Update: This partnership is ending on January 31, 2020.
Capital One and Hotels.com are partnering on a new promotion where you can earn 10x miles when paying with a Capital One Venture card.
The Deal
- Earn 10 miles per dollar when booking a stay at Hotels.com and paying with your Capital One Venture Rewards or Capital One Venture One card.
Key Terms
- To earn 10x miles, you must book through hotels.com/venture and pay with a Capital One Venture card.
- The Promotion starts at 12:00 AM CT on January 30, 2018 and ends at 11:59 PM CT on January 31, 2020.
Quick Thoughts
When I first read about this, my initial thought was that it’s a great deal. 10% cashback on hotels.com bookings isn’t too shabby, plus it can be stacked with the Hotels.com Welcome Rewards program.
After reading the terms and thinking about it some more though, it’s not such a great deal although there is the potential for some value in its convenience.
The biggest downside is that they state (and are adamant about it in the FAQs) that you must originate from the hotels.com/venture landing page. That means you’d forgo portal rewards which are usually ~5% when choosing to also earn Welcome Rewards.
Chuck at Doctor of Credit notes that you might be able to click through from a portal, then immediately go to hotels.com/venture in order to double dip. I’d love to give this a try but I don’t have a Capital One Venture card. Anyone want to be a data point?!
Chuck also states that “This 10x is on top of the standard Venture card earnings which is 2x on the Venture and 1.25x on the VentureOne.” After reading the press release, I have a different interpretation which is that you’ll only earn a total of 10% rather than 12% and 11.25% respectively.
That’s because the press release states that the offer “…is in addition to the unlimited miles Venture cardholders earn on all other purchases.” I bolded that final section as the “in addition” refers to all other purchases, not purchases on Hotels.com. I could be wrong on this though.
Something else to consider is that it’s frequently possible to purchase Hotels.com gift cards at a 10-20% discount. For example, I stocked up on ~$1k of Hotels.com gift cards during last year’s Amex Offer when it was 20% off. SVM on eBay also often sell $100 Hotels.com gift cards for $90.
Having said all that, earning 10x miles (i.e. 10% cashback) without having to mess around purchasing gift cards at a discount is convenient. It might therefore make sense for some to go that route, so long as you remember to start at the correct landing page.
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[…] You can find more details about the partnership in our original post covering the announcement. See: Capital One & Hotels.com Team Up For 10x Miles On Venture Cards. […]
How does this affect elite status and earning? My better half travels for work and books/pays for rooms for her employees. So trying to leverage status vs cash back.
Booking through third-party OTAs like hotels.com do not earn hotel points or elite credit, and elite status benefits will not be honored. Hotels.com has its own loyalty program (basically a 10% rebate after 10 nights).
If your wife is traveling with her employees, it would probably make more sense for her to book directly and earn hotel points on multiple rooms (chains have different policies on how many rooms can be credited to your account per night). If she often stays in 4-night increments, the Citi Prestige 4th night free might work out the best.
So spending $2000 gets me $20…?
1 “mile” with Capital One is effectively 1%, so 10 miles = 10%. $2,000 of spend would therefore get you $200 rather than $20.
Have there been any price comparisons of the beds available at hotels.com/venture and the regular hotels.com site? Just wondering if they’re including different inventory, rates, etc. to fund the 10% savings, or if we expect the pricing to be identical…
In my completely unscientific research which included a grand total of one search, the prices are exactly the same. I did both searches in separate incognito sessions, so they weren’t affected by prior searches.
Thanks for checking! I’ll probably cross shop for a while just to be sure, but as I start to wind down work travel, it’ll be nice to have elite level points earning without elite status. I think this probably is a great thing for people who travel <40 nights per year.
Something else to keep in mind: Book one night at an independent hotel on hotels.com, sleep well and rebook the next morning directly at the hotel front desk, and more often than not your daily room rate discounts by 15% or more. I now know what I want to do for a living when I grow up: Establish a hotel room booking service.
That works great until the next morning there are no rooms available and you HAVE TO LEAVE.
True enough. Like pretty much everything else, it’s not something that works for everyone all the time. Probably not of much use in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, for example. So, YMMV. Having said that, I do it all the time and I haven’t been locked out yet.
[…] This 10x in on top of the standard Venture card earnings which is 2x on the Venture and 1.25x on the VentureOne. (this might not be accurate) […]
Hmm, you may be right about it being 10x vs. 12x. I’ll add an update to my post. Also reached out to Capital One on Twitter for clarification.
Thanks! You may well be correct about the 12% & 11.25% though – it’ll be interesting to see what Capital One have to say as the statement wasn’t particularly clear either way.
I’m hoping you’re correct as it’d certainly be a better deal than just the 10%; it’d also help offset some of the portal cashback you’d forgo.
The Twitter team confirmed that it’s 10x total https://twitter.com/AskCapitalOne/status/958783572017668102
Thanks for confirming that – it’s a shame, but at least we know.