A Massive New Offer on the Venture X
This is the November 16, 2025 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I’m in Japan and mess up the time zone conversion–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.
Capital One wants to win the premium card wars of 2025. They’ve just launched a massive new offer to lure travelers to the Venture X.
We have seen a ton of change at the top of the credit card market
The Chase Sapphire Reserve reinvented itself in June, swapping out its simple credit and redemption structure for a massive fee hike, a devaluation on everyday redemptions in its travel portal, and a bunch of new, sometimes-complicated statement credits. It looks like it’s not going well. In July, Citi entered the space with the Strata Elite, offering decent value for the fee and excellent points, but no card-specific airport lounges. Then in September, Amex jacked up its annual fee, albeit while adding much more in statement credits. While all that was happening, Alaska Airlines dropped the Atmos Summit (my new personal favorite card) into the mix, too.
The Venture X still offers simple value but elite benefits
While annual fees were exploding across the industry, along with the spreadsheets full of statement credits you need to track to break even on them, Capital One sat back. They trimmed some lounge benefits on its Venture X (no more free guests), but retained a simple, accessible structure:
$395 fee
$300 travel portal credit
10,000 points on renewal (worth at least $100 toward travel)
2x on all purchases, plus more when booking travel via Capital One
Easily redeem points for 1 cent each by “erasing” any travel purchase
Visa Infinite benefits like purchase and travel protections and concierge service
Priority Pass airport lounge access, plus Capital One’s own lounges
That formula—more in value each year than the annual fee, only one credit to keep track of, lounge access and premium-card protections, plus solid base earning and easy-to-use points—has made it my most recommended card for as long as I’ve been paying attention to credit cards.
This offer is actually special
In all that time, the public offer on this card has been 75,000 miles, where it has been ever since the end of its launch offer. Elevated offers have been so rare on this card that I have generally not recommended holding out for one. But perhaps to attract refugees from their ever-more-expensive, ever-more-complicated competitors, Capital One is now offering 100,000 miles when you sign up for a Venture X and spend $10,000 in the first six months. This is a HUGE deal—an extra 25,000 miles on this card is special. 100k miles are worth $1,000 on any travel you want to book with the card, but you could potentially get even more with transfer partners (like Flying Blue—see below!). The spending requirement is hefty, but six months is quite a lot of time to earn it. There’s also some opportunity cost if that spending earns you double Capital One miles when you otherwise might have earned more with a bonus on a different card. But a best-ever offer on one of the best cards on the market?
🔥🔥🔥🔥
If the Venture X is right for you, consider signing up via our referral link. It’s the same 100k offer for you, but we’ll get some points to help me keep writing newsletters from Shikoku coffee shops. ☕
Weighing the various big welcome offers on all these premium cards? We’ll have a post on the topic soon!
This week on the blog 📝
I wrote about redeeming points for hotel stays, and why I prefer to save them for flights as a frugal, low-frills traveler.
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
Major news 🚨
Visa and Mastercard reach settlement with merchants. They had been sued over the “swipe fees” that fund travel rewards, among other things. If approved, the settlement could allow merchants to refuse to accept rewards cards or add more surcharges. It’s not great for credit card rewards, but probably doesn’t spell the end of your takeout habit funding trips to Italy. (OMAAT, TPG)
Special offers ✨
Link Uber and ride for Marriott points. If you didn’t know, you can earn Delta or Marriott rewards with Uber. If you haven’t linked your Uber and Marriott accounts yet, you can earn 1,000 Marriott points—and be entered for a chance to win a million more—if you link and take a premium Uber ride by November 24th. Details here.
New products and programs 🆕
A passport in your wallet. Apple has unveiled “Digital ID.” It uses your passport and serves as a TSA-accepted form of ID at over 250 U.S. airports. For now, it won’t replace your passport for international travel. But you didn’t want them stamping your phone, anyway. (TPG)
Sixt rolls out a loyalty program. Rental car company Sixt’s new Sixt One program offers points with Sixt (or partners) and skip-the-counter options for all members, with perks like extra rewards and upgrade eligibility for elites. (Daily Drop)
Cheap premium? Would you pay extra and take a middle seat for a couple inches of legroom and an in-flight beer? Delta thinks you’ll love tolerate “Comfort Basic.” (Thrifty Traveler)
Extra points 🪙
Get extra shopping portal cash back with BeFrugal. FrequentMiler has a special offer: sign up via their link and earn an extra $40 after earning $10 in cash back via BeFrugal. I haven’t used BeFrugal, but I wanted to flag the offer. (FrequentMiler)
New partnerships 🤝
Earn Bilt points at Rakuten. Bilt points are the newest way to get your Rakuten rewards and, in my opinion, the most valuable—for now. For six months, $10 in cash back will convert to 1,000 Bilt points (worth $12.50 in travel booked via Bilt, or more with transfer partners). After that, though, only Bilt elite members will get that rate. New Rakuten members can also earn 2,500 Bilt points by signing up via Bilt, but don’t do that. You can get $50/5,000 points, plus help out your favorite independent sloth-themed credit card blog, by signing up with our referral link. (Bilt)
Earn United miles on Lyft. Time for me to update my Lyft rewards post. You can now earn United miles with Lyft too. I find United miles much less valuable than the Bilt or Atmos points currently on offer, but some people might prefer United. And if you haven’t signed up for Lyft yet, you can get 1,000 United miles after signing up and taking two rides within 30 days. (FrequentMiler)
More value 📈
Flying Blue just got a lot more valuable. The loyalty program from Air France and KLM (and others) partners with every major transferable points program, but award flights have historically been tough to find and often heavy on fees. The program is a lot more friendly to lazy travelers now, though, because you can use it to run wide searches for flights on partner airlines, including intra-U.S. flights on Delta. (Daily Drop)
Devaluations 📉
Move over, Hilton Aspire Diamonds. Hilton’s loyalty program has long been a bit odd, in that you can unlock top-tier status with just a Hilton Aspire card. With top status so easy to get, the perks have been somewhat limited compared to other brands’ top tiers. So Hilton is rolling out “Diamond Reserve” for big spenders ($18k at Hiltons!) with the brand. Personally, I remain more than satisfied with my lowly card-earned Diamond status. (View From the Wing)
Sign-up bonus of the Week 🎯
Obviously the big bonus this week is the Venture X, but also noteworthy is the chance to get a $250 Amazon gift card instantly upon approval for Chase’s Amazon Prime Visa. I’m not a huge fan of this card given the many alternative ways to get rewards at Amazon while using other cards. The perks and earning rates on this card are nothing to get excited about, either. But if you spend a lot at Amazon, 5% back is a very solid return that could make this card a worthwhile addition to your wallet. And if you want it, this is the time to get it, as this is the highest offer I can recall, and I very rarely see it this high. 🔥
Other great current bonuses
100k points on the Citi Strata Elite (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)
125k points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)
175k points on the Hilton Aspire (our take: 🔥🔥)
75k points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (our take: 🔥)
$300 (kind of) on Capital One no-fee cards (our take)
Up to 100/175k on the Amex Gold/Platinum (our take)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
All those Capital One miles might be able to get you to Japan, too!