Capital One Venture miles and Spark miles can be redeemed for travel, gift cards, and cash back. They can also be transferred to a handful of airline and hotel partners.
The best value of Capital One miles will come from redeeming them for travel.
How to earn Capital One miles
Capital One offers a handful of credit cards that you can use to earn miles. If you have a Venture Rewards or Spark Rewards credit card, you will also be able to convert cash back earned with Capital One's cash back credit cards into miles.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the best option for frequent travelers looking to maximize value. It earns 10X Miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5X Miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and an unlimited 2X Miles on all other purchases.
While the card does have a $395 annual fee, you'll easily make that back with the card's $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel and annual 10,000 bonus miles (worth $100+ in value). You'll also be able to enjoy complimentary access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass Lounges.
Learn More About The Venture Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
If you don't need all the bells and whistles of the Venture X, but still want the ultimate in flexibility, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is the way to go. It earns 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2X miles on all other purchases.
It offers two complimentary lounge visits per year to Capital One Lounges or Plaza Premium Lounges and up to $100 towards a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee.
Learn More About The Venture Card
Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
You can earn flexible travel rewards at no annual fee with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. It doesn't offer much in terms of benefits, but you'll earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and an unlimited 1.25X miles on all other purchases.
Learn More About The Venture Card
Venture X Business Card
The Venture X Business Card is a mirror image of the popular Venture X Credit Card. It earns 10X Miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5X Miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, and an unlimited 2X Miles on all other purchases.
It offers a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, 10,000 bonus miles annually starting on your first anniversary, and access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass Lounges — easily providing more value than the card's $395 annual fee.
Learn More About The Venture Card
Spark Miles for Business Card
If you're looking to for an easy and simple credit card for earning miles at a flat-rate miles across all business purchases, it doesn't get any better than the Capital One Spark Miles for Business. It earns 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and an unlimited 2X miles on every card purchase.
Learn More About The Capital One SavorOne Card
Spark Miles Select for Business
The Spark Miles Select for Business earns miles at a rate of 1.5 miles for every $1 spent. This is slightly lower than the Spark Miles for Business Card, but that's the trade off for having no annual fee.
Capital One SavorOne Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best no-annual fee cash back credit cards in the market. The reason it is being mentioned is because Capital One cash back can be converted into miles if you have a Capital One Venture Rewards or Spark Rewards credit card.
This makes it pair extremely well with Capital One's travel cards due to the 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®). When converted to miles, this is equivalent to earning 3X miles per $1 spent on these categories which is higher than the 2X you'll earn with Capital One's best cards.
If you spend across these four categories frequently and you're really looking to maximize your rewards with no additional annual fee, I highly suggest picking up the card!
Capital One miles value
Capital One Venture miles and Spark miles are worth 1 cent apiece when redeemed for travel through Capital One, but can be worth as much as 2 cents or more when transferred to Capital One's airline and hotel partners. This means 10,000 Capital One miles can be worth anywhere from $100 to as much as $200 or more towards travel!
Here's our breakdown of Capital One miles value based on redemption:
Redemption options | Capital One miles value (in cents) |
---|---|
Point transfers to airline partners | 1.2 - 2 |
Travel purchases via Capital One Travel | 1 |
Using miles to cover recent travel purchases | 1 |
Point transfers to hotel partners | 0.6 - 1 |
Gift cards | 0.5 - 1 |
Cash back | 0.5 |
How to calculate the value of Capital One miles
Venture miles and Spark miles are pretty much set in stone when redeeming them for cash back, gift cards, and travel booked through Capital One. But when transferring them to airline and hotel partners, the value of your miles will vary depending on how you redeem them once transferred.
You can calculate the value of your Capital One miles for any redemption by dividing the cash cost of a redemption by the number of miles required to book it.
Capital One Miles Value = Cash Cost of Redemption ÷ Miles Required To Book.
For example, lets say that you converted 70,000 Venture miles into 70,000 British Airways Avios to book a flight that had a cash cost of $980. Since you used 70,000 miles to cover a $980 flight, your miles would be worth 1.4 cents each.
You can use our Redemption Calculator to easily calculate the value of your miles based on the cash cost and award cost of any redemption.
Redeeming Capital One miles for the best value
You will get the best value of your Capital One miles when transferring them to airline partners. You can also get solid value redeeming your points directly through Capital One travel or when using them to wipe away travel charges made to your Venture Rewards or Spark Rewards credit card.
Transfers to airline partners
Capital One Venture miles and Spark miles can be transferred to 15 airline partners with all but one partners being a 1:1 ratio. This means 10,000 miles are equal to 10,000 airline miles when transferred.
If you're looking to get the most value out of your miles, consider redeeming them for upper class flights like First or Business class. These redemptions can give you as much as 2 cents or more per mile in value. However, for standard flights with most partners, you can expect to get around 1.2 to 1.5 cents per mile in value when transferring and redeeming your miles.
