IAHtraveler

Much to my delight:

Avis ILM is no longer a franchise, but a corporate facility!! Previously, they only had a Toyota fleet for round-trip rentals (basic Corollas for intermediate & Camrys for full size, other base Toyotas for all other classes) and refused to upgrade most times. Once in a while one (as a CHM) I was able to get a high mileage Avalon on a full reservation, but never an SUV.

Their lot is now full of the usual suspects (Chevys, Fords, Hyundais, Kias, etc). The agent confirmed they are now corporate and are allowed to upgrade folks, can email receipts, etc. I guess Hertz ILM will lose most of my business again.

bkafrick

The franchise couldnt email receipts? Thats bizarre. They all use the same backend system.

sdsearch

Oh, Wilmington NC. I would suggest mentioning the city name when using an airport code that most people aren't familiar with.

bkafrick

Bummer that WIL (Nariobi) was already taken when IATA was assigning station names.

Diamondkellen

Best news I heard all day, I started using hertz for ILM because the car selection was so bad, but I do remember flying out last week and seeing a bunch of new cars. Cars were bad, and felt insulted with the questions such as address you are you staying, as part of that francise policy. The middle age blonde lady that worked there would give you a choice but options were always the cars you mentioned. I guess it was taken over because I know a ton of people on and out of ILM refused to rent from them.

IAHtraveler

I talked to the RDU manager about a year ago and he said corporate had been trying to buy the ILM franchise back for a few years but the local owner wouldn't give up ownership. I agree with the "insulting" questions (Who is your employer? Can you prove it? What's your local address? Where are you taking the car/What states are you driving in? How many miles will you put on it?) and the need for two phone numbers. Before I stopped renting from them, when they required a 2nd phone number (in addition to the one on my profile), I gave them the # to the local franchise that was listed on the business card at the desk.

They used to have 2 good employees that would do anything they could for you, but they got a new bunch ~2 years ago and another new sete ~8-10 months ago who were far from stellar.

bkafrick

There's this hotel I'm forced to stay at about once a year that for some reason when I book, my guest details dont come across on their reservation system. It annoys me, and they demand I give them my address (why? i have no idea. the reservation is guaranteed by credit card). So I always give them their own address back. The clerks get seriously annoyed. I'm probably a jerk for doing this, but they could look it up in the guest loyalty program pretty easily.

Brendan

I used to live in wILMington NC from 2004--11. Bkafrick, no airport in the USA may have K, N nor W as the first letter of its 3-letter code, because those initials are reserved for radio & TV stations. So Wilmington DE Airport (near Philly) is ILG. And then there's nEWaRk Liberty International !

IAHtraveler

Somehow overlooked this one before. Nope, no emailed receipts previously. They also couldn't swap credit/debit cards at return either (as Avis.com showed was an option).