Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
Are you planning a trip to Disney World and searching for the best way to save money on your hotel stay?
Team member Keith recently shared how he used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a free hotel stay just outside of Disney World. But some folks, especially families, might prefer to stay at an on-site Disney World hotel, like Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa or Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.
It’s possible to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book many Disney World Resorts. But thanks to a new hotel promotion for Capital One Venture cardholders, there might be a better way to use credit card rewards to save on your Disney hotel booking.
Unfortunately, you can NOT take advantage of dining plan discounts unless you book your stay directly through Disney. But the booking method I’ll show can still be worth considering depending on your length of stay and if your ultimate goal is to just book the cheapest rate.
Earn 10X Miles Booking a Disney World Stay Through Hotels.com With Capital One Venture Cards
Link: Capital One Venture Hotels.com Promotion
Link: Booking Site for Hotels.com Capital One Promotion
Folks with the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card or Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card can earn 10 Venture miles per $1 you spend on Hotels.com bookings. To earn the bonus, you must book your stay through a dedicated link and pay with your card.
Before taking advantage of this deal, keep these things in mind:
- You must book through this link and pay at the time of booking with your Capital One Venture or Capital One VentureOne card
- PayPal payments are NOT eligible
- Bookings made by phone or the Hotels.com mobile app, bookings for groups, bookings that include flights, and bookings where payment is made at the hotel are excluded
- This promotion is valid for bookings made by January 31, 2020
- Check here for a complete list of FAQs
You can book just about any on-site Disney World hotel through the Hotels.com Venture promotional website. This includes Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, and many others!
I found room rates on Hotels.com to be similar to what you’d find if you book directly through Disney. In fact, I found a sample stay that’s significantly cheaper through Hotels.com compared to booking directly.
For example, I searched for a sample 4-night stay for 2 adults and 1 child at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in May 2018. Through Hotels.com, you can book the stay for ~$2,297.
The same room type is NOT available when you book directly through Disney. This is likely because Hotels.com has a contract with the hotel for a limited number of rooms. So if you book directly through Disney for the same travel dates, you’d have to pay ~$3,800 (or ~$1,500 more) to book a 4-night stay in a suite room type.
And consider the value of the 10 Venture miles per $1 you will earn with the Capital One Hotels.com promotion. In the sample booking above, you’d earn ~22,970 Venture miles. And Venture miles are worth 1 cent each toward travel purchases. So that’s ~$230 worth of travel!
Lots of Million Mile Secrets readers love Capital One’s straightforward rewards program because the miles you earn are easy to redeem. You can just pay for travel expenses, like the above example 4-night stay at the Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Then, log-in to your account and “erase” the charge by redeeming your miles.
Keep in mind, you have 90 days to sign-in to your online account, find the travel purchase, and “erase” it with your miles!
There’s NO minimum redemption increment when redeeming miles, unless you’re using miles to partially pay for a travel purchase. In that case, the minimum is 2,500 miles ($25).
Combine the 10X Venture Miles Promotion With the Hotels.com 10th Night Free Deal
You can combine the 10X Venture miles promotion with the Hotels.com Rewards program. So you can still earn every 10th night booked with Hotels.com free, in addition to the 10% you can earn with your Capital One Venture cards! Just sign-up for the Hotels.com Rewards program to start earning.
The 10th night free benefit is calculated by averaging the cost of all 10 nights. So as long as you book 10 paid hotel nights, it’s like earning 10% off. Combine this with the 10X miles you’ll earn from the Capital One Venture promotion, and it’s like you’re saving up to 20% on you Hotels.com stays!
I typically recommend folks book directly with a hotel chain to earn points and credit toward elite status. But depending on your travel plans, Capital One Venture cardholders can get a better deal using Hotels.com!
Sign-Up for the Capital One Venture Card and Earn $500 Worth of Travel!
Link: Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
Link: My Review of the Capital One Venture Card
When you sign-up for the Capital One Venture card, you’ll earn 50,000 Venture miles (worth $500 in travel) after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months.
In addition to the valuable sign-up bonus, you’ll get:
- 2 Venture miles per $1 you spend on all purchases
- 10 Venture miles per $1 you spend on hotel stays booked and paid through this Hotels.com link (through January 31, 2020)
- NO foreign transaction fees
The card has a $95 annual fee, which is waived the first year.
The card also comes with Visa Signature Benefits, which include:
- Rental car insurance – Secondary protection against collision or theft
- Travel accident insurance – Up to $250,000 insurance for accidental loss of life, limb, sight, speech or hearing
- Lost luggage insurance – Up to $3,000 per trip, provided the luggage was lost from theft or misdirection by the airline, cruise, etc.
If you’re new to miles & points, and plan to apply for lots of cards later, I would NOT recommend starting with the Capital One Venture card. Because there are other credit cards with better sign-up bonuses that earn more valuable points and have better travel benefits. I typically recommend beginners start by applying for Chase cards!
Because Chase has stricter approval rules, which means it’s difficult to get some of their valuable rewards cards if you’ve opened 5+ cards in the past 24 months (with the exception of Chase business cards or other small business cards). So opening the Capital One Venture card could decrease your chances of being approved for great Chase cards later on!
However, if you already have all the Chase cards you want, and you’re looking for a card with a valuable sign-up bonus, straightforward, flexible rewards structure, and want to save on paid hotel stays, the Capital One Venture card is definitely worth considering!
Bottom Line
Capital One Venture and Capital One VentureOne cardholders can get a terrific deal booking hotel stays at Disney World. Until January 31, 2020, cardholders can earn 10X Venture miles per $1 spent on Hotels.com bookings.
Venture miles are worth 1 cent each toward travel. So earning 10X miles is like saving 10% off travel purchases!
And you can combine the 10X Venture miles promotion with the Hotels.com Rewards program. So you can still earn every 10th night booked with Hotels.com free. And essentially save up to 20% by taking advantage of both perks!
If you don’t already have the Capital One Venture card, you can sign-up and earn 50,000 Venture miles (worth $500 in travel) after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months. Here’s my review of the Capital One Venture card.