Capital One Venture X Business Review: Is It Worth It?

The Capital One Venture X Business is worth it for business owners who spend a lot and like to travel. It offers plenty of benefits for those who frequently travel, for a relatively modest annual fee. This includes airport lounge access, Global Entry reimbursement and the ability to use your miles on flights, hotels, vacation rentals and more, with no restrictions or blackout dates. It lets you transfer miles to more than 15 airline and hotel loyalty programs. It also offers a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel that can cover most of the annual fee.

However, while you can earn a hefty sign-up bonus, the bonus requires a healthy spending commitment, so it may only be worthwhile for business owners with large budgets. Also, it’s a charge card, which means you cannot carry a balance month to month with it. Furthermore, Capital One doesn’t partner with any major U.S. airlines, which may make it challenging to transfer miles. Those looking for simpler point rewards options may be better off searching for cards with American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

• Sign-up bonus: 4.9 out of 5 stars

  Current offer:

  Earn 150,000 Miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening

  How does it compare to other cards?

  This is one of the largest sign-up bonuses you can currently earn. The sign-up bonus alone can get you a lot of travel, though the spending requirement is much steeper than usual. If you are a business owner with a lot of ongoing spending, the return on your spending is also quite good, since you’ll be earning double miles on purchases and Capital One miles are quite valuable.

  → See the best credit card sign-up bonuses.

  Tip: Some consumers online have noted difficulty getting approved for this card. You can use Capital One’s online preapproval tool to gauge your odds of being approved before you apply.

• Earning miles: 5 out of 5 stars

  How many miles can you earn?

  2 Miles per dollar on every purchase; 5 Miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel; 10 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel

  How does it compare to other cards?

  The Capital One Venture X Business is one of the most rewarding cards for business travel that you can get. With Capital One miles being quite valuable coupled with the fact that you’ll earn double miles on purchases, you’ll likely come out ahead of most other business cards.

  Estimated rewards earned per $1 spent*

  • Capital One Venture X Business: $0.043
  • Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: $0.043
  • The Blue Business^® Plus Credit Card from American Express: $0.040
  • Capital One Spark Miles for Business: $0.037
  • American Express^® Business Gold Card: $0.037
  • Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business: $0.034
  • Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card: $0.024
  • The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express: $0.023
  *Based on LendingTree’s value methodology

  → See Capital One vs. Chase credit cards

• Redeeming miles: 4.5 out of 5 stars

  How easy are miles to redeem?

  + Miles don’t expire for the life of the account.

  + You can redeem any number of miles to cover a travel purchase.

  + You can also transfer miles to more than 15 hotel and airline partners.

  – Capital One’s transfer partners mostly consist of foreign airlines, with no major U.S. airlines.

  – Cash back redemptions have a low value

  How does it compare to other cards?

  Capital One offers great flexibility with miles, since you can redeem for practically any travel purchase. You can also boost the value of your miles by strategically transferring them to travel loyalty programs. However, keep in mind that Capital One’s partners mostly include foreign airlines. So while you can still get value (and even use your miles to fly domestically), you’ll have to do a little more legwork compared to Amex and Chase points. You’ll also want to be aware that cash back redemptions with Capital One have a very low value.

  Tip: Many of Capital One’s airline partners belong to airline alliances, and you can redeem miles through them to travel with their alliance partners — so your transfer options with Capital One are greater than they seem.

  → Learn more about redeeming Capital One miles

• Other benefits: 4 out of 5 stars

  • Up to $300 annual travel credit: Each year you will get a $300 credit for travel booked through the Capital One travel portal.
  • Priority Pass lounge access: You’ll have access to over 1,300 airport lounges that are part of the Priority Pass network.
  • Global Entry/TSA PreCheck® credit: Get a statement credit of up to $120 for either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® .
  • 10,000-mile anniversary bonus: Get 10,000 bonus miles each year on your card anniversary.
  • Up to $100 experience credit: Get a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits on every hotel and vacation rental booking with the Premier Collection.
  • Cellphone insurance: If your phone is stolen or damaged, you could be reimbursed up to $600.
  • Travel protections: Access travel/emergency assistance, car rental insurance, roadside dispatch and lost luggage reimbursement protection.
  • Purchase protections: Get extended warranty and purchase protection when you use your Capital One Venture X Business.
  • Free employee cards: Get free employee cards as well as tools to help you manage your employee’s spending.

  How does it compare to other cards?

  The Capital One Venture X Business is one of the best all-around values for travel. It offers top-tier luxury travel benefits for a fairly reasonable annual fee (see rates & fees). It’s also one of the most affordable options for Priority Pass access, if you use the $300 travel credit to recoup part of the annual fee.

  That said, if you wish to go all in on luxury travel perks, you should check out The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express.

  → See the best credit cards for airline lounge access

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is Capital One’s personal credit card that comes with a very similar suite of benefits as the Capital One Venture X Business. You’ll earn double miles on purchases and have mostly the same benefits including access to airport lounges and the ability to transfer miles to Capital One’s travel partners.

If you’re not a business owner, or if you’re looking for a card that you’re not required to pay off in full each month, you may consider the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card card instead.

Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card

If you want an easier option for transferring points, the Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card is a good way to go. You’ll get a large sign-up bonus and elevated points on a wide variety of business and travel purchases. You can redeem points for any travel purchase, with a 25% bonus for redemptions through the Chase Travel℠ portal. You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points 1:1 to more than 10 travel loyalty programs, including United, Southwest and Hyatt.

On the downside, it doesn’t come with airport lounge access or many other luxury benefits. If you’re looking for benefits beyond rewards and travel insurance, the Capital One Venture X Business is better.

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express is the luxury business card from American Express, and is another option for the business owner who loves to travel. It has a much higher annual fee (see rates & fees) than the Capital One Venture X Business card, but with it comes a stronger set of travel benefits, including access to American Express Centurion lounges — some of the nicest airport lounges around.

It includes more than $1,000 in value worth of travel and business credits that can help cancel out the high fee (see rates & fees). You’ll get automatic elite status in several travel programs upon enrollment, including Marriott Bonvoy Gold status** and Hilton Gold status**. Plus, Amex has a larger set of travel partners than Capital One, making it a winner for transferring and maximizing points.

The Capital One Venture X Business card is one of the best values you can get for travel if you are a business owner. It has an extremely high sign-up bonus worth thousands of dollars, a strong value for earning on everyday spending and outstanding benefits, all for a reasonable annual fee (see rates & fees). If you’re a business owner who likes to travel and can meet the spending requirements for the sign-up bonus, you’ll definitely want to consider signing up for this card.

If you’re not sure if this is the right card for you, consider one of our alternate cards above.

We use calculations to estimate the value of each card for the average cardholder, based on LendingTree and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

• Average value over two years (80% of rating): We calculate the value of rewards and perks for the average cardholder using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and an annual spend of $20,000, minus the annual fee. This value includes the card’s sign-up bonus, annual bonus (including free night certificates) and travel perks like lounge access and travel credits. We look at the average rewards earned over two years to balance out a card’s ongoing value with its first-year value.
• Flexibility of rewards (15% of rating): We consider how easy the rewards are to use, looking at factors like expiration dates, minimum thresholds to redeem, blackout dates and the availability of flexible redemption options like travel statement credits and cash back.
• Other features (5% of rating): We also compare a card’s benefits, such as purchase protections, travel protections and elite status benefits against benefits from other cards.