Budget Upgrades Frequent Renter Programs

<B> Budget Upgrades Frequent Renter Programs</B>

By Lynn Woods

<I>Lisle, Ill.</I> - To speed up the car rental transaction and provide more value to its frequent renters, Budget Rent a Car is replacing its AwardsPlus frequent renter club and Express service with new programs. On April 1 it will launch Perfect Drive, which will measure "loyalty" by dollars spent rather than number of rentals, followed on June 15 by the new Fastbreak express service.

The two programs will be linked, so Budget's best customers will be assigned a single customer number for both services, and can sign up for both by filling out a single one-time master rental agreement. There is no charge for either program.

Fastbreak, which will debut at approximately 80 airport locations, offers two major improvements: it eliminates the rental contract and (taking a page from National Car Rental's Emerald Aisle) allows travelers to choose their own vehicles at the lot.

At locations where renters are bused to the lot, they will be dropped off at a canopied area and, with the help of monitors, proceed to the area where vehicles can be chosen. The monitors also will alert renters to special promotions or free upgrades on certain vehicles, said vice president of operations planning Tom Seeger.

At locations without busing, Fastbreak members will be directed to a dedicated space at the counter, where they will show their driver's licenses and pick up their keys. They won't be able to select their vehicle.

The return process basically will remain unchanged: Renters will be greeted at their car by an agent or, after hours, write in their mileage on a hanging tag in their car, and drop it in a box.

Seeger said the elimination of the rental agreement will reduce the rental transaction process from the current 30 seconds to 15. And giving customers a choice of cars will enable Budget to showcase its diverse fleet that includes foreign makes, along with General Motors and Chrysler vehicles, as well as the standard Ford.

Seeger said Budget will be setting aside vehicles exclusively for the use of Fastbreak customers, so they will be able to reserve cars even during times when no inventory is available to the general public.

Budget plans to complete the rollout of Fastbreak to all U.S. airports by the end of the summer. The program also will be introduced in Canada, though renters there won't get to select their vehicles.

Budget has invested $6 million in facility upgrades for Fastbreak, plus a "huge amount" on technology upgrades and marketing, Seeger said. In all, 1.7 million customers have signed up for the Express service since its inception, he said.

Budget also has introduced radical changes to its customer loyalty program. Unlike AwardsPlus, which subjected members to the cumbersome process of collecting stickers for free rentals, the new Perfect Drive is a paperless program in which participants collect points toward free rentals on the basis of the amount they spend on car rentals, rather than the number of times they rent. With 300 points, they qualify for a one-class car upgrade; 600 points earn a one-day rental in a standard vehicle; and 1,200 points qualify them for a one-day rental in a Jaguar, Ford Explorer or other specialty car.

Perfect Drive members who aren't taking advantage of a corporate rate will be entitled to a 15 percent discount off the rack rate for 90 days from April 1, after which time they will receive 10 percent off.

In addition to car rental awards, Perfect Drive members can redeem points for golf merchandise from Callaway Golf, a leading golf supplier. In a special introductory offer, Budget is offering renters who sign up for Perfect Drive a free Callaway Bobby Jones Two putter after five rental transactions, provided they total $300.

Budget also is tightening up on its benefits, however. Perfect Drive will no longer offer both frequent-flyer mileage and credits for free rentals. Members now must choose between Perfect Drive points or mileage. And although Budget has not yet followed Hertz and Avis in pulling out of frequent-flyer partnerships altogether, it hasn't ruled out that possibility, said marketing vice president Michael Gavelek.