#1 principle
Standardized
Same basket, every destination.
Points value
Capital One miles pay 1.0¢ per mile when used in the Capital One Travel portal, but only 0.5¢ when redeemed for cash back. On 50,000 miles that's $500 vs $250 — the travel portal is worth exactly twice as much.
Example scenario
Numbers below use the preset inputs — adjust them in the calculator to match your situation.
Capital One Travel portal wins by $250 (100.0% more value).
Option A — Capital One Travel portal✓ wins
$500
1.00¢ per point
Option B — Cash back / statement credit
$250
0.50¢ per point
Difference: $250 more by choosing Capital One Travel portal.
The travel portal (1.0¢) is the clear winner whenever you have travel to book. Capital One also offers transfer partners — airline transfers can push effective value above 1.0¢ for the right redemption.
Cash back (0.5¢) only makes sense when you need liquidity and have no travel plans at all. Even gift cards match or beat the cash-back rate. If you find yourself consistently redeeming for cash, consider a flat-rate 2% cash-back card instead.
Capital One Venture X and Venture cards allow 'Purchase Eraser' — retroactively crediting travel purchases at 1.0¢ per mile. This is effectively the same as the travel portal rate and provides more flexibility. Check your card's specific redemption options.
Try it yourself
Full tool with all program options and custom rates
Anyone can post a price. We publish a standardized, sourced, dated one — and we take no commission on hotel bookings.
#1 principle
Same basket, every destination.
#2 principle
One source per figure. Dated.
#3 principle
Documented, with audit cadence.
#4 principle
We don't earn from your hotel booking.