(New Offer!) Is The Capital One Venture X Business Worth It?
Capital One is certainly carving out its own unique path with the Capital One Venture X Business card, pairing a huge top-tier sign-up bonus with a more reachable first tier along the way. The spending to unlock the full bonus is steep, but you don’t have to go all the way to come out ahead, so let’s put on our thinking caps, crunch those numbers, and work out whether this card could be a valuable addition to your wallet now or perhaps in the future.
Important 5/24 Note: Will this count towards 5/24? Unlike other business cards, every Capital One business card (except the Spark Cash Plus) has counted towards 5/24. However, there is now plenty of historical evidence this card will NOT count towards 5/24.
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What is the Current Welcome Offer?
Spending Categories
- Earn 10x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Earn 5x on flights booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Earn unlimited 2x everywhere else
Travel Perks
- $300 annual credit for bookings made via Capital One Business Travel
- Unlimited access for the cardholder to 1,300+ lounges including Capital One Lounge and Landing locations and participating Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment.
- Ability to bring additional guests with you for an additional fee:
- Authorized users pay $125/year for unlimited Priority Pass and Capital One lounge access
- Guest access to Capital One Lounges and Landings: $45/person, per visit ($25 for kids under 17, free under age 2)
- Spend $75,000 annually on the card and you’ll receive complimentary access for up to 2 guests at Capital One Lounges and up to 1 guest at Capital One Landings.
- Up to $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Earn 10,000 bonus miles on each account anniversary
- $50-$100 experience credit at the Premier & Lifestyle Collections (depending on the property)
Extra Benefits
- Add employee cards and virtual cards for free, set customized limits, track spending, and earn rewards from their purchases
- Other benefits include trip cancellation/interruption reimbursement, travel accident insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, trip delay reimbursement, cell phone protection, and extended warranty protection
- No preset spending limit
Is the card worth the spend?
First, it helps to know the welcome offer comes in two tiers, and both run inside the first 4 months. You earn 150,000 miles after $40,000 in spend, then another 150,000 miles plus a one-time $1,000 Capital One Business Travel credit once your spend reaches a total of $120,000. In other words, $40,000 gets you half the miles and no bonus credit; only the full $120,000 unlocks all 300,000 miles and the $1,000. At a redemption value of 1.45 cents per mile (based on transferring miles to a partner loyalty program), the full 300,000 miles are worth about $4,350. Add the one-time $1,000 credit and the top-tier welcome offer comes to about $5,350 in first-year value. The lower tier, 150,000 miles for $40,000 in spend, is worth about $2,175. Separately, the card’s recurring $300 annual travel credit is a once-a-year discount you apply at checkout on a Capital One Business Travel booking, so if you’re already booking a flight or hotel through the portal, it takes a big chunk out of the $395 annual fee and brings the fee close to a wash in year one. Just know both travel credits work like a coupon toward a booking, not a flexible statement credit, so you’ll want a trip in mind to use them on. We don’t count the Global Entry / TSA PreCheck credit (most of our readers already have it from another card, and it only comes around every few years), and we leave out lounge access, the experience credits, and anniversary miles, since they either take tracking or don’t apply to everyone.
Things to keep in mind
1. You must be aware of the card application rules for Capital One. You will not be approved unless you are clear of these rules…
To get this card, you must wait up to 6 months after applying for a Capital One card before you can be approved for another Capital One card. This applies to personal and business cards.
2. The full bonus takes serious spending.
The bonus comes in two tiers, and both clocks run for the first 4 months. You earn 150,000 miles after $40,000 in spend (about $10,000 a month), and the full 300,000 miles plus the $1,000 travel credit only after your spend reaches a total of $120,000 (about $30,000 a month). The $40,000 tier is reachable for a lot of businesses; the full $120,000 is a tall order and out of reach for many small and medium-sized ones. One strategy some larger businesses use is to put a big quarterly tax payment, or the annual tax return in April, on the card (depending on the timing of your application), but even that rarely covers $120,000 on its own. Either way, do NOT get sucked into more spending than usual just to chase the top tier.
3. Approval odds.
Capital One has been known to be unpredictable on approvals for their premium cards for people who have gotten quite a few cards in the past year. Previously, the only way to apply for the Venture X Business Card was through a Capital One relationship manager. Even if you have excellent credit, it doesn’t guarantee approval, and with Capital One it is notoriously difficult to predict approval odds. Additionally, despite being business cards, Capital One business cards (like the Spark Miles for Business) are known to count towards 5/24.
4. No payment terms
This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month, but you also have no pre-set spending limit.
How to Use Your $300 Capital One Business Travel Credit
The $300 travel credit is one of the main reasons this card’s annual fee is easier to swallow, so it’s worth knowing exactly how it works before you count on it. Unlike some popular credit cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the travel credit works more like a coupon towards a booking — not a statement credit. You need to book travel through the Capital One Business Travel portal, and the travel credit comes off the price immediately. Here’s what that means in plain English:
- It’s a discount at checkout, not a statement credit. When you book a flight, hotel, rental car, or vacation rental through Capital One Business Travel, you’ll see the option to apply your credit on the payment screen, and it reduces what you owe on the spot.
