Budget and Avis (which are the same company, though operated as separate brands) announced that they were banning smoking in all their rental cars in North America.

Effective October 1, 2009, smoking will be off limits. If you do smoke in the car, there will be a $250 cleaning fee. The ban also applies to employees, who typically get to use a car for their personal transportation as a perk of the job.

To be honest, I haven’t noticed many smoky rental cars lately. They’ve been so rare (either because people aren’t smoking in rentals, or the cleaning process is so much better) that I’ve gotten to the point where I haven’t even thought to request a non-smoking car anymore. I can’t even remember the last time I made such a request.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see other companies follow suit. But there will almost assuredly be a company that doesn’t ban smoking, much like hotels, where some chains (e.g., Marriott, Westin) have gone smoke free, but most others have retained a mix of smoking and non-smoking offerings. (Will there be surcharges for renting a car that permits smoking, going forward?)

Renting a car with Hertz? You may soon notice them photographing your car, right before you ride off the lot, and upon return. Hertz has been testing the feature, and is rolling it out more widely.

The photo system is part of a broader plan to use technology to increase efficiency and improve customer service, [Hertz Chairman and CEO] Frissora said. The equipment produces a high-resolution, digital photograph of the rental car, and will compare before and after pictures for differences, Frissora said. Hertz employees currently walk around the vehicle and mark any damage on a form, which the customer signs.

“There will be no discussion because the document would clearly show any incremental damage,” Frissora said. “This keeps customers from being placed in a confrontational position and saves time.”

The Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company’s customers would sign a waiver acknowledging the process and be billed for any damage, Frissora said. Hertz is testing the technology at a location at an airport in the northeastern U.S., he said.

“There will be no discussion” seems a little brusque, but I get the point. Why debate the condition of the car when there’s photographic evidence?

Here’s hoping that the camera won’t lie. E-mailing a copy to the customer — both at the start and the finish of the rental — might be a low-cost way to ensure that the company is being an honest broker.

Dishonest rental locations have commonly tried to milk extra bucks out of customers by billing them for previously-existing damage to the vehicle. (For the paranoid, it’s always been a good idea to take photos of your rental car before you drive it off the lot, though I admit it’s something I’ve never done…)

But interestingly, the company suggests that it’s the one who’s going to come out ahead. Hertz says it’s been letting too many dents and dings slide, for a loss of $170 million, and that the photo system will catch these dings, leading to greater earnings.

Which worries me. Yes, the system SHOULD be win-win, by keeping both the agency and the customer honest. But $170 million is a lot of dings and scratches. Will the system start calling birdpoop dents?

Photos or no photos, don’t let your guard down.

Car rental rates are up in the US. Despite the decline in traveler numbers and the general decline in tourism due to the recession, car rental rates are up across the board. In some regions, there are even vehicle shortages. It’s all because of aggressive fleet management practices by the car rental companies. Supply is down sharper than demand, which translates to higher rates. And I’m seeing those rates.

A few days ago, I started looking for car rental rates out of San Francisco, and even though I knew that rates were going up, I was still taken aback by the prices. $68 a day (plus taxes) for an economy car?! Ouch.

Even Hotwire’s opaque booking options weren’t much lower. $64 was the lowest they found. Priceline wasn’t taking my bids of up to $30 a day (plus taxes/fees).

I just ran the search again right now. None of the majors are showing any availability at all in San Francisco. A smaller vendor, Fox Rent-a-Car, wants $169.20 a day. Budget has cars at Oakland Airport, for over $189. Low supply, meet high prices.

What I’ve booked is at a much lower rate: $42.50/day, including all taxes, for a four-day rental. How?

I went global.

After my initial shock wore off, I checked prices on international sites, including the UK version of Expedia; Zuji, Singapore’s version of Travelocity; Britain’s easycar, and AutoEurope.

In the end, I made a prepaid booking through AutoEurope. I printed a prepaid rental voucher, and I’ll be picking the car up at a location in downtown San Francisco.

