The race to offer the most enticing perks to potential customers is a race that no credit card company can afford to lose.
To customers who don’t pay much attention to the granular differences and competing corporate philosophies of credit card companies, the main concerns are that the interest rates and annual fees are reasonable, and cash back is often nice.
So in order to sway a customer away from another credit card, and also to prevent them from getting swayed by a competitor, credit card companies are constantly teaming up with different businesses to offer special perks.
Hotels and airlines are very common perks, and recently American Express partnered with Hertz car rental to introduce such perks as a guaranteed one-class car upgrade and the ability to skip the counter and head straight to pick out your car at U.S. rental locations for certain cardholders.
So once again, the bar has been raised. And since no credit card company can afford, literally, to be caught slacking, Capital One COF is introducing its own perk for travelers.
What Perk Has Capital One Introduced?
Capital One has introduced a new perk for its Venture X Rewards Credit Card, as noted by The Points Guy.
The credit card company has teamed up with the luxury travel agency Prior to offering what is being termed as curated luxury vacations for cardholders. Cardholders can enroll in a complimentary subscription, valued at $149 dollars, that includes global travel guides and twice-weekly newsletters.
From there, cardholders can redeem miles for exclusive vacation packages, unavailable anywhere else, by visiting the Capital One Entertainment platform.
So What Trips Are Being Offered?
So far, three exclusive trips have been announced.
A trip to Savannah, Ga. will take place from March 23-26, and it will include a stay at the Perry Lane Hotel, a cocktail party that will double as a tour through the town’s famous historical mansions.
There will also be a private dinner hosted by a James Beard Award-winning chef and an underground walking experience of Savannah's African American History, as well as a picnic at Forsyth Park and antique store shopping. There’s also going to be a visit to the Bonaventure Cemetery and a ghost tour, which sounds spooky! (And maybe more of a Halloween activity?)
There will also be a trip to Sun Valley, Idaho from June 29 to July 2, and will include a stay at the historic Sun Valley Lodge, outdoor dining at the Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, and a morning wildflower walk to a private brunch. There will also be fly-fishing, a trout cookout and a gondola ride up Mount Baldy to the Roundhouse River Lodge.
Finally, it would be kind of surprising if one of these packages didn’t involve a trip to Northern California's premiere wine country, right? That’s, like, the place to go for American luxury.
Well, don't worry, because there's a package that includes wine-related experiences in Napa and Sonoma counties, Oct. 19-22.
Guests will stay at the Madrona hotel in Healdsburg, get exclusive access to wineries and will get to learn insights from a master sommelier during private wine tastings. There will also be a tour of Single Thread Farms, a private dinner, a morning spa experience, and oyster shucking and cheese tasting on the Sonoma coast.
Pricing for these packages begins at $1,695 for double occupancy, and cardholders can redeem miles on Capital One Entertainment for these trips, starting at 423,750 miles for two spots on the Savannah trip.
So what’s the catch? Well, while the packages are touted as “all-inclusive trips,” you can fairly make the argument that’s not really the case, as air travel isn’t included. But take heart, because cardholders can book flights through Capital One Travel and earn five miles per dollar.
