A Winning Enterprise

July 28, 2010 By: Joe Pike Travel Agent

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The leader in car rentals works hard for that title

Talk about making a good thing even better: In 2007, Enterprise Rent-A-Car— owned by the Taylor family of St. Louis— had a respectable 9 percent of the airport car rental market. Then, in August of that year, the Taylors acquired the Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental brands, and the rest, as they say, is history— and an impressive history at that.

Today, Enterprise Holdings, still privately owned by the Taylor family, operates the Alamo, Enterprise and National brands through regional subsidiaries. And three years after the largest acquisition in the car rental industry, Enterprise Holdings leads the car rental industry with approximately a third of all airport business in the U.S. and Canada.

Ron Cerko, vice president of travel industry relations for all three brands, notes that each serves a distinct segment of the car rental market. 

For example, Enterprise Rent-A-Car employs “a much more hands-on approach” and is really focused more on the value-minded consumer, because its rates can be as much as 20 percent lower than most other competitors. Enterprise Rent-A-Car also delivers an unparalleled network of airport and neighborhood branch offices, which are found within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population.

 

Ron Cerko

According to Cerko, Alamo— the largest car rental provider to international travelers visiting North America— is more of a leisure brand. “Alamo is really a vacation brand for us and perhaps our strongest travel agent brand,” Cerko says, noting that Alamo has roughly 160 kiosks at its U.S. locations. “Alamo pays 10 percent commission on standard sales and 5 percent on discounted and promotional bookings.”

National Car Rental, on the other hand, complements the Alamo and Enterprise brands by offering clients more options, and often is the choice of business travelers. “With National, the main strength is the Emerald Club, which gives customers more freedom when choosing a car,” Cerko says. “The consumer can go past the rental counter, get checked in and if they are on a business trip, let’s say, and want a sportier two-door, they can get it. If there is a specific color they want, they can get that. It really just gives them more options.”

Even more significantly, the Alamo, Enterprise and National brands all deliver the kind of customer service that the Taylor family has always prided itself on. One good indicator: Less than three years after the acquisition, three of the top four rankings in the J.D. Power and Associates Rental Car Satisfaction Studty went to the Enterprise Holdings portfolio of brands—Enterprise Rent-A-Car (ranking highest), National Car Rental (ranking second) and Alamo Rent A Car (ranking fourth).

Loyalty to Agents

As far as travel agents are concerned, perhaps one of the most important assets the Taylor family acquired in 2007 was the longstanding Cash-In Club loyalty rewards program for the Alamo and National brands. Cash-In Club originally was created in 1995 to give agents access to competitive rates and quality rental vehicles for their clients as well as reward them for their allegiance.

“We recently relaunched new tools and even better incentives to recognize agents’ years of steadfast loyalty and support,” says Cerko. “Plus, in honor of the program’s 15-year anniversary, we are offering 15,000 points to the winner of our new promotion.”

The Cash-In Club promotion is being offered to all U.S.-resident travel agents who book a qualified reservation through October 2010. Program members will be automatically entered to win every time they reserve a car with Alamo or National, with the grand-prize winner to be awarded 15,000 points. The award for second place is 10,000 points and third place wins 5,000 points. New this year, the enhanced program enables agents to incorporate award points into American Express-branded reward cards.

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