Many of you are road warriors. Traveling is a necessary part of your job and as such, we travelers are experiencing a new normal in the air and on the road. One such experience last week struck me and I wanted to share under the heading of “things to not do to those working behind desks at a rental car counter.”
I am a 30+ year Avis rental car veteran. There is a small Avis office 5 minutes from my office and I see this team frequently but never spend much time at the counter. Last week was different. I had a 4 pm reservation and arrived around 1 pm hoping to get the car early. When I arrived, the Avis staff apologized and said that I would be lucky to get a car even with my reservation. I asked what on earth was going on and I got an earful!
For starters they don’t have enough staff to clean the cars and turn them around quickly enough. And next? Those renting cars are not returning them on time. It was this last reason that was so intriguing. I let the Avis staffer vent and tell me how they get yelled at time and again because someone has a reservation and yet those renting cars don’t return them when they are supposed to. And the kicker? It’s no one’s fault. It is what it is.
I stayed about an hour, hopeful for a car to come in, but that didn’t happen. It was okay and I didn’t miss a beat taking my calls and doing my work while I waited. What I noticed was there were two kinds of customers. Those who realized that not having a car when a reservation meant they were supposed to have one, is a small dot in a big picture. The minority of customers were less gracious about the delay. I will leave it at that.
I know my LMA readers are gracious and kind. I know Avis appreciates it!
LMA Newsletter of 8-22-22
