🧳 Reward Your Team With the Ultimate Perk: Travel - The Points Guy

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Let’s talk about the cost of comfort — and when it’s actually worth paying for it. From using your points to support employees to deciding whether lounge access justifies rising fees to the jaw-dropping bonus on a top business card, we’re looking at where spending big can deliver big value.

Today, we’re talking about:

Using points to give employees the gift of travel 🎁
Lounge access: Is it really worth it? 🛋️
Is this the most lucrative business card offer ever? 💰

EMPLOYEE TRAVEL

Travel as a benefit? Using rewards to treat employees

Travel is one of the most meaningful (and memorable) ways to take care of your team — and if you’re earning points and miles through your business, it can be surprisingly affordable.

Whether you’re sending someone on a much-needed vacation or helping them make a last-minute trip to see family at a crucial time, your rewards can go a long way.

Redeeming points for someone else is usually straightforward, but each program has different policies around doing so. Airline miles are easiest: Nearly all carriers let you book award flights in another person’s name. Hotel programs are more of a mixed bag, but there is one in particular that is especially good for using your rewards on someone else.

That’s not to say there aren’t drawbacks to using your rewards to give employees the gift of travel. For starters, as the booker, you become their de facto travel agent if any adjustments are needed during their trip. But you can get around this with programs that offer mileage pooling or rewards transfers, so you always want to make sure you fully understand how these options work.

And don’t forget: Buying airline or hotel gift cards with a rewards card lets you earn bonus points and give employees the freedom to book what they want.

Thoughtful use of rewards can help you support employees in powerful, personal ways — just make sure to understand each program’s rules before booking.

— Ed Pizzarello, Contributor

PREMIUM BENEFITS

Is lounge access really worth it?

If you’ve been in an airport lounge recently, let me first say congratulations on getting a space!

Once reserved for frequent flyers and travelers with elite status, airport lounges are now open to almost anyone with the right credit card — and the card issuers are changing the game.

And while this shift has fueled overcrowding issues, tighter guest policies and longer waitlists, demand for credit cards that provide airport lounge access is soaring — even as issuers raise their fees.

It all raises the question: Is the experience worth the price you pay for access?

Airlines and card issuers are actively working to ease the overcrowding issue by adding new spaces and things like grab-and-go food options for those who don’t want to stick around. But will these solutions keep pace with the rising demand lounges are seeing?

For someone who travels as much as I do (heck, even if you only travel four times a year), it can certainly make sense financially to spring for a card that provides lounge access. If I were to tally up all of the free meals (and cocktails) I have enjoyed in airport lounges over the past year, I think I’d be comfortably in the black — even though my access comes through the priciest lounge-access card around.

Add to that the ability to find comfortable seating, a quiet (or at least quiet enough) place to work and charge devices, and even the occasional shower during a long layover, and I know I’d have a hard time giving up my coveted lounge access.

But what do you think? Are you willing to start (or continue) paying good money for an experience that feels less and less like an escape from the crowds? Shoot me an email and tell me your thoughts. I’d love to hear them!

— Colin Hogan, TPG Business Brief editor

LIMITED-TIME OFFERS

Is this the best business card welcome offer ever?

I’m used to seeing huge welcome offers on business credit cards, but the most recent really made my jaw drop, as it might be the biggest welcome offer we have ever seen on a business credit card.

As we showed you last week, for a limited time, new applicants for the Capital One Venture X Business can earn 200,000 bonus miles after spending $30,000 on purchases in the first three months, and an additional 200,000 bonus miles after spending a total of $150,000 on purchases in the first six months. This is the highest welcome bonus ever offered on this card — including when it was launched in 2023.

The previous highest offer we’ve seen on this card was six months ago, when you could earn up to 350,000 bonus miles (no longer available) — 50,000 miles lower than the current offer.

Obviously, to earn this bonus, you’d need to have significant business expenses. But if this sounds like you, I’m envious, because the rewards you would earn from this offer are staggering!

We value Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each, according to our December 2025 valuations, meaning 400,000 miles are worth up to $7,400 when transferred to Capital One’s 15-plus airline and hotel partners and used for high‑value bookings.

I’ve redeemed lots of Capital One miles earned from my beloved Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card over the past few years. Some of my favorite and recommended redemptions include:

Transferring miles to Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club program at a 1:1 ratio and booking flights to London from the Northeast from just 6,000 Virgin points each way (plus taxes and surcharges). This is a route I fly regularly, and I cannot get over what a great deal this is in a full-service economy class.

Booking my husband in Air France business class to Europe for just 60,000 Capital One miles by transferring them to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio. He loved the chic design, gourmet cuisine and French flair.

Next week, we’re both spending 21 hours in what I consider to be the world’s best business class: Qatar Airways’ award-winning Qsuite from Europe to Australia, which I booked for just 90,000 Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios per person, transferred at a 1:1 ratio from Capital One. You can book flights from the United States to Doha for just 70,000 Avios, including epic 15-hour journeys from the U.S. West Coast, which is one of the best luxury redemptions available from any airline program.

Booking last-minute, short-haul United Airlines-operated flights for just 10,000 miles by transferring them to Air Canada’s Aeroplan program at a 1:1 ratio.

When you think about how much travel you could book with 400,000 Capital One miles, this limited-time offer letting you earn up to 400,000 bonus miles on the Venture X Business is incredibly impressive.

— Ben Smithson, Senior writer

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The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.

Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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