Hertz Global Holdings plans to market the Advantage Rent A Car brand it bought yesterday to its corporate accounts as well as leverage the brand to increase its revenues from online bookings, the company announced this week.
Hertz on Thursday completed the $33 million acquisition of Advantage, which declared bankruptcy last year. The company last month outbid rival Enterprise Rent-A-Car for the brand
(BTNonline, April 1). Hertz plans initially to operate 20 Advantage locations in 16 U.S. cities: Burbank, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Meyers, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Maui, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Reno, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle and Tucson.
Although Advantage, which had about $146 million in 2008 revenues, traditionally has been a more leisure-focused brand, Hertz said it planned to use Advantage as a second brand to sell to its corporate accounts. "The upside growth potential for the price-oriented leisure market and our ability to leverage Advantage with corporate accounts and travel partners make this acquisition both financially and strategically advantageous for Hertz," CEO Mark Frissora said in a statement.
Hertz also plans to expand further into the third-party online bookings market with Advantage. The company had more than a 17 percent market share on such engines as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, according to Hertz.