National - A sign of things to come?

Avis is readying no-show fees. National has the prerogative to charge for cancellations within a 24 hour window, but historically, has never done so. Are we going to see a change in policy enforcement?

http://www.management.travel/news.php?cid=Avis-Budget-Group-no-show-fees.Nov-09.05

An Enterprise Rent-a-Car spokeswoman said the company (including the National and Alamo brands) had no plans to impose no-show fees.

Translation: They'll be in place next week. :D

Huge applause for no show fees here.

Interesting thread by the way about them here from years ago

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/national/477608-no-show-fee.html

Avis is readying no-show fees. National has the prerogative to charge for cancellations within a 24 hour window, but historically, has never done so. Are we going to see a change in policy enforcement?

http://www.management.travel/news.php?cid=Avis-Budget-Group-no-show-fees.Nov-09.05

Sorry, Doc, but why even start the anxiety on this board when the final paragraph of the linked article is this:

An Enterprise Rent-a-Car spokeswoman said the company (including the National and Alamo brands) had no plans to impose no-show fees. Representatives at Hertz and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group did not return calls seeking information.

Sorry, Doc, but why even start the anxiety on this board when the final paragraph of the linked article is this:

An Enterprise Rent-a-Car spokeswoman said the company (including the National and Alamo brands) had no plans to impose no-show fees. Representatives at Hertz and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group did not return calls seeking information.

Well, call me skeptical; I think those "plans" are subject to change at any time. :)

Well I think the new "reminder" emails could easily be the first step to the "no show fees"

And honestly I don't blame the rental car companies. So I won't complain when these appear.

Well I think the new "reminder" emails could easily be the first step to the "no show fees"

And honestly I don't blame the rental car companies. So I won't complain when these appear.

I agree. I always pick up a car when I book it or cancel a day ahead if I don't need it, so I wouldn't be affected by no-show fees. I'm always extremely careful about hotel bookings, so there's no reason not to do the same with rental car bookings.

I'm not pleased at all about this for the majority of rentals. The reason is that the rental car experience is held far more hostage to airline delays than the hotel experience. Most hotels still have a 6pm cancellation policy, and with status I've been able to get post-6pm cancellations (or same day cancellations at properties requiring 24-48 hours notice) when I run into irrops and the airline cannot accomodate me.

I have a feeling, however, that the rental car industry plans on having a far smaller grace period. If I'm due to land at 6pm, and get stuck someplace and delayed until 9:30pm, are they going to honor my rate if I call? Or are they going to say that I have to cancel before a deadline and then rebook at rack rate if cars still happen to be available?

I understand a cancellation penalty on specialized vehicles - full-size SUVs, luxury vehicles, "premium collections" of places like Hertz. But not on regular EA/ES rentals!

And if I don't actually pick up the vehicle because of irrops and they charge me, are they still going to charge me for the courtesy bus and the facility charge, and the sales taxes on those??

I think airline delays would be a different story, because those arriving by airline give their arrival information at the time of booking. So, the rental company is made aware of any problems.

Aloha, What does the rental car company do for me when I arrive on time and they have no cars and I am forced to wait? Saw this at Hilo 3 months ago at the Alamo counter. For some people I was told had waited for 2-3 hours.:td:

Aloha, What does the rental car company do for me when I arrive on time and they have no cars and I am forced to wait? Saw this at Hilo 3 months ago at the Alamo counter. For some people I was told had waited for 2-3 hours.:td:

It's Alamo, they do NOTHING.

They did this to me in Atlanta years ago. (proably 20 by now) I have NEVER walked up to an Alamo counter again and try NOT to remember that Alamo and National are the same company....(And when I walked out they did charge me a "no show fee")

If the agent is wearing a Yellow shirt, I will WALK first :)

Let's put it this way. Avis and Budget are often the first to try newfangled shennanigans, and then expect the customer to bite, er, "adapt." First it was the 50 mile cap, and the same or higher rate as before. Then it became the 100 mile cap. Then it became the 150 mile cap. Eventually it went back to no cap because there's no way I'd waste $$$ on a rental car just to drive to the supermarket, and I'll bet a lot of people agreed with me.

It may not occur to such folks that some renters book with them rather than Hotwire or Priceline precisely because of the cancellation policy. If both Avis direct bookings and Priceline charge for no-shows, then more people will go for the cheaper rate and customer loyalty will go out the window even more than it already has. Then when cars sit unused and Avis decides to accept more of those opaque pre-paid bookings, I'll bet the policy switcheroo will quietly happen again.

I'd actually say that's a pretty reasonable expectation, given that a lot of renters see little difference between the companies (higher mileage cars and limited choice) so they shop on price anyways.