When it comes to squeezing value out of your Capital One mile transfers, the best options are:
- Air Canada Aeroplan - for flights between mainland U.S. and Canada
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue - great redemptions between U.S. and Europe
- British Airways Executive Club - exceptional value when used for short-haul trips with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines
- Singapore KrisFlyer - redeem points for their first class in-air suites or booking first class between U.S destinations and Asia/Europe
Quite frankly, you can get great value booking premium cabins, First, and Business with most of the other airline partners as well.
Redeeming miles through Capital One Travel
Capital One miles can be used to wipe away recent travel purchases made to a Venture Rewards or Spark Rewards credit card at a value of 1 cent per mile. Eligible purchases include:
- Airlines
- Hotels
- Rail lines
- Car rental agencies
- Limousine services
- Bus lines
- Cruise lines
- Taxi cabs
- Travel agents
- Time shares
- Anything else coded as travel by the merchant
This is one of the easiest and straightforward ways to redeem Capital One miles towards travel.
Using miles to cover recent purchases
Capital One miles can be used to wipe away recent travel purchases made to a Venture Rewards or Spark Rewards credit card at a value of 1 cent per mile. Eligible purchases include:
- Airlines
- Hotels
- Rail lines
- Car rental agencies
- Limousine services
- Bus lines
- Cruise lines
- Taxi cabs
- Travel agents
- Time shares
- Anything else coded as travel by the merchant
While redeeming your Capital One miles using this method will give you the same value as redeeming them directly through the Capital One Travel Portal, this method is typically the better route for several reasons. This includes:
- The ability to book travel direct so that you can earn credit in frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.
- You'll be able to earn additional miles on your bookings since you'll use the card to pay for your travel versus redeeming miles and not using your card.
- You'll be able to use cash back portals to earn additional rewards, on top of your Capital One miles, on travel purchases.
Transfers to Capital One hotel partners
Capital One miles can be transferred to 3 hotel partners: Accor Live Limitless, Choice Privileges, and Wyndham Rewards.
Choice Hotels is the best option mostly due to it's large footprint around the globe and redemption rates starting as low as 6,000 points. On top of that, Choice has several hotels in popular European cities that can net you more than 1 cent per point.
Accor Hotels can also provide some solid value for European stays with points being worth €0.02 apiece. This means that converting 10,000 Capital One miles to 5,000 Accor Points would give you €100 in value at Accor properties.
Wyndham points are worth 0.8 to 1 cent each on average, but like any program there are sweet spots that can net you higher than 1 cent in value. If you can find those, transferring your Capital One miles to Wyndham could be worth it.
Redeeming miles for gift cards
Capital One miles can be redeemed for gift cards at a rate of 0.5 to 1 cent per mile. While this is not a bad redemption, gift cards can usually be found for less than their face value or on sale from online retailers like Amazon or Ebay.
Redeeming miles for cash back
Capital One miles can be converted to cash back at a value of 0.5 cents per mile. This is the worst redemption option and one that I would recommend steering clear of.
Calculator: Convert Capital One miles to dollars
Use the Capital One Miles Value Calculator to determine the dollar value of your Venture miles and Spark miles when used for travel, gift cards, and cash back. This will give you an idea of how much your miles are worth on average.
Capital One Miles Value Calculator
Redemption | Average Dollar Value |
---|---|
Transfers to Capital One airline partners | $0 - $0 |
Capital One Travel | $0 |
Using miles to cover recent travel purchases | $0 |
Transfers to Capital One hotel partners | $0 - $0 |
Gift cards | $0 - $0 |
Cash back | $0 |
Calculator: Capital One redemption value
Use the Capital One Redemption Value Calculator to determine if a redemption is worth it based on the cost in cash and the cost in Venture miles or Spark miles. Try to aim for redemptions that gives you at least 1 cent per point (though you should strive for higher if possible).
FAQs
How much are Capital One miles worth?
Capital One Venture miles and Spark miles are worth 1 cent each when redeem towards travel. They can also be transferred to airline and hotel partners for increased value.
How much are 10,000 Capital One miles worth?
10,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $100 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $200 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 20,000 Capital One miles worth?
20,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $200 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $400 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 30,000 Capital One miles worth?
30,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $300 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $600 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 40,000 Capital One miles worth?
40,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $400 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $800 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 50,000 Capital One miles worth?
50,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $500 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,000 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 60,000 Capital One miles worth?
60,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $600 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,200 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 70,000 Capital One miles worth?
70,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $700 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,400 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 75,000 Capital One miles worth?
75,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $750 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,500 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 80,000 Capital One miles worth?
80,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $800 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,600 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 90,000 Capital One miles worth?
90,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $900 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $1,800 when transferred to travel partners.
How much are 100,000 Capital One miles worth?
100,000 Venture miles or Spark miles are worth $1,000 in travel booked through Capital One, but can be worth as much as $2,000 when transferred to travel partners.
Can you redeem Capital One miles for Cash?
You can redeem Capital One Miles for cash at a rate of 0.5 cents per mile. So 10,000 Capital One miles would be worth $50.