Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One Review

This review is taken in its entirety from the original review on the Rewards Canada website

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 Priority 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.

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.

Redeeming
See Application

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 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. Last but not least, the Priority Club World MasterCard from Capital One now guarantees Platinum Elite Status guaranteed for the life of the account.

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.”