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The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card — already one of our favorite travel cards — just got even better. Starting today, there’s a two-part welcome bonus for new Capital One Venture cardholders that’s equal to $1,000 in travel:
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Get a one-time $250 welcome credit when you open your new account
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Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend at least $4,000 within the first three months of account opening
Here’s more about the offer and how you can take advantage for your upcoming travel plans.
Read our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture limited-time welcome bonus
When you open a new Capital One Venture card, you’ll first get a $250 welcome credit. This credit is valid for one year and applies to Capital One Travel purchases. You can use it when you book flights, hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars through the portal.
In addition to the credit, you’ll earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening. When you use Capital One miles for travel spending, you’ll get a value of one cent per mile, making the 75,000-mile bonus worth $750. This is the card’s standard welcome bonus, but only gets more valuable when paired with the one-time credit.
In total, this bonus offer is worth up to $1,000 toward future travel.
Read more: Best credit card sign-up bonuses
What can you get with the Capital One Venture welcome bonus?
In total, this bonus offer is worth up to $1,000 toward future travel. But don’t forget about the extra miles you’ll earn while you work toward the bonus.
To earn the 75,000 bonus miles, you’ll need to spend $4,000 within the first three months. At the Venture card’s rewards rate of 2x miles per dollar, you’ll earn an extra 8,000 miles on your way to the welcome bonus.
In total, you would have 83,000 miles after you earn the bonus (8,000 miles from your spending plus the 75,000 bonus miles).
Let’s say you’re planning a trip over Memorial Day weekend to Washington, D.C. Holiday weekends are always pricey, but you can use those 83,000 miles to offset the cost when you book through Capital One Travel. For example, you can put 80,301 miles toward a three-night stay in this Hilton hotel less than a mile from the National Mall instead of paying the cash value of $803.01.
And don’t forget about your $250 credit.
Take this nonstop route between Los Angeles and Honolulu later in the summer for example. For a weeklong trip between Aug. 16 and 23, you’ll pay just $267.40 for airfare through the portal. Using your welcome credit to help offset the cost, you can pay just $17.40 roundtrip.
Related: Best rewards credit cards
Transfer to partners
While you’ll only be able to use the $250 one-time welcome credit on bookings through Capital One Travel, the miles you earn are much more flexible. One of the most potentially lucrative redemption options is transferring your miles to Capital One’s 15+ transfer partners.
These partner airline and hotel programs include Flying Blue, Virgin Red, Emirates Skywards, Wyndham Rewards, and more. Many partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio, but these ratios can vary. Make sure you check the details before your transfer.
Recently, Capital One added JetBlue’s TrueBlue program to its list of partners; you can convert your miles to TrueBlue points at a 5:3 ratio.
If you transfer the 75,000 Capital One miles earned through the welcome bonus to JetBlue’s loyalty program at the 5:3 ratio, you’d have 45,000 TrueBlue points to use toward your next flight.
Let’s say you live in Boston and want to escape lingering chilly weather with a long weekend in San Diego in early April.
Right now, you could book a flight to San Diego on Thursday, April 3 for as low as 19,700 points one way and a return overnight flight to Boston landing early on Monday, April 7 for 15,900. That’s a total of 35,600 for your trip — leaving nearly 10,000 remaining miles for your next JetBlue flight.
Related: Best airline credit cards
Should you get a Capital One Venture card?
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the best travel credit cards available today. In fact, it’s our top overall pick among travel cards right now.
No matter where you spend your money, it’s easy to maximize spending with the Capital One Venture’s flat 2x miles on every purchase. Even if you only travel a few times per year, you can earn rewards on the things you buy regularly to use toward those trips. On the other hand, frequent travelers can make the most of flexible miles rewards — and the increased 5x miles on eligible Capital One Travel purchases — to ensure great value on each trip.
The Capital One Venture Rewards Card does have a $95 annual fee, but a few annual benefits go a long way toward offsetting it each year. These include up to a $120 statement credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fees, a $50 experience credit when you book eligible stays with the Lifestyle Collection hotels, complimentary Hertz Five Star status, and more.
Read our full review for more about why we like the Capital One Venture Card and see how it compares other rewards cards:
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