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Capital One’s mission to become a major player in the travel credit card space is already well on its way. In the past year, the credit card company announced plans to expand its branded airport lounges across the United States beyond the fabulous debut location at Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport. It also launched the Capital One Premier Collection, a highly curated selection of luxury hotels and resorts globally, at which cardholders of the top-tier Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card are privy to perks like $100 experience credits per stay and daily breakfast for two.
Now, Capital One’s travel empire just expanded even further with the August launch of the Lifestyle Collection to complement its Premier Collection. Instead of focusing on super luxe destination hotels and resorts, the Lifestyle Collection includes more approachable, design-forward and personality-driven boutique hotels, with perks like $50 experience credits per stay and space-available room upgrades. Broadening the reach of this new travel portfolio, Capital One is extending the Lifestyle collection beyond Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card cardholders to Venture X Business, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and Capital One Spark Miles for Business cardholders as well.
Here’s the scoop on Capital One’s new Lifestyle Collection.
Introducing Capital One Travel’s Lifestyle Collection
Since the December 2022 debut of the Capital One Premier Collection, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card cardholders have received additional benefits at top-of-the-line, big-deal properties like 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami and the Londoner in London when booking through Capital One Travel.
However, Capital One noticed its cardholders do more than take lavish vacations: They also travel for work and take shorter personal getaways that may call for accommodations that don’t break the bank. So it brainstormed a way for cardholders to stay at more accessible properties but still get extra perks and a true VIP experience. The resulting Lifestyle Collection comprises trendy boutique brands like Virgin Hotels, the Standard, Design Hotels, and the Line, as well as smaller, independent properties such as the Lyle in Washington, D.C., Vintry & Mercer in London, and Desa Hay in Bali. The collection properties tend to be located in the most coveted parts of big cities and appeal to design and culture enthusiasts.
While several hotels and resorts in Capital One’s Premier and Lifestyle Collections overlap with Fine Hotels & Resorts and the Hotel Collection from American Express and the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection from Chase, some are exclusive to Capital One’s portfolios. For example, three standouts unique to the Lifestyle Collection include Virgin Hotels New York City, Wayfinder Waikiki in Honolulu, and Hotel Greystone in Miami Beach.
The benefits of Capital One Travel’s Lifestyle Collection
When booking through Capital One Travel, Capital One Venture X cardholders will receive the following at properties in the Lifestyle portfolio:
- 10x miles earned per dollar spent on hotel bookings
- $50 experience credit (or the local equivalent) toward on-property restaurants, bar tabs, room service, spa, or other activities
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Room upgrade on arrival, when available
- Early check-in, when available
- Late checkout, when available
There is no program-wide minimum length of stay requirement, so these benefits apply even to a single night stay. However, the Lifestyle Collection’s story doesn’t end here. To make this new program more inclusive, Capital One decided to open the collection to holders of several of its other credit cards, namely the $95 annual fee Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and two of its business cards, Venture X Business and Capital One Spark Miles for Business. All the benefits remain the same regardless of card product with one exception. Venture and Spark Miles cardholders earn 5x miles per dollar spent on booking (versus 10x earned by Venture X and Venture X business cardholders).
Staying at Capital One Travel’s Lifestyle Collection for free
Capital One’s Lifestyle Collection—and the benefits of booking through Capital One Travel—aren’t restricted to paid bookings. Cardholders can redeem Capital One miles towards a Lifestyle Collection booking at the value of 1 cent per mile (such that 10,000 miles are worth $100). Moreover, Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders can use their annual $300 travel credit for any purchase on Capital One Travel, including the Lifestyle Collection.
How does this affect the value of Venture X?
Prior to the Lifestyle Collection, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card had already emerged as an industry front-runner that pays for itself through credits, benefits, implicit travel insurances, and a rewarding earnings structure. Last year’s Premier Collection and the roll out of Capital One’s airport lounges and lounge alternatives made the card more worthwhile. Now, the new Lifestyle Collection simply makes an amazing card even better.
While expanding cardholder eligibility for the Lifestyle Collection is a great move from Capital One and makes the low-fee Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card highly attractive, it still doesn’t deter us from keeping Venture X as our top pick among the brand’s portfolio. The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card’s $395 annual fee is quickly offset by an annual $300 travel credit for any purchase on Capital One Travel, through the Lifestyle Collection or otherwise. The card also comes with a valuable Priority Pass membership, handy for airport lounge access where Capital One has yet to open its own branded spaces. The annual 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary take care of the rest of the annual fee. Even better is that up to four additional cardholders can be added at no cost, each getting his or her own Priority Pass lounge membership, access to Capital One airport lounges, and access to the Lifestyle (and Premier) Collections. That’s right, at no additional cost.
For existing cardholders, the Lifestyle Collection is only the latest in a series of smart moves by Capital One to prove itself an industry disrupter and keep cardholders using its value-driven card products. For those who still haven’t jumped on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card bandwagon, the card currently carries an amazing welcome offer to give that extra push: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
This article was originally published in June 2023; it was updated on August 29, 2023, with current information. While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they are subject to change at any time, and may have changed or may no longer be available.
