{"id":75,"date":"2018-12-16T17:59:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T17:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomadicmatt.com\/?p=151554"},"modified":"2018-12-16T17:59:35","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T17:59:35","slug":"why-the-capital-one-venture-card-doesnt-suck-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourfunjourney.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/16\/why-the-capital-one-venture-card-doesnt-suck-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Capital One Venture Card Doesn\u2019t Suck Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nPosted:<\/strong> 12\/16\/2018 | December 16th, 2018<\/p>\n

They say you can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have a dog, so I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true. <\/p>\n

But I do<\/em> know that an old travel writer can change his mind.<\/p>\n

Years ago, I wrote about why I hated the Capital One Venture Card<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While it had a simple points structure and no overseas fees, it wasn\u2019t really good for travel hacking<\/a> because you couldn\u2019t transfer points anywhere and it didn\u2019t have a great catagory spend bonus structure. You simply got two points per dollar spent, which you could be used as a statement credit – and that was it. <\/p>\n

If you spent $100,000 USD on your card, you got 200,000 points, worth $2,000 USD. <\/p>\n

With that many points, I can redeem for tons of flights worth way more than $2,000 USD if used them directly with airlines (and, unlike with Chase and American Express, I couldn’t transfer the points to do that).<\/p>\n

Moreover, many other credit cards<\/a> came with perks that also had some value too, like free checked bags, priority boarding, lounge access, or internet at hotels (just to name a few). Capital One gave you nothing.<\/p>\n

Capital One was essentially a 2% cash-back card ($50,000 USD = 100,000 points = $1,000 USD = 2% of $50K).<\/p>\n

With so many other no-fee cards with better ways to earn points, why would I want that one? <\/p>\n

I was not a fan of the card. <\/p>\n

The redemption value of Capital One made it a horrible card for a travel hacker.<\/p>\n

But, over the years, Capital One has improved the card\u2019s features to the point where now, even I must admit, this card is actually quite good. <\/p>\n

First, you get a $100 Global Entry\/TSA Precheck credit, which means that if you use the card to apply for the service, they will cover the cost of signing up. Tons of cards have this feature, but the fact this one has it too is a nice addition.<\/p>\n

Second, you get 10x points on spending at hotels.com. While I don\u2019t use that site, if you do, that\u2019s a huge deal. You can earn a ton of points this way, and it\u2019s not a feature offered by any other card. If you\u2019re not loyal to any specific hotel brand, having this card provides a great incentive to use hotels.com.<\/p>\n

But what really won me over was the recent addition of 14 airline transfer partners: <\/p>\n