In Search For A Good Travel Rewards Credit Card

With my new goal of traveling at least 10 weeks a year, I've come to the realization it's wise to get a good travel rewards credit card. They are primarily designed to help you rack up maximum travel rewards points. Then you can use your rewards points or miles to travel even more!

Let's take a look at a good travel rewards credit card for 2021 and beyond, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. It has really grown in popularity and has a lot to offer.

Good travel rewards credit card, Hawaii

I love to use my Capital One VentureOne credit card for all my business and travel spending. It provides me with points for more free travel, insurance in case my bags are lost or my flight is stuck, and more insurance for defective products I buy and want to return.

Everybody should have a credit card for the free 30 day credit. Just make sure to pay off your credit card every month in full!

A Good Travel Rewards Credit Card Has A Ton Of Benefits

Check out some of the benefits of the Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card:

  • Enjoy $0 annual fee 
  • No foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
  • Receive a bonus of 20,000 miles after you spend $500 on purchases within three months of opening an account. The 20,000 miles equals $200 in travel rewards, which is like getting 40% cash back.  
  • Get unlimited 1.25X miles on every purchase you make, every single day.
  • Utilize the flexibility of transferring rewards miles to over 10 leading travel loyalty programs. 
  • Travel when you want where you want. No blackout dates, fly any airline, stay at any hotel, whenever you want.
  • 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months. This is a great introductory period for those of you who plan to make big purchases and want some extra time to pay them off. 
  • Earn unlimited miles that won't expire as long as you are an active cardholder.
  • Enjoy great travel protection, including travel accidental insurance, rental car coverage, and extended warranty on eligible items. 
Capital One VentureOne Credit Card

I highly recommend the Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card.

You can click here to compare other great travel rewards cards as well. There are some other good travel rewards credit card choices to explore. Here are some of my in depth travel credit card reviews:

Why Travelers Should Have A Good Travel Rewards Credit Card

If you love to travel, it really is a no brainer to have a good travel rewards credit card. Many countries around the world are moving towards cashless infrastructures. It's always good to carry some cash just in case. But the convenience and benefits of a good travel rewards credit card really surpass cash.

1) Flexibility

A typical good travel reward credit card partners with dozens of the best airlines and hotels making it easy to book travel arrangements through the card's rewards portal.

You can redeem your points or miles to “pay” for flights and lodging. Often, you can even book cruises and sight seeing activities with a good travel rewards credit card. Select the airline, cruise company, hotel, activity you would like, etc. and pay for your travel arrangements on your credit card.

Good travel rewards credit cards like The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit card don't confine you with blackout dates. This is the ultimate in flexibility. Plus, you can easily transfer rewards miles to over 10 leading travel loyalty programs. 

VentureOne lets you travel when you want where you want. There are no blackout dates. And you can fly any airline and stay at any hotel, whenever you want.

2) Bonus Miles And Everyday Rewards Miles

Any good travel rewards credit card will offer bonus miles or rewards to new card holders. In addition, it should also offer miles for every purchase you make beyond the introductory offer.

With the VentureOne card, you can receive a bonus of 20,000 miles after you spend just $500 on purchases within three months of opening an account.

The 20,000 miles equals $200 in travel rewards, which is like getting 40% cash back. Then, every purchase you make after the signup bonus earns 1.25x miles.

3) No Limit

When you are looking for one of the best travel rewards credit cards, make sure it has unlimited miles or unlimited rewards points.

With the VentureOne card, there's no limit on the number of miles you can accrue, and they don't expire. Of course, your account must be in good standing and active.

4) Insurance

It's important to get a good travel rewards credit card that comes with free insurance protections.

For example, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit card offers automatic travel accident insurance, rental car coverage, extended warranty on eligible items, and $0 fraud liability.

How Much Are The Fees On A Good Travel Rewards Credit Card?

If you are looking for a good travel rewards credit card, get one without a lot of fees. Otherwise, credit card fees can really cost you a lot of money and time.

For example, there are minimal fees with The Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card. You just have to use your credit card responsibly and pay it off each month, which we all do.

Let's review the fee structure of the VentureOne card.

What You'll Love – No Foreign Transaction Fees

As I mentioned before, there are no foreign transaction fees when you make a purchase in another country. While the friends you are traveling with use a different card and pay a 3 or 4% transaction fee on each purchase, you can use VentureOne and pay no fees.

This why it's important to research good travel rewards credit cards before signing up. Choosing the right card makes a difference.

No Annual Fee

Some good travel rewards credit cards have an annual fee. That isn't the end of the world if the benefits more than cover the cost of the fee.

But with the VentureOne card, there is no annual fee to worry about ever! That can easily save you hundreds of dollars over time.

0% Introductory APR For 12 Months

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card has a great 0% introductory APR offer for the first 12 months. This is a great feature if you have any large purchases to make. Just be sure to pay them off in full before the 12 months are up.

