Hertz Gold is their basic, free level of the program. Anyone can get Hertz Gold for free, AAA not needed. Don't let that influence you.

That said, renting a Hertz car with Hertz Gold is far more seamless than anything Enterprise offers. At most major airports these days, as long as you book a midsize or higher, you simply walk straight past the counter and choose any car you want from the Gold area and drive off. At some less-major airports, your name will be on a "Gold Board" with a stall number, and you walk straight to that stall and drive off. And at smaller airports or at Hertz Local Editions, you (in theory) go to a special Gold lane at the counter, briefly show your driver's license, and they hand you an envelope with your keys in it and you drive off (though it can be hit or miss, and sometimes they haven't bothered to get around to pre-process things for you at these smaller locations, but it's still a relatively quick process for them to process the rental as all your info is on file).

None of the whole Enterprise rigamarole with selling you the coverages, doing a walkaround with an agent and going over the car with a fine-tooth comb, etc. Hertz employees tend to be more apathetic than the brainwashed overly enthusiastic fresh-out-of-college Enterprise agents, but neither are Hertz agents falsely convinced that they're next in line for the Regional Vice President position making $1.2 million a year if they can only get you to buy that prepaid tank of fuel. Fortunately, apathetic Hertz agents are not much of an issue since you rarely, if ever, actually have to talk to a human when renting with Hertz.

FWIW, National takes everything good about Hertz and does it even better.

My suggestion: rent with whomever is cheapest next time you need a car. If it's with Enterprise, great: a little hassle and you save money. If it's Hertz, great: you get to test them out and save money. (Your first Hertz rental with your Gold number may require you to stop by the rental counter to verify your license and credit card, so the "real Hertz experience" starts on your second rental.) If it's with someone else, great: you get to test them out, too, while saving money. Car rentals are largely a commodity, and while the experience can vary from company to company, so can it vary between locations of the same company. (In fact, the competence of local management has a far greater bearing on whether your rental experience will be smooth than which company you go with.) That said, the three more premium brands (Hertz, Avis, and National) have systems in place (when you rent with their frequent renter programs) that make things more automated and thus less likely to go wrong but typically at a price premium over the lower brands like Enterprise, Thrifty, Budget, etc. I would personally pay a small premium to go with one of those brands but not a large one.