Capital One has announced that starting February 4th, 2020 you’ll be able to transfer miles to two hotel partners:
- Wyndham Rewards (2:1.5)
- Accor Live Limitless (2:1)
In addition the transfer rate to JetBlue will be improved. Previously Capital One miles would transfer at a rate of 2:1 to JetBlue, they will now transfer at a rate of 2:1.5. Other transfer partners include (all 2:1.5 unless otherwise noted):
- Aeromexico
- Aeroplan (Air Canada)
- Alitalia
- Avianca
- Cathay Pacific
- Emirates (2:1 rate)
- Etihad Airways
- EVA Air, Finnair
- Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
- Hainan Airlines
- JetBlue (2:1 rate)
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore (2:1 rate)
I no longer see Wyndham as a transfer partner when I login. I also do not see it on the landing page for the loyalty transfers.
Time for Capital One to come out with a high end Luxury $450 AF card…
Give Capital One credit guys. At least they are trying to add transfer partners (inferior or not). I think it’ll grow over time. They feel that the Venture and Spark cards are gaining momentum and catching a lot of people’s eyes. Good for them!
How much are accor points worth? I can find information that you can redeem them if you have 2000, but I can’t find any information on the value of the redemption.
Venture card is becoming more valuable then other high annual fee cards.
(Earning 1.5 JetBlue on all spend with Spark miles is pretty good).
In case of JetBlue 2:1.5 is still not good enough. Since JetBlue has a reward redemption linked to the cash price, which pretty much sets the point value to ~1.4 to 1.5 cpp. In this case transfer 2:1.5 makes it similar to buying the ticket on cash with your CapitalOne card, and then using the points (which in this case worth 1 cpp) to “erase” your spend. May be transferring points now has a slight advantage (if the ticket you found is closer to 1.5 cpp in points), but if you add to the calculation that with buying cash you also earn JetBlue points and loose that in case of award redemption – such advantage is pretty much negated.
With partners where you can get outsized value on award redemption the transfer does make more sense.
I am actually more excited (although excited is too strong word in this case) about Wyndham. There was only one venue to get those points before (Barclay Wyndham card), and now we will have another one. With Wyndham changing the program (goodbye 15K a night all inclusive stays) this is not as good as it would have been a couple of years ago, but still something. Wyndham still has some good options (especially withing the timeshare portfolio, which is also bookable with points).
Also the big plus of the program is that there are both personal and biz cards in it.. and also they both have no AF versions, and (I think it applies only to Venture though) keeps the points transferable. So you can get the AF card (with AF waived first year), get the bonus, downgrade the card, and still keep your points with the same transfer value. Big plus (especially if you compare with TY points). Still not enough products to earn lots of points via bonuses (like Chase or Amex), but at least it will not cost you anything to keep them till the better days.
Wll, sorry for the long reply, but just my 2 cents :)… and please correct me if I missed some valuable points in my thoughts.
What a well written thoughtfull post!!!
Only negative thing about Accor Live Limitless points is they have a finite life of one year and IIRC the only way to keep alive is with another stay, no other work around.
Sounds pretty limited to me…
Yes, but if you only transfer points in when you have a specific booking to make, and make it immediately after transferring, then your balance will always be zero anyways.
But I agree, it does mean that accumulating points by other means besides transferring loses a lot of its value.
Yes, but if you only transfer points in when you have a specific booking to make, and make it immediately after transferring, then your balance will always be zero anyways.
But I agree, it does mean that accumulating points by other means besides transferring loses a lot of its value.