One Key™ Card — Full Review [2024]

Great Card If

• You want a $0-annual-fee card that earns generous rewards on popular spending categories, including travel, gas stations, groceries, and dining.
• You value OneKeyCash to redeem on Expedia, Vrbo, and Hotels.com for flights, vacation rentals, car rentals, activities, and more.

Don’t Get If

• You want to earn transferrable points and miles that can be redeemed at various airline and hotel programs.
• You prefer a cash-back card with simple bonus categories.

One Key Card — Is It Worth It?

The One Key card is one of the best no-annual-fee credit cards we’ve seen introduced on the market recently. If you’re looking for automatic elite status, bonus points on numerous categories, and easy-to-use travel rewards, then you’ve come to the right place.

This travel credit card offers a nice mix of rewards across travel booked through Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, as well as gas stations, grocery stores, and dining. To make the value proposition even stronger, the One Key card earns 1.5% OneKeyCash on other eligible purchases — meaning you’ll always earn more than a standard 1% no matter where you spend.

With automatic Silver status in the One Key loyalty program, cardholders can get 15% or more in discounts on over 10,000 hotels worldwide. There’s even a pathway to Gold elite status, which can be achieved by spending at least $15,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year. With Gold status, savings on participating hotels increase from 15% to 20%. Gold members even get access to space-available room upgrades when staying at VIP Access properties worldwide (VIP Access properties meet consistently high quality and service standards, as deemed by Expedia Group). Members also get price drop protection on select flights via the Expedia app.

OneKeyCash can be redeemed for anything bookable through the Expedia, Vrbo, and Hotels.com platforms. This includes a wide range of travel, such as vacation homes, excursions, and cruises, all of which have traditionally been more difficult to book with points and miles.

Lastly, the One Key card is issued by Wells Fargo, which offers a suite of travel and purchase protections. That means you can enjoy cardholder perks like no foreign transaction fees, cell phone protection, trip cancellation and interruption protection, primary auto rental collision damage waiver, and travel accident insurance.

What Benefits Do You Get With the One Key Card?

Automatic Silver Elite Status

The One Key elite status program has 4 tiers: Blue (no status), Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The elite qualifying metric for each level is known as “trip elements.” For instance, you can earn 1 trip element per night at a hotel or vacation rental, flight, cruise cabin night, activity, and car rental day.

Silver status normally requires 5 to 14 trip elements earned, but One Key card holders automatically get this level reflected in their account. The main perk is the ability to get hotel discounts, with 15% (or more) on 10,000+ participating hotels worldwide. You’ll also get an extra perk when staying at VIP Access properties, which could include a food and beverage credit, for example.

You can upgrade yourself to Gold status by spending $15,000+ on the card in a calendar year, where you can save 20% or more on participating hotels. But perhaps our favorite perk of this status level is the ability to get automatic price drop protection on flights through Expedia, which is awarded in the form of OneKeyCash whenever your airfare decreases after booking!

Travel Protections

The One Key card offers a wide range of complimentary travel insurance benefits not commonly found on $0-annual-fee cards.

• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver — This primary rental car insurance provides coverage up to $50,000 for accidental damage or theft of your rental car.
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection — If you need to cancel a trip due to illness, severe weather, or any other covered circumstance, you can receive a reimbursement of up to $5,000 per person per trip. Additionally, you can be reimbursed up to $20,000 per 12-month period per account.
• Travel Accident Insurance — In the event of accidental death or loss of speech, sight, or hearing during your travels, you can receive up to $1,000,000 if the incident occurs on a common carrier, such as an airline or cruise ship.

Cell Phone Protection

One of the best perks of Wells Fargo cards is the complimentary cell phone protection that’s included by paying your monthly cell phone bill with your card. The One Key card provides up to $1,000 worth of coverage toward accidental damage or theft to your cell phone.

There’s a $25 deductible per claim and a maximum of 2 claims per 12-month period, totaling up to $2,000 in coverage

Who Is the One Key Card For?

Beyond the flights, booking a vacation involves many elements. If you’re booking for multiple people, you may prefer to stay at a vacation rental, or you may need to book tours and activities in advance at popular destinations.

That said, the One Key card is the perfect fit for travelers who want to redeem valuable OneKeyCash for various travel expenses. The choice is yours when it comes to redemption, so long as it’s through the Expedia, Hotels.com, or Vrbo platforms.

With the One Key card, you can quickly rack up rewards whether you’re traveling or spending more time closer to home. In addition, the card’s travel and purchase protection benefits come in handy when you need them most.

Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Your OneKeyCash

You can earn at least 6% OneKeyCash on Expedia and Hotels.com, and 5% on Vrbo purchases with the One Key card. Furthermore, the One Key card is a great earner on 3 of the largest everyday purchases: gas stations, groceries, and dining. Even when expenses fall outside of these bonus categories, you’ll still earn 1.5% rewards no matter where you swipe your card.

One Key offers a different approach to the traditional credit card rewards programs, as OneKeyCash won’t transfer to airline or hotel programs. Rather, it can be redeemed for a flat rate of 1 cent apiece for travel purchases on Expedia, Hotels.com, or Vrbo. You can redeem for any amount, though you will need enough rewards for the entire flight cost if choosing to book airfare via Expedia.

Your best strategy would be to redeem OneKeyCash for atypical travel redemptions, such as vacation homes, cruises, car rentals, and excursions.

Alternative Cards to the One Key Card

Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

If you’re searching for a no-annual-fee travel card, the Capital One VentureOne card is another compelling option. It earns 5x Capital One miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and an unlimited 1.25x miles on every other purchase.

You can redeem Capital One miles for 1 cent apiece for travel purchases within 90 days of it being posted to your statement credit or transfer rewards to the 15+ Capital One airline and hotel transfer partners for even greater value.

One Key+™ Card

The One Key+™ Card debuted along with the One Key card but carries a $99 annual fee. The higher cost is justified by greater perks, such as an annual $100 OneKeyCash credit and automatic Gold status with a pathway to Platinum status upon spending $30,000+ in a calendar year.

The card even offers perks like a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit and earns 2% OneKeyCash on other purchases.