My first intro to a "Chairman"

Old Sep 2, 2008, 2:41 pm
  #1  
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My first intro to a "Chairman"

i had only heard rumors these people existed. but last night at BDL, i was on the bus ... we started pulling away from the pick-up and the radio screamed "STOP! we have a chairman who just called and he's on his way"

so we waited for him ... he boarded.

the radio communicated that he had his white Cadillac STS ready outside the Preferred doors and it was already running and his maps had been printed out and there were two bottles of cold water in the car.

The driver even asked him "do you need anything else?"

I sat there with my jaw wide open.

I mumbled to him ... 'what the heck is a Chairman? i've rented an Avis car for 178 out of 182 straight weeks and i've never even been told Hello!"

he just smiled and said it wasn't him ... it was his company.

Regardless ... WOW! that status level just blew my mind. I've never in my life seen Avis jump through a hoop for anyone. In a matter of minutes, they build a new hoop and coated it with diamonds for this guy.
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Old Sep 3, 2008, 3:50 am
  #2  
 
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There is more beyond what the public sees that goes on with CHM.

nationally, CHM's rentals are tracked and verified that everything went well at pickup. Mgrs are required to email (at one time it was call) into the CHM desk the result of the encounter and note any abnormalities. When a CHM complains to the desk, they want to know what it could be about before they call, so if there are notes that said 'cust made an issue that the maps were incorrect" or "wanted different car" or "made comment that the car wasn't clean".

At my location, we got emails when the reservationw as booked, and a confirming call to the manager on duty. The day before, mgrs would start scouting for the perfect car for this customer. Managers who were in charge of the rental return area would look for a prize car, tag it for special cleaning. The crews would dress the tires, seriously detail it, clean the windows and ask for a managers inspection. Once the car was inspected and passed, it was parked in a specific spot, locked, and the keys went into the managers key locker. A note was placed on the inside of window with the time and name of the CHM. Sometimes this process would happen the day of, but most of us preferred for it to happen the night before. the morning, on our daily game plan, we put the name, flight number, and type of car reserved for the customer. Every customer facing employee got the game plan which included upgrade pricing, availablity, expected peak times, any special events going on.

Bus drivers, 2 hours out, were given a radio check and update reminder. If any manager knew the incoming chm (often did), a description was given. For example, a prominent beer manufacturer heir and electronics designer were regulars at my airport. I would say "so and so is arriving united flt xxxx. We have a XXX car for him in stall XXXX. Reminder, 6ft, silver hair, often travels with golf clubs. On this trip CHM advises his wife may pick up car if she comes out ahead of him etc etc. Stop til bump protocol for area XXXXX."

Stop til bump protocol meant that an Avis bus would wait at the area until they were absolutely full. If they were, they would still wait until they were "bumped" out of that stall by another avis bus or by airport security.

Luckily, I was the CHM manager for most of my career. I handled em all. I knew what kinds of cars they wanted, what they looked like, their preferences in newspaper, treats, water vs. soda, hotels they usually stayed at. When i emailed my district manager after every CHM, I would keep a copy of it and put it in a folder to reference for next visit. Some of the CHM woud actually call my cell phone to let me know they arrived. I knew which ones preferred bus pickup, which ones wanted curbside (drive the rental to the curb for them and then I would hop the bus back) and which ones always seemed to arrive early because they caught an earlier flight.




Originally Posted by AustinFlyer76
i had only heard rumors these people existed. but last night at BDL, i was on the bus ... we started pulling away from the pick-up and the radio screamed "STOP! we have a chairman who just called and he's on his way"

so we waited for him ... he boarded.

the radio communicated that he had his white Cadillac STS ready outside the Preferred doors and it was already running and his maps had been printed out and there were two bottles of cold water in the car.

The driver even asked him "do you need anything else?"

I sat there with my jaw wide open.

I mumbled to him ... 'what the heck is a Chairman? i've rented an Avis car for 178 out of 182 straight weeks and i've never even been told Hello!"

he just smiled and said it wasn't him ... it was his company.

Regardless ... WOW! that status level just blew my mind. I've never in my life seen Avis jump through a hoop for anyone. In a matter of minutes, they build a new hoop and coated it with diamonds for this guy.
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Old Sep 3, 2008, 4:29 am
  #3  
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I just read that twice.

My jaw is even more wide open now than it was when i witnessed the scene myself.

I really don't even have a comment. that is incredible.

