I made a non-binding reservation at Hotwire a while back, and rates everywhere have gone up for the place and time of my trip, so it looks like I'm going to be keeping it. I just thought to join Blue Chip now, however. Will I be able to take advantage of any Blue Chip benefits when I pick up my car? There doesn't seem to be any way of adding my Blue Chip # on either the Hotwire website or at Thrifty.com. In fact, I'm not sure whether Hotwire ever asked me for a number when I made the reservation. Does Thrifty need to know I'm Blue Chip ahead of time?
jackal
Feb 11, 07, 10:05 pm
I made a non-binding reservation at Hotwire a while back, and rates everywhere have gone up for the place and time of my trip, so it looks like I'm going to be keeping it. I just thought to join Blue Chip now, however. Will I be able to take advantage of any Blue Chip benefits when I pick up my car? There doesn't seem to be any way of adding my Blue Chip # on either the Hotwire website or at Thrifty.com. In fact, I'm not sure whether Hotwire ever asked me for a number when I made the reservation. Does Thrifty need to know I'm Blue Chip ahead of time?
I don't think you can modify reservations made through third-party travel agents (including online travel agents like Hotwire) at thrifty.com. You should, however, be able to have Thrifty add your Blue Chip number to your reservation by calling them at 800-847-4389 (hit 0 to skip the voice menu) or by calling Blue Chip customer service at 888-400-8877.
Blue Chip is primarily an express rental program, so the only loss you have by not informing Thrifty that you are Blue Chip in advance is that your contract won't be preprinted, meaning that the agent will have to manually enter your information, ask your coverage and gas preferences, and select a vehicle while you're standing there. A good agent can do this in 1-2 minutes.
Due to the way reservations data is transmitted from the corporate office to the individual locations' computer systems (especially if the location you're renting from is a franchise), Blue Chip information added after the reservation has already been made may not transmit properly. This means that the location's computer system *may* not flag you as a Blue Chip and/or may not have your details pre-filled in. You can probably still go to the dedicated Blue Chip agent or counter (if available at that location), but it might take a minute or two extra to process your reservation.
Depending on the choice you made when signing up for the program, Blue Chip is also a rewards program. I don't know how the computer system will process rewards when adding a Blue Chip number after the reservation's been created. If you chose to earn airline frequent flyer miles, you may need to ask the agent to manually input your frequent flyer number if it didn't get transmitted with your Blue Chip number update. If you chose to earn Blue Chip rewards, which gets you a free rental day every 16 rental days, things are a bit trickier--try asking the agent to put your Blue Chip number in the frequent flyer number field, along with the airline code BC (for Blue Chip). It will probably vary depending on the location's computer system.
These are worst-case scenarios; in all likelihood, the info will get transmitted just fine (especially if you rent from a corporate-owned location, since their computer systems are tied together with the corporate headquarters reservations systems).
Also, note that if you update your Blue Chip profile with a new address, new frequent flyer preferences, or any other updated information, the new changes *may* not be reflected in any existing reservations.
One thing to note: because Thrifty has to pay travel agents a commission, rates booked through travel agents (including online travel agents like Hotwire) are *usually* slightly (i.e. $1-2) higher than rates available directly through Thrifty's Web site (though not always, if a rate war is going on). Rates aside, booking directly at www.thrifty.com is usually the easiest and gives you the most accurate and comprehensive information about rental policies and fleet makeup, and it provides you with fields in which you can put promotional codes, corporate discounts, and, of course, your Blue Chip number. What I've found works well is using an online travel agency to check rates and then going directly to the cheapest provider's site and seeing if the rates are better there. You can also use a metasearch engine like kayak.com or sidestep.com, which searches all of the providers' sites directly (although strangely, I've found it often doesn't search dollar.com and thrifty.com, even though it returns results for those two agencies from other sites like Orbitz and CarRentals.com).
I hope this answers your questions and helps others stumbling across this thread!
Wow, that's a hell of a thorough reply!