Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve: Which One is the Best Card?

Have you ever wanted to know how to reap massive awards from your travel money? There are numerous great rewards credit cards, such as the American Express Platinum, but today we will talk about two other premium cards. 

When looking for a premium credit card, you cannot go wrong with choosing between the Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve. These are two cards that can be summed up as two of the best travel credit cards. They both have great benefits and attributes that can help you travel better. The hard part is making a choice about which one to go with. 

It will be time to break down these two premium cards one at a time. Since the Capital One Venture X card is so new, it is not a shock that many people flock to it. It is one of the best travel cards out there, and it brings on a significant impact. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has been leading the charge for the last 5-6 years, and it has many amenities and programs that help you travel cheaper. 

The Welcome Bonus:

Both Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve have a great sign-up bonus to offer their customers. 

The Capital One Venture X card has a welcome bonus of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months. That is at a value of $750 towards travel. Using the Capital One portal, these miles are worth around 1 cent per mile.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has a welcome bonus of 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months. These UR points are worth about 1.5 cents per point using the Chase travel portal. That has a value of $750 while using the portal. 

They are a tie if you are only using the points through the portals. Your points can get more value by transferring to their travel partners. 

Winner: Tie

Lounge Access for these Cards

Many airports have excellent amenities, but saving money on food can be challenging. Most airports have expensive food and drinks to purchase, with uncomfortable chairs to sit in. While traveling, you may not realize that the lounges can save you valuable time and money. 

The good thing about Capital One Venture X and the Chase Sapphire Reserve is that they offer airport lounge access. The airport lounges can help provide a nice meal, a place to sit and chill, and someplace relaxing. Some lounges even offer showers which is a bonus after flying a long flight. 

Which Card has the Best Lounge Access? Is it Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve?

Both cards will give you the Priority Pass Select Membership. Priority Pass is a lounge network that has partnered up with over 1300 lounges and restaurants worldwide. With the Priority Pass Select Membership, you will have access to all of these lounges with unlimited uses. You will also have an opportunity to bring in up to two guests in most lounges. 

The next cool thing is that some of the airports have restaurants for which you can use the Priority Pass. These restaurants will give you $28 per person to $56 for two people. That is a huge plus when you are traveling as in you can spend less by using the Priority Pass for these lounges access. 

The Capital One Venture X card also gives access to Capital One lounges. So far, there is a lounge in Dallas, and they are building ones in Denver and Dulles airports. 

Chase is working on their lounges, one in Boston, which The Club, another lounge company, will operate. Those lounges have not opened yet, so we are still waiting for the completion of those. 

After considering both options, the winner will have to go to Capital One Venture X card for already having their lounges open (at least one).

Winner: Capital One Venture X

Annual Fee: Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

The annual fee of a card is a determining factor for many people. It will either turn people off or make them ponder if it is worth it. When thinking about the annual fee of a card, you must determine if the card will give you value beyond the amount of the cost. If the value is above the fee amount, then you are winning. 

Let’s take a look at these premium credit card fees. 

Capital One Venture X came out last fall. It was new on the market and had seen what people were willing to pay. Their fee came out to be $395. It may seem like a bunch of money as you look at it. It is true, but let’s see if the amount of value is worth it. 

The card comes with a $300 annual travel credit through the Capital One travel portal. It also will give a 10,000-mile bonus at the end of each anniversary year worth $100 if you are going to travel and use the portal just once. Then the Capital One Venture X card will effectively give you $5 instead of you paying them $395. That is a win-win. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has been around since 2016. It has increased its fee once, and that fee sits at $550. The Chase Sapphire also comes with a $300 annual travel credit, but this credit can be used on anything travel-related such as tolls, hotels, flights booked, trains, and buses. You can get many other credits, but those are just temporary. Not it is just restricted to its portal. 

Overall looking at the fees of both cards, the winner is pretty straightforward. Capital One Venture X card won this round for the fees. 

Winner: Capital One Venture X

Earning Points Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

Earning Points is the way to get more value for the money you spend regularly. Both these travel credit cards can help you gain a ton of points. 

Capital One Venture card can give you 5x miles for booking flights and 10x miles while booking hotels through their portal. Everything else is just 2x points. It is a great catch all card. Anything that doesn't fit in bonus categories, then you can use the Capital One Venture X can get 2 miles per dollar spent.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve can give you 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and Chase dining through the Chase travel portal. It will also give you 3x points on all dining and other travel expenses you may have. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve can get you more points on travel and dining purchases. The Capital One Venture X card is better for all purchases with 2x points. If you team the Chase Sapphire Reserve with the Chase Freedom Unlimited, then you can get close to what the Capital One Venture Card is getting.

The winner of this one is the hard one. They both have their uses. If you were to pick one card to rule them all, then the Capital One Venture X card could be that card. It does give you 10,000 miles back every year, which is hard not to like. When you spend the money on travel portals the miles will be there automatically. The Chase Sapphire Reserve waits until after the billing statement.

Winner: Capital One Venture X

Redeeming Points

Capital One Venture X allows you to use their Capital One miles to reimburse any travel purchases made within the last 90 days. With redeeming points, you have a couple of options with both cards. First, you can use the cards to pay for travel through their portal. 

