Capital One expands travel perks with curated list of boutique hotels

Dive Brief:

Capital One will launch its Lifestyle Collection, a curated selection of boutique hotels that will offer exclusive benefits to cardholders, later this year, the company announced Tuesday.
Eligible Capital One cardholders will receive extra miles per dollar when booking these properties, available exclusively through Capital One Travel, in addition to a $50 experience credit toward hotel food and dining and room upgrades when available. The collection includes brands such as Virgin Hotels, The Standard, Design Hotels and The LINE, as well as independent hotels like The Ludlow in New York City and The Maven in Denver.
Credit card companies are increasingly using travel perks to woo potential and existing rewards members. The Lifestyle Collection builds upon the success of Capital One Travel’s first hotel list — its luxury resort-focused Premier Collection, which launched earlier this year — and expands its benefits to a wider range of cardholders.

Dive Insight:

Cardholder response since launching the Premier Collection for Venture X members earlier this year has been “fantastic,” a Capital One spokesperson told Hotel Dive. “We’ve heard from customers that they are also looking for vibrant hotels that offer lively experiences, trendy, modern design and great service.”

Compared to Premier Collection hotels — which offers benefits to Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders — Lifestyle Collection hotel benefits are available to Venture X, Venture X Business, Venture and Spark Miles card members.

There is no program-wide minimum length-of-stay requirement, and Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders can use their $300 annual credit for bookings made on Capital One Travel toward Lifestyle Collection stays. Other benefits for guests, when available, include complimentary Wi-Fi and early check-in and late checkout.

Capital One Travel developed its Premier and Lifestyle Collections “with both customers and hoteliers in mind,” the spokesperson said, adding that hotels will have access to “unique marketing placements across our multi-channel strategy and a tech-forward distribution platform, which also allows us to share data-driven insights with partners.”

Capital One has invested repeatedly in travel offerings over the past few years. In 2021, it partnered with Hopper Cloud to power its Capital One Travel platform, and last year, it invested in airport lounge revamps. Earlier this month, it acquired digital concierge platform Velocity Black to bolster its travel recommendations.

Capital One is among a number of banks investing in travel to attract potential customers. Last year, American Express teamed up with GetYourGuide to offer a curated list of travel experiences and discounts to card users. And in May, Citi launched a new travel portal in conjunction with Booking.com. Meanwhile, Chase’s Sapphire Preferred card offers a similar $50 hotel credit, available annually.