November 20, 2024: The Capital One Venture X card and Capital One Venture X Business card offer an annual $300 Venture X travel credit, good toward purchases made at Capital One Travel.
Here’s everything you need to know about the $300 Capital One travel credit.
In this article
What is the Capital One Venture X $300 travel credit?
Capital One Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders receive a $300 travel credit each year for purchases made through Capital One Travel. The credit is good toward any bookings made on Capital One Travel and can be applied at checkout. Currently, flights, hotels, and rental cars can be booked through the Capital One travel portal.
If you’re a cardmember, you’ll receive a credit each year on your account anniversary date. Venture X travel credit expire if they are not used by your first account anniversary date after they are issued.
How to use the credit: At checkout when booking with Capital One Travel
To use your Venture X Travel credit, you must book your reservation from Capital One Travel. Capital One Travel offers flights, hotels, and rental cars at prices similar to what you could expect when you book directly.
Booking through the travel portal is easy and works much like booking a hotel through any other online travel agency, like Expedia or Orbitz. Capital One Travel is powered by Hopper.
When you get to the checkout page for your booking, you’ll see your available credits that can be applied to your booking. Check the box under “Step 2: Rewards and Payment” to apply your travel credits to your booking at checkout.
During the checkout process, you’ll select which credit card to use to pay and whether you want to use any of your Capital One cash back or miles to pay for your booking. The final booking panel will also display a summary of your price, including the amount of the travel credits applied.
One downside to booking hotels through the Capital One Travel portal is that you typically won’t earn points in the hotel’s loyalty program or enjoy any elite benefits during your stay. If you’re chasing elite status or looking to take advantage of perks like upgrades, free breakfast, or welcome amenities, know that you’re unlikely to get these benefits when you book through Capital One Travel.
On the other hand, airlines car rental companies will allow you to earn points and enjoy your elite status benefits on third-party bookings. If you’re concerned with earning points on your Capital One Travel bookings, it might be best to stick with airline and hotel bookings.
Finding your travel credit
If you are wondering how much of your travel credit remains, you can find your remaining travel credit when you sign in to Capital One Travel. Look for the mailbox icon at the top right corner of the screen. You can click on that icon to see your travel credits and offers. You can also go directly to your travel credits and offers at Capital One Travel.
There, you’ll see the amount of travel credits currently available to you. If you click on “View Activity” on that page, you’ll be able to see more details, including travel credit redemptions and expiration dates.
Refunding a booking when you have used a travel credit
If a booking you made with your Capital One Venture X travel credit is cancelable, you can cancel your booking and receive your travel credit back, as long as the travel credit you used to make the booking has not expired. Your refunded travel credit will retain its original expiration date.
If the credit you used for your booking has expired, you will not receive any refund for the portion of the booking that you used a credit for.
How to figure out if a credit you used for a booking has expired
If you have a previous booking and want to know if the travel credit you used for that booking has expired, here’s how to figure that out. Unfortunately, Capital One unfortunately doesn’t make this terribly easy.
First, pull up your travel credit activity by clicking on the “My Travel Credits and Offers” (wallet icon) link at the top of the page. On that page, you should see a button to “View Activity.” Click that.
On the panel that pops up, you’ll be able to see all of your travel credit redemption activity, plus you’ll see your upcoming travel credit renewal date. From your travel credit renewal date, you’ll need to figure your previous renewal date. In the example on the right, the travel credit renews on November 1, 2024. This means that the previous travel credit renewal date was on November 1, 2023. From this date, you can determine whether the travel credit you used on your booking has expired.
- If you made your booking before your previous travel credit renewal date, your travel credit has expired and canceling your reservation won’t result in a travel credit refund.
- If you made your booking after your previous travel credit renewal date, your travel credit is still valid and should be added to your account within 24-48 hours after you cancel a refundable reservation.
Editor’s recommendation: Use the credit for flights or off-brand hotels
In our experience, the best use of the Venture X travel credit is for flights or off-brand hotels.
The best use of the Venture X travel credit is to book a flight through Capital One travel. There is some downside to booking a flight through a third party—if something goes wrong, your airline will most likely direct you to Capital One to fix it. But you can typically earn points and enjoy elite benefits on airline bookings through Capital One travel. You’ll also be covered with your Venture X card’s travel insurance protections during your trip.
