How to maximize the Capital One Venture X 100,000-mile welcome bonus
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card welcome offer mentioned below is no longer available. If you're in the market for a new premium travel rewards credit card that really packs a punch, look no further than the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which is currently offering an impressive 100,000-Mile welcome bonus. That's enough to cover $1,000 worth of travel when booking flights and hotels through one of its 17 transfer partners or through Capital One Travel. Earning Capital One Miles is easier than ever with the Capital One Venture X card. Not only can you pick up 100,000 Capital One Miles after spending $10,000 within the first six months of opening your account, you'll earn 2X Miles on all purchases, plus 5X Miles on flight and 10X Miles on hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel. Cardholders also receive an annual up to $300 travel credit, 10,000 bonus Miles on each account anniversary, a $100 statement credit toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years and the chance to visit more than 1,300 Priority Pass and Capital One Lounges worldwide. While the $395 annual fee may seem intimidating, remember that you'll get $300 back in travel credits when booking through Capital One Travel and for a limited time, an extra $200 back via statement credits when booking vacation rentals through Airbnb, VRBO, Vacasa, or TurnKey. The annual fee really does pay for itself if you use all your perks properly, making the Capital One Venture X a top-tier premium travel rewards credit card. Below, Select breaks down the best ways to maximize 100,000 Capital One Miles.

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Transfer Capital One Miles to airline partners

Capital One Rewards is connected to 14 airline partner rewards programs, which extends your redemption options across all three airline alliances: Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Nearly all of them transfer at a 1:1 ratio — EVA Air converts at a 2:1.5 ratio — so you'll be getting the best value by booking flights through the following carriers and their alliance partners: Aeromexico (Club Premier)

Air Canada (Aeroplan)

Air France KLM (Flying Blue)

Avianca (LifeMiles)

British Airways (Avios)

Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)

Emirates (Emirates Skywards)

Etihad (Etihad Guest)

EVA Air (Infinity MileageLands) — transfer ratio is 2:1.5, not 1:1

Finnair (Finnair Plus)

Qantas (Qantas Frequent Flyer)

Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer)

TAP Air Portugal (TAP Miles & Go)

Turkish Airlines (Miles & Smiles) While there aren't any domestic carriers listed as airline partners, that doesn't mean it's not impossible to fly them for free. Thanks to airline alliances, you can convert Capital One Miles to British Airways Avios, then use those to book domestic U.S. flights on American Airlines, its Oneworld alliance partner. You could also transfer Capital One Miles to Turkish Airlines or Avianca, then use those to book flights on Star Alliance partner United Airlines.

Redeem Capital One Miles for free nights at hotels

Capital One Rewards has three hotel transfer partners — Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless (AccorHotels) — letting cardholders cash in Capital One Miles for free nights at hotels worldwide. Capital One Miles can be transferred to Choice Privileges points at a 1:1 ratio, allowing you to book free nights at more than 7,000 properties in over 40 countries at brands including Quality, Comfort, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Clarion, Clarion Pointe, and Surburban Extended Stay Hotel, Cambria Hotels and The Ascend Hotel Collection. Thanks to connections with Penn National Gaming, Inc., Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Nordic Choice Hotels, and AMResorts (all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Caribbean by brands like Dreams and Secrets) you can also redeem for stays at casino hotels and independent boutiques. Here's an idea of what you can redeem through Choice Privileges for 100,000 Capital One Miles: Four nights at the Comfort Inn Manhattan – Midtown West in New York City (25,000 points a night)

Five nights at Avenue Hotel, Ascend Hotel Collection, in Los Angeles (20,000 points a night)

Eight nights at Comfort Hotel Nation Pere Lachaise Paris 11 in France (12,000 points a night) Wyndham Rewards also lets you transfer Capital One Miles at a 1:1 ratio, giving you access to free nights at over 9,000 hotels in more than 80 countries at brands including Wyndham, Wyndham Grand, Wyndham Garden, Registry Collection Hotels, AmericInn, Tryp, Dazzler, Esplendor, Wingate, Trademark Collection, Dolce Hotels and Resorts, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Ramada, Baymont, Microtel, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Hawthorn Suites. With redemptions from 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night, here's what transferring 100,000 Capital One Miles could yield: Three nights at Wyndham Grand Athens in Greece (30,000 points a night)

Six night at Ramada by Wyndham Queenstown Central in New Zealand (15,000 points a night)

