Today, I had the option of two different Venture Mile redemptions for my trip to Italy next Fall. I have a multi-city trip planned starting in Rome, on to Lake Como, and finishing in Cinque Terre.

In Rome and Lake Como, I will use Hyatt hotels for my stays, but there are no chain hotels in Cinque Terre. My hotel there will be about $1000 for three nights. I could always use the Capital One Venture Mile purchase eraser feature for these nights. Is that a good deal, though? Here are my two options for my 100,000 Venture Miles.

Italy Hotels on Points and Miles

I plan to stay at the Hotel Pasquale in Monterosso. This is the hotel my sister and I were supposed to stay at last September when we had an emergency and had to cancel part of our trip. I can use 100,000 of my Capital One Venture miles to cover that three-night stay. This saves me $1,000, which would be really nice and would mean that all of my hotel stays on this 10-night trip would be covered.

Flights to Italy on Points and Miles

I also have to fly to Italy. Today, I found business class seats on Turkish Airlines from Chicago to Rome for 45K miles. I also found return seats from Milan to Chicago for 45K miles. These flights are available on the dates I plan to go to Italy. These seats would cost $2,800 each way, so a total of $5,600 for a roundtrip flight to Italy. Now, let’s be honest: I would never pay that much to fly a business-class seat. But I will 100% use points/miles to fly to Italy in business class whenever possible!

Turkish Airlines has an amazing product! The food is great, the crew is always kind, and the seats are comfortable. Economy class seats for the same flights were 30K miles each way, so using points to fly in business class is a no-brainer. Usually, the business class seats on Turkish Airlines are 115K miles each way, but you can find the 45K miles promos by booking out ahead or getting lucky, and they are a great deal!

So, 90K miles for my roundtrip business-class seat on Turkish Airlines that is worth $5,600 or 100K miles for a $1,000 hotel stay? Any idea what I chose to do? 😜 Hint: Turkish Airlines is a partner of Capital One Venture Miles, and my Venture Miles transferred instantly.

A previous Turkish Airlines business class seat.

Bottom Line

We always say, You do You, in this points and miles game. However, there are times when you will get more value out of your points and miles. My choice of two Venture Mile redemptions for Italy proves this point. I booked the Turkish Airlines seats and paid cash for the hotel using a card that I am trying to meet the minimum spend on. It pays to look at all options when using your points and miles and then decide which is the best deal!