|
Budget Rent a Car's revamp
|
 |
May 25, 1998: 2:03 p.m. ET
Frequent renters now can choose between golf gear and airline miles
|
NEW YORK (Biztravel.com) - On April 1, Budget Rent a Car unveiled its thoroughly redesigned frequent renter program, Perfect Drive. While Budget's latest program still rewards its customers with traditional frequency program awards, but also offers a wide variety of golf-related awards through the participation of program sponsor Callaway Golf Company.
Here's how the program works: Perfect Drive awards members with one point for every dollar spent at Budget, including standard rental charges, fuel purchase options, optional insurance packages, waivers, taxes, etc. Budget customers can still opt to earn frequent flyer miles with partner airlines, but they now must choose between earning miles and earning Perfect Drive points. Enrollment in the program is free to all Budget customers.
Currently, members can earn Perfect Drive points at over 600 locations in the United States. In June, Budget locations throughout Canada will award Perfect Drive points as well.
Members have the opportunity to redeem their Perfect Drive points for various Callaway Golf merchandise, such as the Bobby Jones line of putters, Biggest Big Bertha drivers, Great Big Bertha Titanium Drivers & Fairway Woods, Big Bertha War Bird Stainless Steel Drivers, Ultra-Lite Stand Bags, Big Bertha X-12 Irons, hats, etc.
As an introductory offer, all customers who sign up for the Perfect Drive program can qualify to earn a Callaway Golf Bobby Jones BJ-2 putter after their first five qualified rentals, as long as those rentals total at least $300 in revenue. After customers have rented five times and redeemed all of their earned points for the putter, they can start accumulating points again with every Budget rental.
For die-hard Budget customers who aren't enthusiastic about golf, the company is promising other incentives in the near future. Sandy Miller, chairman and CEO of Budget Group, Inc., noted that the company plans "to continue adding other options and partners to the program that our frequent renters say they want."
For instance, customers will soon be able to earn Perfect Drive points when they rent a recreational vehicle or motorcycle from Cruise America, an RV rental and sales company that is owned by Budget Group.
In another development, Budget has announced plans to develop an express rental service called Fastbreak. The paperless service, which would commence this summer, is designed to cut the company's average rental transaction time to just 15 seconds.
To use Fastbreak, customers must first enroll in Perfect Drive and sign a Master Rental Agreement (MRA), which authorizes Budget to automatically bill all rental charges to the credit card indicated by the customer. Once the MRA is signed, the customer does not ever have to stop at the counter to sign a rental agreement.
While some critics may think the idea of linking a frequency program to a "leisure" promotion is antithetical to the needs of business travelers, the numbers tell a different story. Budget's research claims that frequent business renters who rent at least four times a year are three times more likely to play golf than the average renter. In addition, just a few weeks after Budget launched the program, it reported a jump of nearly 50,000 new customers. According to Miller, "The response has been phenomenal."
And if imitation is the highest form of flattery, Budget should be pretty proud of itself. Hertz on May 1 launched its own redesigned loyalty program, #1 Awards, which offers customers the chance to earn points that may be redeemed for the Arnold Palmer Original Putter, the graphite Adams Tight Lies 16° Fairway Wood, a Wilson or Prince tennis racquet, or other traditional rewards. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
