Update 9/12/23: Card has finally launched a public online application page. Signup bonus on the public page is 150,000 points after $30,000 spend. (ht DDG)
Update 5/2/23: The signup bonus is now 300,000 points with $500,000 spend. Still only available with a relationship manager. Full details in this post.
Update 2/2/23: The ‘Spark Travel Elite’ business card has now been rebranded to the ‘Venture X Business’ card. All other details are the same, including the signup bonus and the fact that you need a relationship manager to apply for the card. (ht MtM)
Update 7/21/22: Capital One has confirmed this card won’t report to your personal report. Capital One provided the following statement: “note for new Spark Travel Elite customers, Capital One will not report to personal credit bureaus as long as an account remains in good standing”
Original Post:
Capital One has launched a new premium business card called ‘Spark Travel Elite’ and it has launched with a sign up bonus of 250,000 miles. Unfortunately you can’t apply for the card directly, you need a relationship manager to be able to apply but the card will be open to more soon.
Card Basics
Annual fee of $395
Sign up bonus of up to 250,000 points. Broken down as follows:
50,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within the first three months
Additional 200,000 miles (total of 250,000) when you spend $50,000 within the first six months
Card earns at the following rates:
10x miles on hotels and car rentals when booking through Capital One’s travel portal
5x miles on flights when booking through Capital One’s travel portal
2x miles on all other purchases
10,000 miles anniversary bonus
$300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One’s travel portal
Lounge access:
Priority pass lounge access
Capital one lounge access
$100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit every 4 years
Existing Spark cardholders can apply for Spark Travel Elite, Spark Cash Plus cardholders cannot apply for Spark Travel Elite
Our Verdict
Card comes with $400 in relatively easy to use credits/miles to offset the annual fee, could be worth keeping long term for people that need lounge access. This card will be worth applying for people that can meet the large spend requirement for the sign up bonus. It’s unclear when it will become available for everybody to apply for.
Capital One has also partnered with Melio to allow business cardholders to pay vendors that don’t normally accept credit card payments (2.9% fee).
Hat tip to VFTW