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Capital One unveiled the details of their brand new travel booking portal — Capital One Travel. It's a unique platform to book travel using your Capital One credit card, whether you are booking with miles or cash.
This news comes as the bank recently announced upgraded travel benefits, including new transfer partners for Capital One miles and opening three Capital One airport lounges.
Now, Capital One is delivering an all-in-one travel portal where consumers can book flights, hotels and car rentals — and also access several exciting features to save money on travel and make booking a hassle-free experience.
Capital One Travel's new features
American Express and Chase are famous for their travel rewards credit cards, along with their travel portals where you can use their respective points. Now, Capital One has built its own proprietary portal with a slew of unique features.
However, this portal is still in 'beta' and is not yet accessible to Capital One cardholders. The live version will be rolling out to Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Spark Miles for Business, Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business and Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard® cardholders in the coming weeks.
The portal will include these features when it first launches:
- Price prediction technology: Earlier this year, Capital One announced a partnership with Hopper, a tech company with airfare price prediction technology. Using historical data, this tool will predict when flights are at their highest or lowest price. This can help inform the timing of when you should purchase a flight if you want to get it for the best price.
- Price drop protection: If a flight price is found lower than the one you paid, Capital One will offer a refund for the difference. This can be a huge money saver for consumers who regularly travel, and the best part is that it's automatically refunded.
- Price match guarantee: If you find a better price for a flight, hotel or rental car on another site within 24 hours of booking, Capital One Travel will refund the difference.
Later this year Capital One will add these benefits to its travel portal:
- Integrated travel insurance to 'cancel for any reason': For a small fee, consumers can book their travel with a 'cancel for any reason' clause. This is typically a premium if you are to purchase a traditional travel insurance policy. You can cancel a flight for any reason 24 hours before departure and get 80% of your ticket cost back.
- Freeze your price: If you find a price you like, but aren't fully ready to book, you have the option to freeze the price and complete the purchase at a later time. Capital One will cover the difference if the flight price is higher than when you instituted the freeze; if the price has dropped, you will be able to purchase it at the lower price. There will be a small fee for this feature.
Lastly, sustainable travel has become a priority for many who are hitting the road. Booking.com's 2021 Sustainable Travel Report revealed that 61% of travelers stated the pandemic has influenced them to want to travel more sustainably. In response, Capital One is launching a partnership with Eden Reforestation to plant four trees for every flight, hotel, or rental car booking in order to help with forest restoration.
Compared to other bank's travel portals, Capital One Travel will provide a very unique and potentially valuable tool. The other travel booking platforms do not include nearly any of the same purchase protections or travel insurance policies.
And with transfer bonuses becoming more lucrative for consumers who earn transferable points, there is often less incentive to use a bank's travel portal. But with Capital One's new product, travelers have more tools to try and get the best price for their upcoming adventure.
Best Capital One credit cards
If the new Capital One Travel portal is intriguing, consider applying for one of the many Capital One credit cards.
Here are their current cards and their welcome offers:
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card: 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card: A one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
- Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card: A one-time $300 cash bonus once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: A one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business: 50,000 miles bonus once you spend $4,500 in the first 3 months from account opening.
Bottom line
Booking through a credit card's travel portal has several upsides, mainly the ability to earn and burn your miles all in one place. But the new benefits of the Capital One Travel portal make the card issuer stand out from other bank's booking platforms.