It continues to amaze me how much credit card companies can charge consumers. Don't let them take advantage of you.

Hopefully nobody reading this post ever carries a revolving credit card balance. Use a credit card to your advantage. Don't let credit card companies earn money off you because you are spending more than you can afford.

Adding VentureOne To My Wallet

Based on my renewed desire to travel for 10 weeks a year with a travel budget of $2,500 each week, I should be able to rack up around 31,250 miles a year just on travel if I use my VentureOne credit card.

I will easily spend another $1,000-$2,000 a month on expenses on the card, providing a total of over 60,000 rewards points every year thanks to earning 1.25X points for every dollar spent.

I plan to use them to buy at least two round-trip tickets to Honolulu or NYC from SF every single year. Flying for free, perfect!

Recommendations To Build Wealth

Learn More, Make More Money

Here are some additional resources I’ve put together that will help you on your financial journey to earn more, save more, and hopefully double or triple your income!

Manage Your Money In One Place

Sign up for Personal Capital, the web’s #1 free wealth management tool to get a better handle on your finances. You can use Personal Capital to help monitor illegal use of your credit cards and other accounts with their tracking software.

In addition to better money oversight, run your investments through their award-winning Investment Checkup tool to see exactly how much you are paying in fees. I was paying $1,700 a year in fees I had no idea I was paying.

After you link all your accounts, use their Retirement Planning calculator that pulls your real data to give you as pure an estimation of your financial future as possible using Monte Carlo simulation algorithms.

Definitely run your numbers to see how you’re doing. I’ve been using Personal Capital since 2012 and have seen my net worth skyrocket during this time thanks to better money management.

Regards,

Sam

29 thoughts on “In Search For A Good Travel Rewards Credit Card”

  1. I love Capital One credit cards. I’ve had one since college and have never had any issues. Their customer service is great and I love the rewards.

    I’ve heard of the Quicksilver and Venture cards, but this is my first time learning about the VentureOne card. Sounds like a perfect travel rewards credit card! I’m really looking forward to traveling next year and love the sign up bonus. Spending $500 in three months is easy for me to do just with groceries and baby supplies. Thanks for the review!

  2. Matthew Horn

    I just signed up for this card after a week of mind numbing internet research. I came to the conclusion that the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Barclay Arrival were easily agreed to be the 2 best. I am brand new to this game, but after much deliberation I chose to use the Barclay Arrival. I am of the belief that the Chase card has the potential to be more valuable for international flights (my primary goal) because the card can be linked with other Chase cards that give you crazy deals from time to time (like 10% extra miles when buying at Lowe’s during a certain quarter). Also, when using Chase’s Reward miles for big cost items, I’m told anyway, that transferring miles is more cost effective than simply paying for it and then being reimbursed on the back end.
    However, and this was the deal breaker for me, Chase only gives 2x points on dining and travel. Being from a small town, my wife and I budget only $115/mo for dining and only take 1 or 2 actual “trips” a year. That means we only get 1x points on pretty much all of our purchases. With the Barclay we get 2x points on all of it. My goal now is to make every purchase we have on the card. I’m sure I can’t do literally every penny, but I think we can spend around $70,000/yr on the card. If so, we can earn aprox. 140,000 points or $1400 worth of travel ready money each year. That is 1 round trip ticket to Italy for my family. A few years of that and I can get 4 round trip flights for no cost.
    I’m sure that if I went nuts and got 4 or 5 different cards, tried to use all of their bonuses, watched all of their bonuses each quarter, changed cards for each spending category, and tried to travel a bit more that I could do it faster. But, I like simple with my finances and don’t think I could keep it going for years. We also have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, so we aren’t putting them on a plane right now. I like that I can build this up for a bit and fly for free when I’m ready.

  3. I personally found it crazy that you only have 1 credit card and that’s it! I see your point about keeping it simple and totally agree. But since I travel a lot I find it safer to have at least 2-3 cards to include a back up debit card even if you are not using them all. Its good to have a back up credit card, I am glad I always have, there has been on occasions when a card gets declined while overseas randomly… even when I told my CC company I’ll be visiting multiple countries during a certain time frame, but some times they’ll pick it up as fraud any way when it was me using it, and that is when a back up can be handy. Some times its hassle to just call your CC company when your overseas in the moment you need to use it, especially due to long distance charges or not having available cell phone to use. Also if I am going out, its best to keep the extra cards some were safe in your hotel like the safety deposit box. You just never know if you’ll get pick pocketed, drunk and loose your wallet. Al though its never happened to me personally, but last thing I would want while traveling is not have a back up means to access any funds, if the only card or two should get stolen, damaged or declined due to fraud alerts from your credit card company.

    1. Are you referring to me? I have always had a personal CC, and a corporate card since college. Furthermore, I have my old debit card with me.

      I hear you on having a backup.