Companies like AutoEurope and EasyCar don’t tell you the name of the company you’re renting with up front, much like Hotwire or Priceline. The amount of information you receive varies, until you finalize your purchase. In the case of AutoEurope, I don’t see why they really bother keeping it opaque. They give you the precise pickup address, but not the name of the provider. That’s nothing a little Googling won’t narrow down…

One caveat with booking an domestic vehicle on a site based in another country: Your credit card can be hit with foreign currency fees, even if you’re booking in US dollars. This varies by bank, so be forewarned. AutoEurope has offices in the US, and my card was charged — in USD — from the Portland, Maine office. So no foreign transaction or currency exchange fees.

But still, I’m a tad nervous about this working out. After all, with supply this tight, and my rate this comparatively low, I wouldn’t put it past the rental company to “lose” my reservation. The fact that it’s prepaid may help, but until I’m behind the wheel, I’m not taking anything for granted. Pickup is Wednesday. Wish me luck.

Downgraded: Hertz
Oh, Hertz… you were always a class act among car rental firms. But then you go and buy the remains of my least favorite US rental chain, Advantage Rent a Car, out of bankruptcy. Sure, Hertz gets a low-rent name that can appeal to downmarket customers. But don’t they know that when you lie with dogs, you get fleas?

Upgraded: Air
A bright side of the downturn: The recession means less travel. Which means less pollution. (Duh.) 8% lower carbon emissions by the industry as a whole, in fact.

Upgraded: The Race Card
Without any additional comment… video of Steven Colbert on the Visa Black Card:

A couple of weeks ago, Sean O’Neill of Budget Travel pinged me with some news of more hybrid rental cars hitting the lots: Enterprise was adding 5000 hybrids to its fleet (totaling 7000 nationally), and sister company Alamo/National was bumping their hybrid fleet to 2000 vehicles.

Agencies are reporting more and more hybrids on their lots. But this growth story is being countered by reader reports that they weren’t able to actually rent the hybrid they reserved. Reader Steve reported that his reservation for a hybrid (at Hertz) was substituted for a different class when he showed up at the airports (two separate airports in California).

Then Tyler Colman of Dr. Vino, when renting from Fox Rent A Car at Oakland Airport, was told that hybrids were being cut back at the company “because the transmissions kept dying at 30,000 miles.” Hmm. Seems fishy.

I asked for comment from Fox Rent-a-Car, to see if this was actually a company-wide decision, or if this was just a big talker at the front desk. I still await their response.

Transmissions or not, the deck is stacked against hybrids in rental fleets, given the way rental cars are actually purchased. Sean’s post sums it up well:

Why are there so few hybrid rentals? I posed that question to Neil Abrams, president of the rental car consulting and research firm Abrams Consulting. He explained that rental car companies do not have an advantage with volume pricing buying power. Hybrids are so popular that car dealerships can get bigger margins selling directly to retail customers instead of rental car companies. Meanwhile, automakers are willing to offload lots of standard engine cars and below-market prices to rental car companies— to clear their inventories. So a rental car company can buy (to pick a random example) a Mercury Sable for, say, roughly $12,000. They can rent it for a year. Then they can re-sell it as a used car, and make money off the resale. This is far more profitable to them than buying a hybrid car, which might cost $20,000. They’ll have to charge far higher daily rates to customers to try to recoup the cost. But in an era of under-$2-a-gallon gas, not enough customers may rent the hybrids at the premium prices.

Indeed. And that’s more likely the better explanation for hybrid shortages at California airports. In this climate, it’s frankly surprising that any rental car company is adding hybrids to the fleet, period.

Enterprise’s expansion of the hybrid supply is unlikely an act of altruism. Perhaps they’re making a bet on the future direction of fuel prices. Let’s just hope the transmissions hold up.

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If you’re rented a car or truck from Budget, you may be receiving a check in the mail. But don’t sign it.

There are offers in the mail referencing Budget car rentals, but signing the check will activate your membership in “Everyday Values,” a shopping “club” membership that promises big discounts but costs you hefty membership fees. The program is managed by Trilegiant, a former Cendant subsidiary that specializes in separating people from their money in convenient monthly installments.

