Compare the Features and Benefits of IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card and
Capital One Venture Business

The IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card is IHG’s small business credit card.

And, for small business owners who even occasionally travel, it’s easily worth its annual fee. That’s because the free night certificate earned each account anniversary year should easily save you more than the annual fee. We value the 50,000 point cap on that certificate at $200 – exactly the amount of the annual fee.

And yet that is just the tip of the benefit iceberg. In addition to earning 10X points from the card when you stay at IHG, you also get

• Up to $100 a year in Food & Beverage Rewards, issued as $25 each quarter and expiring at the end of that quarter.
• A $100 annual airline statement credit for one qualifying flight purchase of more than $250 directly with an airline.
• Up to $100 annually in statement credits toward Expensify purchases.
• An anniversary free night capped at 50,000 points, with the option to add points to top off for a higher value reward. Plus, earn an additional Free Night with a current point redemption cap of 50,000 points after spending $60,000 on purchases with your card each calendar year.
• 15 elite night credits each calendar year, plus two more for every $5,000 spent on purchases with the card.
• Five additional elite night credits and 20,000 bonus points after $25,000 in card spending in a calendar year. Spending $50,000 in a calendar year earns Diamond Elite status, compared with the current card’s $40,000 Diamond threshold.
• Fourth night free on a four-night points stay.

You’ll also earn 5X bonus points on flights booked directly with airlines, car rentals, dining, gas stations and select advertising, with 3X on other purchases.

IHG point earnings are further boosted by the IHG Platinum Elite status that comes as a perk of the IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card. Platinum Elite members earn 60% bonus points on top of the base earning rate of 10 points per dollar. That nets a total of 26 IHG points per dollar at IHG hotels.

Small business owners can also earn points on employee spending. There’s no additional annual fee to add employee cards and no foreign transaction fees.

IHG One Rewards members can redeem points for a reward night at any hotels participating in the IHG portfolio. That spans everything from luxury InterContinental Hotels to practical Holiday Inn hotels.

Even better, when you redeem IHG Rewards points for a stay of at least four consecutive nights, you’ll get a free night through the IHG Rewards Premier Business Credit Card’s fourth reward night free benefit.

But perhaps the most understated benefit is the ability to rack up Elite Night Credits with the card.

You get 15 Elite Night Credits that come with the card each year. Then earn 2 Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 spent on purchases with your card. Elite Night Credits count towards status and Milestone Rewards, helping you reach them faster.

And then earn 5 Elite Night Credits (ENC) after you spend $25,000 on purchases each calendar year as a head start towards a Milestone Reward and your next status tier faster. These 5 ENC are in addition to the 2 ENC you receive for every $5,000 you spend on your card.

Elite credits aren’t just for status. They qualify you for Milestone Rewards. Here’s a sample:

• 20 nights: Choose one of 5,000 bonus points, two Food & Beverage Rewards, or one Confirmable Suite Upgrade.
• 30 nights: Choose 5,000 bonus points or two Food & Beverage Rewards.
• 40 nights: Choose two rewards from 10,000 bonus points, five Food & Beverage Rewards, one Confirmable Suite Upgrade, and an Annual Lounge Membership. You can choose the suite upgrade and lounge membership as your two rewards.
• 50 nights: Choose 10,000 bonus points or five Food & Beverage Rewards.

As you can see, from the 15 ENCs granted with the card and just 5 more from hotel stays or spend, you’ll have 20 eligible nights.

At 20 eligible nights, you can choose a Confirmable Suite Upgrade for an eligible stay of up to five nights. After booking, call IHG between 14 days and 24 hours before check-in to request it, subject to suite availability. It can be used on a Reward Night stay with the fourth-night-free benefit.

This unlocks confirmable suites without staying 20 nights first – and that’s huge. It’s probably my favorite benefit of the card.

But despite the annual fee of $200, when you get the $100 airline credit, the annual free night up to 50,000 points, the 15 elite night credits, the Platinum status, and the quarterly Food and Beverage credits at IHG ($25 per quarter), it’s hard not to see the value.

💳 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.