Venture Rewards

Rewards by category

Our take

The Venture Rewards suits people who want travel rewards without homework. Every purchase earns a flat 2x in Capital One Miles, so groceries, gas, and random online orders all count toward the next trip. Hotels and other travel climb to 5x, but only when booked through Capital One Travel. If you would rather not manage bonus categories, that simplicity is the appeal.

The tradeoff is the $95 annual fee and the portal gate. Book a hotel directly with the property and you earn 2x, not 5x; the top rate only applies inside Capital One Travel. SwipeCaddy values Capital One Miles at one cent each, so 2x works out to about 2 percent back, solid but not free, since the fee means it has to outearn a no-fee flat card before it pays for itself.

In a small wallet, the Venture Rewards plays the floor. Let it catch everything that lacks a bonus card, and lean on the 5x portal rates when a Capital One Travel booking makes sense anyway. With no foreign transaction fee, it is also a reasonable default abroad, where the flat 2x keeps earning without surcharges.

The math

Run $250 a month of hotels through this card and you're earning about $150 a year at our conservative valuations. Against the $95 annual fee, that top rate needs roughly $275 a month of hotels spend before it beats a no-fee flat 2% card.

Common questions

Does Venture Rewards have an annual fee?

Yes — $95 per year.

What does Venture Rewards earn on hotels?

5x on hotels (book via capital one travel).

What rewards does Venture Rewards earn on everything else?

2x on all other purchases, in Capital One Miles.

What is the catch with the Venture Rewards 5x travel rate?

Both 5x categories, hotels and other travel, require booking through Capital One Travel, Capital One's own portal. Reserve directly with an airline or hotel and the purchase earns the base 2x instead. Before you book, compare the portal price against booking direct; if the prices match, the 5x is straightforward extra value.

Does the Venture Rewards charge foreign transaction fees?

No. The Venture Rewards has no foreign transaction fee, so purchases made abroad earn the same flat 2x in Capital One Miles with nothing skimmed off the top. It also runs on the Visa network. If you travel internationally even a couple of times a year, factor that fee-free earning into whether the $95 annual fee makes sense for you.

Related reading

• How we value points and miles (and why our numbers are lower than everyone else's)SwipeCaddy ranks cards by reward rate × a conservative cash value per point: 1¢ for cash back and transferable points (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt), 1.1–1.3¢ for airline miles, 0.4–1.4¢ for hotel points, and 0.8–0.9¢ for store currencies. Optimistic transfer values are recorded for context but never ranked, because most people never achieve them.