Capital One Spark Miles For Business: 50,000 Bonus Miles, Worth $500 Towards Travel

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business is a rewards business card offering a big early spend bonus offer in addition to ongoing 2 Miles per $1 on every purchase. Here are the highlights:

5 Miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

• Unlimited 2 Miles per $1 on every purchase, everywhere.
• 50,000 bonus miles – equal to $500 towards any travel-related purchases – when you spend $4,500 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• Unlimited 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
• $0 annual fee for the first year, then $95 annual fee after that.
• Transfer your miles to 15+ travel loyalty programs.
• Redeem your miles instantly for any travel-related purchases, from flights and hotels to ride-sharing services.
• Up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck(R).
• Miles never expire as long as your account is open.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Free additional employee cards.

Consider that if you meet the $4,500 spending requirement within 3 months, you will end up with 50,000 miles + 9,000 miles from 2X rewards = 59,000 miles = $590 towards travel purchases on $4,500 spending (13% cash back!).

Note that “Existing or previous Accountholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.” For comparison, there is also a Spark Select for Business and Spark Classic that are different cards with lower sign-up bonuses but no annual fee.

The 2 miles per dollar spent for all purchases is a strong rewards structure, and the annual fee is waived for the first year as well. From the second year onward, you’ll have to weigh that against the $95 annual fee after the first year. The math says that you would have to spend more than $19,000 every year ($1,583 a month) to make the 2X miles and $95 annual fee (Spark Miles)pay out more rewards than 1.5X miles and no annual fee (Spark Miles Select).

The travel can be booked directly through airlines and hotels, and there are no blackout dates or award seat limits to worry about.

Miles transfer options. Capital One now allows you to transfer your “miles” into select airline miles programs as well. Here are the airline transfer partners:

• Aeromexico
• Air France/KLM
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Avianca Lifemiles
• British Airways Avios
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad
• EVA
• Finnair
• Qantas
• Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
• TAP Air Portugal
• Turkish Airlines
• Virgin Red

Hotel partners

• Accor Live Limitless
• Choice Hotels

If you know how to leverage one of these international airline miles programs, this can be a very valuable option. Otherwise, it’s nice to know you can always get a certain level of value by redeeming against any travel purchase.

If you are looking for a comparison with other strong business cards, check out my updated list of Top 10 Best Small Business Credit Card Bonus Offers.