The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are both great cards, and can be keepers well past the first year. Both have fees at $95 each, and a variety of transfer partners to redeem flights and hotel stays with. So when you are just starting out in the world of award travel, which one should you go for? I’ll show you why the latter stands out when you are trying to find that first travel-rewards earning credit card.
1 – Chase Ultimate Rewards offer more beginner-friendly redemptions.
If you look at the travel partners each bank has to offer, you’ll notice that Capital One doesn’t have any domestic airline partners. There’s definitely a learning curve, and this makes it initially harder to redeem points with Capital One. When using Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can redeem points with Southwest Airlines, and World of Hyatt. This airline and hotel combination is fairly simple to use when you are just starting out, as transfers are easy, instant, and offer excellent value. Even years in, it’s still a popular and favorite combination of travel partners to redeem points with for many frequent flyers (including myself!). The simplicity just can’t be beat!
Even if you don’t live in a Southwest Airlines hub, you have United Airlines and JetBlue as other options for domestic trips. You can always book travel in a bank’s travel portal – remember, you’ll earn 5x back on flights with each bank’s rewards program. But, you will always get more value from your points when you transfer them to travel partners, and book directly.
The Capital One Venture Rewards card does offer the flexibility to cover other travel-related purchases using points. It’s a great option to have, especially when trying to minimize out-of-pocket expenses, outside of airfare and hotel. But if you want to make the most of your points and miles, you won’t want to become too reliant on this perk.
2 – Chase Ultimate Rewards can be combined across all types of cards.
Generally speaking, Chase Bank offers the best card offers, especially business cards that should be a part of your award travel strategy. It’s important to note that you do need to have a Sapphire product (Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve®) in order to actually transfer points to travel partners. Chase has a family of business cards, including some that carry no annual fee. Here are the ones to look out for:
While some offers are noted as cash back, they do earn points. Remember, while business cards have higher offers, they do have increased minimum spends that need to be met. (Keep an eye out for them, but apply accordingly.) Points earned from any of these cards can be combined with your Chase Sapphire Preferred.
There’s also the Chase Freedom Flex®, a no-fee, but powerful card for earning Chase Ultimate Rewards. Every quarter there are rotating bonus categories where you can earn 5% on purchases in various categories: dining, gas, travel, streaming services, Amazon purchases, etc. You’re bound to find an applicable one (or more) each quarter, depending on how you spend, and earn more points for expenses that are part of your normal monthly spend.
This trifecta of cards – one Chase business card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Freedom Flex – amplifies opportunities to earn even more Chase Ultimate Rewards towards travel.
3 – Chase Sapphire Preferred offers more built-in travel protections.
This card offers built-in travel protections that include trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, trip delay reimbursement emergency assistance, and rental car coverage. While you hope you wouldn’t need to use any while traveling, it’s great to have for travel booked in Chase’s travel portal. In comparison, the Capital One Venture offers rental car coverage and travel accident insurance.
Summary
It’s easy to look at the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and assume that you are getting a better offer at 75,000 bonus points as opposed to 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. That’s not necessarily the case; it’s about the value that each bank’s points currency offers, and understanding how you will use them to book travel. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you gain a better foundation of understanding how to make travel redemptions. You can build on this foundation as you diversify your card portfolio, and learn how to travel more feasibly.
Picture: Lisbon, Portugal – June 2023
