The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card* is Capital One’s flagship travel card. Although it’s touted for its value, there are plenty of credit card users that will take issue with its $395 annual fee, especially when Capital One offers its similar Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card* for less than a quarter of the price.
As a credit card expert and a longtime Venture X cardholder, I’d argue that not only is the Venture X Rewards card worth the $395 annual fee, but it would actually be a mistake to forgo it for the Venture Rewards card, which has an annual fee of just $95.
What the Venture X Rewards Card offers
The value of the Venture X Rewards card rests on its competitive welcome offer, strong rewards for spending and outstanding benefits.
Capital One currently offers new applicants 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening. This bonus is worth $750 toward travel reservations or potentially more when miles are transferred to airline and hotel travel partners.
This card also offers 10x miles on hotels and rental cars and 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and 2x miles on all other purchases. Benefits include a $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, up to $100 credit toward the application fee for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry (which includes TSA PreCheck) and an anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles.
But perhaps its most valuable benefit is airport lounge access, including a Priority Pass membership that’s valid for the cardholder and up to two guests at over 1,300 lounges worldwide. This card also offers complimentary access to the new Capital One Lounges, currently open at Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington-Dulles and Denver International airports.
How can you justify the $395 annual fee?
For many people, the $395 annual fee is a non-starter, but that would be a mistake, and here’s why. This card’s nearest competitors are the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Platinum Card® from American Express*. Both offer airport lounge access, but they have annual fees of $550 and $695, respectively.
And while these competitors also offer some annual travel fee credits, Capital One’s $300 annual travel credit is very easy to use. Those who can use it annually will essentially drop the card’s $395 annual fee to just $95 -- the same price as the Venture Rewards card.
That basically means that by opting for the Venture X, you’d get access to higher rewards and sought-after perks like airport lounge access without having to pay an exorbitant fee. That is, so long as you can make use of the card’s $300 annual travel credit each year.
The Venture X earns rewards at a higher rate when compared with its two biggest competitors. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum cardholders earn only 1x point per dollar spent on general purchases outside of their bonus categories, compared with 2x miles with the Venture X card.
The Venture X, in my opinion, also has better airport lounge access. Yes, the Sapphire Reserve cardholder and two guests can receive Priority Pass lounge access, as well as access to three new Sapphire Lounges at Boston Logan, New York LaGuardia and New York’s JFK airports. American Express has over a dozen lounges in the US with its Centurian Lounge access, the Platinum card lets you take guests into the lounge only after you use the card to spend $75,000 annually.
Yet the Capital One Venture X offers complimentary access to two guests. And both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum charge fees for adding authorized cardholders, but the Venture X card doesn’t. Each cardholder then gets airport lounge access and can bring their own guests.
Having visited the lounges branded by all three card issuers, I’ve been more impressed by the Capital One Lounges than by either the Chase or American Express Centurion facilities.
I’m also very excited by the ability to remotely check wait times and add your name to the waitlist for Capital One Lounges -- something you can do only in person at American Express Centurion lounges. It’s extremely disappointing to arrive to find not just an hour wait to get it, but a line to even put yourself on the waiting list.
The bottom line
There’s no shortage of credit cards without an annual fee, and there are plenty of travel rewards credit cards to choose from. However, opting for a travel card with an annual fee could yield considerably more value than one without.
So long as you can take advantage of everything it offers each year, the value you’d get from its benefits and rewards could quickly eclipse what you might find with a no-annual-fee card.
*All information about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and The Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
