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Forget the Alamo (Rental Car Company) — Their Overbooking Made a Funeral Trip Even More Stressful

Chris Carley by Chris Carley
September 16, 2021
in Rental Cars
14
Empty parking lot

(©iStock.com/Hall Jameson)

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

Something I love about writing a travel- and lifestyle-oriented blog is that I can vent to (generally) like-minded people.

With that in mind, I want to share a frustrating story with you.

Traveling for a Funeral

My best friend’s mother died last Wednesday. Her passing wasn’t completely unexpected. (But as most people who lost someone close can attest, it’s still sort of a shock.)

As soon as I learned the funeral’s date and time, I booked travel reservations to Pipestone, Minnesota. That’s where she lived and the services held. I wanted to be there for my best friend and his dad.

The closest airport to Pipestone (home of the world’s largest peace pipe) is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is about 50 miles away.

I booked a Delta Main Cabin roundtrip (45,000 SkyMiles) and one night at a Holiday Inn, (19,000 IHG points) thanks to my IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card points.

But I needed a rental car to get between Sioux Falls and Pipestone.

I generally prefer Hertz because my Delta Medallion status gives me President’s Circle status. That’s helpful when I travel with my family — we can usually upgrade to a bigger car.

But this was a solo trip, so I wasn’t too picky. A cheap and small car would suffice.

Plus, rental car loyalty isn’t that big of a deal to me. I rarely rent cars. Most places I visit have ridesharing options, taxis, public transportation, or I know friends and family who are generous enough to provide a ride.

Naturally, I checked Hertz first. They wanted something like $125 for one day. That was a little rich for my tastes — but I kept it in the back of my mind.

I then visited Momondo. Some trusted friends told me they had good experiences booking travel through Momondo.

And there I found a good deal: a compact car for $40.

Sold!

Momondo redirected me to Hotwire, where I completed the purchase. I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve® to pay because it offers great travel protection.

Upon booking the reservation, Hotwire revealed that Alamo would be the rental car agency.

Alamo and National car rental airport office in Las Vegas. Both brands are owned by Enterprise Holdings, company employing 74,000 people (2013).
(©iStock.com/tupungato )

”We’re Over Booked By…”

I arrived in Sioux Falls at about 10:15 PM — and was eager to get to my hotel and hit the hay. The funeral was the next day at 10:30 AM.

But Alamo’s desk was dark; the lights were shut off.

Strike one.

Nonetheless, I walked up to the Alamo counter. Maybe there’s someone in the back working at this late hour, I hoped.

A gentleman at the Enterprise desk asked if he could help me.

“I’m here for Alamo,” I said.

He explained he worked that counter, too. (This makes sense because Enterprise, National, and Alamo all belong to the same company.) Then everything went downhill.

“I’m sorry, sir, but —“

Strike two.

He explained that they didn’t have any cars available. Their regional office overbooked by 85 vehicles.

Yes. 85.

Strike three.

Overbooking is part of the travel business. I know that. I worked at a hotel during college and we always overbooked, usually by about 15%. Only a handful of times did we have to “walk” people to another hotel because we truly were full. People flake, miss flights, cancel their trips, etc. So not every reservation is fulfilled by customers.

But never did we overbook by eighty-freaking-five rooms.

“That’s unacceptable,” I said. I didn’t yell, scream, or belittle. But my tone was firm.

“I know,” the rep responded. “But if you come back in the morning–”

“I need to be in Pipestone for a funeral in 11 hours,” I said. “There damn well better be a car for me tomorrow morning.”

The gentleman promised that if I came back the next morning that there’d be a car ready. He continued apologizing up and down. I told him I appreciated the sentiment — but didn’t blame him.

“Please tell your regional office that I have a blog and thousands of Twitter followers — all of whom are going to be warned about Alamo in about five minutes.”

His eyes lit up and a big smile spread across his face. He clearly loved the corporate suit shaming.

He said I’d be reimbursed for a ride share or taxi service to my hotel. I’d just have to email him my receipt. Or show it to the desk in the morning.

I ordered a Lyft and went to my hotel.

The Next Morning

My original plan was to sleep until about 7:15, enjoy breakfast at a local restaurant, and then head to Pipestone.

Needless to say, that didn’t happen.

