At the beginning of the year, Capital One launched their premium hotel collection with extra benefits for Venture X cardmembers. Now they’re extending this to a new type of hotel and crucially these are available to Venture X, Venture X Business, Venture, and Spark Miles cardmembers.

• American Express has Fine Hotels and Resorts. Chase has its Luxury Hotel Collection. Visa as well has its Luxury Hotel Collection, without bank branding. And Mastercard has its Luxury Hotel & Resorts Portfolio. The benefits vary, but in general you’ll find them to be somewhat similar to booking through agency programs like Virtuoso or Four Seasons Preferred Partners – which also in some cases adding additional value or points, giving back more to the customer by foregoing or rebating commission.

• These hotels often focus on the luxury segment, where there’s more revenue out of which to offer perks and more commission to rebate back to the customer. In the case of Capital One, this includes properties which are part of Small Luxury Hotels, The Leading Hotels of the World, Six Senses, and 1 Hotels.

• But Capital One has found an opportunity to offer more nice hotels, often not included in other programs, that also may appeal to a younger affluent demographic. And it’s an add-on to their premium hotel program, not a replacement, so it’s great.

Later this year they’ll be offering their ‘Lifestyle Collection’ of hotel properties which will “represent everything from well known brands such as Virgin Hotels, The Standard, Design Hotels, and The LINE to smaller, independent and boutique hotels.”

Virgin Hotel Dallas

Some examples of participating hotels:

• Vintry and Mercer in London

• The Ludlow in New York City

• Drift Palm Springs

• Hotel Greystone in Miami Beach 

• COMO Point Yamu in Phuket, Thailand

• Desa Hay in Bali 

• The Maven in Denver

Benefits include:

• A $50 experience credit to use toward rooftop drinks, signature hotel restaurants, room service or other activities

• Complimentary Wifi

• Room upgrades, when available

• Early check-in and late checkout, when available

• Enhanced earning: 10X per dollar for Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders, 5X per dollar for Venture and Spark Miles cardholders

The Robey, Design Hotels

Including Design Hotels is interesting. They’re part of Marriott, but many elite benefits like suite upgrades and breakfast don’t apply. Booking through Capital One will get you something that Marriott bookings do not. And like American Express bookings and unlike Chase these reservations should offer hotel loyalty program credit where applicable.

I’ll use my Venture X $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel on an airline ticket. I won’t have difficulty using it (though it’ll be a simple domestic ticket for ease since I’m booking through an online travel agency). However those who either prefer not to do so, or book all their flights with points, may find this an outstanding use for their travel credit.

Ultimately this is a value add for cardmembers. It addresses an area where competitors have had an offering, while Capital One has quickly ramped up in the space. Whether the specific benefits are best for you compared to other offerings is something you’ll need to consider in each case.