Never? Oh c'mon... you can't seriously believe that the best use of Cap One points is the same for everyone? No one has "the" right answer... there will be disagreements. Move on.

It was an example. His point was that a $1500 ticket could possibly be had at a DISCOUNT TICKETER such as Priceline for $900. That would make the Cap One points a great value.

You two are talking apples/oranges, really. His point is that you can use your points for ANY travel-bargain you can find out there (the OP mentioned Priceline; generally accepted to give pretty steep discount rates). Most other programs, you cannot do that.

If I'm reading things right... I agree 100%. Hyatt certs would definitely not be the best use for me. Using Cap One to reimburse the $65 I just paid for a 4-star (random priceline; happened to be a Marriott) that sells online for $195/night (best rate I could find) is a fantastic value. For me. *shrug* YMMV

I agree totally
 

His stubborn refusal to see anything but $$ amount for redemption is narrow minded...I agree with everything you said, and will NEVER agree with people like him...lol
The best use of these points is to stretch our bargain hunting self packaged deals to the max, not to take a good redemption price on a hyatt cert....while Hyatt and the Ritz are excellent hotels, they are overpriced and over rated in my book, all the food and amenities are more costly than the same stuff at other quality hotels like Hilton or SPG properties. You can get twice as many nights and more food and drinks at a property with less of a status symbol name, which completely negates the redemption value on the cert.......(unless you only stay at Hyatt or Ritz and prefer not to be seen with "commoners") Most people dont camp in the room on vacation anyway and comfortable basics of a hotel room are available at many price points.
The statement that the best use is different for each individual is correct and the flexibility of these points is their strongpoint. Personally they will compliment whatever other points I have. I have plenty of airline miles so unless a much wanted ticket is unavailable on my 4 airlines to choose from they will not be used to buy airfare. I seldomly stay at Ritz or Hyatt and have 150k SPG points, 180k choice points, and 100k wyndham points, so unless I want to go All-inclusive on some island or book a condo through VRBO the points are not needed for that either (choice and wyndham points were bought from discover america promo last year, and choice has a great all-inclusive deal through Barcello properties)
So in my case the "best" use of points would be for booking a cruise or rental cars...with a cruise it may be possible to use points for all charges on final bill, including tips, shore excursions (which I usually research and book online, because its cheaper) or even Casino charges on cruise lines that add those to your final bill.
It is easy to think this is "free money" and be tempted to splurge on higher class accomodations, or book a suite instead of balcony on a cruise, or stay at the high dollar All-Inclusive instead of the mid class bargain...A point I brought up with my wife, but our frugal mindset won't change, we still agree that 3 good vacations are better than one great one, and will still shop for bargains and use points to stretch our budget.

Guys FYI..... you can also keep the spouse happy with $1100 in Merry Maids gift cards

As Dr. Emmett Brown would say, you're not thinking 4th dimensionally! [Back to the Future]

No, it wouldn't. It would make the Cap One points worth 1 cent each, as with any other travel. He said the ticket would be $1500 out of pocket. If the ticket can be had for $900 from Priceline, then that's $900 out of pocket, not $1500. So the Cap One points are the same value there as any other travel - 1 cent/point.

Very big of you.

How can you see something other than a $$ amount for reimbursement when the whole point of the Cap One program is its simplicity and the 1 cent/point travel reimbursement that comes with it? They give you a fixed redemption value for reimbursement, and that's why people like it. Oddly enough, I do agree with you (though it pains me to say that because you seem like, well, someone I should never agree with) when you say that the value of Cap One points is in their flexibility. However, if a $1500 ticket can be had from Priceline for $900, then Priceline is saving you $600. If you then use Cap One points to get reimbursed for the $900, then your Cap One points are worth the same 1 cent each as with any other travel reimbursement.

How about this - I think the best use of Cap One points is for mistake airfares because one might then be able to get a $12000 business class ticket for just $1200, or 120k Cap One points. That gives a value of 10 cents per Cap One point. That sort of logic is the same as the Priceline argument, and is completely wrong. I use Priceline quite often, but if I spend $100 there and get reimbursed through Cap One, I'm still only getting the normal travel redemption amount, not some inflated amount based on the MSRP value.

The following is completely ridiculous but uses the same "logic" you're using. I saw on Fatwallet that one can buy a $400 printer for $100. But then you can use your Cap One points to get reimbursed for the $100 purchase at 0.5 cents/point, so 20,000 Cap One points. Does that mean you are actually getting 2 cents of value per point because you're getting a $400 printer for 20,000 points? Absolutely not. Saving money on the purchase, whether through Priceline or any other discount, is irrelevant to the discussion of the value of Cap One points.

Correct! Folks, the bottom line is that Cap One points/miles/scrip are only worth .01 each. You can buy a plane ticket for $900 on PL and it'll cost you 90000 points/miles/scrip. I buy the same ticket on hotwire for $1000 and it'll cost me 100000 points/miles/scrip. So, you are the savviest shopper but it still costs us both .01 per. Everyone got it now? :) I'm going to search all the websites the next time I book a hotel room or buy a plane ticket & then pay for it with my Cap One card. That's the challenge--find the best bargain and then pay for it.

Yes, Cap One is very flexible & I like the card & their benefits. It will be right beside the SPG card in my wallet.

Ergo, the best use of my Cap One points is to be reimbursed for discounted travel, as I have no other card that will reimburse me for such charges. (Wasn't the topic best use of Cap One points?)

Anyway, I'm done... have a good one!

I like Hyatt and am thrilled to be able to use 102,500 Cap One points on $1,800 worth of Hyatt scrip. That, together with a free diamond upgrade, will fully cover 5 nights this summer in a suite in London that ordinarily would cost more than $4,000.