But the really sneaky part — and the reason this is relevant to travel — is that your signature on the check gives Trilegiant the right to get the credit card information you used when you rented a vehicle with Budget.

That’s unacceptable. Swiping the card for a rental transaction is intended for use in the rental transaction, and that transaction alone. It’s shameful that Budget has no qualms sharing your card number with a company that uses such fishy customer acquisition tactics.

But this is unfortunately not new. Complaints on the web date back to 2005, and may be even older, based on Trilegiant’s longstanding history of shady offers. Budget and Trilegiant were once under the same corporate umbrella (Cendant). But while they’re no longer corporate siblings, their partnership lives on.

Inquiries to Budget went unanswered.

Full scans of the letter I received after the jump…

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While drivers will still need to keep your eyes on the road, Avis and Budget are partnering with AT&T’s CruiseCast to beam television channels into rental cars.

For $8.95 a day, the passengers in the backseat will never need to part with their precious television. Sorry, no Tivo option yet…

Unsurprisingly, the channel lineup is heavily tilted toward kids’ programming. Disney Channel, Disney XD, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network Mobile, USA, COMEDY CENTRAL, MSNBC, CNN Mobile Live and CNBC. Perhaps ironically, the Travel Channel is being added soon.

Cars will be outfitted with a roof antenna (pictured), and the streaming video will be cached for three minutes, to prevent signal drop when you lose a direct line of sight to the satellite.

Budget and Avis are pitching it to both vacationing families and business travelers. The family angle, I get. The business traveler, not so much. Keep CNN or the Colbert Report running in the background while you drive?

Is this something you’d opt for in a rental car? Hit the comments!

Hat tip Budget Travel

Upgraded: Political mayhem that leads to free travel
The recent political turmoil in Thailand has left travelers wary of visiting, so Air Asia is offering 100,000 free tickets to Thailand from other Asian destinations. Air Asia seems to offer free tickets rather frequently. The drop in Thai tourism isn’t just because of the financial crisis. It’s largely a function of the political struggle between the existing government and the monarchists. (Some decent background on the crisis, which led to airport shutdowns, is here.)

Upgraded: Bugatti rentals
I never knew this: The cars at many ultra-luxury car rental operations (the places that rent out Lamborghinis and Bugattis, not the stuff Hertz has on offer) are loaners from cash-strapped owners. Jalopnik has the primer on renting an uber-luxury car.

Downgraded: Canadian pet mobility
Upgraded: JetBlue pet mobility and frequent flyer miles
Canada’s top airlines — Air Canada and Westjet — aren’t transporting pets during the holiday season. They stopped accepting animals for travel on December 15. The ban runs through January 6 on Westjet, and January 7 on Air Canada. Why? They’re blaming fuller planes and fuller cargo holds. In contrast: JetBlue isn’t just transporting animals, they’re giving their owner bonus miles.

Downgraded: Being a flying bartender
Angling for a lawsuit, anyone? “A husband and wife are suing United Airlines for “negligently” overserving alcohol during a flight from Osaka, Japan, to San Francisco, saying the carrier’s drinks fueled the domestic violence involving the two shortly after their plane landed.” The couple contends they got served wine every twenty minutes. Whom do I have to threaten to sue to get that kind of service on UA?

Upgraded: Car sharing
The car-sharing phenomenon in major cities was launched by small operators. Now that the model has proven itself viable, the big firms are stepping in. Enterprise and Hertz are both entering the space, with Hertz launching in Paris, London, and New York this week. “Connect by Hertz” will be a membership program much like Zipcar, but with far fewer locations (Hertz starts in NYC with 10 sites, vs. Zipcar’s 300). But Parisian entrepreneurs are plotting to be one step ahead: electric short-term mini-rental cars, much like one finds public-use bicycles.

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Upgraded: Dirty hotels
I’ve stayed in filthy hotels. One “hotelier,” and I use the term loosely, asked me and the (then-future) missus upon check-in, “You gonna need it the whole night?” You knew it would a good night’s rest. It built character. So, yes, I prefer my hotels clean, but if I’m going to stay at a roach motel, it might as well be for my long term health, right? Right?

