Venture X Rewards

Rewards by category

Our take

The Venture X Rewards fits travelers who already book a few trips a year and don't mind running those bookings through Capital One Travel. Hotels and other travel earn 10x miles through the portal, flights earn 5x, and everything else earns a flat 2x. In our rankings it sits second for both hotels and other travel, which is where the card does its real work.

The tradeoff is concentration. The $395 annual fee only makes sense if the portal rates actually get used: book a hotel directly with the property and you earn the 2x base, not 10x. We value Capital One Miles at one cent each in our rankings, so 10x works out to roughly 10 percent back, but only on bookings you route through Capital One Travel.

In a small wallet, treat it as a floor plus a travel specialist. The flat 2x covers everyday spending that no bonus category catches, and since it charges no foreign transaction fee, it is a sensible card to carry abroad. Pair it with a card that earns more on your grocery or dining spend, and let the Venture X handle travel and everything else.

The math

Run $250 a month of hotels through this card and you're earning about $300 a year at our conservative valuations. Against the $395 annual fee, that top rate needs roughly $425 a month of hotels spend before it beats a no-fee flat 2% card.

Where it lands in our rankings: #4 for hotels · #4 for other travel

Common questions

Does Venture X Rewards have an annual fee?

Yes — $395 per year.

What does Venture X Rewards earn on hotels?

10x on hotels (book via capital one travel).

What rewards does Venture X Rewards earn on everything else?

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

What's the catch with the Venture X's 10x rate?

Both 10x rates, hotels and other travel, require booking through Capital One Travel, and the 5x on flights carries the same condition. Book directly with an airline or hotel and the purchase earns the flat 2x base instead. If you prefer booking direct, price the card on 2x everywhere and decide whether the $395 fee still pencils out.

Does the Venture X charge foreign transaction fees?

No. The card charges no foreign transaction fees, so purchases abroad earn the same 2x miles without a surcharge on top. It runs on the Visa network, and the 10x and 5x travel rates still require booking through Capital One Travel wherever you are, so direct bookings overseas earn the 2x base like anywhere else.

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.