domestic economy flights. That’s an insane bargain! You could effectively get a free roundtrip flight just by paying the annual fee of your Capital One card.

Score a Discount on a Japan Airlines Flight

You could also save big on a one-way flight to Tokyo (NRT) with one of the best economy seats in the world with Japan Airlines.

Capital One frequently rolls out limited-time travel offers for discounts on hotels and flights. Stacking one of those like the current $100 discount on select Japan Airlines flights with your Capital One travel credit can make a cheap trip to the Land of the Rising Sun for cherry blossom season even more affordable. 

Even without that $100 discount, you’ll be saving nearly half off of a one-way ticket using your Capital One travel credit! 

Book a Lie-Flat Domestic First Class Flight for the Price of Economy

If domestic travel is more of your cup of tea, you could do so in style by booking a one-way, lie-flat, U.S. first class seat on a transcontinental or transpacific route.

You can snag a one-way ticket in a lie-flat seat between the West Coast and East Coast for half the price by using your travel credit, like on this JetBlue Mint route from Seattle (SEA) to Boston (BOS). 

Or you could use the Legrooms for Google Flights plug-in to find domestic routes that have lie-flat seats for a bargain. For instance, one of my favorite ways to fly to Hawaii is in a comfy first class seat departing out of the West Coast that I found a cheap fare for.

Instead of paying a similar amount for a basic first class recliner seat on the same route, book a heavily discounted first class one-way fare with lie-flat seat instead. 

Book a Stay at a 5-star Hotel 

Already got flights covered? You’ll need accommodations. Fortunately, you can also book hotels through Capital One. You could easily cover a nightly rate or snag a heavily discounted stay at a top-tier property at any destination of your choosing.

If you have the Capital One Venture X or Venture X Business card, you’ll have access to Capital One’s Premier Collection – luxury properties where cardholders get exclusive benefits like a daily $100 experience credit, daily breakfast for two, and complimentary Wi-Fi plus late checkout and complimentary upgrades when available. 

If I were you, I’d book a Premier Collection property through the travel portal. Premier Hotels and Resorts are luxury properties you could book through the Capital One Travel portal, where you get exclusive benefits like a daily $100 experience credit, daily breakfast for two, and complimentary wifi, as well as late check-out, late check and complimentary upgrades when available. Similar to Amex’s Fine Hotels and Resorts properties, you can use your experience credit on dining and spa purchases.

Read next: Capital One Premier Collection Review: Elite-Like Perks & Top-End Hotels 

In fact, you could live like royalty and stay in a real-life castle with a booking at the Schlosshotel Kronberg – Hotel Frankfurt, which is the historic home of German Empress Victoria. The $300 annual travel credit you get with the Venture X card would cover a  credits that come with the Venture X cards would nearly cover an entire nightly rate at this 5-star property. If there’s a travel offer like the current 15% discount on select Germany hotels, you could stand to save even more. 

While Capital One’s travel portal is impressive with unique features like “price freeze” and automatic refunds when a price drops, some of the portal’s most valuable features have been eroded, and even more importantly, travelers are finding that prices charged by Capital One are often higher than other booking sites, especially for hotels. 

This isn’t exclusive to Capital One: With all the different booking engines and travel portals out there, these pricing discrepancies are the name of the game. So be sure to shop around before you book!

Rent a Convertible for Your Next Trip

Depending on where you’re heading, public transit just won’t cut it. You’ll need a rental car, and Capital One has you covered there as well. 

For an upcoming trip to Honolulu (HNL), I found this Ford Mustang Convertible to cruise the island in. Imagine getting to ride with the top down without wasting money on rideshares! 

This entire nine-day reservation could easily be covered with the Capital One travel credit. Plus, when you book with your Capital One Venture X card (even if you’re using the travel credit), you’ll get primary rental car insurance coverage, too. 

Bottom Line

Whether it’s discounted flights, hotels or even rental cars, there are a bunch of incredible ways to use your Capital One travel credits from the *venture x* and the *venture x business*, or from the welcome bonus offer one the *capital one venture card*, which is available until Monday, Sept. 9.