Upgraded: Great reviews of awful hotels
Speaking of lousy hotels… how about this gem in Huntsville, Arkansas? Your room may have security cameras trained on your bed. Fantastic! (Thanks, Kim!)

Downgraded: Honesty, and eventually, safety
American and Delta are pulling out of a voluntary pilot-error reporting program with the FAA. The program was designed to allow pilots to admit to mistakes without fear of punishment, in order to improve how the air traffic control system functions. Guess what: The pilots say they’re being penalized by the airlines anyway, so they’re refusing to report errors. Which harms the system in the long run. Less data means the FAA will have a less accurate sense of the problems — however minor — which plague air travel. Management-labor relations, doing damage once again.

Downgraded: Advantage Rent-a-Car
Upgraded: My mood
Advantage Rent-a-Car, my least favorite car rental company in the United States of America, filed Chapter 11, with plans to close nearly 70% of their locations. Good riddance. My experiences with them were uniformly unpleasant, and downright insulting. I’m sure there were good people who work(ed) for the firm, and for those people, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry that I never actually met any of those people at an Advantage Rent-a-Car counter.

Upgraded: EU and Canada strike open-skies deals
The EU and Canada have liberalized the possibilities for air traffic between one another. “Under the deal, which is expected to come into force in the first half of 2009, airlines based in the 27-nation bloc will be able to operate direct flights to Canada from anywhere in Europe.” More competition for routes across the Atlantic should ensue.

Upgraded: Hartford
Northwest canceled the Hartford-Amsterdam flight, but post-merger Delta resumes it. Service is on a 757. Let’s see if they can make it work.

Upgraded: Algae fuel!
Yes, it’s just in the experimental phase, but Boeing is testing jet fuel derived from algae.

Upgraded: Your Merrill Lynch stock
Elite Island Resorts, with several properties in the Caribbean, are accepting stock as payment for your holiday stays. Better yet, they’re valuing the stock at July 1, 2008 levels. Merrill Lynch stock is down nearly 60% from that level. So, a 60% discount off the room rate! And at these levels, it might even be a good long-term investment for the resort. (via NYT)

Dollar/Thrifty has announced that they are abandoning their rollout of check-in kiosks at car rental locations across America. While kiosks are part and parcel of airlines, hotels, and some car rental agencies, they’re not working out for Dollar/Thrifty. From their press release:

“While we were pleased with some aspects of the pilot program that we implemented in April 2008 at our Houston location, we have concluded that the use of kiosks in the customer service experience reduced our interaction with the customer, detracting from the high level of personal service that our customers have come to expect from us. Additionally, the pilot project did not satisfy our minimum return on invested capital, thus we concluded that continued full-scale development of self-service kiosk was not in our shareholders’ best interest,” said Scott L. Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Hmm. There are two arguments there. 1) Kiosks hurt the customer experience. 2) Kiosks cost too much.

I am skeptical about #1. Unless the person behind the counter refuses to handle any requests and insists on sending all customers to the kiosk, there’s no reason why kiosks wouldn’t supplement the rental experience. Frequent travelers are comfortable using a kiosk, after all.

The cost issue is plausible. Especially in the current credit environment. Machines aren’t cheap, after all.

But here’s another possible financial reason which they’re not fleshing out: It’s easier for a customer to avoid an upsell when they’re interacting with a kiosk, than when they’re dealing with a person. So the kiosk might cause the company to lose out on revenue.

The person behind the counter can try to scare or convince an easily manipulable customer into spending more of their money. A kiosk is less convincing.

My own experience with car-rental kiosks (albeit not with Dollar or Thrifty) has been pleasant, quick, and efficient. The effort to upsell is minimal, and it’s easy to decline coverages without any hassle. Maybe that’s the problem.

Related:
- In defense of kiosks
- Five ways to get an edge over other air travelers
- Alamo and National speed up rental car checkout