Hertz - My Hertz vs Avis upgrade over Thanksgiving.

I made bookings at both Hertz and Avis over Thanksgiving from Greenville, SC. We were going to visit the Biltmore Estate, BMW factory, and then drive down to Florida.

Both reserved full size for around $200 / wk. Hertz assigned a Ford Escape with 20k miles. Avis gave us a 2009 Cadillac CTS with 1500 miles on the ODO. Guess which one we took. :)

Of course I am only 5* at Hertz and PC at Avis, so that may explain the difference.

That's a sweet upgrade from Avis but you can't blame Hertz for trying. Given what we've been reading in other threads that's not bad at all. Depends what you're looking for I guess.

Thank you for your assistance in increasing the rates by holding two reservations on a holiday.

Thank you for your assistance in increasing the rates by holding two reservations on a holiday.

Sounds like your problem and not mine. You're free to hold multiple reservations as well. We usually book holidays a year in advance, since I no longer have Hertz PC to guarantee availability.

Sounds like your problem and not mine. You're free to hold multiple reservations as well. We usually book holidays a year in advance, since I no longer have Hertz PC to guarantee availability.

Good point. The rates are only increased to those who didn't plan ahead for the holiday and expect to get a cheap car last minute. It's kind of like an airline that way.

Sounds like your problem and not mine. You're free to hold multiple reservations as well. We usually book holidays a year in advance, since I no longer have Hertz PC to guarantee availability.

Just because you can, doesn't mean its right. You can run a stop sign when no one is looking, but you are still in the wrong.

Also, although by booking well in advance you did keep your costs low, companies use forecasting models to anticipate demand, including staffing (those moving your vehicle into place, cleaning it, keeping it in inventory etc) and this will ultimately impact the company's profits and increase the prices for everyone.

Glad you think about just yourself and don't think outside the box.

Just because you can, doesn't mean its right. You can run a stop sign when no one is looking, but you are still in the wrong.

Also, although by booking well in advance you did keep your costs low, companies use forecasting models to anticipate demand, including staffing (those moving your vehicle into place, cleaning it, keeping it in inventory etc) and this will ultimately impact the company's profits and increase the prices for everyone.

Glad you think about just yourself and don't think outside the box.

Thank you. I did think outside the box, doing something that is not conventional and standard, by booking at both. I got a better deal in the process. If I thought within the box, we would have had a crappy car and not a great free CTS upgrade. In fact, I almost always book at more than one rental company as a backup.

As long as their is no cancelation / no show penalty then I don't see how anyone can complain. There are certain locations where they do charge a cancellation / no show penalty, some locations in Hawaii for example. So I know that if they wanted to do something about it they could, and where it makes sense they do. If most people didn't think ahead to book a car it's not my problem.

Well, I am five star - saw plenty of cadillac on the lot and they gave me an escort.... This was a compact reso @ 80$/day. Hertz is showing no love on my last five or ten bookings.

As long as their is no cancelation / no show penalty then I don't see how anyone can complain...

I disagreed before and I'll do it again.

If we all do the same we'll end up with 50% hotel occupancy or 50% rental fleet utilization or 50% load on a flight. Ultimately this will come back and bite you, me and everyone else in the a$$. Why abuse a good policy?

I see more and more hotels introducing 24 hr, 3 day or worse cancellation policy - a real bummer when you genuinely need some flexibility.
Tomorrow you may have a last minute business trip and you won't find any rental cars because of someone else's multiple bookings "just to compare" - not everyone has the luxury of booking things way ahead.

Anyway the point is, please don't do this to your fellow travelers: pick Avis, Hertz or Uncle Bill's Rent-a-Wreck but please pick just one.

Thank you. I did think outside the box, doing something that is not conventional and standard, by booking at both. I got a better deal in the process. If I thought within the box, we would have had a crappy car and not a great free CTS upgrade. In fact, I almost always book at more than one rental company as a backup.

