If you're booking tours, experiences, or hotels through TripAdvisor today, don't click purchase until you read this. Capital One is offering up to 40% cash back through Capital One Shopping and up to 35X miles through Capital One Offers—but only for the next few hours.
These elevated rates work on TripAdvisor bookings for activities, experiences, tours, and instant book hotels. The catch? This promotion expires at midnight tonight, so you'll need to act fast if you've been eyeing any upcoming travel plans.
The Deal Details
Capital One is running two simultaneous promotions on TripAdvisor, and which one makes sense depends on whether you're a cardholder and what you value more.
Capital One Shopping (Anyone Can Use)
Capital One Shopping is available to everyone, even if you don't have a Capital One credit card. Here's what today's offer includes:
40% rewards on activities, experiences, and tours—This is the headliner rate and applies to TripAdvisor's Experiences bookings. Whether you're booking a food tour in Rome, a helicopter ride in Hawaii, or a guided museum visit, you'll earn 40% back on the purchase price.
24% rewards on instant book hotel stays—Hotels booked directly through TripAdvisor's instant booking feature (not the ones that redirect to other sites) qualify for this rate.
The rewards you earn through Capital One Shopping can be redeemed for select gift cards. You won't get straight cash or transferable points, but if you regularly shop at places like Amazon, Target, or Starbucks, you can effectively treat these as cash equivalents.
Capital One Offers (Cardholders Only)
If you have a Capital One credit card, check your Capital One Offers section before using Shopping. The Offers program may deliver better value depending on which cards you own.
35X miles on activities, experiences, and tours (on miles-earning cards)—If you have a Capital One Venture, Venture X, or other miles-earning card, you'll see this rate. At an approximate value of 1.85 cents per mile when transferred to travel partners, that's potentially worth 64.75% back.
21X miles on instant book hotel stays (on miles-earning cards)—Again, this translates to roughly 38.85% back if you value Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each.
35%/21% cash back (on cash back cards)—Own a Capital One Quicksilver or Savor instead? You'll see these promotions displayed as straight cash back percentages instead of miles multipliers.
Capital One Offers bonuses post as statement credits or bonus miles directly to your account, making them more flexible than Capital One Shopping rewards.
How to Access These Offers
The two promotions require different steps to activate, so make sure you're following the right process.
For Capital One Shopping:
Capital One Shopping works through a browser extension that alerts you to available bonuses when you visit participating sites. If you don't already have it installed, you'll need to set it up first.
Visit the Capital One Shopping website and install the browser extension. Once installed, navigate to TripAdvisor and the extension should display today's elevated rates. Click through from the extension notification before completing your purchase to ensure tracking.
The best Capital One Shopping offers typically come via email to existing users. If you've used Capital One Shopping before, check your inbox for a message highlighting today's TripAdvisor rates. These targeted emails sometimes include even higher bonuses than what you'll see on the main site.
For Capital One Offers:
Log in to your Capital One account (either through the app or online). Scroll down until you see the section labeled "Activate shopping offers" and click "View all offers."
TripAdvisor should appear near the top of the available offers. Click to activate it, then make your purchase using the card where you activated the offer. The bonus will post automatically after the purchase settles.
You'll need to activate the offer separately on each Capital One card if you want to use this promotion multiple times.
Which Promotion Should You Use?
If you're trying to decide between Capital One Shopping and Capital One Offers, here's how to think through it:
Choose Capital One Offers if you have a Capital One card, especially a miles-earning one like the Venture X. The 35X multiplier on experiences translates to significant value when you transfer those miles to airline or hotel partners. Even the cash back version (35% straight cash) beats the Shopping portal rate.
Choose Capital One Shopping if you don't have a Capital One card at all. You can still access the 40% rewards rate without being a cardholder, which is unusual for this type of promotion.
Never use both for the same purchase. Trying to stack Capital One Shopping and Capital One Offers will confuse the tracking systems and you'll likely end up with nothing. Pick one approach per transaction.
What Counts as Qualifying Purchases
Not every TripAdvisor booking will trigger these bonuses, so pay attention to the fine print.
Activities, experiences, and tours receive the higher rate (40% or 35X miles). This category includes guided tours, attraction tickets, food experiences, adventure activities, and anything booked through TripAdvisor Experiences.
Instant book hotels qualify for the lower rate (24% or 21X miles). These are hotels where you can book directly through TripAdvisor without being redirected to another site. You'll see "Instant Booking" clearly marked on qualifying properties.
