I'ma Hertz #1 Gold member. A few weeks ago I made a reservation for a standard car at OGG through the AAA website, the rate for the entire rental period was $434. The reservation showed up in my Hertz account shortly after, and it showed the exact same rate.

A week after I made the reservation, I logged onto my Hertz account and saw that the rate had been reduced to $377. I figured they must have adjusted my rate based on the current AAA rate at the time. Sure enough when I looked it up on the AAA website the rate for the same rental had been reduced to $377. I was fairly happy that I didn't have to cancel and rebook to get the new rate.

Then today I logged on and my rate has gone back up to $434, which is also the going rate on AAA's website.

Needless to say I'm pretty unhappy about this change. Has this happened to anyone before? If I had known the lower rate wouldn't stick I would have cancelled and rebooked...

In all of my reservations with Hertz, hundreds of them, I have never had them change the amount of a reservation. It has always been up to me to check if there was a lower rate and change it, but they have never once changed it either up or down.

You don't need to cancel and rebook, you just need to modify the reservation. The new rate will then be associated with the reservation.

Sorry, I don't quite get it. You made a reservation for some price. Later you saw that the vendor had unilaterally lowered the price, and you were pleased. Now you see that the vendor has raised the price, to that which you earlier agreed, and are annoyed? You're annoyed that you're going to rent for the price that you reserved?

As cordelli said above, I've never seen my rate change. Countless times I've worked dummy reservations to see if I can get a cheaper rate as the date approaches, at least on rentals that seemed costly to me, and I usually get something better (of course I cancel the previous res once I make a new one). Both sides can play the yield management game of course.

But I don't see why one would be disappointed to pay the price for which they reserved, no matter what happened in between.

One other note, Hertz allows you to modify a reservation, so that in most cases you can just change the rate on a current reservation without having to make a new one and cancel an old one.

If you can't do it online (which has never been an issue, but in a recent thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...-sold-out.html - it was mentioned as a problem) you can call and they will give you the lower rate.

But you need to change the rate, they will not do it for you no matter how low the rate goes. You will keep the rate you reserved unless you make a change to it.

I think it is being missed that OP is seeing the price of his reservation changing.
This seems odd, so either something at Hertz is going crazy, or the OP is looking at something incorrectly.

Hertz is NOT going to charge more than the confirmed price. I am surprised the OP hasn't called Hertz to question this.

Thanks guys. I've emailed Hertz about this and am waiting to hear from them. I checked both the Hertz website and the AAA website during the rate change so I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining things.

I wish I had taken a screen shot though.

It is indeed very strange - never seen it before . Is it possible that the 300+ rate you noticed was before taxes but you somehow missed it?

No, it was a.i.. I am pretty sure of it because I checked the Hertz site and AAA site at the time they were both showing $377 ai. I checked both sites several times since I found it very odd that rates would change after a reservation had gone through.

Still waiting to hear from Hertz...

I've had rates change in reservations after booking a number of times. This happened usng both the AAA rate and a corporate rate. In all cases the rates went down and were equal to the then effective AAA or corporate rate. Each time just to be sure I made a new reservation at the lower rate and then cancelled the old reservation. This locked in the lower rate.

Thanks for sharing, wish I had done the same.

Since Hertz never responded to my email I chatted with a rep on Live Help instead.

Basically your Hertz account will reflect the new lower rate on your reservation, but if you don't call the 1-800 number to "lock it in", it goes back to your original rate once the lower rate is no longer available.

Yet there will be nothing on the website to inform you of this seemingly deceitful practice. So let this be a warning to all: don't take it for granted, always cancel and rebook even if the lower rate is now reflected in your reservation.

I still feel pretty incredulous about the whole thing. What shady business practice. I might just cancel my reservation and take my business elsewhere even if it means I'd have to pay a higher rate.

I don't think there's a single travel business, be it hotel, airlines, cruise line, car rental, etc that will lower the rate and just give it to you without asking. If a hotel or airfare goes down, you just don't get the lower rate without changing your own reservation. It's the same thing with car rentals, you agree to a price, and if the price goes down it's up to you to see the rate dropped, and change your reservation.

Just like if you had booked a hotel room, an airline ticket, or booked a car with any other rental company.

Second, there is no need to cancel and rebook Hertz reservations. You open the reservation, click view modify, and if the rate is lower, just accept the lower rate. The reservation will change to the lower rate.

You got the rate you reserved. You just didn't get the temporarily lower rate.

I've had the same thing happen to me with a AAA reservation. But then, I generally check my personal Hertz reservations to see if a lower rate is available a week or two before the trip. I always adjust the reservation and re-confirm/save it to lock in the lower rate.

(By the way, there are some corporate rate programs with Hertz where the rate is, by contract, allowed to float down or UP, even if reserved at a certain rate -- those show up as "Rate Subject to Change" or similar language by the rate itself in the confirmation letter. AAA rates aren't like that, though.)

It is confusing and Hertz should add language about "there is a lower rate available; re-save your reservation to confirm it." But IMHO it's not deceitful or shady, unless you were charged more than you originally agreed.