From a redemption standpoint, yes, I would agree with you. However, in reality, shouldn't we be valuing these Capital One Venture points at 2 cents per point? We accrue double the amount for every dollar spent, which is unlike most other reward cards (unless it's for gas, groceries, etc.). Therefore, I can spend $1,000 with my Venture Card and get 2,000 points vs. $1000 on amex and only get 1000 MR's. Converting those to gift cards would allow me to get double the amount of gift cards during Christmas season by using my Venture points.

Now, going back to this topic of Hyatt certificates and whether they're a better option than discounted travel prices, let's try to compare apples to apples here. If I knew I would end up up paying $500 on Priceline for a $900 Hyatt stay, should I consider it to be equivalent to me purchasing the Hyatt certificate for $500 worth of points? No, I think it all comes down to what you end up with and which you value more. In my experience, you probably would not earn any points on your stay if you used the "Name your own price" tool, but you do get Venture points for the purchase. And if Hyatt is nice enough to let you earn points, it would probably only be equivalent to the $500 that you spent. Now, in my understanding of the Hyatt certificates, you actually earn back the full amount that you apply the certificate towards, which is one advantage that it has.

End Result w/ Going with Priceline option:
1,000 Venture points + Possible 2,500 in Hyatt points.

End Result with Hyatt Cert option:
4,500 Hyatt points (assuming Gold membership and $900 bill)

Personally, I would go with the second option, as I would preferr Hyatt points; I have found really great deals at Summerfield Suites using only 8,000 points p/ night.

Just throwing in my $.02 ... which ironically, is what I value each Venture point to be.

No. Earning rate does not change the value of one Cap1 point.

I think the confusion lies between redemption cost (always fixed at 1-point/$.01) and redemption value (determined by several factors). The fact that CVG_Kid can redeem via Priceline, where no other program does, adds redemption value to his C1 points by reducing the award's redemption cost. In this scenario the dollars spent are just the exchange conduit for the C1 award redeption.

Thank you! Logic is severely lacking in this thread. The Cap One card is great because of its flexibility, but a penny is a penny is a penny. To think that the penny is worth more just because there was a discount before the redemption is completely illogical.

The only way that the points can be worth more is if they can be redeemed for more than a penny.

So far, FTers have identified Hyatt/Ritz/Fairmont/Raffles certs as having higher redemption value simply because 1 Cap One point translates into more than one penny of hotel certificate. Has anyone found any other redemption opportunities where the Cap One points can be worth more than 1 penny each?

By the way - the Cap One card will be right next to my Asiana Amex (the card that ousted my SPG Amex) in my wallet solely because of the ability to put a picture that I took on the card. Throwing down a card with a picture of a great white on it is pretty freaking cool.

No, the confusion is due to the lack of logic on the part of some here who cannot grasp that a Cap One point, when used for reimbursement of travel expenses, is worth a penny. I don't care if they can't figure this out, but I do care that they post things such as "the best use of Cap One points is through Priceline" when such a statement is clearly erroneous due to the irrelevance of the Cap One program with respect to Priceline (there's not special deal that makes reimbursement of Priceline expenditures a better deal than any other travel purchase). All these folks are doing is misleading others.

I see what people are saying about Priceline - that Cap One is the only program that allows one to redeem their points for Priceline purchases at 1 cent per point. That's great, and speaks to the flexibility of the Cap One program, but doesn't make them worth more than a penny each just because the user is getting a discount for using Priceline.


Cap One is trying to get everyone to think that Cap One points are worth a mile (they're even calling them "miles"), but they're really worth a penny each when used for travel reimbursement. Actual miles are worth somewhere around 2 cents each (value changes somewhat depending on the program). My guess is that your venture points will not be worth anything close to the $0.02 each that you mention.

Mathematically speaking, 110,000 FREE miles are worth infinite cents / per mile no matter how it's spent. The value of what it buys is relative to the person using it. I guess what I'm saying it that we should all just use it in a way that would make our mommas proud! There have been some really great ideas already on this thread and I look forward to reading more.

As for the remaining 2,000 miles (what we earn for spending the necessary $1000 within 90 days)... my personal opinion is that the earning rate should definitely play a part in the overall worth of these miles, but to each his own.

Does anyone know if purchasing something from the in-flight Duty Free could ever be considered a travel expense? I wonder if it shows up on the CC bill with the carrier's name. Now that would be realllly awesome.

My guess would be yes. It seems as though they will be very flexible in redemption options. I received written confirmation that I could use the points to reimburse canoe rentals and fishing/camping outfitting for an upcoming vacation.

I'll just throw in my 1 cent on the priceline angle. Just booked two name your own price hotels. This is per night breakdown.
1- Westin Cancun:
Lowest rate on hotel web site including tax - $169.86
Cost in spg points - 7000
Amount in spg credit card spend for free room - $7000
My priceline bid- $57/ with tax and fees- 72.69
Amount of cc spend on Cap1 required for free room - $3635

2- Intercontinental Rome Italy
Lowest rate on hotel web site in US Dollars- $440.01
Cost in priority club points - 40,000
Amount of cc spend required with PC credit card - $40,000
My Priceline bid- $240 / with tax and fees $275.98
Amount of Cap1 cc spend required for free room - $13,800

These figures do not include the extra 4 point kicker you get thru Cap1 link to priceline. No matter how you slice it, I think you can make a case that if you don't have to have upgrades or need to have status, then this card may be better than any dedicated hotel or airline credit card, especially if you are a savvy priceline and hotwire user.