KEY LINKS

• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. $395 annual fee
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. $95 annual fee

It’s rare to see a rewards currency actually INCREASE the value of its reward program, but that’s exactly what Capital One did when they majorly increased the value of its Venture miles program a few years ago by adding 4 new transfer partners and increasing the transfer ratio of several of its existing partners.

So that got me to thinking … what is the best Capital One transfer partner?

List of Capital One Transfer Partners

With the recent additions, Capital One now has 15 airline transfer partners:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Avios
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Infinity MileageLands (2:1.5)
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• TAP Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles
• Virgin Red

And 3 hotel transfer partners:

• ALL Accor Live Limitless (2:1)
• Choice Privileges
• Wyndham Rewards

All transfer ratios are 1:1 unless otherwise specified

So What Is the Best Capital One Transfer Partner?

So which of these 18 Capital One transfer partners is the “best”? Well, of course the true answer depends on your own personal points balances and travel situation. You also need to discount the partners that don’t transfer at “full” (1:1) parity. Remember that you can always use your Venture miles to erase travel at a rate of 1 cent per mile. So that should serve as an absolute floor for the value of your points.

In looking at that list, I think the title of “best” comes down to one of these 5 transfer partners:

• Avianca LifeMiles
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles – Booking the Turkish Airlines sweet spot (7500 miles to Hawaii)
• Wyndham Rewards – How to Book a Vacasa Vacation Rental Using Wyndham Points (Step by Step Guide)
• Air Canada Aeroplan – Booking a (nearly) round the world Aeroplan award for 2023

Some of the other partners (British Airways, Flying Blue, Singapore) are intriguing, but those are my pick. For most if not all of the remaining partners, you’re likely to get better value just redeeming your points to erase travel purchases at 1 cent per point.

Wyndham Rewards? Say What?

If you were looking to stay at Wyndham hotels, it would be hard to justify transferring Venture miles to Wyndham. Wyndham’s award chart has 3 levels — 7,500, 15,000 and 30,000 points per night, and there are basically no good hotels at the 7,500 point range. So you’re probably looking at spending 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night. At that level, you’re likely to be better off using those Venture miles to erase the purchase. At most Wyndham hotels, you’re probably getting out the door for under $150 / night, so it doesn’t make sense to pay with points.

Using Wyndham Rewards to Book Vacasa Vacation Rentals

But now, Wyndham Rewards points can be used Vacasa vacation rentals, at a rate of 15,000 Wyndham points per bedroom. You’ve been able to use Wyndham points to book Wyndham timeshares and resorts at the same rate for a while, but it’s been a frustrating experience, and pretty much impossible to find any availability ever. (SIDE NOTE: You will not be disappointed if you click through to read the comments on that post — most of them have nothing to do with the actual topic, but man are there some disgruntled Wyndham timeshare owners out there!)

But with Vacasa, not only is the availability outstanding and easy to search for, the list of what qualifies as a “1 bedroom” is also extensive. I found several impressive cabins that would easily sleep my family of 8. Plus, Vacasa’s search filters make it easy to find 1 bedrooms that sleep 8, as an example. Here’s a picture of a “1 bedroom” with a loft and 3 bathrooms that sleeps TWELVE!

It was not uncommon for me to see available dates where the cash cost was north of $300. That’s nearly 3 cents per point in value if you can book it for 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night (or 13,500 if you have a credit card; see below). Wyndham has slightly devalued this benefit, as there is now a maximum cost for your Vacasa vacation rental, but it can still be a great value.

See our Step By Step Guide On How to Book a Vacasa Vacation Rental Using Wyndham Points.

Other Ways to Get Wyndham Rewards Points

One of the best ways to get Capital One points is through their credit cards

• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. $395 annual fee. Read our full review here
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. $95 annual fee. Read our full review here

In addition to transferring Capital One Venture miles to Wyndham, Wyndham also offers three credit cards that allow you to earn Wyndham Rewards points:

• Wyndham Rewards® Earner
• Wyndham Rewards® Earner Plus
• Wyndham Rewards® Earner Business

Cardholders of all three of these cards get a 10% discount on the cost of Go Free awards. That means if you have any of these cards, it costs 13,500 Wyndham Rewards to book a 1 bedroom rental through Vacasa, and 27,000 Wyndham Rewards to book a 2 bedroom.

You can also transfer Caesar’s Rewards 1:1 to Wyndham, if you have any Caesar Total Rewards points.

The Bottom Line

There’s no doubt in my mind that transferring Capital One Venture miles to Wyndham Rewards and then using those Wyndham Rewards points to book Vacasa vacation rentals can be an outstanding use of Venture miles. Whether it’s the absolute BEST Capital One transfer partner is a matter of opinion and is going to depend a lot on how many points you have and how you like to travel. And we don’t know how long this redemption option will last, since it’s a sad maxim that redemptions that are too good to be true are ripe for devaluation. Still, it’s refreshing to see a credit card company provide MORE value (instead of constantly taking it away).

What do you think is the best redemption of Capital One Venture miles? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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