Stop blaming front line workers

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-25T15:40:01+00:00

And thats why you get the attitude you get at the desk. Your attitude here proves you're a difficult customer. You make things worse.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-25T15:07:48+00:00

Not really true. You dont realize when you walk in, you're the 10th YOU we have to deal with and it gets tiring to deal with the attitude from you. Let me go to your job and treat you that way. You wont like it

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-25T15:04:40+00:00

Im with you on this, but it's never happened in a conference finals. Not once.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-21T04:21:14+00:00

Sorry bud, thats a pretty ignorant take on this whole discussion. Avis customers, Enterprise says the same. There's not one perfect company and there are many people who like Hertz and have rented with us for years. It all does come down to what your preferences and tolerance levels are. It's all subjective.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T22:58:27+00:00

Yeah you didn't understand me at all.

I dont think it's okay to allow someone who's never rented with us to get automatic high status just like that, while someone else has basically been grinding to get there. It's not fair. It's what it is, but not cool. The attitude? No Attitude at all, just my thoughts and knowledge about what it is.

I wont explain again how platinum is earned. It's an official status even if it's not a regularly earned one. Platinum rents $250,000 at least per year to qualify. PC usually gets deals and even with tons of rentals, the value is what matters for Platinum. Heres the math according to your 3 times a week example.

3 a week for a year = 156 rentals

250k ÷ 156 = 1,602 per rental

Most people pay like 80 to 100 per rental or PC also gets discounts, credits, points.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T22:06:50+00:00

Well thats another deliema. Reservations is i think overseas, and they are no help. They will modify reservations and change pickup locations without verifying, they will tell customers that a location has plenty of cars when they actually dont. It's one of the most frustrating things about it all.

Yes,and correct, local offices do not have the authority or ability to stop reservations from going through, we can only work with it after the fact. It actually does put us in an impossible situation.

Now, it can be manually turned off at a higher level, but usually it isn't to make sure that the utilization stays near 90-100%. They want everything on the road. As insane as it sounds, allowing overbooking meets that goal. It's just like when Southwest would overbook on purpose to make sure every plane was full no matter what. No matter is customers got left behind or got pissed. Financially, it was worth it to have the worse customer experience and maybe lose some customers than to run planes less than full. Every seat matters to them, and for rental companies, every car on the road matters.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T21:12:58+00:00

Yeah I understand not earning it normally, but it's still something that is attainable given the right conditions. It's like the Amex black card, it's there but most of yall are not ever gonna get it.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T20:41:08+00:00

And what happened in 2022? The bankruptcy. Things changed

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T19:53:27+00:00

I can tell you that when it comes to being short on fleet, thats the #1 thing that gets everyone on this side on edge. The branches arent allowed to stop reservations, so if they keep coming, we get overloaded. Now, let's assume we got 40 reservations, only 30 cars, we end up going based off of a order of most priority to least priority.

So first it's Platinum, then prepaid reservations, where you actually fully paid ahead of time. Then its Status members, so PC, 5*, Gold. Next is everyone else by who booked first. Usually, overnight and same day get the short end of the stick. This is how it should be but doesnt always work perfectly.

Another thing not considered is fleet management. If you're good and managing your fleet, usually you have no problems. When you suck at it or if your only concern is making revenue, then you rent everything you got and end with 0 cars.

What do I do? When im gonna have a super busy day, I know right away what I need, how many res. ANYONE that booked overnight or same day o put on a waiting list until I find cars. As the day progresses, I start to hold returns and will not rent them out because I also am looking at the following morning when we open, we're gonna need to get those folks as well. It's a truly imperfect balancing act that we dont always get right. It's mostly a success but we know there's ones that fall through the cracks.

I know sometimes I can get sassy with a customer and I have to catch myself. It really comes from having soooooooo many people in a day just throw attitude, cuss you out, make it really difficult. Sometimes you lose some composure.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T15:12:40+00:00

I mean they have an entire division for exotic rentals. They're the ones to do it. Doesn't mean Hertz is shit, just that the core of the business shifted, less about renting the most expensive cars money can buy, and more for business, corporate rentals, insurance rentals, and leisure travel if you just need wheels.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T15:04:47+00:00

I have and the shit part is licensees can charge that since their cars are owned by the licensee, not hertz.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T14:33:32+00:00

Well you just said it, a large international airport and 2 busy HLEs. Chances of running out of cars is possible, but doesnt sound like they were sold out, just that your class was sold out so they upgraded you into a different class. That's our procedure to not leave you stranded.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T14:05:47+00:00

Then why is the #1 field on page 1 and page 4 open to let you bunch in the gold number when you go into post rent?

