I recently used Autoslash to book a car for an upcoming Las Vegas trip. I went to double check the reservation and noticed that the name on the reservation was not mine. It was actually the name of my primary care physician. I’m assuming this was an autofill mistake but can’t confirm that.
To correct this, I email autoslash who tells me that they cannot modify the reservation because it was a pre-pay and there are rules about modifications. Also, since it is booked through a 3rd party, it doesn’t show up on Priceline ( who Autoslash uses to find the vehicle). I decide to call Hertz directly. The customer service rep tells me that I need a voucher code from a company called Loyalty Travel. Now, I have booked 100 cars through Autoslash and have never had Loyalty Travel involved. The CSR says if I get the voucher number, I can change the name on the reservation. There is hope!
I go back to autoslash, explain the situation and they tell me I should be able to see the voucher number on the Hertz site ( I can’t). They find it and email it to me. I call Hertz back and get a different person ( CSR2) and she tells me that I also need a TR number. To get the TR number I need to contact Loyalty Travel directly and oh, by the way, even if this works, Hertz will cancel my current reservation and issue a new reservation , making all of this effort worthless. I wanted to keep my original rate. I decide to call Loyalty Travel anyway ( more out of curiosity) and I get a company called CX Loyalty, which is also in the travel industry but is a different company. They give me a number for Loyalty Travel which she pulls off of Google and I call it. It is yet another variation , Loyalty Corporation I believe. The call goes unanswered and I am connected to voicemail At this point, I decide to give and just book another reservation. My rate goes up by about $25 but I am out of options.
So, with Autoslash, it looks like the chain of events is a) book through autoslash, b) autoslash uses Priceline to search for vehicles, c) Autoslash or Priceline then uses Loyalty Travel to actually make the reservation with the car rental company, Hertz in this case. Wow.
Now, if all goes well, this all happens in the background. And my situation is unusual but not unheard of. So, if you want to use Autoslash, it is fine as long as there are no issues. Any little problem with the reservation might result in having to cancel the old reservation and book a new one.
So, why does travel have to be so complicated?
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Great information. Definately a reminder to verify the name and information on the reservation before you complete it. Yes, we all make mistakes and this is a good example of how such a simple mistake can spin out of control.
I book everything directly with the providers. Eliminates all these issues. It just isn’t worth it for the minor savings.
HOW did you get jacked around so much?
Save money, but not time going through a 3rd party!
The answer to all your troubles is quite simple. Book with Hertz directly as a Gold Member. I always rent a car for my trips, and only with Hertz. The convenience of walking straight out to the parking garage and selecting whatever vehicle I want in my zone is amazing! No waiting in any lines! I have found the day of the week when Hertz rentals are cheapest is Wednesday. I recently was on a two day trip. About a month in advance, I booked the car on a Tuesday. It was about $120 bucks all in, not bad, not great. I had watched it for about a week and the price wasn’t changing, so I booked it. I then saw the following Wednesday the rate went all the way down to $76 all in, same car, same rental days and times. It was a simple phone call and they immediately issued me a $44 credit to my CC because the rate dropped. Messing around with these third party travel sites is fool’s play. 9 times out of 10, the best rate is booking with the company directly, or it’s very close. The superior customer service aspect, receiving confirmations directly from the company, and using their app more than makes up for any pennies saved. Upon return, I park the car, leave the keys, and they e-mail me a receipt. It’s as good or better than sliced bread.
I always book through the hotel/airline/car agency directly. It is too much of a hassle to deal with third-parties to justify the few dollars you may save. Plus if you have a problem you only have one entity to deal with instead of what could be a few.
I am going to disagree with your 90% claim. And flat out disagree with third party companies being fool’s play. I have done a LOT of research on rental cars and have rarely found that booking directly with the rental car company to be the least expensive method. If you want to test the hypothesis, we set up an imaginary trip and your book directly with the rental car company and I will use autoslash. I’d wager a lot I get a better price.
Convenience is another matter. Making one phone call to Hertz is easier. But Autoslash will recheck rates and let you know when a less expensive vehicle is available. My situation was very unusual and it shows that no discount system is perfect. But I learned something and shared it with others so it was a good learning experience.
If it were just a few dollars, I wouldn’t post about it. When it becomes $50 to $200, it is worth posting the information. I agree that third party is more work and this is a fairly recent development. Previously, I could contact autoslash directly and they could handle minor reservation changes. That is no longer the case.
I will continue to use autoslash but with the understanding of what is involved. I don’t have a favorite rental car company so limiting my choice to one rental car company doesn’t make sense to me.
As mentioned, mine was an unusual occurrence. And autoslash agreed and sent me a check for $30 for my issues. Even without that, my rental cost was lower than booking through a rental car company directly.