The banking sector’s competition for travelers continues with fresh hotel perks from Capital One Travel.
(Bloomberg) — Capital One Financial Corp. is taking a further step in the expansion of its travel footprint: Starting later this year, eligible Capital One cardholders will have access to a new Lifestyle Collection of hotels available for booking directly through the Capital One Travel portal. The Lifestyle Collection will include many luxurious, independent boutique properties located in popular cities around the world, Capital One said in sharing the news with Bloomberg exclusively before its scheduled announcement today.
The McLean, Virginia-based banking company’s new Lifestyle Collection comes on the heels of its February 2023 Premier Collection release, which gave its Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders access to ultraluxe properties—mostly resort destinations, including 1 Hanalei Bay in Hawaii, the Oberoi in Marrakech, Il Sereno Lago di Como, St. Barts’s Le Barthélemy Hotel & Spa, the Six Senses Zighy Bay in Oman and Capella Ubud in Bali.
The Lifestyle Collection, in addition to being booked with Capital One credit card miles, is meant to complement this first hospitality set by adding a broader choice of smaller, independent luxury hotels that are accessible to more cardholders, a sign of the intensifying competition among banks aiming to appeal to travelers.
The collection has a handful of recognizable hospitality brands such as Virgin Hotels, The Standard, Design Hotels and LINE in San Francisco. But cardholders will also find many boutique hotels that they might not be aware of, explains Jenn Scheurich, head of travel at Capital One.
“What we heard from travelers after we launched the Premier Collection is: ‘We want access to different types of properties that are more urban centered’—a trendy city center hotel vs. the resort destination and type of hotel that many of our premier collection properties are,” Scheurich says.
The demand was there to open up to a broader group of cardholders, she adds, specifically to Venture X, Venture, Venture X Business and Spark Miles customers.
Capital One tapped hospitality industry leaders to build those relationships and add local, authentic and more surprising types of properties to its new Lifestyle Collection list, explains Scheurich. A key perk of Capital One’s Lifestyle Collection is that many of these hotels will not be found through the hotel collections of its competitors, Scheurich adds.
The properties include Hotel Greystone in Miami Beach, Hotel ZaZa in Austin, LINE in San Francisco, River Lee Hotel in Cork, Ireland, Drift in Palm Springs, California, Le Pigalle in Paris and Town Hall Hotel in London.
Capital One’s latest hospitality push points to an expanding bet that US financial corporations are placing on the travel sector as they vie for the business of luxury travelers. Capital One is also expanding its airport lounge plans, with new locations coming in 2023 to Dulles International Airport and Denver International Airport. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of Infatuation, a restaurant review platform, in 2021 and Frosch, a luxury travel agency, in 2022, is upping the ante for its bet on winning more travelers to its credit card business.
An Expanding Footprint
Since 2021, Capital One Travel’s booking platform has been powered by Hopper, giving cardholders access to more tech tools, including advanced data on pricing and the option to freeze a fare or to cancel for any reason (for an additional fee), all while redeeming points and not having to go through third-party applications.
Cardholders who book a Lifestyle Collection hotel via the Capital One Travel platform will earn an elevated return of 10 miles per dollar spent on Venture X and Venture X Business or 5 miles per dollar for Venture and Spark Miles cardholders. A suite of benefits includes a $50 credit to spend at a hotel toward meals, drinks or activities and such perks common to hotel loyalty programs as free Wi-Fi, late checkouts and room upgrades, when available.
No minimum length of stay is required. Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders also get to use their $300 annual credit toward Lifestyle Collection hotel stays.
The Premier, by contrast, is available only to Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders; in addition to their ability to earn 10 miles per dollar on stays booked via the platform, perks include a $100 onsite credit, free breakfasts for two, and free Wifi and late checkouts, where available. More than a hundred hotels have been added since the program launched in February 2023 from brands such as Anantara Hotels & Resorts, Corinthia Hotels and Langham Hotels & Resorts, among others.
“We are very early on in the beginning of our journey,” says Scheurich. “We have big aspirations in the travel space, and you’ll see us continue to add benefits and features that best support our cardholders and continue to improve their travel experience.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.