Articles tagged “avis budget”

The world of traditional car rental booking isn't changing as fast as you would assume in a world rushing towards digital and mobile. Is that a function of these companies' hesitancy to embrace these open channels and protect their turf, or is the slower pace of change a real reflection of the car rental consumers?

It makes sense for Avis Budget to own more locations if it wants a consistent customer experience.

Concur has faced intense pushback from the business travel establishment to its open booking initiative. Rebranding it as TripLink is a small bow to that opposition, but the essentials of the program remain the same.

Sometimes acquired companies transition to the parent company and lose their whole mojo. That doesn't appear to be happening with Avis Budget and Zipcar, which is getting newer vehicles at lower cost, and is positioned to move into new geographies at a quicker pace.

The next step in Zipcar-Avis Budget buddying-up is technology sharing, with Avis Budget cars expected to get a Zipcar refresh. At least that's the plan.

Hertz acquired Dollar Thrifty last year, and Avis Budget picked up Avis Europe and Zipcar in 2013. Now the two companies, along with Enterprise, are turning their attention toward raising rates. With just three firms running the show, there's not much standing in their way.

Cost overruns? On a construction project at O'Hare? Shocking:)

It won't be across-the-board, allowing for variations in this city-pair or that, but you can expect similar pricing dynamics when the American Airlines-US Airways merger goes through. Here again, there aren't a lot of legacy carriers left for additional mergers in the future.

This is a smart move by Zipcar and Avis Budget as it will give travelers new choices in their rentals at airport locations. It should also attract customers to Zipcar who may not have considered car-sharing until now.

Airline and car rental mergers may be good for the largest companies in their respective industries, but they usually mean price increases for travelers, as AvisBudget attests to.