Update 4/30/20: This was indeed temporary as some gift card brands are now back in stock (h/t DDG) but the rate at which you can redeem has been reduced from 1cpp to 0.8cpp for the brands which are back for now (h/t FM).
A few days ago I wrote a post about what COVID-19 might mean in the world of gift cards. In that post I mentioned that Southwest and Best Western had already removed the ability to redeem points for gift cards. What I hadn’t expected was for Capital One to do the same thing.
Here’s the message that greets you if you try:
Gift Cards are temporarily unavailable
Due to constraints resulting from the COVID-19 virus, we are unable to fulfill on gift card rewards. We are working to have them back soon.
The wording of that message makes it sound like this is a temporary logistical issue, rather than one that’s been introduced to help them preserve cash which is the reason why airlines and hotel chains are removing gift card redemptions.
I don’t have a Capital One card, so I’m not familiar with their gift card offerings. If they normally only offer physical gift cards, I can understand why order fulfillment might be harder right now. If these are digital gift cards, I guess it could also be a problem if the company that Capital One hires to administer these redemptions has a number of staff out sick at the moment, or if their company isn’t set up for remote working.
No matter what the reason, I get the impression (and maybe I’m just overly naïve or too trusting) that this is less Capital One actively stopping redemptions so much as them simply not being able to fulfill the orders, hence the option being taken down.