As long as their is no cancelation / no show penalty then I don't see how anyone can complain. There are certain locations where they do charge a cancellation / no show penalty, some locations in Hawaii for example. So I know that if they wanted to do something about it they could, and where it makes sense they do. If most people didn't think ahead to book a car it's not my problem.

No, what you did is booked selfishly, you didn't really think outside the box in terms of long term effects of your actions. Short term thinking usually results in long term problems.

No, what you did is booked selfishly, you didn't really think outside the box in terms of long term effects of your actions. Short term thinking usually results in long term problems.

I never said I didn't book selfishly. If thinking out of the box means being kind to Hertz, that's not going to happen. Hertz screwed me and embarrassed me in front of everyone in public (I'm talking about an Orlando rental I posted upon here a while ago) and I go out of my way to try and screw them if possible.

Hotels have had cancelation penalties for as long as I can remember. I don't care if car rentals added that as well, in fact I think it would probably help their business. Like I said, they already do it in some locations. I follow the rules to my advantage when I can, if they want to change the rules, then that would be fine.

Tummy's selfish point of view is fair enough anyway - I wouldn't have a problem doing it (though I don't as my corporate deal is Hertz only, for personal rentals now I would be very tempted). And Hertz could avoid the issues by treating us all far better than Avis/National ever would so we'd never want to leave :D

My view is;
100 people doing the 'Hertz vs' compares wouldn't skew any corporate stats unless they all did it at a single airport, even 1000 people wouldn't really skew the stats that much - how many rentals must Hertz do in a week?

Hertz will currently have an expected level of 'no-shows'.. this experiment is unlikely to change those stats, but if it does they just adjust the 'no-show' level without much impact on prices.

As for cancellation charges... I never realised why they don't do it anyway!

Tummy's selfish point of view is fair enough anyway - I wouldn't have a problem doing it (though I don't as my corporate deal is Hertz only, for personal rentals now I would be very tempted). And Hertz could avoid the issues by treating us all far better than Avis/National ever would so we'd never want to leave :D

My view is;
100 people doing the 'Hertz vs' compares wouldn't skew any corporate stats unless they all did it at a single airport, even 1000 people wouldn't really skew the stats that much - how many rentals must Hertz do in a week?

Hertz will currently have an expected level of 'no-shows'.. this experiment is unlikely to change those stats, but if it does they just adjust the 'no-show' level without much impact on prices.

As for cancellation charges... I never realised why they don't do it anyway!

Hertz does do cancellation charges, but only on specialty cars. If you tried booking a Prestige car at Hertz and a Cool Car at Avis, in an experiment to see if both give you the right car, that could get expensive!

I also agree with your point. If Hertz as a whole was offering it's top-tier members the best cars available (e.g. nothing smoky or poorly maintained) and a reasonable upgrade, then people wouldn't have had a problem in the first place.

Hertz screwed me and embarrassed me ... and I go out of my way to try and screw them if possible.

The point that you're not listening to is that you're not just screwing Hertz, you're screwing everyone else too, and everyone else includes me, so please stop the madness.

The point that you're not listening to is that you're not just screwing Hertz, you're screwing everyone else too, and everyone else includes me, so please stop the madness.

I don't think that Tummy is screwing you or anyone else. He simply makes two reservations with two different rental car companies and selects the best offer at arrival.

You also don't screw the rental car company or anyoneone else when your travel plans change last minute and you don't cancel the rental car reservation.

Thank you,
JBa

I don't think that Tummy is screwing you or anyone else. He simply makes two reservations with two different rental car companies and selects the best offer at arrival.

You also don't screw the rental car company or anyoneone else when your travel plans change last minute and you don't cancel the rental car reservation.

Thank you,
JBa

Um...holding two reservations, removes a vehicle from the available inventory that you do not intend to keep. This also applies to not cancelling reservations although last minute could be somewhat understandable, it is still best to cancel as soon as you possible.