The Perfect Pair: Chase Sapphire Preferred & Capital One Venture X

There are a few cards in the travel world that are considered all-around winners… keeper cards if you will.

Those cards stay in our wallets for a lifetime and bring us outsized value with both our daily spending habits AND with our travel adventures.

No matter how you spin it, there are two cards that make the perfect pair for ANYONE interested in travel: the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

They’re truly two peas in a pod—like peak 2005 Usher and Lil Jon 😏 

And when you make that first major travel redemption using the miles and points earned from these two cards, you know what you’ll be screaming?

Why Should I Get These Two Cards?

There’s many reasons why these two cards have a home in the wallets of (almost) everyone on the Daily Drop squad.

For starters, each card is fantastic on its own. But if you put them together… you’re doing serious business.

The Sapphire Preferred is an excellent starter card, and it’s the one we would recommend applying for first out of the two.

This is simply due to the fact that it’s a modest card with a modest annual fee (at just $95 a year), and it’s usually easier to get approved for than the more premium Venture X.

Plus, getting the Sapphire Preferred unlocks access to Chase Ultimate Rewards—one of the best, if not THE best travel currency in the world.

You’ll be spoiled with abounding hotel and airline transfer partners, solid earning categories, and even some travel protections.

By also holding the Venture X, you’ll reap the rewards of earning Capital One Miles which bring their own list of transfer partners to the table.

Additionally, this more premium card (with a $395 annual fee) also comes with a plethora of premium travel perks like airport lounge access and travel credits that essentially offset that annual fee altogether.

So to make things extra clear for you here… by having these two cards to your name, you’re getting:

• Access to two different travel currencies

• The option of two sets of transfer partners

• A wide variety of earning rates for both everyday and travel spending

• Tons of top-notch travel perks

And I haven’t even talked about their current welcome offers yet. So yeah, you’ll also be getting two of those 🤯

Card Perks and Benefits Overview

In the table below, you’ll find all the current perks and benefits of these two cards. And spoiler alert—there’s a lot 😍

And now for some transfer partner action. In most cases, both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One Miles gain significant value when you transfer them to their airline or hotel partners.

Here’s who you can transfer to if you hold either of these two cards:

So you can see that by holding just these two cards, you’ll gain access to a ton of amazing airline and hotel transfer partners.

In fact, you can essentially travel to anywhere in the world with Chase and Capital One!

If you’d like a step-by-step guide on how to actually do these point transfers, feel free to reference our transfer partners resource.

Why Are the Sapphire Preferred and the Venture X the Perfect Pair?

Just from skimming through the charts above, it’s easy to see the significant value you get out of these two cards.

Plus, their combined total annual fee of $490 is still less than most other premium cards on the market (I’m looking at both of you—Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Platinum Card® from American Express 👀).

The Reserve’s annual fee is $550 alone, and the Platinum is a whopping $695 (Rates & Fees).

And even if $490 a year still seems high to you, go back and look at all the statement credits, bonus anniversary miles, and free food and drinks (from lounge access) that easily cancel out that number.

Speaking of bonus miles… earning both welcome offers will give you a minimum total of 150,000 miles and points combined 🤯

And that’s not even factoring in the additional miles and points you would earn just from hitting the minimum spend.

At the very least, you could tack on an additional 12,000 miles to your total, but that could likely be even more with the different spending categories (e.g. 2X, 3X, 5X, or 10X per $1 spent).

Another awesome perk with the Venture X specifically, is the ability to pay for ANY type of travel using Capital One Miles… even retroactively.

If you’re curious how this is possible, we have an entire resource that details how you can pay for anything with points. It’s pretty dope 😎

We also have a super informative YouTube video that does a further comparison of these cards. You can watch it here 👇

Bottom Line

If you’re just getting started in the miles and points world and feel stuck on which cards to start with, look no further than the Sapphire Preferred and the Venture X.

They really have the perfect balance of racking up points on everyday spending, but also allowing you to enjoy more premium travel perks whenever you do travel.

You’ll truly unlock some of the best benefits around, and for a combined annual fee that is less than most other premium cards.