Compare the Features and Benefits of Citi Strata Elite℠ and
Capital One Venture Business

The Citi Strata Elite℠ is a premium level card that will make a ton of sense for some, and not as much for others.

If you already tend to book using travel portals (this could be Expedia, Booking.com, or Agoda, for example), then you are in luck as the 6X on airfare and 12X on hotels, car rentals and experiences when booking via the Citi Travel portal is massive. The Citi Travel portal is powered by Agoda so it will look familiar.

You can get the annual fee back, and then some, based on how easy the credits are for you to use (i.e. are you spending where you wouldn’t have already or just shifting spend?). If you book via travel portals anyway, the $300 hotel credit will be an easy one. And that’s just over half the annual fee alone.

If you value AA Admiral’s Club passes and would have paid $79 a pop, then that actually takes care of the rest of the annual fee. And that $200 annual Splurge credit isn’t too hard to use either – you can use it (on up to two of these merchants maximum, per year) at 1stDibs, American Airlines (exclusions apply), Best Buy^®, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation (exclusions apply).

Or you might use that $200 ($100 each half year) Blacklane credit. And of course if you don’t already have Priority Pass via another premium card, then there is definite value there as well.

So there are several ways to recoup the annual fees.

You’ll also get the best transfer rates (1:1 in most cases) to Citi’s wide range of airline and hotel partners that now includes American Airlines AAdvantage®, which is a huge win for Citi in that it was previously lacking a US airline partner beyond JetBlue.

But the crux of this card, in our opinion, comes down to those 6X and 12X multipliers for booking via the Citi Travel portal. If you do, you’ll really clean up earning ThankYou points. If you don’t, you may want to look at a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® which gives 4X points on airfare and hotels booked directly.

💳 This card earns Capital One Miles. Capital One often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Capital One Miles here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The Capital One Venture Business card is a uniquely simple small business credit card.

With 2X Capital One Miles earned per dollar spent on all eligible purchases (plus the option to earn 5X miles on hotels, rental cars, and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel), you can really rack up the miles fast.

And while Capital One Miles used to simply be worth a penny each towards travel, that’s changed entirely since Capital One made their miles transferable.

Many small business owners don’t worry about bonus categories, but they do want as many rewards points for their business spend as possible. And they want, on top of that simplicity, to know they are getting a top end rate of return on spend.

The Capital One Venture Business accomplishes both goals. 2X miles on everything with no limit is among the best options among all small business credit cards. While the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express also earns 2X points on purchases, it is capped at $50,000 in spend per year whereas the Capital One Venture Business has no limit.

And then for redeeming your points, you can simply spend them for travel at a penny a point, or you can use the airline and hotel transfer partners which have really expanded to include some great transfer partners like JAL Mileage Bank.

As an additional bonus, this low annual fee business card comes with up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® every four years.

Overall, it’s a super simple card that is an excellent choice for small business owners that love to travel on their time off.

Need to Know: Capital One generally will make a credit inquiry with all three credit bureaus. For new Venture Business customers, Capital One will not report to personal credit bureaus as long as an account remains in good standing. This card is on our list of credit cards that do not report the credit line to your personal credit profile.