Rewards Canada - Canada's Travel Rewards Resource

Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® Review

By Patrick Sojka - CEO Rewards Canada | Posted November 8, 11

The newest travel rewards credit to come onto the market is the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® (and it's little sister card the Priority Club Platinum MasterCard). The card which was announced earlier this spring and truth be told been in Priority Club's sights for at least three years was finally released today. Rewards Canada was lucky enough to receive all the details of the card at the start of summer so that we could include it in our annual Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings where the card tied for top spot in the small category of Hotel Points cards. With this cards introduction, Canadian's can now choose from 5 major Worldwide hotel frequent guest programs to tie a credit card into.

Overview
The Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® is a hotel rewards card that earns points into InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club program. The IHG group of hotels includes the Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Candlewood Suites and numerous other brands. Being a 'World' version of the MasterCard brand the card comes with an excellent insurance and benefits package that is the same across Capital One®'s suite of World MasterCards. It comes with some nice signup and ongoing bonuses, accelerated earning for stays at all the IHG brands, instant Gold Elite status and bonuses for ongoing spending.

Costs
The Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® comes with an industry standard $120 primary card annual fee. The card offers a decent sized 30,000 point welcome bonus which could garner as many as 6 free nights if you take advantage of Priority Club's point break offers. Like all Capital One® cards, adding an authorized user is free which gives this card a slight edge in the cost department over its biggest competitor the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. The interest rate on the card is 19.8% placing it right in the middle of the pack of competitors. Please Note: A requirement of this card is a minimum personal income of $60,000 or household income of $100,000.

Earning
The Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® earns 2 Priority Club points for every dollar spent on the card for all purchases except those made at IHG properties. For purchase made at IHG properties, the card earns 5 Priority Club points per dollar spent. The card also offers a 5,000 Priority Club points bonus for every $10,000 spent on the card. Finally, like all points that go into the Priority Club program, the points earned on the card count towards elite status. Since the card automatically comes with Gold Elite status in the Priority Club program, all the spending on the card would be put towards achieving Platinum Elite Status.

Redeeming
The Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® offers numerous redemption options via the IHG's Priority Club program. Of course, being a Frequent Guest Program, the primary redemption option which most people look at is hotel reward nights. Priority Club offers numerous redemption levels depending on the brand you are planning to redeem for. Priority Club makes it relatively simply to understand their redemption levels and they actually do not get exorbitant for high end redemptions at their premium InterContinental Hotels and Resorts brand. With over 4,500 hotels worldwide the redemption. Where the program gets even better is their two discounted reward options. The first is the Last Minute Reward nights option which offers up to a 50% discount on the above reward levels at various hotels typically for a short period of time (upcoming weekend etc.) the other option, which Priority Club almost cut but kept due to the strong voice of some online frequent traveller communities is the Point Breaks option. This option, offers hotel reward nights for a flat 5,000 point level and it can even include InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, so you could enjoy as much as a 35,000 point discount. The Point Break lists are updated or changed every few months so it is always a good idea to check the list before you book a hotel reward night. Probably the second biggest redemption option that members of frequent guest programs look at are converting their hotel points to their favorite airline frequent flyer program. The program allows you to convert points to 40 different airline programs but this is where Priority Club is somewhat weaker then some of their competitors as the redemption ratio for conversion is not as high as programs like Starwood Preferred Guest (typically you can redeem 10,000 Priority Club points for 2,000 airline miles). The program also has a Flights Anywhere redemption option where you can use your Priority Club points to book a flight via their online booking engine, the number of points redeemed depends on the cost of the ticket

Where does the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® rank in our Top Travel Rewards Credit cards feature?
2011: Tied for 1st in the Hotel Category

.Other options include hotel anywhere cards where you can redeem you points for a pre-paid card that can be used at any hotel (does not have to be IHG). Finally there are also merchandise and experience rewards that the points can be used on. Merchandise rewards are just that, physical merchandise that you redeem points against and they send it out to you including gift cards and experience rewards one of a kind rewards that can inlcude driving a race car, a day at a spa, golf packages and more.

Features and Benefits
As stated above the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® comes with an excellent insurance and benefits package that competes with all the other high end cards. The card features Trip cancellation which is only offered as a standard feature on a few other travel rewards cards and Travel Emergency Medical insurance which only comes standard on about 50% of the cards in the market.

The other primary benefit that the card comes with is Platinum Elite Status. What does Platinum Elite Status from Priority Club get you? It gets you a 50% bonus on your base point earnings for IHG stays, priority check-in, complimentary room upgrades and guaranteed room availability.

What is good about this card
There are a few really good things about the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® outside of the great suite of features and benefits, there has to be otherwise the card would not have split first place in our Hotel Credit card ranking for 2011. First off, is the vast number of hotels worldwide that you can earn and redeem your points at, with over 4,500 locations the InterContinental Hotels Group provides great global coverage from small towns to large cities to luxury resorts. Next, the point breaks redemption option provides an extremely high value return on your spending especially if you redeem for higher end hotels. Last but not least is Priority Club's rule that all points count towards status, not just your hotel stay points.

What is not so good about this card
As mentioned above, one of the things that is not so good about the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® is Priority Club's conversion ratio to airline programs. If this is a feature you really look for you could be better off with another hotel loyalty program that does have a credit card in Canada. The elite status levels from Priority Club also leave a little to be desired when compared to other frequent guest programs.

Conclusion
This latest entry into the crowded travel rewards credit card market should do quite well because of what the card and the Priority Club program do offer. If you are looking for a hotel credit card that offers many hotel choices in Canada and Worldwide then then Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® is for you because of the large number of hotels under the IHG banner. Existing Priority Club members who make IHG their number one choice when booking hotels will probably latch onto this card right away. The general public in Canada may not do so as fast until they learn about the true value of hotel frequent guest programs and their flexibility advantage over frequent flyer programs. When you look at the ease of earning points on this card and on IHG hotel stays it can and couple that with some great hotel reward redemption options you can see why this card shot to top and tied last years top pick in our Hotel Credit Card category.

Care to comment? Do you agree or disagree with us? Tell us your experiences with the Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® on our blog

Related Links:
Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One® on the Capital One® website
Priority Club Platinum MasterCard from Capital One® on the Capital One® website
Rewards Canada's Hotel Credit Card Comparison including the Priority Club® World MasterCard®

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:
Chase Marriott Rewards Platinum Visa
MBNA Best Western Rewards Platinum Plus MasterCard
MBNA Choice Privileges MasterCard
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

“The interest rates, fees, rewards details, benefits and other details of the Capital One product(s) described in the article may have changed since the time of publication. Please consult the product information pages on the Capital One website for accurate product details. In the event of any conflict between the product details in this article and the Capital One website, the details on the Capital One website shall prevail.”