- You can use it all at once or split it up. The $300 can cover one booking in full or be spread across several bookings during your cardmember year, until it’s used up.
- It resets each year and does not roll over. The credit refreshes on your account anniversary. If you don’t use it during your cardmember year, you lose it, so plan to put it toward a trip you’re already taking.
- It only counts on Capital One Business Travel bookings. A few charges are excluded, for example resort fees you pay directly to the hotel at check-in, since those don’t go through Capital One Travel.
Earning miles: Because the discount lowers the amount you actually pay, you do not earn miles on the portion the $300 covers. However, you still earn miles on anything you pay out of pocket above the credit. For example, if you book a $450 hotel through the portal and apply the full $300, you’d earn 10x miles on the remaining $150 you pay, not on the full $450.
The bottom line: Treat the $300 as a near-automatic discount on a trip you were going to book through Capital One Travel anyway. Used that way, it takes a real bite out of the $395 annual fee with very little effort.
How does this travel rewards card stack up to the others?
Here are three other top business cards right now:
Are two cards better than one?
Consider this: What welcome bonuses could you get from a different business card or two?
One eligibility note first. The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card are now part of the same card family, so you can generally earn the welcome bonus on only one of the two, not both. The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is a separate card, so a realistic plan today is the Ink Business Preferred plus one of the two no-annual-fee Inks (either the Ink Business Cash or the Ink Business Unlimited). Chase will typically display a message before you submit your application, letting you know if you’re not eligible, so you can avoid an unnecessary hard credit check.
With that pairing, you would walk away with 175,000 total bonus points for $14,000 in total spending ($8,000 on the Ink Business Preferred and $6,000 on the no-annual-fee Ink) and just $95 in annual fees, since one of the two cards has no annual fee. You would also spread the applications out at your own pace, which makes the spending easier to cover.
We value Chase Ultimate Rewards® points at 1.5 cents each. Here’s the math:
The Ink Business Preferred bonus of 100,000 points is worth about $1,500, and the no-annual-fee Ink bonus of 75,000 points is worth about $1,125. Together that’s about $2,625 in combined first-year value, for $14,000 in total spend and $95 in total fees.
How the Venture X Business stacks up depends on how far you take the spend. At the full $120,000, it delivers more raw first-year value than this plan (about $5,350, counting the 300,000 miles and the one-time $1,000 travel credit, versus about $2,625 for the two Inks), but it asks for $120,000 in four months to get there, versus $14,000 across two cards at your own pace. At the lower $40,000 tier, the Venture X Business earns 150,000 miles (about $2,175), which is still a bit behind the two-Ink haul and takes nearly three times the spend. So for most small and medium-sized businesses, the two-card Ink plan is still the more realistic path to strong first-year value; the Venture X Business only pulls clearly ahead if you can comfortably run all the way to $120,000. If you still want the perks and benefits of the Venture X Business without the high minimum spend, then simply consider the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card personal card.
However, I see all four as great options based on your spending and your situation.
One way this card makes a lot of sense:
A number of business owners only want one or two cards to put all their spending on. And many have random big monthly expenses that would otherwise earn 1 – 1.5x with other cards. The Venture X Business has a chance to be more attractive to medium to larger business owners, especially if it’s more about big spending than using multiple cards. For example, my brother’s business has a lot of expenses each month, and he could probably hit these bonus requirements. In addition, he does not like to juggle cards for his business. So, this card could be a good short-term and long-term option for him.
Capital One “Miles” also work differently. If you have any kind of big travel coming up in the next 6 months (or a vacation rental or cruise deposit due), this card can be used similar to cash back. You use the card for the travel expenses, then use miles to reimburse yourself for part or all of the purchase.
What would Zac do?
After giving it some thought, I’m going to hold off on this card for now, though it’s a closer call than it might look. The lower tier is within reach for a lot of business owners: 150,000 miles for $40,000 in four months. For me personally, the draw is the full 300,000 miles plus the $1,000 credit, and a total of $120,000 in four months is more than my own spending supports right now. I’d jump on it if my business already ran enough spend, or had a major expense or tax bill, to hit a tier comfortably.
Here are a few thoughts:
- If you have high monthly spend on your business, then this card could be a great fit for you.
- If you are shaking in your boots about the top-tier spend, aim for the $40,000 tier instead. You’ll still pick up 150,000 miles. And if even that feels like a stretch, there’s no shame in passing for now. It’s not worth the stress, and it’s not worth getting if it will discourage you from getting other cards.
- If you can’t hit the spending requirement but you really like the perks and benefits and 2x earning, I would strongly suggest looking at the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
- If you get overwhelmed by travel rewards and only want one business card for the rest of your life, this is a good candidate because it’s easy to earn miles (2x miles on every purchase) and redeem. You can add authorized users at no cost and get additional miles for their spend.
Bottom Line
For me, this card is a hold for now, mainly because the full bonus takes so much spending in a short window, and that’s more than I need to put on a new card right now. It’s a good reminder of how strong the other big business card offers are too. But if the spending fits your business and the math works out in your favor, it can be a huge value in your first year.
