Hotel Reviews
Travel Tuesday: Booking a Capital One Lifestyle Collection Hotel Stay – My Experience
You may have heard of Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program (as well as the similar-but-different Hotel Collection program). You might have also heard of The Edit by Chase. Heck, you might have even caught wind of Bilt’s Home Away From Home program. But did you know that Capital One also has a hotel program that rewards cardholdersand allows them to enjoy extra perks at select properties? Well, with that Rudolph-esque intro out of the way, let’s talk about Capital One Travel’s Liftstyle Collection and my recent experience using it to book a hotel stay.
Capital One Travel Lifestyle Collection: My First-Hand Experience and What You Need to Know
What Brought Me to the Lifestyle Collection
Before I get my experience with the Lifestyle Collection, let me briefly explain why I was in the market to book a stay. Last year, when I opened my Capital One Venture card, my welcome offer included a $250 Capital One Travel credit. With that set to expire in April, I decided to arrange a mini-staycation for me, my wife, and our pup Rigby. Luckily, I knew just the place: Hotel Vandivort — a boutique hotel in downtown Springfield, Missouri, that I’ve now stayed at four times.
Who Can Access the Lifestyle Collection?
In order to book Lifestyle Collection stays and enjoy the included perks (which we’ll get to in just a moment), you’ll need to have an eligible Capital One card. Currently, the program is open to those with the following products:
- Venture X
- Venture X Business
- Venture
- Spark Miles
Of course, since Lifestyle Collection bookings are part of Capital One Travel, cardholders will also earn elevated rewards. Specifically, those with the Venture or Spark Miles cards will earn 5x miles on stays, while those with either the consumer or business Venture X card will earn 10x miles.
The Perks
Akin to how other luxury hotel credit card programs work, those who book Capital One Travel Lifestyle Collection stays can enjoy some key perks.
That includes these guaranteed benefits:
- $50 experience credit (for dining, drinks, and more)
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
Additionally, when available, cardholders can enjoy these perks:
- Room upgrades
- Early check-in
- Late checkout
However, Capital One doesn’t give much guidance beyond those main bullet points. For example, Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program states that early check-in (when available) could be as early as noon, while guaranteed late checkout is until 4 p.m. Meanwhile, Capital One just advises, “To inquire about early check-in or late checkout availability, please contact the hotel directly.”
Also, coming from Amex, I’ve seen where the property credit specifies whether it can be used for dining, spa, or something else. With Capital One, though, it seems that it just says “Experience Credit,” with the FAQ stating, “The hotel experience credit can be used toward meals—or experiences like spa treatments—that are charged to your room during your stay.” However, it goes on to state that the credit, at a minimum, can be used at a food and beverage location. That’s good news for me as I gravitate toward dining credits over other options.
Minimum Stay(?)
As I stated, before I even knew about the Lifestyle Collection, I knew I wanted to use my travel credit at Hotel Vandivort. Yet, for every date I searched, Capital One Travel showed the hotel as unavailable. That seemed odd, so I confirmed availability on the Hotel V site.
It was only after this double-check that I noticed the Lifestyle Collection tag on the Vandivort listing. Somehow, that gave me the idea to check a two-night itinerary. Sure enough, with that adjustment, Hotel Vandivort not only showed availability but made its way to the top of my search.
Now, according to what I’ve seen, the Lifestyle Collection doesn’t have a minimum stay requirement. I guess that means that Hotel Vandivort is the one imposing the restriction? Either way, it’s a bit odd that they don’t allow single-night bookings on Capital One Travel outside of the Lifestyle Collection perks (although maybe that would be confusing to guests?).
My Experience at Hotel Vandivort in Springfield, Missouri
Having stayed in a few different room types at Hotel Vandivort, this time around, I decided to go with a V2 Balcony Suite. For one, I’ve acquired some vinyls in the last few months that I wanted to listen to on V2s in-room record players. Second, that would even out our stays as we’ve done the main building twice and V2 (ironically) once.
When we checked in, the front desk let us know that we could just charge our purchases to the room to use our $50 credit — which is what we assumed anyway. She then gave us the keys and directions to V2. Opening the door to the room, I was struck by the size of the suite, especially the bathroom. But, after making my way to the bedroom, I noticed that something was a bit off: there was no balcony.
Since I had already carried all my stuff up, I didn’t feel like changing rooms. So, instead, I waited until checking out to inquire about this error. After looking in the computer, the team member let me know that it was simply showing as V2 Suite on their end. And while they sometimes upgrade Lifestyle Collection bookings to balcony rooms when available, none were available at the time.
So, who do I blame for this: Capital One or Hotel Vandivort? That’s hard to say without knowing the behind-the-scenes details… but I think it makes Vandivort look bad overall. Hopefully this is an isolated example and not something common with Capital One Travel. Then again, seeing how hands-off they are with the other perks, I could see how disconnects like this could be possible.
Moving on from that misstep, everything else went smoothly with our stay. As I expected to, I loved the room. In fact, I think this layout was even nicer than the previous V2 room we had, as the living room and bedroom were separated by a hallway (and the bathroom). I also loved having the record player, listening to the likes of McCartney II while doing my work for the day.
Like other Hotel V rooms, our suite was equipped with a mini-fridge and microwave. These came in handy for our leftovers (after all, this was our first time spending two nights at the hotel instead of one). And did I mention the room had what is possibly the largest shower I’ve ever had? I’d recommend they add a rainfall showerhead, but it was nice nonetheless.
We also had success using our credit at the on-property restaurant, The Order. Although we could have ordered room service, I decided to pop down to the restaurant and place a take-out order instead. As I was informed to do, I charged it to the room. Luckily, looking at my folio, the $50 was removed without issue.
Final Thoughts on Capital One Travel Lifestyle Collection
Comparing the Lifestyle Collection to other offerings, there are pros and cons. The most notable disadvantage is that the property credit is $50 compared to $100 for the likes of Amex’s Hotel Collection. Then again, Hotel Collection requires at least a Gold Card, which has an annual fee of $325 compared to $95 for the Capital One Venture card.
Also, while (most) Lifestyle Collection bookings have no minimum stay requirements, Hotel Collection requires a minimum of two nights. FWIW, single-night Fine Hotels & Resorts bookings are available, but FHR properties may be pricier than Hotel Collection or Lifestyle Collection options.
On that note, the key to getting value from programs like the Lifestyle Collection is to compare rates. Although getting a $50 credit is great, it may not be worth it if you can get a better base-rate from another booking platform. In my case, it looked as though booking directly would have been slightly cheaper, but the credit outweighed that hike.
Overall, while I think it was worth it (especially since I had the travel credit to use), it would seem as though my local four-diamond hotel has a few kinks to work out with their participation in the program. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our stay and would recommend the property overall… but, maybe book direct instead.
As for the Lifestyle Collection program, I think this could be a great perk for Venture/Venture X members. Just be sure to compare prices to ensure you’re getting a good deal!
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