If using the travel credit for a flight is not an option, we’d recommend booking off-brand hotel stays through the portal using your credit. Generally, you won’t earn any points in a hotel’s loyalty program or receive elite benefits when you book through a third-party, so avoid using the travel credit for bookings with your preferred hotel chain. But if you’re a Marriott person and you need to stay at a Hyatt or if you’re panning on staying at an independent hotel, this can be a fine use of your credit.
We don’t like using the travel credit for rental cars. In fact, we don’t like Capital One Travel for rental cars. Rental car reservations through Capital One travel are prepaid. Some reservations through the portal are not cancelable and those that can be canceled must be canceled before pick-up. If you don’t cancel your rental car reservation, you’ll forfeit everything you’ve paid. When booking through most other channels, you can pay for a car reservation when you pick it up and there’s often no penalty for no-showing on a car reservation.
September 2023 changes to the travel credit
In September 2023, Capital One changed how its travel credit is awarded. Prior to September 2023, the travel credit came as a statement credit within a few days after an eligible Capital One Travel purchase posted to your account. Going forward, the travel credit comes in the form of a discount that you’ll receive when you check out with Capital One travel.
This is just my speculation, but I believe that the reason they did this was to prevent abuse of the travel credit. Previously, when you booked a refundable hotel reservation with the portal and received a credit, you could cancel your reservation and retain your statement credit. Obviously, Capital One doesn’t want this…the bank no doubt receives a generous commission on bookings through its travel portal that partially offsets the cost of the travel credit.
Apply the credit at checkout (new in September 2023)
If you want to use your Capital One travel credit, you’ll need to make sure that the box under the section “Apply travel credits” is selected when you checkout. You’ll see the amount of currently available travel credit that you can apply to your reservation. Once you’ve opted to apply your travel credit to your reservation, your total will be updated to reflect your travel credit discount.
Receiving the credit (prior to September 2023)
Other than booking through Capital One Travel, you don’t need to do anything to receive your travel credit.
Within a few days after your charge from Capital One Travel, you’ll receive a statement credit to offset the charge, up to a cumulative $300 in credits per cardmember year. If your charge exceeds the amount of your available Capital One Travel credit, you’ll receive the amount of your available credit as a statement credit.
Capital One promises that you’ll receive the credit in your account within 1-7 business days.
Capital One will also send you an email letting you know that the credit has been posted to your account. The email you receive will show you the amount of your remaining travel credits.
Travel credit issue date and anniversary
Your Venture X travel credits will be issued on your account anniversary date and will expire at the next account anniversary. You must book your travel by your travel credit’s expiration date, but you don’t need to travel by then. If you cancel a reservation you made using your travel credits, your travel credits will be returned to your balance and will be available for future bookings as long as they are not expired.
Bottom line: Book through Capital One Travel
The $300 Capital One travel credit is a large part of the value proposition of both the Venture X and the Venture X business card. You’ll need to jump through the hoop of making at least one booking a year through Capital One travel to use the card, but since Capital One Travel offers flights, hotels, and rental cars at (usually) competitive rates, you should have no problem using the credit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the Capital One Travel credit when I book on an airline’s website.
No. The Capital One Venture X travel credit only applies to bookings done through Capital One Travel.
Which card offers a $300 Capital One Travel credit?
The Venture X comes with a $300 annual travel credit, good toward bookings made with Capital One Travel.
When does the Venture X travel credit reset?
The Venture X travel credit resets on your cardmember anniversary.
Is the Capital One Venture X travel credit a statement credit?
No. The Venture X travel credit is granted as a discount toward purchases on the Capital One Travel portal. This changed in September 2023.
Will I keep the travel credit if I cancel a reservation?
Prior to September 2023, it was possible to cancel a reservation and retain the statement credit you had received. This is no longer possible as the travel credit is awarded as a discount on a Capital One Travel purchase. If you cancel a reservation that you booked using a travel credit, the amount of the travel credit will go back into your available travel credits.
Do I have to use the Capital One travel credit all at once?
You can use your Venture X travel credits across multiple purchases with Capital One Travel. If your booking is less than your available travel credits, you will retain the unused portion of your travel credits for future bookings.
If I cancel a booking made with my travel credit, when will the refunded travel credit show up in my account?
In practice, it takes 24-48 hours for your refunded travel credit to show up in your Capital One Travel account after canceling a booking made with your travel credit.
