New Cancel/No-show charges?
Apr 30, 2017, 1:04 pm
#16
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,666
I think Autoslash does this automatically, but not sure whether it's on the same reservation or they make different ones, or if they just track rates and tell you when something is cheaper?
Interestingly, sometimes these various cancellations still appear in their system. Recently on exiting LAS, where you now pick up the RA at the exit booth, the guy said "Oh which reservation is this?" When picking up at a franchise location in BZN, I had to pull my printout from my pocket with the res number and say "use this one" to get the one with the cheapest rate. I have no idea why they keep the cancelled reservations in their system.
Interestingly, sometimes these various cancellations still appear in their system. Recently on exiting LAS, where you now pick up the RA at the exit booth, the guy said "Oh which reservation is this?" When picking up at a franchise location in BZN, I had to pull my printout from my pocket with the res number and say "use this one" to get the one with the cheapest rate. I have no idea why they keep the cancelled reservations in their system.
While it is true that your previous reservations are still technically visible in the rental company's reservation system, they would all show as cancelled. You can confirm this yourself if you have a current reservation where you got one or more price drops. Just go to the rental company website and try to retrieve a prior reservation before we dropped your rate. You will find that all previous reservations have been cancelled.
Apr 30, 2017, 3:49 pm
#17
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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Posts: 8,161
Hmm I wonder if you can modify a reservation and get a new price, without need to cancel, when rates go down? My usual habit is to book the car when I pay for the air, and then watch it every now and then. When rates drop, I make a new res and cancel the old. This is different from a no-show of course - Hertz still rents the car, I just get a better rate.
Never used them, but I'd all but guarantee they make a new reservation - with a new confirmation number, and a new travel agent code. If they just modified the reservation they wouldn't get a cut of the action...
Jun 19, 2017, 4:50 pm
#18
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: San Diego
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After all these years with Hertz, I just encountered this new 24 hour cancellation policy for the first time. I'm not sure I can stay with them if I have to pay a full rental day for moving a rental from one location to another.
Jun 19, 2017, 5:03 pm
#19
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Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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Did you try making the booking again? I'm still not convinced this isn't a website bug... I certainly haven't seen it again, despite multiple other bookings since I first raised it (including one at the same location).
Jun 19, 2017, 5:34 pm
#20
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,666
Keep in mind that this type of thing has always existed in some cases for certain situations like Minivans, larger SUVs and other in-demand vehicles when renting in certain locations at certain times of the year. For example, they can enforce the restriction on Fullsize SUVs being rented in NYC over July 4th weekend. They just don't want to be hit with a no-show on a potentially lucrative rental. National has similar policies in NYC.
Jun 19, 2017, 7:43 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,210
Is this being tested on corporate rates as well? The effect on leisure travelers is easy to see. The reservation quote ends without a reservation, likely lost to a competitor. But if you're a business traveler, and your company only has a relationship with Hertz, you don't have a choice.
Jun 19, 2017, 9:04 pm
#22
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,605
Is this being tested on corporate rates as well? The effect on leisure travelers is easy to see. The reservation quote ends without a reservation, likely lost to a competitor. But if you're a business traveler, and your company only has a relationship with Hertz, you don't have a choice.
Jun 20, 2017, 10:39 am
#23
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Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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So whilst perhaps not onorous, it is costly, and thus is very much a disincentive to make a booking - especially if you're not 100% sure you want it...
Jun 26, 2017, 1:20 pm
#24
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Is this being tested on corporate rates as well? The effect on leisure travelers is easy to see. The reservation quote ends without a reservation, likely lost to a competitor. But if you're a business traveler, and your company only has a relationship with Hertz, you don't have a choice.
Jul 4, 2017, 7:13 pm
#25
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,115
Had this popping up for the first time yesterday morning. Midsize 1-day rental for the end of this month at domestic airport location with CDP. Nothing extraordinary. Didn't proceed with res.
