Best Use for Capital One Points

Capital One is relatively new to transferable currencies when compared to Chase, Amex, and Citi. Despite being a newer kid on the block, and having fewer transfer partners, Capital One miles still pack a big punch that can deliver tons of great value through redemptions. As seasoned award travelers know, the best use for transferable currencies is by transferring to airline and hotel partners. In this post, we cover some of the best uses for Capital One points so that you can get the most value out your points. Especially with that newly increased offer for the Venture card.

RELATED: To learn how to transfer Capital One miles to partners, check out these step-by-step instructions.

Earning Capital One Miles

Capital One offers a good number of credit cards that earn Venture miles. These cards include:

• Venture X Business
• Venture X
• Venture Rewards (New Increased Offer)
• Spark Miles for Business

You can turn cash back card earning into points if you have one of the miles earning cards listed above. That makes the offer you see on the Spark Cash Plus extra interesting.

Best Use for Capital One Points: Same Transfer Partners as Chase and Amex

One of my favorite uses of Capital One miles is actually for many of the same redemptions I like to use Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards. Capital One shares many transfer partners in common with Chase and Amex (and Citi, for that matter). For example, Capital One points can transfer to Aeroplan, British Airways, and Flying Blue, just like Chase and Amex.

This begs the question: why earn Capital One miles if I'm just going to transfer to the same partners as Chase or another bank? There are two main reasons why you would want to do this.

First, there is a finite amount of cards you can open with each bank over any given time. So if you need more miles with, say, Flying Blue or Aeroplan, but it's too soon for you to open another Chase or Amex card, opening a Capital One card will earn you those miles.

Second, redeeming Capital One miles instead of Chase Ultimate Rewards lets you preserve your Ultimate Rewards for a partner that is unique to Chase, such as Hyatt or IHG. So, while opening a Capital One card won't actually earn you any World of Hyatt points, redeeming Capital One miles in lieu of Chase Ultimate Rewards preserves your URs so you can use them for Hyatt if you wish. The same applies to partners unique to Amex or Citi.

Vacasa Vacation Homes & Rentals through Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham (one of Capital One's transfer partners) has a partnership with Vacasa Vacation Homes & Rentals. Wyndham Rewards members can redeem points for Vacasa Vacation Homes & Rentals. Like Airbnb and Vrbo, Vacasa operates vacation rentals throughout North America, Costa Rica, and Belize.

It's tough to redeem credit card points for vacation rentals at good value, but redeeming Wyndham points for Vacasa rentals can offer you some options. It was a lot better before the recent devaluations over the last few years. Here is the current pricing set up for Vacasa Vacation Homes rentals

• Rentals with an average cost of $250/night will be 15,000 pts/bedroom/night.
• Rentals with an average cost of $500/night will be 30,000 pts/bedroom/night.

Vacasa can be a great option when you can't find a hotel room in popular destinations like Hawaii. Or when you just need the space etc. that only a home / condo rental can offer. The value has been dropped to a little over one and half cents per points which the changes. It isn't as good as it once was, going over 2 cents per point, but it is still decent value for your points.

Star Alliance Business Class to Europe for 69,000 – 80,000 Points

Can't find first class availability? lifemiles still has you covered, although not as well as before their recent double dip into the devaluation well. It will depend on the routing whether or not this is a still a solid deal for you. Have the lifemiles credit card with the lifemiles+ subscription? Then you can do even better. You can still get to Europe as low as 69,000 (without lifemiles+) depending on the routes, and connections. If flying non-stop then it is going to be 80,000 miles one way. That is less tempting, but maybe a transfer bonus will help you out there from time to time.

With Star Alliance being the largest alliance by carrier, you have no shortage of airlines to choose from. You can redeem lifemiles to fly Lufthansa, United, Brussels Airlines, Turkish, LOT Polish Airlines, TAP Portugal, Swiss, Austrian, etc.

Domestic Flights on United Airlines for 10,000 Miles

Turkish Airlines still offers one of the cheapest options for booking domestic flights with United Airlines, even with recent changes. Which easily makes it one of the best uses for Capital One points. Turkish charges just 10,000 miles one-way in economy (20,000 in business) for any United flight within the US (including Hawaii and Alaska!).

With Turkish's fixed award chart, the cost of the award remains the same no matter how many connections your itinerary has. This means you can fly from the East Coast to Hawaii for just 10,000 miles each way in economy, including any connections.

Just keep in mind that Turkish's call center reps leave a lot to be desired. If you run into issues with your booking or need to make changes or cancellations, be prepared.

Book The Longest Flight In The World

If you are looking to fly Singapore Airlines on the longest flight in the world (JFK – SIN), or any of their other routes, then Capital One miles have you covered. The easiest way to book Singapore Airlines business class is using the airline's KrisFlyer program. While it isn't the cheapest booking option, it sometimes is the only option. That is because they can be stingy on award space with partner airlines. The cost will be 111,500 KrisFlyer miles for the flight out of Newark or New York to Singapore, and vice versa. If eyeing Europe, you can also fly to Frankfurt instead for 81,000. Japan is another option for a little over 100,000 miles, depending on the departure airport.

Simplicity For The Win

Sometimes people, like Mark, like to extend their travel wallet a bit on their trips. They use the travel eraser feature of Capital One miles to do things they normally wouldn't be able to afford to do. I know that he used his to take his son on a VIP tour of Universal Studios and had a great time. He said he would have never paid the $450 per person if he was paying cash. There are tons of examples like this. A splurge that you wouldn't normally make if it weren't for points. While the 1 cent per point redemption rate is low, the payoff in memories can be higher than any other redemption.

Best Use for Capital One Points: ToP Thoughts

Like other transferable currencies, Capital One Venture miles offer fantastic value when transferring to airline and hotel partners. These are only some of the great uses of Capital One points out of the many possibilities.

What are your favorite uses of Capital One Venture miles? Come share your thoughts in our Facebook Group!