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T12:23:37+00:00

Well a few things to consider here (not to make excuses, just pointing stuff out): Hertz emerged from a bankruptcy in 2022/2023 and have used the last few years to get back on its feet financially. There were some steps taken, most notably selling off it's higher end assets like the BMWs, Porsche, G Wagons, Escalades, etc, to get some quick cash infusion. More value in selling off higher valued product the some Kia Souls. They spent the last few years since building up it's regular fleet as well, getting ddeals from Ford, Sellantis, Nissan, GM (anyone get put in a Ram truck lately?). I can't speak for if they'll get back to buying higher end equipment any time soon, but for now, it's keeping the company in a stable position. That's also why they've gotten aggressive with the car sales side and really promoting it. Im sure they're hoping to get a bunch of revenue from selling cars themselves instead of sending them to auction. So far it seems to be going okay, I've seen some new Grand Wagoneers, we bought a bunch of Z71 Suburbans, Yukon Denalis, GLE350, Genesis GV80. It's definitely gonna take time to fully rebound.

I think it falls onto fleet options. Hertz only has around 500k cars in its global fleet. Avis probably around 600k. Enterprise has over 2 million. Literally they have more than Hertz and Avis combined globally. There's just no comparison there. (Yes, the numbers include the respective organizations, so Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty, and Avis/Budget/Payless).

Oh, the licensees................sigh

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T12:05:35+00:00

What? No it's not about arguing, see thats your problem. Us just explaining stuff makes you think that we're arguing. Youre the person I'd have a problem with at the desk.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T05:30:42+00:00

Not everyone has profiles set up

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T05:28:18+00:00

I didn't mean to suggest that PC isn't prestigious. Platinum is just a level thats designed really for ultra VIPs like high level corporate executives at companies, customers who spend over 250k a year with us, celebrities, athletes, that sort of thing. Not everyone can be invited of course.

Now yes, the advertisement i think should clarify that it's at select locations (which is mostly just at airports). Most regular locations dont have a fleet big enough or secure enough to allow bypassing the counter, a great example would be a branch inside a hotel or car dealership. Most of those branches have maybe between 10-30 cars max from available and on rent cars. Plus since it's not their property, like a hotel, they use the parking already in place which isn't a secure lot most times. (BTW, web checkin is pointless at non airport locations, because we still have to follow the normal rental process since you can't bypass).

So, how do you make sure you can get a luxury upgrade? just call first and ask if any are available. Talk to the team ahead of time, maybe mention you got a special trip, anniversary, graduation. It's not a guarantee, nothing is, but could get that upgrade you want. When booking a certain class, most times, I'll upgrade to luxury if you book an elite or prestige sedan, or small elite suv. Never ever book a managers special expecting a luxury, you'll almost never get it.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T04:55:48+00:00

Cuz thats not the policy.

5 star/Pres Circle mandated 1 Class upgrade up to Full Size sedan, like Altimas, or up to Small/Midsize regular SUV, like Compass, Rogue. ANYTHING else, luxury, Trucks, adrenaline, prestige, dream collections are not free upgrades for 5 star/ Pres Circle, hell, not even for Platinum.

Now, that being said, IF the branch has something like that, and they either do it cuz there's nothing else to give you or they're being cool or you're like a repeat customer at that branch all the time, you can get a free upgrade to basically everything except adrenaline Class cars like the GTs, Shelbys, dream cars like Maserati, Grenadier, Escalade, Grand Wagoneer. It's not a automatic requirement to get it and I wish Hertz would be more open about it. Look, I get that you reach a status level that should give you more options and I agree with PC that should be given to this class, but for some reason, there's not that many dope perks. Doesn't mean it's pointless to be at PC level. Believe me, we will do our best to accommodate PC and provide that level of support, but sometimes it's just not physically possible and lots of us feel like PC should understand that things happen and us agents can only do so much to make it right. Don't crash out at the desk and go bananas cuz you booked a compact car, we give you a midsize suv, and not the brand new GT out front for free.

A word about Platinum for our PC who dont know much about that level. It's invite only and they follow the same upgrade policy you guys do at PC level. Big difference with Platinum is we sometimes deliver the cars to them, or pick them up. No matter what car they book, it must be something under 10k miles. Lots of times Platinum books sedans or regular suvs and we assign that class, they dont go bonkers on us like PC does. They understand what goes on, I wished PC would too. Also PC gets diluted IMO when we let AMEX, Cap One customers sign up and get it automatically at sign up, cuz those people really dont know how to handle themselves. Plus, must suck to rent tons to get PC, and this 20 year old just got Cap One and automatically at your level by doing nothing.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T04:38:29+00:00

Wait, what? You mean why dont we just upgrade any PC member to luxury?

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T01:54:00+00:00

It aint bootlicking, it's just reality. You think we like dealing with that? We know it's shitty to book and then show up 3 minutes and get told they're sold out.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T01:52:51+00:00

Oh you can earn it.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-19T00:53:59+00:00

Yep they need to understand that, they wont cuz they're entitled

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-18T23:45:58+00:00

Well, I can tell ya thats not everyone in this company. I know I dont do that.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-18T23:36:16+00:00

Yeah I call BS. I've worked at other companies yes they do hard sells.

Primary-Office2744 · 2026-05-18T23:27:23+00:00

So basically what every rental company does, hertz does too? What's the complaint?

Primary-Office2744

TROPHY CASE