I booked a premier hotel for 6 nights starting March 29th and it cost me 3k. Then I saw the hotel’s website had the same room for 400 dollars less for the whole stay. I reached out to Capital One Travel to ask for a price match. They said they would get back to me but today they denied my request. They said it wasn’t an exact match because the cancellation dates were different. Capital One’s refundable date is March 27th while the hotel’s is March 28th, just a day before I arrive. Not only is Capital One more expensive, but their cancellation policy is worse. I checked a few other sites like Expedia and Kayak, and they all offered the same cancellation date of March 28th for my booking.
This is a big issue for me because I have a Venture X card, and the value comes from the $395 annual fee that gets refunded at 400 dollars in their travel portal. If the portal is increasing prices and using different cancellation dates, then that 400 dollars isn’t really useful if we can’t get a price match.
Sorry to say but this is pretty common … it’s not just Capital One. Amex and Bonvoy have similar issues with price matching, and often one will include free breakfast while the other does not.
You might want to use the Venture X card for shorter stays where the price difference is not as much, or rental cars are usually better priced with Capital One since you earn 10x points.
@Taliesin
Especially if they’re talking about the travel credit. AMEX’s hotel credit can only be used on specific hotels, and they don’t allow price matching at all.
You should cancel your Capital One reservation for a refund and book directly with the hotel. The $300 credit works better for cheaper hotels where the price difference isn’t as big or sometimes negligible with the 10x points. Keep your total reservation close to $300.
You aren’t the first to point out this exact problem.
That’s why using the bank’s travel website often gives you better returns, like Chase offering 5x points vs 3x for regular travel, and Capital One gives 10x.
I avoid bank travel portals now for multiple reasons, including this issue, and because the prices are often marked up so your point redemptions don’t get you the value you expect.
Plus, third-party sites like Priceline and Expedia often have cashback options, and they usually offer good prices. If you pair that with a cashback card, you can do quite well.
It’s pretty clear that Capital One’s travel portal is great for flights, often matching Google flights, plus you get price drop protection. But for hotels, it falls short. I see it more as a card for flying with lounge access.
Of all the travel portals, it still seems the best to me because $300 basically covers three one-way flights, so the credit is easy to use, and the price matching works well if you do a bit of research.
Zee said: @Drake
Not sure if talking to a different rep will help … they keep logs of past price match requests, and I asked for one earlier this year.
You might be right. The situation I mentioned was with a less expensive hotel.
I tell others the Venture X card works if you book some travel on their site to cover the $300 travel credit and then book the rest directly with airlines or hotels for the 2x points.
Bank travel sites are actually third-party sites; they don’t show all available airline seats or hotel rooms. If you need to change or cancel, you have to go back to the third-party site, which can lead to poor customer service.
Wendell said:
But you get 10x cash back when booking through Capital One.
Haha yeah the 10x is definitely a perk. No way I’m canceling that booking. Especially since Capital One Travel has reminded me my cancellation date is the 27th so many times.
We downgraded from the Venture X earlier this year because of the hassle in getting the travel credit. Authorized users couldn’t use the credit, and when booking two flights, it could be applied to only one ticket, so we had to book separately.
It felt like they were making it hard to redeem the credit, so we switched to a no annual fee card we probably won’t use. It’s unfortunate because we liked their lounges but couldn’t deal with their shady tactics anymore. We’ll stick with our Amex and Chase cards.