Originally Posted by
AvisPreferredRep
.....Members also earn bonus points on their birthday and for achieving certain milestones such as completing their first rental and reaching annual spend thresholds. Without factoring in these bonus points, you will miscalculate how many rentals are needed for a free day.
...If you wanted to rent a mid-size vehicle during an off-peak time of year in Orlando, you would need approximately 1,300 Avis Preferred Points. That can be achieved in approximately 3-4 rentals. A mid-size vehicle in Chicago during an off-peak time of year, would be approximately 2,400 Avis Preferred Points or approximately 7 rentals. A mid-size vehicle in Boston for a weekend day during an off-peak time of the year would be approximately 600 Avis Preferred Points or approximately 2-3 rentals.
Hi AvisPreferredRep,
You have a tough job. You are stuck between some angry loyal customers and a company that does not seem to care about this group of customers. I think many of us are corporate road warriors whose corporate contract rates do not allow miles in other programs, somewhat captive yet very demanding and vocal.
The whole rollout of the program has been a huge failure. If there is to be a lesson on how to not rollout loyalty programs, this is it:
1 - there was the false start last year
2 - existing earned benefit (6 month coupon duration) was cut short - sure way to alienate your loyal customers
3 - many did not get notice on the change
4 - not much information before new program rolled out
5 - not much information after new program rolled out
Then someone probably quickly said "AvisPreferredRep, you better get onto Flyertalk to deal with these people"
We all know any "enhancements" to loyalty programs are not good nowadays
For those who valued the weekend coupons, this was a huge loss. For those who did not, this is a gain - no matter how little.
As far as your points above:
1 - I don't recall reading about the milestone bonuses and birthday bonuses. You are right, without them, we miscalculate. If they do help make the program look that much better, why not tell us about them?
2 - I think rentals in MCO, BOS and ORD during low season can probably be Pricelined for $20/day or less. Say our corporate rate is $40 a day and we earn 50% bonus. We earn 60 points a day. So:
MCO at 1,300 -> 22 days as opposed to "3-4 rentals"
ORD at 2,400 -> 40 days as opposed to "7 rentals"
BOS at 600 -> 10 days which is 2-3 rentals for most Mon-Fri 4 day week renters
So, the math just does not look too attractive. On top of that, you used the off-peak scenario. In the hotel world, it is like saying you get a free stay at Fargo ND in January, right?
Of course, many of us are captive and I think your Management was focusing on that. Maybe they think a point-based program means they can sell points later to others but who will buy points from Avis if it is hard to determine the value of the points for the recipients?
Good luck