Note: popup layout was different. The penalty was presented using three columns instead of three rows. Columns were "Cancel >24 hrs pick up", "Cancel <24 hrs", "No-Show".
Came back in the evening to complete the reservation. Popup didn't appear this time.
Note: popup layout was different. The penalty was presented using three columns instead of three rows. Columns were "Cancel >24 hrs pick up", "Cancel <24 hrs", "No-Show".
Came back in the evening to complete the reservation. Popup didn't appear this time.
Jul 5, 2017, 3:24 pm
#26
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Central US
Programs: WN CP, HHonors, Hyatt Platinum, IHG Premier,LaQuinta Elite, Amtrak
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Interestingly, sometimes these various cancellations still appear in their system. Recently on exiting LAS, where you now pick up the RA at the exit booth, the guy said "Oh which reservation is this?" When picking up at a franchise location in BZN, I had to pull my printout from my pocket with the res number and say "use this one" to get the one with the cheapest rate. I have no idea why they keep the cancelled reservations in their system.
Jul 6, 2017, 2:37 pm
#27
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,138
Had the same pop up when trying to book a weekend sedan rental from an airport in the mobile app. Oddly my screen went white around the same time, so I couldn't complete the transaction. I went to my computer with the same CDP and parameters - no cancel/no-show fee.
Jul 7, 2017, 1:57 am
#28
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriot Am, MU Pt
Posts: 3,092
I hit this a couple times. After a couple run in, I eventually gave up and decided to book later... then it didn't show up and I booked the car I wanted. I did pick up the car as reserved, but I really like the flexibility of being able to cancel in those "just in case" situations.
Aug 16, 2017, 2:59 pm
#29
Join Date: Sep 2013
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Is Hertz's Pay Later cancellation policy location specific? Looking to book a car at BOS, but want to cancel it without paying a fee if my trip gets cancelled.
Aug 17, 2017, 7:19 am
#30
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Hertz appears to be A/B testing the idea of charging customers for cancels/no-shows on Pay Later rates. I ran a bunch of tests and it comes up sporadically. They are probably trying to gauge the reaction of customers to the concept.
Interestingly, the cancel penalties are exactly the same for Pay Now vs. Pay Later, so if you are being forced into it, Pay Now is often the better deal. That said, as the OP pointed out, you can just open a new browser session to get around it (for now), but you can also go and hit the Select Another Vehicle button as well and that seems to stop it from forcing the option on you. They probably figure that if you don't bite at first you're probably not going to, so better to back off than to lose the biz. I'm sure they're tracking exactly how many people click the Continue button vs. Select Another, as well as how many people eventually complete a reservation vs. drop out of the booking funnel.
Time will tell whether this is something that the rental industry can make stick to not. Despite the obvious business advantages of forcing cancellation penalties on their customers, they need to tread lightly, because if one of the big three goes down this road, but the other two don't follow ("caught with their pants down"), the leader could end up in a lonely place and see their bookings drop dramatically. That's one of the reasons you've seen hesitance in the past in this area.
Interestingly, the cancel penalties are exactly the same for Pay Now vs. Pay Later, so if you are being forced into it, Pay Now is often the better deal. That said, as the OP pointed out, you can just open a new browser session to get around it (for now), but you can also go and hit the Select Another Vehicle button as well and that seems to stop it from forcing the option on you. They probably figure that if you don't bite at first you're probably not going to, so better to back off than to lose the biz. I'm sure they're tracking exactly how many people click the Continue button vs. Select Another, as well as how many people eventually complete a reservation vs. drop out of the booking funnel.
Time will tell whether this is something that the rental industry can make stick to not. Despite the obvious business advantages of forcing cancellation penalties on their customers, they need to tread lightly, because if one of the big three goes down this road, but the other two don't follow ("caught with their pants down"), the leader could end up in a lonely place and see their bookings drop dramatically. That's one of the reasons you've seen hesitance in the past in this area.