It's just a rental car - wow!

does a Chairman just so many more cars than I do? Or do they pay 3x more? What makes them more valuable than my 52-60 car rentals per year?
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Old Sep 3, 2008, 7:21 am
  #4  
 
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Good to see you back posting again EZ.

I usually rent Mon-Fri every week, so yeah, around 40-50 rentals a year, for about 200-225 days of renting too. Check out the other threads and you'll notice either your company or someone has to toss a lot of money towards Avis to get an invite. Or just get real lucky I guess.
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Old Sep 3, 2008, 7:26 am
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by AustinFlyer76
I just read that twice.

My jaw is even more wide open now than it was when i witnessed the scene myself.

I really don't even have a comment. that is incredible.

It's just a rental car - wow!

does a Chairman just so many more cars than I do? Or do they pay 3x more? What makes them more valuable than my 52-60 car rentals per year?
The thousands and thousands of rentals done by a large company in a year.

I really have to take a trip down south and see what CHM is like down there. Up here in Canada, YMMV.
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Old Sep 3, 2008, 12:26 pm
  #6  
 
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I have received some of the best CHM service at DFW. I once request curbside pickup, and now everytime I have a reservation at DFW, a manager will usually call the day before I arrive and ask if I would like to be picked up at the curb.
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Old Sep 4, 2008, 3:46 am
  #7  
 
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forgive me if my numbers are off, since im no longer an insider, I am a former insider (and whistleblower, but thats another story).

Truth is they often pay the same as you and me. Its just who they are to their respective companies and how much business they offer. One of the more colorful (but not less favorite CHM) was a pilot for one of the airlines! He had a side business where he hired his pilot buddies to shuttle aircraft around the country. His business always dealt with Avis for the employees. They would fly in (non rev), rent a car, stay at a hotel til the required rest time was achieved, return car and fly the car to the proper airport. He himself rented 150-200 rental days per year. His company was approaching 1500 rental days per year. he had 1 CHM membership, thats it.


I once asked what Someone needed to do in order to get a CHM membership. Here is what I was told. Typically, you cannot get a CHM status as an individual. You would need to set up a business account and your business acct would need to provide in excess of 100k per year of revenue to Avis. Even with that amount of revenue, you would need to also be in charge of the consumer buying process or decision making process of who to rent from. Based on that criteria, specific companies are given a set number of Presidents club and CHM memberships negotiated into the rate price decrease. Do not be surprised to see a single company (merk, GM, Ford, Coca Cola) to sacrifice dollar amount in savings for more executive perks.

I know of one company that basically said "we dont want discounts, give us a set price nationwide and make sure all of our employees are given the top level treatment." that company, from what I was told, got 50 CHM memberships and everyone else in the company got Presidents club memberships, but they had a flat rate for a standard car of 50 dollars a day, no weekly discount, unl mileage, gas included, just return the car as is.

If I remember correctly, Marquis jet offered CHM membership with the purchase of 100k of fractional jet ownership, which would be a VERY similar deal to the above mentioned company. Marquis Jet doesnt pay the bill, so they were in a strong position to parlay their contract into value added services to their exclusive clientele.

But the bottom line, CHM members speak directly to the movers and shakers of the company, or are the movers and shakers themselves. If a particluar CHM was treated badly, it could cause an acct to be cancelled.

Case in point, a particular bank had been hearing anecdotal evidence that service was going downhill at a particular airport. The bank CHM himself (also a chm) rode up a dollar bus and walked over to see it first hand. He sat there for 25 min taking notes on who was getting cars and how fast, then caught the dollar bus back down and waived down the Avis bus. fortunately, his perpensity to do such checks is known and I was all over it. I actually knew of an employee who worked at that particular bank made sure that bank employee was around when he came up. I didnt coach him, just put their cars side by side so that he would say "hey, XXXXX, fancy meeting you here."

High volume renters are identified on the manfest with the term "HVR" next to their name. There is no protocol for treating them, other than to make sure that everything goes smoothly and if given a choice, they get the upgrades ahead of others. Unfortunately many locations treat them as "seasoned veterans" who will take anything to make sure they get on their way faster. I discouraged this practice and came up with my own perk system for themw which included bottle water, specific sodas, choice of newspapers, special events info for local events, and personally inspecting and hand selecting cars for those people. those cars didnt get the CHM treatment, but they were cleaned to exacting standards over and above the standard cars.

it did get me noticed though. i often got "why cant you be in XXX airport instead of XXXX, I fly out of there more often..."






Originally Posted by AustinFlyer76
I just read that twice.

My jaw is even more wide open now than it was when i witnessed the scene myself.

I really don't even have a comment. that is incredible.

