Unlike hotel chains like Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and others where you can earn and redeem points for a free night stay, Airbnb doesn’t have a loyalty program of its own. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use credit card points to cover the cost of your reservation.
While many travel rewards credit cards allow you to earn extra points on hotels, vacation rentals, and other travel purchases, only one bank offers a path for actually redeeming those points for an Airbnb (or Vrbo) stay.
We’re talking about Capital One miles – the miles earned from Capital One’s popular credit cards like the *venture x*, the *capital one venture card*, and even the no-annual fee *capital one ventureone*.
There are many ways to use Capital One miles, but one method lets you cover the cost of an Airbnb or Vrbo booking with your credit card points. It’s the best (and really only) way to take an Airbnb or Vrbo stay and make it free – or at least take some of the sting out of the cost of an expensive or lengthy booking.
We’ll walk through everything you need to know about using Capital One miles to cover the cost of your next Airbnb or Vrbo stay.
Cover an Airbnb or Vrbo Stay with Capital One Miles
The list of ways to use your Capital One miles keeps growing. Sure, you can earn miles on your Capital One card and transfer them to one of nearly 20 airline and hotel partners. You can even book travel directly through the Capital One Travel portal.
But the easiest way to use these miles – and arguably the easiest way in the whole wide world of points and miles – is to pay for travel with your Venture card and then later cover that charge with miles.
It’s as easy as it sounds, and that’s the process of redeeming your miles for an Airbnb or Vrbo stay.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Pay for Your Airbnb or Vrbo Stay with Your Venture Card
Let’s say you’ve recently picked up the *venture x*. Once you’ve spent $4,000 within the first three months of opening the card, you’ll earn 75,000 bonus miles. And since you’ll earn at least 2x miles for every dollar you spend on your card, you’ll end up with at least 83,000 miles when all is said and done.
Using this option, those miles can be redeemed for 1 cent apiece towards any travel-related purchase. That means you’ve got a cool $830 in value sitting in your account.
Start by heading directly to the Airbnb or Vrbo website and booking your stay with your Venture Card. To redeem your Capital One miles using this method, you must make a purchase that codes as “travel” on your credit card statement. From Airbnb and Vrbo stays to Uber rides, to flight and hotel purchases, and even cruises – Capital One considers all of these to be travel purchases.
Simply pay for your Airbnb or Vrbo with your Capital One Venture or Venture X card, and give it a few days for the purchase to finalize and post to your account.
Read next: 5 Steps to Find the Best Airbnb, No Matter Where You’re Heading
Step 2: Cover Your Airbnb or Vrbo Purchase with Your Miles
The second (and final) step in this process is to go back and cover the cost of your Airbnb or Vrbo reservation with your Capital One miles.
Start by logging in to your Capital One account and clicking the “View Rewards” button on the homepage.
Next, select how you’d like to redeem your miles. You can book flights or hotels directly through Capital One, get gift cards, redeem for cash, or transfer Capital One miles to one of their partner airline or hotel programs. But to get reimbursed for the cost of your Airbnb or Vrbo stay, the “Cover Travel Purchases” option is the one you’ll use.
Once you’ve opted to cover your travel purchases, you’ll be taken to a page where you can select which of your travel-related purchases you’ve made on your Capital One Venture card you’d like to remove from your statement. This includes all travel transactions from the last 90 days.
As long as you’ve used your Venture card to pay for your Airbnb or Vrbo and that transaction has been posted to your account, it should be available to remove with miles.
Again, when redeeming Capital One miles for travel purchases, each mile is worth 1 cent. So for example, a $500 Airbnb reservation can be completely covered with 50,000 miles.
Don’t have enough miles – or don’t want to spend them all? You can even redeem miles to cover just part of a purchase. So if your Airbnb booking costs more miles than you have in your account, you can opt to use as many or as few miles as you’d like.
Read our step-by-step guide to covering travel purchases with Capital One miles!
Combine Capital One Miles with Other Cardholders
Capital One gives you the unparalleled ability to combine Capital One miles between accounts whether you’re looking to transfer your miles from an older Venture card to your new Venture X card or you want to combine miles with friends and family.