13 nights at Ramada by Wyndham Princess Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (7,500 points a night) Thanks to a nifty partnership with Vacasa, you can also redeem Capital One Miles for free nights at more than 15,000 hotels, vacation clubs and home rentals, while a separate connection allows for redemptions at Caesars Rewards casino hotels around the U.S. Wyndham Rewards is also linked with Margarita Vacation Club, Club Wyndham, Cottages.com, Shell Vacations Club, Worldmark and Landal Greenparks so you can opt to redeem for vacation rental brands around the world. Another hotel transfer partner of Capital One is ALL Accor Live Limitless, which offers hotel redemption options at a ratio of 2:1 and works a little differently from the last two programs. For starters, you'll need to have at least 2,000 ALL Rewards in your account, which means you'd need to transfer over 4,000 Capital One Miles, and redeem them in increments of 2,000 ALL Rewards points — 2,000 points gets you 40 euros (about $45) off your stay, while 4,000 translates to 80 euros (about $90) and so forth. While you likely won't get the best value for your points this way, the ALL Accor Live Limitless program can still be beneficial depending on your travel plans and style, as award options through it include more than 5,100 hotels in over 100 countries at brands like Fairmont, Raffles, Faena, Delano, Sofitel, SLS, Museum Hotel, Mondrian, Pullman, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, Mantra, Novotel and Ibis, among others. While there are just 100 hotels in North America, Accor brands are seemingly omnipresent throughout Europe, Asia and Oceania, so this is still a valuable points-transfer option.

Book flights, hotels and car rentals through Capital One Travel

If you enjoy having the flexibility to book flights, hotels, and rental cars without having to worry about award availability or blackout dates, consider making your reservations through Capital One Travel, a new travel portal that offers added benefits like cancel-for-any-reason travel insurance (for a small fee), a freeze-your-price feature that helps you lock in lower rates, price drop protection (if you find a lower price, Capital One will refund you the difference), and a nifty price match guarantee (if you happen to find a better price within 24 hours of booking, you could get a refund). While this also allows you to book travel at a fixed redemption rate of 1 cent per mile, it's always worth comparing redemption rates — in other words, seeing how many points and miles are needed for an award redemption directly through the carrier or hotel versus booking through the Capital One travel portal. Depending on your points and miles status goals, you may also want to consider booking travel directly to maintain elite status or double-dipping by reserving tickets or rooms through another third-party website, then simply "erasing" the travel purchase (more on that below).

Use Capital One Miles to "erase" recent travel purchases

One of the most valuable perks of the Capital One Venture X card is the ability to "erase" or redeem Capital One Miles to cover travel purchases made within the last 90 days. Simply use the card to book fights, hotels, car rentals or make other travel-related expenses (like Uber rides or Airbnb stays) then click on "Redeem Travel Purchases" to select which ones you'd like to cover or put your Capital One Miles toward — partial credit is fine, too, as long as you redeem more than 2,500 Miles. Capital One Miles are worth 1 cent per mile when choosing this redemption option, meaning 100,000 miles could erase $1,000 in travel purchases.

Redeem miles for gift cards and online shopping

If you know you won't be traveling for a while, there's always retail therapy. With the Capital One Venture X card, you'll be able to redeem Capital One Miles at a rate of 1 cent per point for gift cards to all your favorite restaurants and retail shops like Apple, Bath & Body Works and Starbucks. Note that if you're redeeming Capital One Miles for Amazon gift cards — or using Capital One Miles to shop online via Amazon or PayPal — the redemption rate drops to 0.8 cents per point (you'd get $0.80 cents in value per 100 Miles) so it won't be the best value among all your other options.

Cash back is a low-value redemption

While this is the least valuable redemption option for your newly earned Capital One Miles, you can still opt to exchange them at a rate of 0.5 cents per mile for cash in the form of an account credit or a check.

Other cards with large welcome bonuses

If you're interested in other cards with large welcome bonuses, consider the following. The value and utility of the rewards from each card varies, but you'll still be able to get plenty of "free" travel with their hefty welcome bonuses.

The Platinum Card® from American Express Learn More On the American Express secure site Rewards Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year, 5X Membership Rewards® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel, 1X points on all other eligible purchases

Welcome bonus Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card®, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu.

Annual fee $695

Intro APR None

Regular APR See Pay Over Time APR

Balance transfer fee N/A

Foreign transaction fee None

Credit Needed Excellent/Good

See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our The Platinum Card® from American Express review.

British Airways Visa Signature® Card Learn More On Chase's secure site Rewards Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL. Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel. For a limited time, earn 5x on up to $10k in gas, grocery stores and dining purchases in your first year.

Welcome bonus Limited time offer! Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. 5x Avios on up to $10k in gas, grocery stores, and dining purchases in your first year!

Annual fee $95

Intro APR None

Regular APR 21.49% - 28.49% variable

Balance transfer fee 5%, minimum $5

Foreign transaction fees None

Credit needed Excellent/Good Member FDIC. Terms apply.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Learn More On the American Express secure site Rewards Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio; 6X points for eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations; 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases; 3X points for other eligible purchases

Welcome bonus Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Annual fee $150

Intro APR None

Regular APR 20.99% - 29.99% variable

Balance transfer fee N/A

Foreign transaction fee None

Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees, terms apply.

For rates and fees of the Platinum Card from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Surpass card, click here.

Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.