Chase Ultimate Rewards Program allows you to book flights or hotels with their UR points. The Chase Sapphire Reserve will get you 1.5 cents per point, so if you have 100,000 UR points, that is worth $1500 through the portal. 

Both of these programs have travel partners as well. The travel partners make the points worth even more. 

For instance, booking travel through United using Chase Points can help get you anywhere from 1.6 cents per point to 1.8 cents per point, or even higher. Transferring your points to Hyatt through Chase brings you 2 cents per point. That is a great value. 

Chase has 14 Travel Partners, and Capital One has 18 Travel Partners that you can choose from.

Winner: Tie

Here are Chase Travel Partners:

Chase has been one the best at transferring points to their partners. They continue to create partnerships with airlines and hotels to allow the transfer of points easier.

Here are Capital One Travel Partners:

Capital one has made some headway in creating some great partners for redeeming points on these airlines and hotels.

The addition of these travel partners allows redemption of these points to have a higher value. You can always use the points as cashback. Chase Sapphire Reserve has the Pay Yourself Back program, which will use the points like they would be used in the travel portal, having 50% more value. So you can use those points to cover some of your expenses. 

After looking at both transfer partners and other ways to redeem points, one of the best values would go with Chase Sapphire Reserve. The use of points at Hyatt, Air Canada, and United, helps many American domestic travelers. The addition of the Pay Yourself Back program allows your points to give you other options for redemptions.

Capital One Venture X has some great partners like Air Canada, Avianca and Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines and Air Canada can get you some much cheaper United flights to Hawaii. So that is a bonus.

Winner: Tie

Travel Protections

A sound credit card gives you protection when things go wrong. That is one of the points of having one in your wallet. A good travel credit card can help when you are away from home. 

The Capital One Venture X card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve are no different. As Visa Infinite cards, they have some protections nearly identical to each other; there are some differences between the cards. 

Here are some of the protections that both cards provided:

• Primary Rental Car insurance: Having rental car coverage helps protect your wallet if any accident may occur. You can get up to 15 days of coverage in the U.S. and 31 days in most foreign countries. You no longer need to buy an additional insurance for a rental vehicle. 

• Lost Luggage and Reimbursement: If you got off the plane and noticed your luggage was missing, lost, or stolen. No problem if you paid for it with the Capital One Venture X card. The card will cover up to $3,000 for the lost luggage. 
• Trip Delay Coverage: If you see yourself stranded with a flight delay of over 6 hours, these two cards will pay up to $500 for a hotel or an overnight stay. 
• Trip Cancelation and Interruption Coverage: If something goes wrong on a trip, such as an accident, illness, or even death, these two cards have you covered. You can be reimbursed up to $2,000 per person, protecting you, a spouse, and any children or dependents. 

These two cards are pretty similar. The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a bit more if your bags are delayed instead of just lost, and the Capital One Venture X provides a bit more on-trip delay insurance. 

Winner: Tie

Rental Car Benefits:

The Venture X card gets complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status. The Hertz President’s Circle status is the highest status with Hertz. It gives you complimentary upgrades and allows you to skip the lines and go to the priority lines for Hertz. Plus booking through the Capital One portal, you will get 10x points on your rental car.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you complimentary Emerald Status with National Rental cars, allowing you to walk into the National lot and select any car in the Emerald section. With Chase, you can collect 10x points on car rentals booked through their portal. Chase will also have some great discounts for Avis as a part of their card. 

With rental cars, each benefit is as good as the other. You cannot go wrong with either of the amenities. 

Winner: Tie

Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve: Which One is the Winner?

Both cards are unique! You cannot go wrong with picking one over the other. If you are looking for a significant premium card with a lower annual fee, then the Capital One Venture X card is ideal. 

If you are looking for a better points currency that you can use in the travel portal and collect from other cards like the Chase Freedom cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve would be the card. Plus, the travel credit is open to almost all travel-related purchases, making it more usable. 

The choice is hard. If you want the benefits of both cards, you could grab the Capital One Venture X card and use the Chase Sapphire Preferred card instead of the Reserve. Capital One Venture X Card cost would be $395, and adding the $95 of the Chase Sapphire Preferred would equal $490, being $60 cheaper than the Chase Sapphire Reserve. That fee together would be less than just choosing the Chase Sapphire Reserve. 

Oh, the choices to make. 

Final Thoughts: 

When looking for good travel rewards credit cards, you must look at a couple of things to have the right card. First, take a look at the card to welcome bonus and the category bonuses you will get using your card. If the bonus is high enough and easily obtainable, it can be a no-brainer. Then look at the annual fee. The no annual fee cards are much better for your wallet if you never use the card, so having a card with a fee, you must get your money’s worth. 

Looking at Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Reserve, you have two of the best travel rewards cards. These two cards boast great premium products that will help you travel better. As a travel hacker, you cannot go wrong with having either one. The choice is yours of what you will choose. Please take a look at their rewards programs and make a decision. You cannot go wrong with either one. 

Which one would you choose?