Instead, I got up early, got all gussied up for the funeral, and rode the airport shuttle to FSD.

The Alamo counter was closed. Of course it was.

So I shuffled over to Enterprise. The employee there helped me with the Alamo booking. He kindly upgraded me from a compact to a Toyota Corolla (which was unnecessary but appreciated). Then he apologized several times for my inconvenience. I told him that unless he was the one responsible for the overbooking snafu he need not apologize. (He assured me he wasn’t. 🙂 )

As for my Lyft reimbursement, that hit a small — but easily fixed — snag. The gentleman was going to deduct that expense from my rental rate. But that didn’t work because I prepaid my reservation in full through an OTA.

So he suggested a simple and convenient solution: I wouldn’t be responsible for refilling the gas tank before returning the car. My Lyft ride cost $11. I figured I’d spend slightly more than that for gas. I readily accepted his offer.

He gave me directions to the interstate and I was soon on my way. I made it to the funeral with about a half-hour to spare.

The “What If?”s Are Why I Won’t Rent from Enterprise, Alamo, or National for a Long Time — If Ever Again

I’ll do whatever I can to stay away from Enterprise, Alamo, and National.

Stop whining! You got your car! you may say.

Yes, I did. But ten stressful, restless hours late.

It would be different if Alamo was short one car and some customer didn’t return the vehicle on time.

But grossly overbooking is another story. It’s deceptive, untrustworthy, and bad business.

Flashback a few days to when I made all my travel plans: I originally thought about booking the night’s hotel stay in Pipestone (about 50 miles away from FSD) instead of Sioux Falls. But I decided to stay in Sioux Falls for a few reasons:

  1. One of my clients booked me on a job that was expected to run late the day before I traveled. (Indeed, it did. I didn’t get to bed until around 2:00 AM).
  2. My plane arrived at FSD late in the evening. An hour-ish drive — in the dark of night and tired from the past couple of days — through a rural area I don’t know didn’t seem like a great idea.
  3. My friend would be drained after his mother’s visitation and wake service earlier in the evening. He’d probably be asleep when I got to town.
  4. I snagged a decent points redemption at a Holiday Inn, whereas none of the Pipestone hotels I saw were affiliated with any loyalty programs. They weren’t even selling rooms on OTA.

Thank goodness I stayed in Sioux Falls. What if I’d booked a room in Pipestone? How would I have gotten there that night? I’d have gone to Hertz, paid through the nose, and hoped my travel insurance would cover the expense.

But why should I subject myself to a potential situation like this again?

Final Approach

To their credit, the employees with whom I interacted were kind and efficient. (Maybe they should be the regional managers.) They surely received the ire of many travelers but remained calm and professional.

I hope your Alamo experiences were better than mine. I’ll do whatever I can to avoid going business with them (and likely Enterprise and National) again. I don’t need the stress of hoping a car is available (one I prepaid, at that). And they seem to massively overbook. So why take the chance?

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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Chris Carley

Chris Carley

Chris Carley is the owner, editor, and lead writer of Eye of the Flyer (formerly known as Rene's Points).

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Comments 14

  1. JP says:
    4 years ago

    I’ve had the same experience with Alamo.

    I have nothing but nice things to say about National though.

    Reply
  2. eponymous coward says:
    4 years ago

    LOL. Guess who overbooked on a prepaid reservation AND didn’t have any desks open at PHX Sky Harbor Airport the last time I was overbooked in 2020?

    The rental car agency name rhymes with “Mertz”. (I actually have “I’m so important” shiny card status there.) And you couldn’t find an employee to talk to, just a sign on the door at the Gold desk. And this isn’t a small city airport like Sioux Falls. This is a multimillion person metro area, one of the top airports in the US. And they just let everyone walk instead of running their 24 hour desk like they’re supposed to.

    You’re fooling yourself if you think avoiding a rental car agency means you won’t be overbooked on rental cars. They all do it (since most rentals don’t have cancellation penalties there’s an incentive to overbook, and the pandemic has reduced rental car supply) . If anything those Alamo employees seem a lot preferable to the treatment I got from Hertz.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      I always appreciate a good “_____ rhymes with ______” snark! 🙂 Seriously, that’s a bad situation at PHX you discuss.

