usrentacar.co.uk® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi,

You can be forgiven for not having heard of the new social website on the block, as its still invite only however pinterest.com for me is going to be huge for the travel industry and here’s why…

As described on their website

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Traffic

In the last 6 months visits to Pinterest have risen 4000%, according to TNW in one week in December they received over 11 million unique visitors. Remember they have achieved all this despite being invitation only.

Some companies are reporting greater referral traffic from Pinterest than facebook.

SEO

Search Engine Land also points out that Pinterest is a great way to improve your search engine optimisation as it allows you to back link to your own site.

Viral

The buzz word of marketeers everywhere, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increased brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives. A good example of Viral marketing was the Cadbury’s Chocolate’s, Gorilla advert, which was popular on facebook and youtube.

Pinterest’s users are loyal but more importantly, active, which increases the chance for your campaign to go viral their recent additional of pinning to facebooks timeline also adds to the viral opportunities.

Engagement

Companies should take every opportunity they can to engage with their customers, Pinterest offers a unique and simple way to interact.

We interacted with more customers in the first week on Pinterest than we did compared to the first week on twitter or facebook.

Pinterest also allows users to re-pin or even comment on the information  you provide, users don’t have to be following you or “like” you.

Shop

Remember when there were tons of independent travel agents on the high street, windows full of holiday offers. Well Pinterest can be that shop window, pin a picture of your holiday, your tour or your car hire offer and add a price to it.

but most importantly…  

Visual

Selling travel is a very visual experience, hence the use of brochures and companies investing heavily on image based websites for example; four season’s recently spent $18 million on their new website.

Pinterest allows companies to create a board based on inspiring images, these images should promote your destination, tour or even car hire.

Do customers react more to an image or to text?

Can an image say more that words?

For me, facebook, google plus and twitter are the go to sites for companies committed to social media, however I think Pinterest is best suited to travel, I for one wont be surprised when a whole host of companies get on board.

You can visit the usrentacar Pinterest board here, for those of you who aren’t on Pinterest yet, but are interested, we still have some invitations left, see our previous post.

regards,

Gavin

Hi all,

Today Alamo have agreed to remove their peak season surcharge for all new bookings collecting in July and August 2012 for a limited time.

The removal of the peak season surcharge will reduce usrentacar.co.uk Alamo peak prices by around £25 per week.

Frank Williams Director of Communication said

We are delighted that Alamo Rent A Car have given our customers the opportunity to hire a quality product during peak season without the extra charge.

The new peakless rates are ready to book on our system right now and can be secured with a £50.00 deposit.

Please note once this offer has ended, if you have not secured your rental on usrentacar.co.uk, a peak season surcharge may apply.

regards,

James

Hi all,

With car manufactures getting more and more advanced with their technology offerings, (see our post technology and car rental) the american automotive authority believes the time is drawing near when we’ll get in to our hire cars and not know how to even start them!

Facebook integration, keyless cars and even vehicles run on electricity are becoming the norm, if you’d mentioned this 10 years ago to the average Joe they would have thought you’d gone mental.

Here at usrentacar.co.uk we believe in being prepared, so before you drive out of the parking lot here are 5 things we believe you should know.

1. All drivers should know how to start the car, it use to be straight forward, stick the key in turn it and hey presto, these days its not so simple, take the Prius for example, to turn on the engine you insert the key, push down the brake pedal and press the “power” button….simples.
2. How to Turn on the lights, last thing you need is to be driving in a foreign Country fiddling around the dash board trying to figure out how to switch the lights on after along day at Universal Orlando!
3. How to Switch on the Windscreen wipers, again you don’t want to be caught in a sudden storm and not know how to quickly turn the wipers on.
4. How to open the petrol cap and where its situated on the car.
5. How to disengage the hand brake. (this one came from our facebook page, via John Young) ”I remember sitting trying to figure that one out for ages the first time we hired an SUV. The parking brake release was a button on the dash”.
6. How to operate an automatic, for UK drivers we generally all drive “stick” then change to automatic can briefly throw you, get use to the controls before leaving the car park. (suggested by Adam Robertson via facebook)
7. How to remove the key from the ignition, some vehicles require a push or a reverse twist to remove the key, better to figure this out before you’re miles away from the rental office. (suggested by Paul Bevan via facebook)

Hi all,

Here at usrentacar.co.uk we like to stay on the cutting edge of social media, so today we will begin to trial the use of Pinterest.

