Many airlines and hotels have long offered status matches (you’re an elite customer of one travel provider, they’d be happy to have you as their customer and will make the transition easier by giving you comparable status in their program).
More recently several programs have moved towards challenges, either expedited ways of earning the status or temporary status while you fly or stay a certain amount to keep that status.
Back in August I noted that National Car Rental is running a status match program through January 31. It was the first time I remembered seeing a formal status match offer from a rental car company, in the past when I’ve inquired about those I’ve been told by the major rental companies that they do not have anything of the sort.
Now Hertz has a formal status match program of its own, also through January 31.
They’ll upgrade up to their Presidents Circle level, but do not list what status levels with which rental companies map to what. I would guess that Avis First would be Hertz Five Star and Avis Presidents would map to Hertz Presidents. And that National Executive would mean Five Star while Executive Elite would yield Presidents.
Through December 15, Hertz is also still offering 500 free points in its rental program, enough for a free weekend day rental.
This would potentially be more interesting if Hertz recognized their elites with any consistency whatsoever. I’m a Five Star member and it’s a rare day indeed that I’m given an upgraded car without specifically requesting it — maybe 20 percent of the time at most?
Hertz seems like the least bad of the options out there (I had to use Avis at my last business and truly disliked it), but a typical Hertz experience for me these days is:
– Arrive at the lot late in the evening (having flown in on the last flight)
– Go to space and find that not only have I not been upgraded, even within my reserved car class, the car I’ve been given is poor
– Go to the Gold desk for help and find it’s closed
– Go to the main counter and find there’s a line of non-Gold customers ahead of me and no separate Gold line
– …and so on
I am a National die hard. I just like being able to pick my own car.
Neither my Avis Presidents Club nor my National Executive cards have an expiry date. Wondering if Hertz will still accept them?
Also, the status match is only good through Jan 2012. While short, it’s still better then nothing. I wonder what my Avis PC will match to in the Hertz regime?