June 4, 2025: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is Capital One’s high-end premium travel credit card game. For the past few years, it has been the best value premium travel rewards card on the market, but recent changes to the card’s lounge access lower its value greatly if you’re not a solo traveler.
In this guide to the Venture X, we’ll cover our review of the card, give you an overview of the card’s rewards and benefits, and provide our recommendations for maximizing the card’s benefits and rewards.
Our review of the Venture X
Cards and Points Rating: 3.5/5.0
Read more about our star ratings.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is Capital One’s flagship travel credit card offering airport lounge access, premium credit card travel insurance benefits, and airport lounge access.
The strength of the card’s rewards come in the form of simplicity. The Venture X offers two points per dollar on most spending, plus 10x points for hotels and car rentals and 5x on flights booked through the Capital One Travel portal. Capital One offers a bunch of ways to redeem your points, but we like point transfers to airline and hotel partners the best, followed by redemptions for statement credits to offset travel purchases charged to the card.
The Venture X also offers a decent set of travel insurance and consumer benefits which, when paired with the card’s rewards, gives you a pretty good travel card. And the card’s $300 annual credit for Capital One Travel bookings and 10,000 points per year make it easy to justify the card’s $395 annual fee.
But one of the reasons you get a premium travel card is for airport lounge access. Currently, the Capital One Venture X offers lounge access to you and your authorized users, plus you can bring two guests with you into Capital One’s lounges or Priority Pass lounges for free. But in June 2025, Capital One announced that the lounge access benefit on the card was being massively cut. Starting in February 2026, cardmembers will no longer be able to bring two guests into either the Priority Pass or Capital One lounges for free, and you’ll need to pay a fee of $125 per year to get your card’s authorized users lounge access.
We still like the Venture X for the solo traveler, but the lounge access cuts make the card much less attractive overall, especially if you frequently travel with a companion or your family.
Likes
- Point transfers to airline partners.
- 10,000 anniversary bonus miles.
- $300 Capital One Travel credit each anniversary year.
- 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One.
- Travel insurance protections.
Dislikes
- Sub-par lounge access benefit (staring in February 2026.)
- Miles are only worth 0.5 cents per point when redeemed for a cash back credit.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card at a glance
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: foreign_transaction_fee
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers a great value if you’re looking for a travel card with Priority Pass lounge access. The card has an annual fee that is less than half of the cost of some competing travel cards.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
Learn how to apply.
This bonus is earned as Capital One miles.
Rewards
- 10x on hotels & rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- 5x on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
- 5x on Capital One Entertainment purchases.
- 2x on other purchases, every day.
Rewards are earned Capital One Miles, which can be redeemed for travel at 1 cent of value each, cash back at 0.5 cents of value each, or transferred to travel transfer partners.
Benefits
Airport lounge access
- Capital One Lounge access
- Prior to February 1, 2026: Complimentary access for you and two guests.
- Starting February 1, 2026: Complimentary access for the cardholder only. Additional guests $45/each. Earn complimentary access for two guests when spending $75,000 on your card in a year.
- Priority Pass Select membership
- Prior to February 1, 2026: Complimentary access for you and two guests.
- Starting February 1, 2026: Complimentary access for the cardholder only. Additional guests $35/each.
- No-fee additional cardholders
- Prior to February 1, 2026: Additional cardmembers get their own lounge access.
- Starting February 1, 2026: You may optionally pay a $125 fee foe each additional cardmember to get them their own lounge access.
Consumer insurance benefits
- Purchase Security.
- Extended Warranty Protection.
- Return Protection.
- Cellular Telephone Protection.
Travel insurance benefits
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver.
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Services.
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement.
- Worldwide Automatic Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance.
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement.
Capital One Travel benefits
- Free flight price drop protection. On flight bookings where Capital One Travel recommends booking. Up to $50.
- Premier Collection hotels. Get a $100 experience credit and other benefits when booking.
- Lifestyle Collection hotels. Get a $50 experience credit and other benefits when booking.
Partner and other benefits
- $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit. One statement credit every 4 years.
- Hertz President’s Circle® status.
- Capital One Dining.
- Capital One Entertainment.
- Complimentary PRIOR subscription.
- The Cultivist. 50% off the Enthusiast membership to The Cultivist for up to 2 years.
Welcome offer: Earn Capital One miles
Annual fee: annual_fees
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
Learn how to apply.
This bonus is earned as Capital One miles.
How to maximize the card
Here are our expert tips on how to maximize the value you get from the Capital One Venture X card.
Spending: When to use the card
Some cards are good to use for spending, but not every card is a great choice for spending everywhere. Here’s what we recommend for the Venture X:
Do use the card for…
- General spending. You’ll earn 2x points per dollar on your general spending. Assuming you’re using the points for statement credits for travel, you’ll do at least as well as a 2% cash back card.
- Purchases of durable goods. When consumer insurance protections like purchase protection, return protection and extended warranty matter, the card has you covered—it offers all three.
- Booking flights. You’ll benefit from the card’s travel insurance protection automatically when you book your flights with the card.
Don’t use the card for…
- Category spending. You’ll get more rewards on gas, groceries, or at places like Target or Costco with other cards.
- Hotel bookings at major hotel brands. In most cases, you’ll get more valuable rewards booking directly and using a hotel credit card. Plus, you typically won’t receive any of your hotel status benefits when you book through Capital One Travel.
Reminders: Actions you need to take to maximize the card
Many credit card benefits don’t get used because they require you to take some action to get the benefits. Here’s what you need to do to get the value from your Venture X card:
- Use the $300 travel credit. Each year, on your cardmember anniversary, you’ll get a $300 credit for Capital One Travel bookings. This credit resets on your cardmember anniversary.
- Get or renew your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry Membership. The card’s (up to) $120 credit for these trusted traveler programs is an easy win. Use your card once every for years to pay the membership fee for you or someone you know.
Rewards: Maximizing the value of redemptions
Not every point redemption option is a good deal. Here are the ways to redeem your points that will get you the most value. Ignore everything else.
- Point transfers to airline partners. This is by far the best use of Capital One miles, but it requires some understanding of how to book flights using Capital One’s partner airline programs. See our guide to Capital One miles for more.
- Redemptions for statement credits to offset travel purchases. If you want to redeem for cash back, redeem for credits to offset travel purchases. Normal cash-back redemptions will get you only half a cent per point, while redemptions for credits to offset travel will get you 1 cent per point.
Bottom line: Good value option for solo travelers, no longer great value for families
With the change to lounge access coming in early 2026, if you have the Venture X and rely on it for providing lounge access to more than just yourself, you should be looking at alternatives. But as a value-play for a solo travel, the Venture X can be a good choice.
