Collect Capital One Venture Miles? Don’t Book Through Capital One’s Travel Portal – Do This Instead to Save Big!

Meghan Hunter

5 years ago

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INSIDER SECRET: If you don’t collect hotel points (or even if you do!), using flexible Capital One Venture miles can be a great way to save on stays at independent hotels.

Like many of my personal miles and points stories, this one starts with a call from a friend. She needed help using the Venture miles she’d earned with her Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to book a hotel in London.

What I didn’t realize was that sometimes there’s a substantial difference in price between bookings made on Capital One’s travel portal and a third-party site like Hotels.com.

Using Capital One Venture miles is a great way to save on independent or boutique hotel stays. (Photo by Chrispictures/Shutterstock)

Tip for Using Capital One Venture Miles to Book Hotels

Here’s an example:

Three nights at the Staybridge Suites London – Vauxhall booked through the Capital One travel portal would cost you $929.65. Booking this way, you’d be able to redeem your Venture miles for a value of 1 cent each to offset the cost of your stay.

(Side note: I picked this hotel based on personal experience and would highly recommend it to anyone, whether you’re using hotel points or flexible rewards).

In comparison, the same room booked on Hotels.com costs only $877.43. That’s a savings of over $50. Plus, you’ll be able to take advantage of earning bonus Capital One Venture miles if you have the Capital One Venture or Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.

That said, hotels booked through the Capital One travel portal or Hotels.com won’t earn hotel points or elite credits and you might not have your elite status recognized, which is something to be aware of.

But in this particular example, you’d earn 8,774 Venture miles (worth $87.74), save the $50+ due to the cheaper rate and get three nights credited toward the Hotels.com reward program.

You’d then be able to turn around and use the 8,774 Venture miles to erase $87.74 off the cost of your stay, meaning you’d save over $135 on a three-night stay, just for using one booking method over another.

Lesson learned? Always compare prices and check to see if there are any promotions you can utilize. Sometimes the savings is minimal and other times you might be able to save hundreds of dollars.

Interested in learning more about Capital One Venture miles? Check out these guides:

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