Hotels that redirect to other booking sites do not qualify. TripAdvisor often displays hotel results that, when clicked, send you to Booking.com, Hotels.com, or the hotel's own website. These redirected bookings won't earn the bonus because the final transaction doesn't happen on TripAdvisor.
Important Restrictions and Terms
These promotions expire at 11:59 PM EST on March 16, 2026. If you're reading this on March 17 or later, you've already missed it.
Capital One Shopping and Capital One Offers each have their own transaction limits, though neither publicizes exact caps. If you're planning a very large purchase (like a $5,000 tour package), it's worth confirming with customer service first.
Rewards from Capital One Shopping typically take several weeks to become available for redemption. Capital One Offers bonuses usually post within one to two billing cycles.
The Real Value Here
A 40% return on travel experiences isn't something you see every day, even in the points and miles world. If you've been considering booking a major tour or activity for an upcoming trip, today's promotion can dramatically reduce your cost.
The same goes for instant book hotels. While 24% back isn't quite as eye-popping, it's still significantly better than the typical 1-5% you'd earn through a standard shopping portal or credit card.
For Capital One cardholders earning 35X miles on experiences, the math gets even better when you factor in transfer partners. Transfer those miles to Air France-KLM Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic, and you're potentially looking at 2+ cents per mile in value for certain redemptions.
Quick Action Steps
If you're ready to take advantage of this offer, here's your timeline:
Before 6 PM EST: Check your email for targeted Capital One Shopping offers that might be even higher than the standard 40% rate. Some users report seeing 50% bonuses in late-day promotional emails.
By midnight: Complete your TripAdvisor purchase. The promotion ends at 11:59 PM EST sharp.
Within 24 hours: Make your purchase after clicking through from the portal. Don't leave your session open for days. Portal cookies can expire or get confused if too much time passes between clicking through and completing checkout.
Which Capital One Card Should You Use?
If you're planning to use Capital One Offers and have multiple Capital One cards, here's the hierarchy for maximizing value:
Best option: Capital One Venture X—The 35X miles bonus on top of your regular 2X earning means you're getting 37X total miles per dollar spent. That's potentially worth 68.5 cents per dollar when you transfer to partners. Plus, the Venture X's $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus effectively reduce your $395 annual fee to near zero.
Great alternative: Capital One Venture—You'll earn the same 35X bonus, and while the base card earns the same 2X miles as Venture X, it comes with a lower annual fee of $95. The math is identical for this promotion.
For cash back enthusiasts: Capital One Savor—If you prefer straightforward cash back, the Savor earns you 35% cash back on experiences through this promotion. That's straight money in your pocket without worrying about transfer ratios or redemption values.
Budget option: Capital One Quicksilver—No annual fee and you'll still get that juicy 35% cash back rate. If you don't have a Capital One card yet and aren't ready to commit to an annual fee, this is your entry point.
Not a Capital One cardholder yet? Check out our complete comparison of the Capital One Venture vs. Venture X to see which premium card makes sense for your spending patterns. Or explore the Capital One Trifecta strategy to understand how combining multiple Capital One cards can maximize your earning potential year-round.
Beyond Today's Deal: Making Shopping Portals Work for You
While today's TripAdvisor promotion is exceptional, it's also a perfect introduction to the world of shopping portals if you haven't been using them regularly.
Shopping portals are one of the most overlooked earning opportunities in the points and miles game. Most people focus exclusively on credit card category bonuses and sign-up bonuses, but portals can add 2-10% (sometimes more) on top of what you're already earning.
The key is checking portal rates before every online purchase. Install browser extensions from Capital One Shopping and Rakuten so you get automatic alerts when you visit participating retailers. These extensions do the comparison shopping for you.
Major shopping events—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Prime Day—often bring multiplied portal bonuses. We've seen Capital One Shopping offer 10-15% cash back on select retailers during these periods, and airline shopping portals sometimes run 5X or even 10X mile promotions.
If you want to dive deeper into maximizing portal earnings, our guide on stacking Amazon rewards shows how to combine credit cards, portals, and other programs to earn up to 10% back on Amazon purchases. The same stacking principles apply to most online retailers.
For tracking which portal offers the best rate at any given time, consider using our recommended cashback monitor tools. These aggregators show you real-time rates across dozens of portals, saving you the hassle of checking each one manually.
This is one of those rare times when the timing aligns perfectly: a genuinely valuable portal bonus on a major travel site with same-day expiration that creates urgency for anyone already planning to book.
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