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The Capital One Travel portal is an online travel platform that allows customers to book flights, hotels, and rental cars. The site provides exclusive travel deals, discounts, and tools to help you save on your next vacation. Select Capital One credit card customers can earn elevated rewards for every purchase made through the portal or redeem them for bookings. It's a great tool that lets you make all your travel reservations in one place and takes the guesswork out of redeeming miles.
However, Capital One Travel also has several downsides. You're giving up loyalty rewards with those programs by booking hotels and rental cars through Capital One. The Price Freeze function also doesn't work as promised and redeeming Capital One miles for travel bookings may not be the best way to maximize your rewards.
We'll explore all of that and more in this guide to the Capital One Travel portal.
What is Capital One Travel?
The Capital One Travel portal is a travel booking platform powered by Hopper, an app that helps travelers pick the best times to book and travel at the lowest prices. Capital One Travel offers competitive prices, exclusive discounts, and access to a wide selection of flight, hotel, and rental car options for Capital One cardholders. Customers can use the portal to earn and redeem rewards on travel bookings.
Additionally, the portal provides helpful tools such as a price calendar to find the cheapest airfares and price drop protection that will refund the fare difference if it drops post-booking. The portal also has a price freeze feature, which allows users to "freeze" a specific airfare for up to $25 or 2,500 miles. I haven't had a good experience with the price freeze function; Capital One didn't notify me when the fare went up or honor the price difference as claimed. So if you utilize this feature while planning a trip, it's worth being aware of this significant drawback.
Capital One Travel portal benefits
One of the key benefits of using the Capital One Travel portal is that certain types of bookings will earn you higher rewards when you pay with an eligible Capital One credit card. For example, the
This works out well for
Above all else, the Capital One Travel portal provides convenient and easy travel booking. You can use it to compare airfare from multiple airlines at once, helping you find the best deal on your next trip. Additionally, you can use your Capital One miles to pay for travel bookings at a rate of 1 cent per mile, or get discounted rates on certain flights or hotel stays. Finally, customers have access to customer service representatives who can answer questions and assist with bookings.
Capital One credit cards that are eligible for the travel portal
You don't necessarily need a high-priced travel rewards credit card to use the Capital One Travel portal. The platform is open to many Capital One cardholders, including those who carry a student credit card or small-business credit card issued by Capital One.
Over a dozen options are available, ranging from no-annual-fee credit cards like the
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One Quicksilver Secured Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card - Product Name Only Journey Student Rewards from Capital One - Product Name Only Capital One Spark Miles for Business - Product Name Only Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business - Product Name Only Capital One Spark Cash Plus - Product Name Only Spark 1.5% Cash Select for Excellent Credit - Product Name Only Capital One®️ Spark®️ Classic for Business - Product Name Only Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard® - Product Name Only
At 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars and 5x on flights booked through the portal,
Capital One miles value in the Capital One Travel portal
Capital One miles are worth 1 cent each in the Capital One Travel Portal. This is pretty generous, considering miles are earned at a rate of 2 to 5 per dollar spent with the
However, it's possible to get more value from your miles by skipping the portal and instead transferring rewards to Capital One's transfer partners. You can transfer miles to 18 airline and hotel loyalty programs to book award travel. Most transfers are 1:1 unless otherwise noted.
Insider's points and miles valuations peg the value of Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, because it's possible to get outsized value from transferring miles to partners and booking award flights or stays. Be sure to read Insider's guide on how to earn and redeem Capital One miles to find out more about maximizing your rewards.
How to use Capital One Travel
Using the Capital One Travel Portal is straightforward. Simply head to travel.capitalone.com and log into your account. From here, you can select between a flight, hotel, or rental car tab. Enter your destination and travel dates, then browse through the available options.
You can filter results by price, airline, hotel type, and more to find the best deal. Once you've made your selection, you can book directly with Capital One and either pay with your eligible Capital One card or use miles to pay for all or part of your trip.
Before booking anything, check out the travel offers section underneath the tabs mentioned above. Here, you'll find travel credits in select target markets. If you make a qualifying booking, you'll get a travel credit that's applicable toward future bookings.