      As I said, I understand overbooking is the status quo in travel. But what shocked me — and the employees working the desk — was that they overbooked by 85.

      Reply
  3. GoAmtrak says:
    4 years ago

    Okay, it’s a crummy situation and I won’t be an apologist for Alamo, but you booked through an OTA. Having worked at a hotel surely you know that direct bookings always take priority. Given the well-publicized rental car shortage I would never book one through an OTA these days, it’s just asking for trouble.

    Also, you could have just taken a Lyft all the way to Pipestone, it’s no longer a drive than LAX to Burbank in rush hour. True, there might not be any available on the return but I bet you could have prearranged a ride back to FSD with a local cabbie.

    All’s well that ends well but I don’t think you did yourself any favors here. Sympathies to your friend and glad you made it there.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Dave says:
    4 years ago

    A couple friends have had bad experiences with Hertz during the pandemic. Hertz emerged from bankruptcy a few months ago, so hopefully they will do better.

    I book rental cars through the Costco Travel portal, so I end up with Alamo/Enterprise or Avis/Budget. Usually it’s Avis or Budget, but I have had a couple from Enterprise during the pandemic. I have had a few minor inconveniences during the pandemic. but nothing major. Certainly nothing as bad as your experience. By the way, it is nice to hear who you were treated by the customer-facing agents at the counter.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      Interesting you mentioned Costco Travel. My friend (the one whom I traveled to see this week) said he’s heard good things about Costco Travel. I may look into them next time!

      Reply
      • Dave says:
        4 years ago

        Certainly do a price compare next time. It’s almost always cheaper than other options that I check out, and an extra driver is always no additional cost.

        Reply
  5. HertzDonut says:
    4 years ago

    It’s import to note, as was also above, that often the rental company does not have direct control over the OTA bookings. Want to know why they were over booked by 85? It’s because nobody at that airport had cars (as was made clear by Hertz’s prices [it would have been interesting to have to you try booking through the Alamo website, see what happens]) but the OTA was booking one day cars for $40 a day. That’s ridiculous.

    I also think it’s intentionally unfair and borderline misleading to lump Enterprise, National, and Alamo into the same camp. I would assume, all things equal, you would prefer booking with Hertz over Dollar or Thrifty 10/10 times. Alamo is explicitly the “cheap, tourist” option of the three. What you experienced is the exception, not the norm. (Cards on the table, I’ve had more bad experiences with Hertz than I care to relate so I am pretty biased)

    In the end I’m glad they did everything they could to take care of you and get you where you needed to go. And at the end of the day, that’s the important thing.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      “HertzDonut” = fantastic handle!

      Reply
  6. Derrick Tennant says:
    4 years ago

    Hey C,
    First off, sorry for your friend’s loss and glad you got there to support him. Way to be a friend and realize what’s important.

    I understand your situation and likely would respond just the same but have some thoughts. I live 100% on the road. I have no house or apt. Ii live in hotels, airports, skyclubs etc and use rental cars often. Hotwire is my goto and typically by far the best price. I hate that there is really No reason to stick with one brand as loyalty programs are pathetic with rental car companies. However, if I have an important trip I always rent directly with Enterprise ( not Alamo or National or … ). Their service and obvious employee training is without compare. Not only are you ALWAYS treated like a VIP but it is very rare that I do not get a free upgrade or forgiveness on the refill of gas I forgot etc. They truly empower their employees ( not just the GM either ) to take care of you and they do. Now again I am a points FREAK and am rarely motivated by something not associated with a loyalty program, but rental cars are the exception. Enterprise is one of the joys of my wanderer lifestyle and I am always excited to meet the energetic and helpful staff when I arrive at a branch. It always feels like meeting a friend. They truly stand out and it is definitely different with Enterprise even then with Alamo or National. Just my two cents.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      Thanks, Derrick! Excellent points!

      Reply
  7. BookGirl305 says:
    4 years ago

    Another PHX comment- 2018- I booked a Costco rental and got Budget. There were close to 100 people in line waiting for cars approx noon. It was an estimated 2 hour wait as they had to wash all the returns. The Dollar counter next door matched my Costco/ Budget rate and I drove out in a “seasoned” Corolla 20 minutes later.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      4 years ago

      Excellent tip! (And maybe I need to stay away from PHX for a while!)

      Reply

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