No Avail: MCO, Pres Day Wkend
Jan 11, 2005, 4:11 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SF, CA USA
Programs: UA 1K MM, RCC, PreChk , Hertz 5* Gold, HH Silver, SPG Gold thx to Amex Plat
Posts: 490
No Avail: MCO, Pres Day Wkend
Tried to book a 4-day rental at MCO (2/19-22), and the majors had no availability (Hertz, Nat'l, Alamo). Budget had availability, but compact cars were going for $57/day+tax. Is there a huge convention in town, or did their inventory shift somewhere else...I miss those $18-25/day rates...
Jan 11, 2005, 5:45 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: ATL
Posts: 3,219
Originally Posted by ger3sf
Tried to book a 4-day rental at MCO (2/19-22), and the majors had no availability (Hertz, Nat'l, Alamo). Budget had availability, but compact cars were going for $57/day+tax. Is there a huge convention in town, or did their inventory shift somewhere else...I miss those $18-25/day rates...
Jan 11, 2005, 6:56 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SF, CA USA
Programs: UA 1K MM, RCC, PreChk , Hertz 5* Gold, HH Silver, SPG Gold thx to Amex Plat
Posts: 490
That's a nice perk for the Pres Circle.
Still no luck at hertz.com...keep getting..."We're sorry there are no vehicles available for this request".
I'll hang onto the Budget rez and keep checking avail from Hertz a few more times. At least I have a decent rate ($25/day+tax, full-size) from Hertz for this coming 3-day weekend at OGG. At the end of the day (year), it all balances out. Thx.
Still no luck at hertz.com...keep getting..."We're sorry there are no vehicles available for this request".
I'll hang onto the Budget rez and keep checking avail from Hertz a few more times. At least I have a decent rate ($25/day+tax, full-size) from Hertz for this coming 3-day weekend at OGG. At the end of the day (year), it all balances out. Thx.
Jan 11, 2005, 7:21 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: northeast coast of Florida
Programs: UA 1K - 2MM, Lifetime Hilton Diamond, Lifetime Marriott Platinum Elite, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 10,422
Originally Posted by SEA_Tigger
Being President's Circle at Hertz is supposed to guarantee availability - I suppose they grab inventory from area HLE's if they have to.
HLE was going to charge $119.00/day for unlimited miles.
Jan 11, 2005, 7:42 pm
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,578
I guess Florida inventory is still a mess. I had this problem for a trip to Florida in the fall: all of the agencies were low on cars and scrambling to get more inventory into Florida as fast as they could.
Looks like you have two options:
(1) Third-tier agency at the airport. Looking at Orbitz, I haven't even heard of half of those companies, but they do have cars from the $20's per day on up for that weekend. Perhaps if you have a third-day-free coupon for Enterprise, their $40/day price tag would be tolerable.
(2) Neighborhood location. Worst case: these locations will have cars at decent rates. Most of Hertz's HLEs are downtown Orlando, but Budget has a few that are closer to MCO. If saving some money and avoiding the likes of Payless Rent-A-Car meets your needs, consider one of these. The Budget locations have cars in the low $30's per day and you can certainly apply a 3rd day free or something similar to get it lower. Sometimes these locations will pick you up, drop you off, or comp you some cab fare. There's a hassle-factor involved, but it might not be much worse than the hassle-factor of messing with the third tier.
You can also try Priceline, but my guess is that it won't yield much given that Hertz and National-Alamo have no cars and Avis and Budget seem to have very few.
Finally, you can keep checking and hope that the Florida rental agencies have resolved their supply crisis between now and then.
Looks like you have two options:
(1) Third-tier agency at the airport. Looking at Orbitz, I haven't even heard of half of those companies, but they do have cars from the $20's per day on up for that weekend. Perhaps if you have a third-day-free coupon for Enterprise, their $40/day price tag would be tolerable.
(2) Neighborhood location. Worst case: these locations will have cars at decent rates. Most of Hertz's HLEs are downtown Orlando, but Budget has a few that are closer to MCO. If saving some money and avoiding the likes of Payless Rent-A-Car meets your needs, consider one of these. The Budget locations have cars in the low $30's per day and you can certainly apply a 3rd day free or something similar to get it lower. Sometimes these locations will pick you up, drop you off, or comp you some cab fare. There's a hassle-factor involved, but it might not be much worse than the hassle-factor of messing with the third tier.
You can also try Priceline, but my guess is that it won't yield much given that Hertz and National-Alamo have no cars and Avis and Budget seem to have very few.
Finally, you can keep checking and hope that the Florida rental agencies have resolved their supply crisis between now and then.
Jan 11, 2005, 8:08 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Midwest United States (and anywhere a cheap fare takes me)
Programs: Marriott (Gold), Hilton (Gold), SWA (CP), Hertz (5*), UA (Nobody), AA (Lifetime Gold)
Posts: 854
Go Direct
Originally Posted by ger3sf
Still no luck at hertz.com...keep getting..."We're sorry there are no vehicles available for this request".