Huge devaluation by corporate programs
 

Not sure if others are also seeing this, our corporate program personal codes have been almost devalued completely to the point of being worthless. I am currently employed at a very large consulting firm, National code starting with XZ for those of you who would like to check prices themselves.

A car used to run me $34/day for the mid size/Executive aisle. Now with the devaluation a midsize is $96.30+tax per day. What's even more insane that WITHOUT the corporate discount the midsize is $87/day.

Now, for some reason my former employer is still the default profile which comes up whenever I try to make a reservation. I guess I will have to start claiming ignorance...

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but this isn't exactly late breaking. Rates have been going up for the past many years, and many companies (sounds like yours included) were not able to negotiate more favorable rates - whether due to decreased travel over the past few years or whatever.

Also, you shouldn't use discount codes to which you aren't entitled.

My company must be late to the party, the personal discount code was (as of a month ago when I booked a reservation for November) still showing the very favorable employee rates. Yes, they have basically cut travel to levels never seen and have openly said they are not going back to a travel first mindset. National must have said if the business isn't on the business use side, personal use codes won't be great either.

What I however can't understand is that the code is now at a higher rate than simply making a reservation under my EE account.

I don't think you're that late to the party - my corporate rates have been the same for years up until about 2 months ago, now rates are anywhere from 25-40% more than they had been (what was 41 a day is now 54). It's my understanding that the rates are negotiated on a yearly basis so you would notice the increase 12mo after the original negotiated rate.

I had that issue with a former employer's code. Had to reach out via email and get them to remove it.

OP, This may be relevant: Charged over 2X reserved rate - Page 2 - FlyerTalk Forums

Are you booking directly with National using the existing corporate code? Try booking via Concur (or whichever tool your company use).

For reference, my company's corporate rate (public accounting firm) is still $32/day for business or $55.91 for corporate-personal rate.

Yup, corporate rates with National increased to so much higher than our corp rates with Hertz and Avis I don't see any Emerald Aisles these days.

+1 on this. My employer (a tech behemoth) has a leisure rate with National, and it went through the roof at the beginning of this year. The "official travel" contract ID has remained at its usual price of $33.99/day for an intermediate at nearly any location across the US, including Hawaii. The leisure rate used to match this price; now it's well over $90/day for most locations and usually higher than the "rack" rate with no contract ID.

The corresponding leisure rates with Avis and Hertz have not increased at all. It makes me wonder if National has simply stopped offering leisure discounts as contracts with their customers renew.

It's disappointing as National is just so much better than the other two... but definitely not 60 bucks better.

I've found our corporate rate is comparable to the AMEX Platinum rate that is attached to my profile.

This (corporate leisure code offering little/no discount) has happened on other corporate contracts years ago pre covid (was discussed on FT). Sounds like maybe your corporate contract just came up for renewal and got the same treatment as other corporations.

National used to be my 1st choice but now I booked one with Hertz and another with National and only go with Nationals higher rates if something spectacular is available sitting in the Aisle.

Yep, it's true. The personal use code I was using, which started with XZ, went from $48/day for midsize at a local airport to $112/day, higher than the rate without any code. Bizarre. Luckily I have a Hertz personal use code which is at $60, so I guess it's time to switch.

Noticed my personal use code just now skyrocketed on the daily rate. I have an upcoming reservation in few days booked few months ago and just checked my account the rates are still the same when I booked. Do I need to be worried and start to make plan B? The price is still showing the lower corp rate but I don't want to be surprised of change of bill when I returned the car.

It happened to me before. My reservation online was showing the original rate and when i requested a receipt at the booth, it showed the much higher rate. Asked why was it so and was told that the rates for my corporate account was adjusted. Reversed and parked the car back and cancelled the reservation.

Thanks for the DP. Cancelled and rebooked, not risking additional hassle.