Avis - Preferred Select – Why Not a Useful Reward?

I just received my 2004 Preferred Select card from Avis and I am under whelmed by the benefits they sent. I rent close to 100 cars a year from Avis and this is what they offer:

1. A companion airline ticket – only USA, only when booked thru their agency, and you still pay all airline taxes. Not a big deal, I’ll pass on using this one.

2. Free weekend rental – sounds good, but read the fine print. 2 free weekend days when renting for three. Two free weekend days would have been nicer. Maybe I’ll use this one.

3. Free Best of Avis Quick City Guide – no thanks.

4. Two free travel publications – ones that you have never heard of.

What I would prefer to see would be:

1. More promos where after a number of rentals you earn free rentals (totally free, not where you have to pay for a day).

2. More consistent upgrades to the next class (some locations seem to always be out of upgrade cars, but yet they are available to book online at the higher class). They learned this trick from certain hotel programs.

3. Real professional customer service in Denver (where I refuse to rent from Avis, corporate policy not withstanding).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by World20:
3. Real professional customer service in Denver (where I refuse to rent from Avis, corporate policy not withstanding).</font>

not thrilled with avis customer service in denver? have you ever rented in manhattan? i would put manhattan up against any avis folks for worst customer service worldwide.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by World20:

2. More consistent upgrades to the next class (some locations seem to always be out of upgrade cars, but yet they are available to book online at the higher class). They learned this trick from certain hotel programs.
</font>

What upgrades? Unless you think giving up a full size 4 door for a mini-van is a upgrade....

i rarely get upgrades (since i mostly rent in manhattan where, amazingly, there is never an upgrade available) and i never get the free newspaper. the customer service is lousy. i almost never get the fast line service, again, because it's manhattan. and, i don't get my starwood points because, yes, i rent in manhattan.

so, the only real value to me is the $ off coupons on multiple day rentals and the free day certificate i get every so often.

Renting 100 cars per year?! Why not split your eggs in different baskets? Try enjoying the benefits of Hertz, they have a fine program too.

CF

It's better than what they gave last year-basically nothing.