How to book flights through the Capital One Travel portal
You can book flights with both domestic and international airlines through the Capital One travel portal. On the Capital One Travel homepage, select the "Flights" tab and enter the number of travelers, departure city, destination, and travel dates. You can book both one-way and round-trip flights.
Capital One
When you select your travel dates, a color-coded calendar will show the cheapest and most expensive travel dates. This is great when your travel dates are flexible and you just want to find the lowest fare.
Capital One
Choose your outbound and return dates on the calendar and select "done." Next, select the blue "search flights" button to generate your search results. On the results page, you can sort by price, departure time, arrival time, number of stops, and duration. You can also filter results by fare class, stops, airline, time, and price.
Capital One
Capital One offers a price predictor tool at the top of the page, recommending whether it's a good time to book a particular price. You'll also get the option to freeze a specific price and book it later, though this feature isn't reliable in my experience. If you're not ready to book, you can select "watch this trip" to receive alerts when fares drop.
You'll also get the option to purchase cancel for any reason insurance (CFAR travel insurance) during the flight booking process. And, if Capital One Travel recommends you buy a specific flight now, it will apply free price drop protection to that flight for 10 days. If the price drops within that time period, Capital One will credit you the difference in fare, up to a maximum of $50.
How to book hotels through the Capital One travel portal
Booking hotels through Capital One Travel is similar to booking flights. On the top of the Capital One Travel page, select the "Hotels" tab. Enter your destination, travel dates, number of travelers, and rooms, then select "Search Hotels."
Capital One
Unlike the flight search tool, there is no calendar function displaying the lowest rates. However, the hotel search tool does have a city map to help you narrow down your options and find the cheapest rates. Hotel search results can also be filtered by star rating, amenities, price, and amenities. You can also sort results by price and star rating.
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Once you select your room and rate, you'll be directed to the checkout page to see your total amount due in miles or cash. You can choose to pay either the cash rate or redeem miles. Note that some hotels charge additional service fees at check-in. These will be displayed on the checkout page, but you won't pay them until you get to the hotel.
How to book rental cars through the Capital One travel portal
To book a rental car, select the "Rental Cars" tab on the Capital One Travel portal and enter your pick-up and drop-off location, rental dates, pick-up and drop-off time, and driver age. Drivers under the age of 25 may be subject to additional fees. Click "Search Cars" to be redirected to the results page.
Capital One
You can filter results by vehicle type, price per day, rental car company, cancellation policy, and other factors. As with flights and hotel bookings, Capital One displays both the total cash rate and mileage redemption rate (including taxes and fees). Once you've selected your vehicle, you'll get to a booking page displaying your total. During booking, you'll pay the rental cost minus taxes. The taxes will be collected at pick-up.
Capital One
Should you transfer Capital One miles instead?
The Capital One Travel portal can be a great way to earn elevated rewards and enjoy extra perks. Booking flights through this portal can make sense since you can double-dip, earning rewards with your credit card and frequent flyer miles from airlines. However, you won't earn hotel points or elite night credits on Capital One bookings, which means you'll miss out on possible elite benefits with major hotel loyalty programs. Depending on how often you travel, this could be a significant downside.
Transferring Capital One miles to one of the 18 airline or hotel partners can be a much better value proposition. If you redeem your miles for business and first-class travel, you'll usually get more than the 1 cent per mile your rewards are worth through the Capital One Travel portal. For example, a sample of fun, valuable ways to use the Capital One VentureOne welcome bonus of
However, not all card members want to learn the ins and outs of various loyalty programs to get the most value. Some people want simplicity and the Capital One Travel portal offers just that. If you prefer convenience over value, booking with the Capital One Travel portal is a smart move. But if you're willing to put in the legwork for a high-value redemption, transferring Capital One miles to an airline or hotel program is the best option.
What to know about Capital One Travel
The Capital One Travel Portal offers excellent value for money and flexibility, with various travel options to suit any budget. It also provides a range of rewards, discounts, and tools to help you save on your travels.
With the added convenience of booking flights, hotels, and car rentals all in one place, it is the perfect choice for anyone looking to book their next trip. While some of its features are more gimmicky than others, the fact remains that this portal provides ease and convenience for travelers who don't want to deal with multiple booking platforms and loyalty programs.