Emerald Reserve / Emerald Aisle
 

I could not decide whether to go with EA/ES or Emerald Reserve at FLL for my upcoming trip in April, but I decided to go with Emerald Reserve. If I am not happy with the Luxury class selection, can I still chose from EA or ES or am I stuck with whatever is in the Luxury class?

I'm sure you could do that but why would you - you're paying a huge premium for Luxury over the mid-size rate for EA/ES. Perhaps double book and then call and cancel the one you don't want before leaving the lot with the car that you want.

That sounds like a good idea...Thanks!

Recently, I was in the same quandry except I was renting a SUV instead of a luxury car and I was renting from TPA instead of FLL.

When I found the SUV area there were only fake SUVs, Buick Rendezvous and Chevy Equinox (Equini??). I did confirm that I was in the Standard SUV area not the mid-size area which was father down the row. After walking around a bit, I found the EA/Exec Aisle and sitting there smack dab in the EA was a Yukon Denali with 6 miles on it. Totally confused, I asked the attendant and he said that nobody wants them since gas went crazy and they were putting their larger SUVs in the EA/Exec Aisle. I got into the Yukon, started up my laptop, punched up my res for a SUV and modified it for a mid-size car. I took the Yukon saved $200 and I am still unsure why National would not ensure that a SUV was in the SUV aisle when somebody made a reservation for one.

Dan

I love SUV's (the bigger the better) and rent a lot in TPA (I will be arriving there tonight). I have only once saw something other than a RAV4 in the Excecutive or Emerald Aisle and that was a Tahoe. Oddly, I got about 21 miles to the gallon on that compared to less on the RAV4, with comparable driving.

Edited to add: I got to TPA Friday at 10 PM and just as in the past, ZERO SUVs in the Emerald or Executive Aisle. All cars. I just took my usual RAV4

Same here, I am a big SUV fan and I use them heavily at work and personally.

Dan

I paid $4.50 a gallon for gas yesterday. My guess is the SUVs will be easy to find on the EA/EE as anyone with any sense will refuse to take them.

Who cares if your expensing the fuel/rental.

I snagged the all new(redesigned) Toyota Sequoia Limited at IND a few weeks ago. What a great ride.

Well, almost all of my renting is expensed, and I do care that my company isn't wasting money.

I need the SUV for the ground clearance and the cargo capacity. I drive a car in my personal life and it gets fairly poor gas mileage 14-18 mixture highway and local(plus it require Premium).

With GAS at what it is, I roll my eyes, pop in the Corp. Amex and buy away (with the blessing of my boss).

Honestly, these prices are being driven by speculation and with time will come down to more normal levels.

Dan

Guess I have no sense cuz I am all over them like fly's on butter! ^

I despise small cars!

Quick question- is Emerald Reserve only for those who rent a luxury class car? Does premium count?

How could you be Executive and not know this? Oh wait... never mind. :/

Ron.

Well, I usually just rent full-size. What do you mean by "oh wait... never mind." Are you trying to insinuate something?

Emerald Reserve refers to reserving a specific category/class of car. If you want a full size SUV (or a Convertible or a Luxury Sedan, etc) specifically and don't want to take a chance on what's in the EA/ES, you can reserve that class of car, thus making an Emerald Reserve reservation.

However National does not allow a reservation of a specific make/model within each category (e.g. you can't reserve a Cadillac STS or a Chevy Suburban, you just have to go with what's available in luxury or SUV). For that you have to go to Hertz.