SDQBound

So Here's an update:

About an hour before pickup, I checked the reservation to see if I could push it to an hour later. To my surprise, there was a question mark on the type of car I reserved. Immediately called Hertz and the person who assisted me told me that my reservation was no longer valid because the vehicle category I had selected was unavailable. She was quoting a small SUV for almost double the price, so I pushed until she granted me a full size for the same price of my original reservation.

Fast forward, at Pickup, the PC area was EMPTY and there were a few sedans at the Five Star area. The staff member at the booth asked me what type of vehicle I wanted and I mentioned I was looking for a small SUV. Within minutes, they brought me a Lincoln Nautilus with less than 400 miles ^

UAFLYER22

I am required to book a "Compact" car for work. For my one class upgrade as PC, is intermediate the next level? Do they confirm the upgrade prior to arrival? If so, can I then pick from Ultimate Choice if confirmed into Intermediate? This will be a long rental (20+ days).

FlyinHawaiian

Yes
For Ultimate Choice, your original car class (before the PC upgrade) must be Intermediate. I would expect you to receive a Carfirmation email directing you to your assigned vehicle; it should be a confirmed upgrade to an Intermediate or better car. Hopefully, it will be something decent.

cestmoi123

They might make an exception, but the way it's supposed to work is that you have to book an intermediate to get access to the status-based areas (5*, PC) using Ultimate Choice. So, if your booking is for a compact, you're not supposed to get access to Ultimate Choice. I believe that they will either assign you an intermediate or send you to the intermediate area (if they have one) to choose a vehicle.

jim32190

MDFFlyer

Do these upgrades typically work outside the US or Canada for PC members?

I will be in Panama next week then Caracas the week after and was curious if I should expect to be upgraded.

doglynx

Both the twitter and phone agent were saying pretty much the same thing, it's subject to availability and only at locations where full gold service (where you can bypass the counter, aka big airports) is available. Also the HLE (corporate) people have been telling me this for a while when I reserved a midsize (for three times in a row gave me a sentra, personally I can't think of anything that is worse than this in the whole category). What a stupid company

anteater

That sounds like when Marriott purchased Starwood and guaranteed perks turned into guaranteed priority queues.

jim32190

Time to move to National.

Auto Enthusiast

Remember that National has very few neighborhood locations, if that's where you would normally rent. The offered alternative is Enterprise, under the same corporate parent. While you still can earn National credits there, you won't get to choose your car, or get guaranteed nice upgrades, either.

doglynx

well considering they still have guaranteed upgrade on their website, this is more like shamelessly lying. Marriot made an announcement and it only advertised what it was

beckoa

National match is very quick.

Shocked at the Emerald Aisle, especially the Executive area PHX had too many options Hertz was disappointing.

rylan

Hertz trying to make sure they go into bankruptcy? Significantly cutting benefits and reducing service isn't the way to get people to come back to them when things start to recover.

91StealthES

Hasn’t the “guaranteed upgrade” always been “based on availability”

rylan

Yes, 'based on availability' but was not a restrictions of only at locations that offer full Gold member service. You used to be able to get upgrades at the many corporate locations where they have gold service counters but not the 'full' go straight to the lot and pick your car service.