It’s yet another reason why Capital One miles are a great option for booking Airbnb and Vrbos. If you’re booking a larger property with multiple people who all have some Capital One miles, you can easily pool your points and put them toward the booking. There’s no limit on the number of miles you can transfer or a requirement that the person you’re sharing miles with lives at your same address or is related to you in any way.
Here are the basics:
- You can transfer Capital One miles to other members as long as they have a credit card that earns Capital One miles.
- There is no requirement that the person you are transferring miles to lives at the same address or is related to you in any way.
- There is no cap on the number of miles that can be shared with other Capital One cardholders.
- There are no expiration dates or other major restrictions on miles that are transferred to other cardholders.
To make these transfers, you have to call the number on the back of your Capital One card as there isn’t currently a way to do so online. All you need is the name and card number of the person’s account you are transferring to. The entire process should take less than 10 minutes.
Use Capital One Miles for Airbnb Experiences
Beyond the ability to use Capital One miles to book an actual stay, you can also use them to book experiences during your trip. Launched just a few years back, Airbnb Experiences is a separate service offered by the popular homeshare company. You can use the normal Airbnb platform to search for top-rated tours, activities, day trips, and other experiences guided by a local.
In most cases, these aren’t typical walking tours or day trips – though you can find those, too. These unique experiences range from guided hikes to photo shoots, food experiences, and everything in between. Better yet, you don’t need to be staying in an Airbnb during your trip to book one! Book an experience like you would any other tour or activity, and you’ll be set.
Since the charge comes from Airbnb, it will be available to cover with Capital One miles the same as an actual Airbnb stay would be.
For example, on a recent trip to Japan, I booked The Kyoto Wagyu Experience and paid the $143 cost with my Capital One Venture X card. Since my Capital One miles are worth one cent each when used to cover travel purchases, I was able to remove the charge from my card statement for 14,300 miles.
This isn’t unique to Airbnb Experiences, however. Any tour or activity that codes as travel and is charged to your Venture or Venture X card should be available to cover with miles. However, we’ve had a lot of great luck with Airbnb Experiences, and it’s one of the first places I check when planning my trips.
How to Earn Capital One Miles
To spend Capital One miles on an Airbnb or Vrbo stay, you’ve first got to earn them. Here are the cards that can help you bolster your balance of miles.
The Capital One Venture X Card
The *capital one venture x* might just be the best travel credit card we’ve ever seen.
It’s the bank’s very first premium travel card launched back in November 2021. Think of it as a souped-up version of the ever-popular *capital one venture card* that’s chock full of extra benefits like access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass lounges, a $300 annual travel credit, a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, great travel and rental car insurance protection, and more.
The annual fee clocks in at $395 a year, but the benefits can easily outweigh that.
Welcome Offer Bonus: bonus_miles_full
Since you’ll earn at least 2x miles on every dollar you spend, you’ll end up with 83,000 miles once you complete the initial spending requirement.
Read our full review of the Capital One Venture X Card!
Learn more about the *capital one venture x*
Capital One Venture Card
The *capital one venture card* has been a fan favorite among travelers for years – and for good reason. It’s truly one of the best travel credit cards for beginners.
Like the Venture X discussed above, you earn 2x miles on every purchase and even get a credit that covers the cost of Global Entry or TSA PreCheck – all for a card with a $95 annual fee.
bonus_miles_full. That’s basically the same offer as the Venture X, so if it’s just the miles you are after, this is a cheaper route for getting them.
Welcome Offer Bonus: bonus_miles_full
Read our full review of the Capital One Venture Card!
Learn more about the *capital one venture card*
Capital One VentureOne Card
Finally, there’s the *capital one ventureone card*.
It’s a no-annual-fee card that will earn you 1.25x miles per dollar you spend. The welcome bonus is smaller too, so if your goal is to use these points to cover an Airbnb or Vrbo stay, you’ll likely be better served by one of the options above.
Welcome Offer Bonus: bonus_miles_full
Learn more about the *capital one ventureone card*
Bottom Line
Even though neither Airbnb nor Vrbo have a loyalty program of their own, you can use Capital One miles to cover some or all of the cost of your next Airbnb or Vrbo stay.
And while many other travel credit cards will award you bonus points for actually booking a stay with either Airbnb or Vrbo since it’s considered a travel purchase, only Capital One gives you a path toward redeeming those points for stays through either platform.
