Imagine you’re earning amazing, unlimited travel points on groceries, dining out, entertainment, flights, hotels, rental cars…

Would you believe us if we said even your uncategorized purchases are earning points? That’s what our travel card strategy provides us, and it may be what you are needing to start building up points and rewards to travel like a pro.

Lil’ disclaimer

We will begin by saying that this is not a sponsored post, but there happens to be some sweet referral opportunities for us. Help support our travel content by using our referral link. C1 if you’re reading, hit us up, we’d be a great partner.

This is not financial advice and should not be taken as such, as with anything we recommend, assess your own individual situation and do your own research into these cards as well as others.

Background

In 2021 we got engaged and started to discuss shared credit cards for the purpose of building up our travel points but also to help finance large wedding purchases. We looked at our finances, budgets, and then researched MANY credit cards, comparing their offerings and points systems.

This article is not going to get too into the weeds of other cards and what they offer in comparison but will rather focus on what our two capital one cards offer and why we went with them.

We’re also going to just focus on what makes us love these cards, not necessarily touch on ALL of their benefits, so if what you read here is appealing to you, there may be even more benefits awaiting you beyond what we cover.

You should know that Flo and I both already had a couple starter credit cards that made for very easy approval odds with Capital One. Savor One may be on the more entry side CC, likely that Venture X (our main travel card) is going to require an established and good credit history.

Alright without further ado, let’s get into it…

Capital One's Savor One

Capital One's Dining, Grocery, and Entertainment uncapped cash back rewards credit card.

Our Capital One dynamic duo approach to points is not achievable with out this first heavy hitter. While this first card is not a "travel" card per say, it does still give you access to some of Capital One's travel benefits such as their online travel booking portal. Don't need a cash back groceries and meals card? Jump to our Capital One Travel Card

The driving value for Capital One's Savor One is that it is one of the few grocery, dining, entertainment credit cards that we researched that does not cap your rewards points in any category. This might be a key stipulation that folks miss when looking at a grocery credit card. Other cards may offer a high cash back percentage but they cap it!

We budgeted what we spend on average each year on groceries as just one category for Savor one and we realized we would max out many of the other credit card's point programs even if they offered more exciting higher multiples on those purchases.

3% on groceries may appear lower than other cards that offer 4 or 5% but when you look at their cap it may be 5% until you reach $1,000, whereas that 3% unlimited may mean you reach more than $1,000 in rewards a year.

Budget what you spend monthly on groceries, multiply it by 12 and calculate 3%. Then calculate another card with their 4% or 5% groceries rewards with their cap. The right decision will be in the numbers. What you want to see is that your 3% unlimited points will end up being more in the year than the capped rewards set by another CC company. While Savor One might look like it has lower rewards, that unlimited-points reward ended up adding up to more points than any of the other cards we were exploring.

Savor One is a cash back credit card so instead of reward points, you will see cash back on your purchases. BUT if you pair it with Capital One’s Travel card, the cash back you earn on Savor One can be converted into Capital One points. Combined with the points you accumulate with your Venture X card, you can redeem them for travel benefits.

Simply put, if you need an excellent groceries, dining, and entertainment credit card, this is an excellent option based on their unlimited reward dollars program. There are certainly more perks to this card, but for us, this alone does the job. Find more information on what this card offers on Capital One's website.

Capital One’s Savor One has no annual fee.

Sign up bonus info:
Get $200 if you spend $500 in the first 3 months.*

Capital One's Venture X

Capital One's premier travel credit card, loaded with top tier travel benefits.

Capital One's Venture X credit card in our opinion sits along some of the travel credit card greats, such as the highly coveted AMEX Platinum card. In fact AMEX's Platinum card was our top contender for our travel credit card with its alluring Centurion lounges and laundry list of perks but let's get into why we went with Venture X after all.

Why we love it

There are so many amazing travel benefits with this card that it's best we list them out. We're going to cover the benefits that are most important to us, because there’s definitely tons beyond this.

1. Introductory Offer

We opened our Venture X credit card to help us finance large wedding expenses and of course get points for them. We wanted a travel card to get into the world of travel points and our wedding expenses helped us quickly hit the introductory points offer. The current Venture X intro offer at the time of writing this article is 75,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 4 months. There are great articles that cover what a Venture X point is worth so we won’t cover that here but 75,000 points is approximately $750 through the Capital One booking platform. There are ways, however, to maximize those 75,000 points that can equate to more than $750.

