Capital One Spark Travel Elite Card (Now Venture X Business) Review
Capital One has launched a new small business credit card, which is only available to select customers. The new card is called Spark Travel Elite. This new product seems like a business version of the popular Capital One Venture X card.
The Capital One Spark Travel Elite comes comes with a huge welcome bonus of up to 250,000 miles, $300 annual travel credit, 2x earning on all purchases, and more. And to make things even better, it will no show up on your personal credit reports.
This card is currently available only to Capital One customers with Relationship Managers. It will be available to all small businesses soon, as reported by View from the Wing. Let’s get into this Capital One Spark Travel Elite review and see all the details we know so far.
Signup Offer
- Earn up to 250,000 miles when you apply and are approved for the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card:
- Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within the first 3 months
- Plus an additional 200,000 miles when you spend a total of $50,000 within the first six months
- Annual Fee: $395
Card Details
- Earn:
- 2x miles on all purchases.
- 5x miles on flights when booked through Capital One’s travel portal.
- 10x miles on hotels and rental cars.
- $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel.
- 10,000 bonus miles every year after your first anniversary.
- Unlimited access to Capital One lounges as well as Priority Pass and other Capital One partner lounges.
- $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit every four years.
- Pay vendors through the card using Melio (2.9% fee), even if they do not accept credit cards.
Capital One Transfer Partners
Customers will need to transfer a minimum of 1,000 Venture X, Venture X Business, Venture or Spark Miles at a time to travel loyalty programs, and will need to transfer in 100 mile increments.| Partner | Ratio |
|---|---|
| Accor Live Limitless | 2 : 1 |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 1 : 1 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1 : 1 |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | 1 : 1 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 : 1 |
| British Airways (Avios) | 1 : 1 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1 : 1 |
| Choice Hotels (Choice Privileges) | 1 : 1 |
| Emirates Skywards | 1 : 1 |
| Etihad Airways Etihad Guest | 1 : 1 |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 2 : 1.5 |
| Finnair Plus | 1 : 1 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 : 1 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1 : 1 |
| Singapore Airlines Krisflyer | 1 : 1 |
| TAP Air Portugal (Miles&Go) | 1 : 1 |
| Turkish Airlines (Miles&Smiles) | 1 : 1 |
| Virgin Red | 1 : 1 |
| Wyndham Rewards | 1 : 1 |
Application Rules
For now you can only apply if you have a Capital One Relationship Manager, but it should be available to everyone else soon. VFTW notes that existing Spark cardholders are eligible to apply for Spark Travel Elite, however, at this time, Spark Cash Plus cardholders are not eligible.
Capital One business credit cards report to the personal credit bureaus. So it is very possible that the Spark Travel Elite card will show up on your personal credit report. Capital One will not report Spark Travel Elite accounts to personal credit bureau reports (provided that the account remains in good standing), as reported by View from the Wing.
Capital One pulls your credit report from all three credit bureaus when you apply. But you can freeze your TransUnion or Experian (only one of them) and still get approved.
Guru’s Wrap-up
The Capital One Spark Travel Elite card is a very good product. The first thing that stands out is the signup bonus of 250,000 miles when you spend $50,000 within the first six months. This card earns 2x on all purchases (and up to 10x on travel). So you will earn a total of 7x for that $50K spend, and end up with 350,000 miles after six months.
The card has a $395 annual fee which is not waived the first year. But the card has some extra benefits that make it a keeper long term. You get a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel and 10,000 bonus miles every year after the first anniversary. You also get access to Capital One airport lounges as well as Priority Pass lounges and other partner lounges.
Let me know what you think!