It's just a rental car - wow!

does a Chairman just so many more cars than I do? Or do they pay 3x more? What makes them more valuable than my 52-60 car rentals per year?

Last edited by ezmonee; Sep 4, 2008 at 3:52 am
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Old Sep 4, 2008, 3:54 am
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Originally Posted by ECKOA6
I have received some of the best CHM service at DFW. I once request curbside pickup, and now everytime I have a reservation at DFW, a manager will usually call the day before I arrive and ask if I would like to be picked up at the curb.
very typical of the better managers. Do me a fav and the next time you call CHM desk, comment on how he treats you well. It will likely get him a 100 dollar bonus.

if a CHM goes out of their way to thank you for a job well done through the comment process (email, letter, phonecall), its something highly sought after by the company and will get you recognition. They encourage people who go out of their way to provide service.
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Old Sep 4, 2008, 3:51 pm
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Originally Posted by bonoman
Good to see you back posting again EZ.

I usually rent Mon-Fri every week, so yeah, around 40-50 rentals a year, for about 200-225 days of renting too. Check out the other threads and you'll notice either your company or someone has to toss a lot of money towards Avis to get an invite. Or just get real lucky I guess.
The avg revenue per day in 2005 was around 23 dollars per day. Assuming 225 days of rents per year, thats 5k in revenue. If your company has 20 more people like you working around the country, then its likely that there is a CHM, or perhaps two, in your organization. What sickens me is that if your company has 20 people like you, those 20 people do not get the chm or presidents memberships. companies usually deliver them out to execs who rent less than 5 times a year.
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Old Sep 4, 2008, 4:11 pm
  #10  
 
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I probably travel more than some, but I'd say the average would have to be 175 days/year at least. We have between 80-100 consultants in our company, all road warriors.

I've never asked and our travel agent is a bit on the dull side, not even sharp enough at the last minute to find the L or T fare that I see online and instead booking me into M or Y (on NW), not that I complain about the bonus EQMs.

I did ask and they said they didn't even know about President's Club before FT helped me find my own way into it. As good as the service sounds for CHM, I think I'd even fork out the $450/year or whatever it was some people were able to join for. I do seem to get treated damn well even just as Prez Club, especially at regional airports where they hardly seem to see them.
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Old Sep 18, 2008, 6:54 pm
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My wife tells me that my Chairman pack arrived today.

Sounds like I am in for some very nice treatment.
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Old Sep 19, 2008, 6:00 am
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ezmonee:
definetely slightly OT, but are/were there any particular routines for President's Club card holders?
I am definetely underimpressed by the way I've been received at European locations, particularly PMI, BIO, NCE and BCN.
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Old Sep 19, 2008, 9:14 am
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Originally Posted by The Viking
ezmonee:
definetely slightly OT, but are/were there any particular routines for President's Club card holders?
I am definetely underimpressed by the way I've been received at European locations, particularly PMI, BIO, NCE and BCN.
I asked about Europe on the CHM line the other day, not sure how this would translate for PC folks:

The CHM CSR stated that the program is geared towards the US and Canada but most major European centers are at least aware of the program. She mentioned a few locations including Heathrow and Frankfurt as usually being good about CHM's.

I was also told to call and make the reservation directly through the CHM desk and make a point of asking that a heads-up be given to the overseas location requesting whatever I needed.
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Old Sep 20, 2008, 10:35 am
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Originally Posted by lardiop
I asked about Europe on the CHM line the other day, not sure how this would translate for PC folks:

The CHM CSR stated that the program is geared towards the US and Canada but most major European centers are at least aware of the program. She mentioned a few locations including Heathrow and Frankfurt as usually being good about CHM's.

I was also told to call and make the reservation directly through the CHM desk and make a point of asking that a heads-up be given to the overseas location requesting whatever I needed.
I regularly rented both domestically and internationally as both a President and Chairman. In the USA, President usually got me an upgrade to a Town Car, but I often had to go into ask for an upgrade. Nothing too special. There was no special treatment or upgrades as a President at LHR. As others have posted, the special treatment that Chairmans get in the USA is simply amazing. The only thing it got me at LHR was two bottles of water in my car. No upgrades, and not even a front row spot.

My understanding is that Chairman status is a USA/Canada thing.
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Old Sep 20, 2008, 10:43 pm
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Originally Posted by bonoman
Check out the other threads and you'll notice either your company or someone has to toss a lot of money towards Avis to get an invite. Or just get real lucky I guess.
Or check out the Coupon Connection Forum.
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