wetrat0

Last year I used Thrifty Blue Chip for several leisure rentals, especially with their really great weekend rates. I was always greeted cordially and they had a reasonably nice car ready for me when I arrived (nothing exciting but never more than a year old or 20,000 miles). This weekend, I went to a station that I've been to before. Nothing was ready. I was sent to the counter to update my credit card. No attempt was made to expedite my processing versus the other customers who were not members of the loyalty program and had Hotwire, etc. They did not have the car assigned or ready to go. After waiting while the staff twiddled their thumbs, I was offered a Camry with 65,000 miles and covered in bird s***. I told the guy that if he could not do any better I would walk to National, to which he was utterly indifferent. So.. I walked to National, where I got a car with 65 miles (yes, a 1000-fold decrease) and needless to say had been through a car wash sometime in the last week.

I guess you could say I should have known better but I have had OK experiences with Thrifty before. But it seems like Thrifty is trying to follow the Spirit airlines model lately since being taken over by Hertz. At this point I would hesitate to use Hotwire for car rentals because they now have Dollar/Thrifty as an option.

Jeeves

Let's hope this is not a trend.

ua653flyer

Lets face it, Dollar and Thrifty are becoming the dumping ground for Hertz

Often1

DYKWIA. Looking down one's nose at the Hotwires? Not sure a couple of leisure rentals makes you someone they drop everything and run for. Even at Thrifty, which is hardly competing for the HVC market anyway.

wetrat0

On the Thrifty web site, their promo for Blue Chip says "Step up to the special Blue Chip Members Only line and feel like a VIP every time you rent from us. You'll be in and out faster so you can get on the road."

They advertise it as something that's supposed to be fast and easy, not to mention that I already gave them all my information (driver's license, etc) so it would be in their system. My point is that in my past experiences it was fast and easy (and I got a reasonable if not amazing car). This time it wasn't.

And yes, I felt sorry for the poor Hotwire customer who was going to get the 65,000 mile Camry covered in bird droppings.

wetrat0

Actually, if you don't differentiate service between the direct booking channel and opaque booking channel, then customers have no incentive to book direct (which brings more revenue since you have to pay a commission to the opaque channel).

I'm saying after the last experience I doubt I will book direct with Thrifty again (even if they have the lowest price). I go back to them it would only be because Hotwire/PL sent me there...