Is the Capital One Venture X worth it?

In November 2021, Capital One launched its premium credit card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. It comes with all the perks you would expect from a premium card, including travel rewards, annual credits, access to lounges and a large welcome bonus. And, like other premium cards, it all comes with a high annual fee.

The Capital One Venture X is now one of several premium travel credit cards on the market, meaning cardholders will have to decide whether this one is really worth adding to their collection. To help you decide if this card is right for you, we’re breaking down the perks and costs associated with this card, as well as how to know if it’s right for you.

A premium travel card from Capital One

When you sign up for the Capital One Venture X, you’ll get 75,000 bonus miles if you spend $4,000 within the first three months of opening your account. Its welcome bonus and spend threshold are similar to that of The Platinum Card® from American Express, another premium travel card, which offers a 100,000-point bonus if you spend $6,000 in the first six months with the Amex card.

In addition to the 75,000-point welcome bonus, the Venture X also offers cardholders 10,000 miles as an anniversary bonus each year, which equals $100 if used toward travel.

Next, let’s talk about some of the cards’ travel perks. The Venture X is a premium travel card, meaning many of its benefits are travel-related. First, the card offers elevated rewards on travel purchases. You’ll get 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel. You’ll also get 2X miles on all other purchases, which is double the general rewards rate on other popular premium travel cards like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

The Venture X also comes with a variety of other travel perks:

• Up to $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
• Up to $200 credit for vacation rentals charged to your account in the first year
• Unlimited access to the Capital One Lounge for you and two guests
• Priority Pass with unlimited visits for you and your guests to more than 1,300 participating VIP lounges in more than 600 cities
• Up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck when you pay with your Venture X
• Miles redemption with more than 15 different flight, hotel and rental loyalty programs
• No foreign transaction fees
• Cellphone protection up to $800 if your phone is stolen or damaged
• Hertz President’s Circle status, so you can skip the counter and choose from a wider selection of rental cars with guaranteed upgrades

A luxury card’s costs

Now that we’ve talked about the perks that come with Capital One’s Venture X Rewards card, we should also discuss the price tag and what it takes to break even.

Like other premium travel credit cards, the Venture X has a hefty annual fee. You’ll pay $395 per year. While this is high for a normal credit card, it’s actually considerably lower than the American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve, which have fees of $695 and $550, respectively.

In your first year with the Venture X, you’ll easily break even as long as you earn the 75,000 welcome bonus, which is equal to $750 to spend on travel (remember to put $4,000 in spending on your card in the first three months). But what about future years?

Each year you’ll get the $300 annual travel credit for any travel booked through Capital One Travel, plus 10,000 bonus miles, which is equal to $100 toward travel, every year starting on your first anniversary. With the annual bonus alone, you come out ahead of the annual fee – as long as you use your benefits.

Add in the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit and the cellphone protection (which, hopefully, you won’t need to use), and you’re well past the annual fee in value, and you haven’t even begun earning your regular rewards on travel and general spending. Plus, Priority Pass and Capital One Lounge access make a more enjoyable flight experience, with no fees to pay for the privilege if you use your Venture X to get in.

As long as you’re a traveler (which is the point of this card), you’ll easily get more value out of this card than you pay for the annual fee.

Is the Venture X a good card for you?

Many of the premium travel credit cards on the market are associated with a particular airline or hotel chain. The Capital One Venture X Rewards card joins a relatively small field of premium cards that can be used across a broader travel spectrum.

Two of the cards the Venture X compares most closely to, as we’ve mentioned, are the American Express Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Venture X has a considerably lower annual fee than either of these cards, which cardholders will like.

On the other hand, it comes with fewer annual benefits – especially when compared with the American Express Platinum, which comes with well over $1,000 in annual credits, not to mention its other travel perks.

So is the Venture X really worth it? We think this travel credit card could be great for someone who’s ready to upgrade to a premium card but feels uneasy about the annual fee of the higher-priced American Express Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve.

You still get many of the same critical travel perks, but with a smaller annual fee. Additionally, if you use the Venture X consistently for travel, the card more than pays for itself, making it a great addition to any traveler’s wallet.

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture X is the newest premium travel credit card on the market, offering an impressive sign-up bonus, high spending rewards and plenty of other travel perks. Whether the Venture X is the right card for you depends on your spending and travel habits, as well as what other credit cards you’ve already got in your collection.