When a 3-day weekend rental is cheaper than a 2-day weekend rental.
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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When a 3-day weekend rental is cheaper than a 2-day weekend rental.
Noticed something interesting on pricing at my local Avis airport location in Upstate New York.
Pricing rentals for next weekend, I am finding that a Friday-Monday prepaid rental using the AARP discount code and the Avis third-weekend-day free coupon (TUWA077) costs less than a Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Monday rental. Is this common at other Avis locations?
Pricing rentals for next weekend, I am finding that a Friday-Monday prepaid rental using the AARP discount code and the Avis third-weekend-day free coupon (TUWA077) costs less than a Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Monday rental. Is this common at other Avis locations?
#2
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: HAJ
Programs: BA Bronze, AVIS Preferred Plus
Posts: 53
Hi,
yes this is quite normal. A 3 day rental is cheaper than a 2 day rental on weekends and a 1 week rental is cheaper than a 6 day rental.
3 days count as a weekend rental (weekend price), whereas a 2 day rental uses the daily price. The latter one is normally always more expensive.
yes this is quite normal. A 3 day rental is cheaper than a 2 day rental on weekends and a 1 week rental is cheaper than a 6 day rental.
3 days count as a weekend rental (weekend price), whereas a 2 day rental uses the daily price. The latter one is normally always more expensive.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Hi,
yes this is quite normal. A 3 day rental is cheaper than a 2 day rental on weekends and a 1 week rental is cheaper than a 6 day rental.
3 days count as a weekend rental (weekend price), whereas a 2 day rental uses the daily price. The latter one is normally always more expensive.
yes this is quite normal. A 3 day rental is cheaper than a 2 day rental on weekends and a 1 week rental is cheaper than a 6 day rental.
3 days count as a weekend rental (weekend price), whereas a 2 day rental uses the daily price. The latter one is normally always more expensive.
My speculation is that the free-weekend-day coupon deducts one day of the non-prepaid rate from the prepaid three-day total, but that's just a guess.
Last edited by guv1976; Jun 16, 2019 at 12:38 pm
#4
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 3,703
I don't think that that's the explanation. A two-day rental that includes a Saturday-night keep typically gets the weekend rate. And a six-day rental typically gets the weekly rate. (At least, that's been my experience in the U.S.; might be different in other parts of the world.)
My speculation is that the free-weekend-day coupon deducts one day of the non-prepaid rate from the prepaid three-day total, but that's just a guess.
My speculation is that the free-weekend-day coupon deducts one day of the non-prepaid rate from the prepaid three-day total, but that's just a guess.
#5
Moderator: Avis and Rental Cars
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 8,032
If you're using Avis.com, on step 3 (rental options) expand the terms section. You can see if there's something triggering a max stay or weekend requirement in the rate. That will tell you if it's the 3-day vs. 2-day opening up better rates, or something else finicky is going on.
#6
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I just did an experiment, pricing both a Friday-Sunday rental and a Friday-Monday rental, but without applying the third-weekend-day-free coupon. Without the coupon, the prepaid two-day weekend rental prices at exactly 2/3 the cost of the prepaid three-day weekend rental. With the coupon, the three-day prepaid rental prices at less than the cost of the two-day prepaid rental.