Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ vs Capital One Venture X Business
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TLDR: Capital One is offering a spectacular welcome bonus for the Capital One Venture X Business where you can get 400,000 Capital One Miles. Almost half a million Capital One Miles. Crazy.
Advertiser Disclosure: nextcard may receive compensation from card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain. For the most up-to-date terms & conditions, refer to the official credit card application on the issuer's website.
Capital One is offering up to 400,000 Capital One Miles with the Capital One Venture X Business welcome bonus. This bonus comes in two parts. The first part is that you will receive 200,000 Capital One Miles after spending $30,000 in the first three months from the account opening. The second part requires a hefty spend—you will receive an additional 200,000 Capital One Miles after spending $150,000 in the first six months from the account opening.
My opinion on this welcome offer is that there are a lot of small businesses that could hit the first part of the welcome offer, but less that could hit the second part. If you're a sole proprietor, odds are that you going to have trouble hitting $150,000 in spend within 6 months. However, if your business spends a lot, then this is going to be an awesome offer for you.
In a variety of awesome ways.
For example, you could leverage ~100k miles to book a varying of business class seats on Cathay Pacific between Hong Kong and the United States via Asia Miles. Cathay is one of the best airlines in the world and offers some top tier food & service.
Likewise, you could also transfer your miles to Air Canada Aeroplan to book a variety of partner awards this way. You could (in theory) score business class seats on Singapore Airlines, which typically price in at around 87.5k miles each direction when flying transpacific. With this bonus, you could get 4(!) seats in business class on another top tier airline.
We used our Capital One miles to fly Cathay Business Class from Hong Kong to SFO, Boston, and LAX. Great value redemption considering it's a ~14 hour flight.
Capital One has a variety of airline & hotel partners with varying rates.
Capital One has a 2:1.5 transfer ratio to EVA Air and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
With JetBlue it’s a 5:3 transfer ratio.
All of Capital One’s other airline partners have a 1:1 conversion rate.
Aeromexico Rewards
Air Canada Aeroplan®
Avianca LifeMiles
British Airways Executive Club
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Emirates Skywards
Etihad Guest
Finnair Plus
Flying Blue
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
TAP Miles&Go
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Virgin Red
I Prefer Hotel Rewards has a 1:2 conversion ratio.
Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards have a 1:1 ratio.
Accor Live Limitless has a 2:1 ratio.
The annual fee on the Capital One Venture X Business is $395. I find this card to be well worth it including only the $300 travel credit and Capital One Lounge access. And the benefits don’t stop there…
The Capital One Venture X Business does not have any foreign transaction fees which makes it a great card when you travel abroad.
These are the earning rates for everyday spend with the Capital One Venture X Business:
10 miles per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked via Capital One Business Travel
5 miles per $1 spent on vacation rentals and flights booked via Capital One Business Travel
2 miles per $1 spent on all other purchases
The Capital One Venture X Business doesn’t have any noteworthy outsized earn rates on the card. However, the straightforward earn rates mean you don’t have to think much when using the card for your everyday business spend.
When you book travel through Capital One Business Travel, you will get up to a $300 annual travel credit.
You will get an application fee credit when you apply for TSA Precheck or Global Entry (up to $120 value)
With the Capital One Venture X Business, you will get access to a Priority Pass membership. All you have to do is enroll in Priority Pass through your Capital One account on your mobile app. Once you are enrolled, you will have access to thousands of airport lounges across the world!
I have Priority Pass access as an authorized user on my Uncle’s Chase Sapphire Reserve® and it’s an excellent perk to have. I have found that if you travel often you can save yourself hundreds of dollars by dining at a lounge at the airport rather than one of those dinky airport restaurants or shops (which often have ridiculous prices). It’s true that the quality of Priority Pass lounges varies but generally speaking they are quite nice. And honestly, I like it best for the privacy rather than the food. I can get work done in a quieter and more comfortable space.
At every account anniversary with the Capital One Venture X Business, you will get 10,000 Capital One Miles. A small but nice bonus.
These 10,000 miles combined with the $300 travel credit essentially make this card's annual fee breakeven.
From all of the airport lounges I have visited, the Capital One Lounge has to be the best one I have visited.
With the Capital One Venture X Business, you will get complimentary access to all Capital One Lounges. I’ve only been to one Capital One Lounge (due to a business class flight from JFK to Frankfurt, Germany) and it was amazing. Food and drink were excellent. Service was fantastic. There were things I had never seen before at a lounge like a full-blown cafe along with a cheese experience. The cafe was very similar to your typical cafe like a Starbucks or Caffe Nero. And unfortunately, I was not able to book the cheese experience. It was explained to me that you have to check in with the front desk to see if there are any spots for the cheese experience—it’s a 30 minute cheese tasting where a chef gives you all different kinds of cheese.
The The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is the most expensive business credit card out there with an annual fee of $895. This comes with a ton of perks and benefits but it all depends if you will use them.
You’ll get things like AMEX Centurion Lounge access, up to $120 Wireless credits, up to $1,150 in Dell credits, Hertz President’s Circle status, up to $200 Airline Fee credit and up to $209 in credit for CLEAR Plus (terms apply). But, most of these credits and perks require a lot of work. Is it worth it for you?
One thing I’ll say about the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express that is objectively better than the Capital One Venture X Business is that you will receive 200,000 AMEX membership points after spending $20,000 versus the Capital One Venture X Business’s offer where you get 200,000 Capital One Miles after spending $30,000. If welcome bonuses are important to you, it is definitely something to consider.
If you are looking for straightforward earn rates while not having to keep track of a bunch of credits, I would go for the Capital One Venture X Business. Furthermore, I would say that most small businesses would not be able to take advantage of the full value of the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express with all of its miscellaneous credits.
With a bigger business that would utilize most of the credits and perks on the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you can feel comfortable going for that card. Just be wary with that hefty $895 annual fee.
The welcome bonus on the Capital One Venture X Business makes an already appealing card that much more appealing. If you are a small business owner that travels or employees that travel for the company, this card could be well worth adding to your wallet.
400,000 Capital One Miles can go extremely far in the Capital One Miles ecosystem. Especially when you transfer to travel partners.
If you are a small business owner, will you be getting the Capital One Venture X Business and cashing in on the welcome offer?
