Letâs clear something up right away.
You do not need to fly business class, chase award charts, or memorize airline alliances to get serious value from your miles.
In fact (and Iâm going to sound like a broken record here), one of the most underrated ways to use Capital One miles is also the simplest:
⌠covering travel at one cent per mile.
Letâs walk through a few budget-friendly trips you could easily book using 120,000 Capital One miles, without any crazy transfers, surprise fees, or complicated math.
Why 120,000 Miles is the Sweet Spot
If you earn the current welcome offer from the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, youâll end up with at least 120,000 miles once you finish the minimum spend:
100,000 miles from the welcome offer
20,000 miles from earning 2x on $10,000 in spend
Thatâs $1,200 in travel at one cent per mile, before we even talk about the Venture Xâs $300 annual travel credit.
Your new total: $1,500.
Iâm not drunk with power. You are. đ
Underrated Capital One Strategy
Hereâs how it works:
Book flights and hotels the normal way, pay with your Venture X, and then go back and cover those charges using miles.
Thatâs it.
No transferring points. No award availability mind games. No taxes or fees to factor in later. Youâre essentially turning miles into a travel statement credit, and while itâs not the maximum value on paper, itâs often the most reliable.
Example One: Denver for Four Nights
Start by searching cash fares like you normally would. From many U.S. cities, round-trip flights to Denver often price around $150 to $350, depending on the season.
Example fares from BNA-DEN and ORD-DEN
Once you find a fare you like, book it, pay with your Venture X, and cover the charge later using miles at one cent per point.
Next, book a mid-range hotel. If you book through Capital One Travel, your $300 annual credit automatically applies. After that, use miles to cover the remaining balance.
For example, in Denver, you could book this category four Hyatt Centric close to downtown for just $146 per night.
Four nights come out to about $655 after taxes and fees. If you book through Capital One Travel, your $300 annual credit is automatically applied at checkout as a discount, bringing your out-of-pocket cost down to $355, which you can then cover with 35,500 miles.
đ§ Quick Note on the Credit: Unlike certain credits with American Express or Chase, the Venture Xâs $300 annual travel credit is applied automatically as a discount at checkout when you book through Capital One Travel⌠so no statement credit to wait for.
And the flights from earlier? You could find round-trip flights for two under $845 and still be fully covered by your 120,000-mile stash.
If you find something cheaper? Great! Use those leftover miles for Ubers, a rental car, or a future trip.
Example Two: Mexico Getaway
Mexico is another perfect fit for this approach, since flights to places like Cancun or Puerto Vallarta regularly dip into the low $300s.
Book the flight, swipe your Venture X, and cover the charge once it pops up. Or, you could cover these flights with just under 30,000 miles at one cent per point.
Example fares from New York to Cancun for less than $300
For lodging, look for a smaller beachfront hotel or an affordable all-inclusive in the $150 to $180 per night range, like the Hotel Emporio CancĂşn optional All-Inclusive, for example.
Book through Capital One Travel if you want to use the $300 credit, then cover the rest with miles.
You could also book something like the Wyndham Grand Cancun All Inclusive Resort & Villas, or a similar mid-range resort, which can land around $325 per night (depending on the season).
Even a three-night weekend getaway could be covered by around 100,000 miles, which leaves your $300 credit to help with flights, and about 20,000 miles for extras.
Youâll end up with a weekend getaway in Mexico covered for roughly the same mileage as the Denver trip⌠all without worrying about award availability or airline partners.
Example Three: Spainâs Canary Islands
Europe doesnât have to be expensive, yâall, especially if youâre flexible about where you go. đ
In places like the Canary Islands, cash prices for hotels can be shockingly low, even in peak season.
For example, you could book the all-inclusive option at Hyattâs Alua Tenerife for just $236 USD per night, or 23,600 miles if youâre covering with Venture X miles.
In a case like this, Iâd use your miles where they matter most: the flight.
If you find a decent round-trip fare to Spain, book it and cover the charge with miles, and this is where the math really starts to work in your favor.
For example, a $481 round-trip flight to Spain would cost about 48,100 Capital One miles when you cover the purchase. That might sound higher than a transfer sweet spot like a Flying Blue Promo Reward at 37,500 miles round trip, but those awards often come with a TON of taxes and fees. Once you factor those in, the real cost is usually much closer⌠and sometimes even worse.
The kicker? When you book this as a âcashâ flight and cover it with miles, you still earn airline miles and elite credit on the flight. So not only does the math shake out better, but youâre also earning points back instead of starting at zero.
Or, you use that $300 credit to cover the majority of your round-trip flight, like the one above from New York (JFK) to Tenerife.
This ultimately lets you stretch your miles across a full Europe trip without forcing them into a redemption that doesnât make sense.
And, this is where youâll need to get a little more creative and math-y.
If a hotel is already cheap, save your points. Use miles where prices hurt the most. If you find a cheaper flight, maybe use your credit and cover the rest with some miles.
In this case, you could use:
$300 to cover some of your flights
18,100 miles to chip cover the rest of said flight
70,800 miles to cover three nights at the Alua at one cent per mile
Leaving you with 31,100 Capital One miles to play with
And there you have it⌠a full European beach trip using under 90,000 miles, without touching a single airline transfer partner.
Quick Word on âValueâ
Could you squeeze more than one cent per mile out of Capital One miles? Absolutely.
Transfers and award bookings can unlock some pretty incredible deals.
But for budget trips where cash prices are already low, this approach is often the great move. Thereâs no repositioning, no hoping award space opens up, and no mental math required to see if something is worth it.
If the goal is to travel more (with less stress), this is a very solid way to do it.
Bottom Line
All three of these trips work because youâre letting cash prices lead the way, then using Capital One miles to make that cost decrease, or better yet⌠disappear.
If your goal is a budget-friendly trip thatâs easy to book, easy to understand, and easy to repeat, using Capital One miles at one cent per point is tough to beat.