  4. Mark Senatori

    That Barclays card sounds awesome! I have Bank of America Alaska airlines credit card and I am very dissatisfied with it.
    I originally got the card for the 25,000 miles with future plans of making an affordable trip to Hawaii. They boasted rewards of a mile for each dollar spent and 3x’s the miles when purchasing their tickets. When later trying to buy a plane tickets I realized that their tickets with alaskaair were are at minimum 28% more expensive than it’s competitors. Since then I ended up going to Hawaii with other airlines.
    Problem 2: Never having enough miles and inflexibility. Each time I save enough miles, they seam to have increased the number of miles needed for a particular trip. I know this makes me sound crazy, but I think it is true. Last year I needed 30,000miles to go to Hawaii and for that same trip during the same time of the year this year I need 37,000miles. Also, then number of flights that were eligible for mile redemption went down a lot.
    First chance I get, I’m definitely going for that barclays, thanks for the wisdom man.

    1. No problem Mark. You’ll just have to determine getting the one with the $89 fee or the one without. I don’t travel that much anymore, so I’m happy to use the one without the fee, but with less bonus miles.

  5. Hi,
    Interesting article. My wife and I will be traveling to China to adopt in about a year. Can you recommend a rewards card for us to use that will hopefully lead to savings for our flights? Thanks!

  6. I’ve been seeing a lot about this card around the web. It might be time for me to give it a try myself. I’ve been a big fan of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for the past year and a half.

    I also can’t believe the mighty Sam only has one credit card! I understand simplifying your finances, but with a high net worth individual like yourself, you’re just leaving money on the table by not taking advantage of credit card signup bonuses.

  7. I would be signing up for this but with a newborn…I won’t be traveling much in the near future. Also, we’re looking to buy a place so I don’t want any dings on my credit report. Previously for travel bonuses I signed up for the Chase Sapphire and the Citi Premier. I should have gotten into credit card bonuses earlier.

  8. I’m gonna throw a monkey wrench in the works.

    We have a Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card. OK, it’s 185 bucks a year. It has a good accumulation scheme, BUT the real beauty of the card is being able to convert points into airline miles.

    Example: We recently booked a trip to Europe in Business Class for 210,000 miles for 2 tickets via Aeroplan, Air Canada’s mileage program. That 12,000 dollar airfare for two tickets essentially cost us 2100 dollars via a cash for points conversion.

    We exclusively use our Amex rewards points for airline travel, and the 185 dollars a year fee, at least for us, is well worth it.

  9. Tara @ Streets Ahead Living

    Unfortunately for us, my Fiancee has an old Barclaycard without a balance but Barclaycard only allows you to have one card at a time (and I also have a Barclaycard with a 0% purchase on it currently) so we both can’t get this yet. As soon as he can cancel his unused Barclaycard for long enough for them, we are jumping on this!

  10. I have had an (United) airline credit card for years. Everything depends on the redemption and availability of flights. The recent mergers has made redemption much harder. I will look into this card to see if it works for me.

    1. United really screwed me in Frankfurt by canceling a on my after siting on the Tarmac for 3 hours. We had to stay over night. It was a disaster! I cannot get locked into only traveling with united! Is rather walk.

  11. This card is going in my next App-O-Rama. I love me some free travel, and have already taken 3 trips this year on credit card rewards. This is Barclay’s biggest contender to date for travel rewards! Great review Sam.

  12. GamingYourFinances

    Travel rewards cards are amazing! We were just able to book two round trip tickets to Japan with a stop over in China all with rewards points! Zero cost for flights! It’s saved us ~$1600.

  13. Those are good benefits. I like that they let you make travel arrangements first and aren’t forced into booking with them. Flexibility is so convenient when you’re making plans and traveling long distances. I really like how credit cards offer benefits these days. I remember the days when a credit card was just a credit card and that was it.

    1. Yeah, I’m a last minute booker everywhere bc plans seem to always be changing. I hate getting locked in on travel plans. I’m even gonna start adopting buying one way tickets.

  14. Very timely post. I just got my Barclay’s Arrival card in the mail on Friday. My plan is to get the 40,000 mile bonus and then after a year have them switch my account to the no annual fee card.

  15. I’ve never heard of this card, but it sounds like a great travel card. I particularly like that it’s not locked into any specific airline, since I always just travel on whatever airline is cheapest.

    Like you, I tend toward simplicity when it comes to my credit cards, so I’m not sure if I’ll take the plunge for this one… I have some decent cash back rewards on my current card so, although I might be missing out on a few bucks, I’m pretty happy with my current setup.

  16. insourcelife

    This is a nice option for those that travel a lot, especially overseas. I’m gonna bookmark this for later as there is not much travelling happening with a 1 year old currently.

    1. For sure. I’m glad I found it. One of the benefits of being a PF blogger. We are more on top of the good offers around.

      Otherwise, I can’t be bothered with two many credit cards. Wallet getting too fat.

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