stimpy

It seems there's a new Avis award program. Instead of free weekend rentals, they now have Preferred Points. I just got an email...

In addition to your current Avis President's Club benefits, you are now eligible to opt in to earn Avis Preferred Points.
• Receive 1.5 points for every dollar spent on base rentals and 3 points on optional products.
• Redeem points for complimentary rental days, upgrades, and accessories (like GPS).
• Choose your days – ultimate flexibility with no blackout dates.
With the launch of this new program, Avis Preferred Points replaces the Weekend Rental Rewards previously available.
Opt-in today and rent once within 3 months to receive 250 bonus points.

http://www.avis.com/car-rental/conte...Q-US_en-048953

djk7

I got that too, I'm curious if there are any downsides to opting in. If not, why don't they just automatically opt everyone in?

sdsearch

Already long discussed here:
And what you failed to mention (it's only in the fine print) is that, like with the weekend awards that preceeded it, you can't earn Avis points on rentals where you earn partner (airline/hotel/etc) miles/points.

So for everyone who thinks that:
is a great thread, there is effectively no such thing as Avis points.

stimpy

Wow I looked an somehow missed that thread. I just now got the email from Avis, but mod's please delete this thread.

username

I almost wonder if we should close that thread on the change process and have a new thread discussing the new program - how much the new points are worth, etc...

papyPiHi

In which case, could you please precise it is for US only? There is no such change announced in Europe

Exit Row Envy

I used to get a free weekend car rental up to 8 times per year. Now I get 1 partner point per dollar spent on actual rental fees. So let's crunch some numbers here: $30K spent at Avis will get me 30K Hilton points (which is effectively 1 free night at an average Hampton Inn). That seemed insultingly low, so I called customer service a minute ago to verify. Sure enough, that's the plan. It's a loyalty rewards program without any tangible rewards. Nice goin' Avis. See ya at the Hertz counter.

sdsearch

Or for every three-day or longer Avis rental that you credit to the Club Carlson hotel program you can get 9000 Club Carlson points (with the coupon listed in the promos thread linked above).

So why bother using Avis points if you want hotel stays from your Avis rentals? You earn hotel stays way faster by earning hotel points directly on your Avis rentals and using promos that greatly boost how many hotel points you use. (Club Carlson has the richest hotel promos with Avis, but there are several other hotel programs with promos listed in the Wiki of the promos thread linked above.)

Mikey

I was told the old rewards program (the 2 day rentals, etc.) will be going away as soon as enough folks migrate to the new rewards points plan.

Ans Avis will not tell me how many points it will take to get a rental. They say that it varies. So I offered up some dates for an example, and they would not tell me.

So I told them to tell their moron executives who concocted this "lets not tell them anything" scheme that they are idiots.

username

In the mean time, the executive has been rewarded for implementing the latest scheme for loyalty programs - dynamic pricing.

Hopefully they did not reward him/her with Avis points

I think we will probably be in for a shock when we find out how many points are needed for a rental. So, maybe they are just delaying the pain for us...

This actually reminds me of Panera Bread - you don't know what you get in return for your loyalty.

newfbc

The changes apply to Canada as well.

Ron.

kkapadia

So I opted-in to the Avis Preferred Points Program, and absolutely regretting my decision in doing so. The number of points required to redeem a free day is astronomical. If you do the math, its useless. I was much better off getting AA miles, roughly around 1500 per 4 day rental. So here's the break-down of how the points are working out for me.

My 4 day rental at LAX cost about $150 + Taxes. This gives me 150 preferred points + 37 (25% bonus for being Avis First) = 187 total point.

To redeem one free rental day at LAX I need 1200 points, yes that is 1200 points. At this rate, it would take about 13 weeks of rental to earn 1 free day. This makes no sense at all, and definitely not rewarding for being loyal to Avis for number of years now. At least before there were giving 1 free weekend rental (3 days) for every 9 weeks of rental, or get rewarded handsomely with 1500 AA miles.

Obviously; Avis Preferred Points program people must be smoking crack, when they developed this stupid program. Its not rewarding to be renting from Avis anymore. All they can do is keep their fingers crossed, they folks don't switch over to Hertz.

So long Avis, we've had a great run, switching to Hertz.

I hope this helps other fellow renters.

kkapadia

So I opted-in to the Avis Preferred Points Program, and absolutely regretting my decision in doing so. The number of points required to redeem a free day is astronomical. If you do the math, its useless. I was much better off getting AA miles, roughly around 1500 per 4 day rental. So here's the break-down of how the points are working out for me.

My 4 day rental at LAX cost about $150 + Taxes. This gives me 150 preferred points + 37 (25% bonus for being Avis First) = 187 total point.

To redeem one free rental day at LAX I need 1200 points, yes that is 1200 points. At this rate, it would take about 13 weeks of rental to earn 1 free day. This makes no sense at all, and definitely not rewarding for being loyal to Avis for number of years now. At least before there were giving 1 free weekend rental (3 days) for every 9 weeks of rental, or get rewarded handsomely with 1500 AA miles.

Obviously; Avis Preferred Points program people must be smoking crack, when they developed this stupid program. Its not rewarding to be renting from Avis anymore. All they can do is keep their fingers crossed, they folks don't switch over to Hertz.

So long Avis, we've had a great run, switching to Hertz.

I hope this helps other fellow renters.

cestmoi123

Your math is faulty. At 187 points per week, you'd need to rent for 6.4 weeks to get a free weekend day, not 13 weeks.

FYI, for Hertz, it's only 550 points for a free weekend day, but if there's a period of high demand, that doubles to 1100 points, so you're not necessarily better off than with Avis.

Mikey

Avis points rots. They gutted a decent rewards program and replaced it with one that really really stinks. As soon as I get a different corporate discount (which I am told will be soon) I am defecting.