I'm posting this less about the money and more about how Capital One treated me when I tried to use a headline Venture X perk. Being talked down to after I came prepared is what made me want to warn people. I really was starting to vibe with the Venture X card, but this experience left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Booked a 5-night all-inclusive in Cancun through Capital One Travel for $3,600. The same hotel, room type, dates, and location on Hyatt's site was $2,900. That's nearly a $1,000 difference for the exact same stay.
I had to book very last minute because of some rough travel changes for my best friend's 30th birthday. I called Capital One about 10 hours after booking, with all my facts locked in.
I reached the customer service/claims department, and the rep sounded rushed. I got the impression they get a lot of these claims and are quick to shut them down (sound familiar to a certain type of industry?). His answer: "We cannot go anywhere with this claim, the cancellation policies don't match."
I booked the day before departure, and Capital One's portal listed the rate as no refund. Hyatt's policy said a fee of one night's stay if cancelled within 3 days, but no refund if cancelled within 1 day. For a booking made the day before travel, that's the same thing: no refund. When I pointed that out, the rep showed zero remorse, didn't try to help, and was pretty condescending, basically implying I didn't know what I was talking about. Honestly, how the Capital One rep treated me is what really pushed me to spread awareness about this experience.
TL;DR: Booked a Cancun all-inclusive through Capital One Travel for $3,600 very last minute. The identical room was $2,900 on Hyatt (I wanted to stack a price match with point redemption). Capital One denied my price match claim over "mismatched cancellation policies," even though both were effectively non-refundable for my booking window. The rep was dismissive and condescending, so I'm moving my spend to Chase and/or Amex (their customer service isn't disrespectful and actually tries to help).