2. Points Program

With Venture X you get 10X points on hotels and rental cars, 5X points on flights, and 2X points on ALL OTHER PURCHASES. That's important as with our Savor One, we've got most of the usual suspects of spending covered at a higher reward, but for everything else, we love knowing we're getting 2X with Venture X. Points can be spent directly on travel in Capital One’s travel portal or transferred to airlines. Since most wedding expenses/vendors don’t fall into a credit card reward category, we loved getting 2X points on these larger purchases. Just as with Savor One, there is no cap on the points you earn.

3. Airline Partners

Transferring Capital One points to partnered airlines is the best way to maximize points. Points are typically transferred at a 1 to 1 (one point in Capital One to one point in an airline partner) ratio with their airline partner. Once transferred you can take advantage of those airline's point reward flights and get some really sweet flight deals.

4. Airport Lounges

Venture X provides you access to Priority Pass lounges, which there are 1,500+ lounges around the world! These lounges vary in offering but they are in so many airports and typically offer food, coffee, beverages (alcoholic too), and a quiet place to wait for your flight. Additionally Capital One has been building out their own lounges and while they only have a few now, they are top tier and likely an effort to compete with Centurion lounges. We had the opportunity to stop at their newest lounge in Dallas and it was phenomenal, see the reel on our Instagram taking a look at this lounge.

5. No foreign transaction fees

Swipe/tap/insert freely around the world without worrying about pesky international transaction fees. Sure AMEX may have that but if you've traveled you will learn that AMEX is not always accepted everywhere! With Venture X being a Visa, this has never been an issue for us (other than in cash-only situations).

6. Travel Booking Portal

Capital One has its own travel portal where you can book flights, hotels, and car rentals. Capital One consistently has the same flights we find on Google Flights, but with added benefits. Capital One’s portal helps you gauge whether it’s the best price to book a flight or if you should wait. We always cross-reference with Google Flights just in case. If Capital One believes it is the cheapest price for a specific flight they will give you 7 day price drop protection, meaning if the flight does go down in the next week after booking, they’ll give a portion of that drop back in credit. To earn rewards on your purchases you do need to book through this portal. This can occasionally be a drawback for example when a flight is cheaper outside of the portal, as you will only get your 2X points.

7. Annual Points Bonus

Every year on your card anniversary you will be rewarded with 10,000 free miles/points. Who doesn't like some free points!?

8. Annual Travel Credit

While the Venture X credit card has an annual fee of $395 a year, you can earn a $300 credit back for booking any travel through the Capital One travel portal. If you intend to travel even once a year, it’s likely that you’ll get that reward bringing that annual fee down significantly.

9. TSA Pre-check or Global Entry Credit

You also have access to a $100 credit for TSA pre-check or global entry each year. If you take advantage of this perk as well then you could look at Venture X as having no annual fee, considering these two rewards alone.

10. Free additional card holders

We both have cards for no additional cost, and both receive benefits such as Priority Pass!

To Wrap Up...

Capital One's Venture X credit card in our opinion sits along some of the travel credit card greats, such as the highly coveted AMEX Platinum card. In fact AMEX's Platinum card was our top contender for our travel credit card with its alluring Centurion lounges and laundry list of perks but let's get into why we went with Venture X after all.

There are so many amazing travel benefits with this card that it's best we list them out. We're going to cover the benefits that are most important to us, because there’s definitely tons beyond this.

Sign up bonus info:
Get 75,000 miles if you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.*

The ultimate travel card duo

Support our travel content and sign up through our referral links!

Capital One's Savor One

Capital One's Dining, Grocery, and Entertainment uncapped cash back rewards credit card.

Capital One's Venture X

Capital One's premier travel credit card, loaded with top tier travel benefits.

Referral Sign-up Details*

75,000 miles entry bonus if you spend
$4,000 in the first 3 months.

Referral Sign-up Details*

Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months.

* Capital One credit card referral sign-up details or terms may have changed since posting this blog.
Please refer to Capital One's official website for the most up to date information.