Pinterest is a new social website based around the “pinning” of images and items of interest to your own custom notice board.

Although Pinterest is still in beta (invitation only) it has already exceeded 6 Million users.

We will use our pinterest account to “pin” items we think will be of interest; including pictures of car’s collected by our customers, great theme park info or pic’s and anything we think is inspiring or just cool.

You can follow us on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/usrentacar/ (follow us and we’ll follow back).

If you haven’t got a pinterest account yet we will send invitation to the first 50 users to either post their booking reference number below or on our facebook account, or email me at jamest@usrentacar.co.uk.

regards,

James,

Hi all,

On the 21st October we launched version 1.2 of the usrentacar voucher app, along with some push notification amendments we launched our Car Finder feature.

What is Car Finder?

Car Finder is a usrentacar.co.uk designed feature to help our cust0mers locate their vehicles after a long day at the parks or when shopping in an unfamiliar location.

How it works?

Car Finder works by integrating the iPhone’s inbuilt gps system and google maps.

Step 1

Once you have logged in to our app using your email address and your password, press the Car Finder icon positioned far right on the navigation bar.

Step 2

Once your iPhone has picked up your GPS position click on the “Save Location” button in the top right hand corner.
You will note an icon of a car appears in your position.

You can also view your car’s position in Satellite mode.

Step 3

When you are ready to locate your car, click on “find car” positioned in the top left hand corner, this button will alter to “refresh” once used.
You will note that your current position is symbolised by walking human icon.

You can also view this in Satellite mode.

Step 4

As you follow the route the human icon will also move, you can speed this up by clicking on the “refresh” button which replaces the “find car” button.

To add a new position for your car simply click on “Clear Location” and begin the process again.

I hope you like this new feature, what are your first impression’s?

Is there something else you’d like us to add?

regards,

James,

Hi all,

The usrentacar.co.uk Voucher App is fast approaching its 6 month birthday, so I thought now would be a good time to look at its short life.

We officially released the voucher app on the iPhone, on April 4th 2011. Those of you who follow us on facebook actually got a sneak preview a few days prior.

The app itself, basically, makes your car hire USA voucher mobile, instead of having to show our suppliers a piece of paper or in some cases several bits of paper, our customers are able to show these details via their phone.  However the app also has a few other unique features which over the past 6 months have proven to be very popular.

The usrentacar.co.uk WaitTime feature is an example of this, customers are asked to add the amount of time it took them to collect their vehicle and displays the average time other customers have had to queue.

Another great feature, is the ability to add a live review of your car rental experience, usrentacar.co.uk was the first car hire company to offer customers the oppotunity to leave a review of their hire, however this has always taken place after the hire is complete. The voucher app allows customers to review immediately upon collection and send a picture or video.

Nice and clean F350 12 seated. Only 4000 miles on the clock. Bit different from the “premium car” we had last week. Managed to get it to 20mpg on a run to Ocala, but locally it’s horrific, but who cares! Dollar tried to sell us the sunpass thing but it’s not worth it. We know where are going and knew we would encounter few tolls

The app also gives you access to our popular car rental blog.

In June 2011 the usrentacar.co.uk voucher app hit a 1000 downloads from iTunes, during this time we’d had a few customers asking when it would be available on the Android platform.

So on the 6th June 2011 the usrentacar.co.uk voucher app was released to the Android market place featuring all the same features as the iPhone version, the app quickly reached almost 500 downloads.

On the 22nd June 2011, the usrentacar voucher app was nominated for a prestigious Travolution award under Best Mobile Application along side such travel giants as British Airways, Ebookers and Kayak.

On the 26th July 2011 the usrentacar voucher app received its second award nomination, this time from the British Travel Awards for Best Travel and Tourism iPhone/Smart Phone App.

The Future

Well obviously we’ve got two awards to cross our fingers for but more importantly we will be releasing a new version of the app in October, with a few new and innovative features.

So if you have an iPhone or an Android phone why not download our free app today.

iPhone – Click here to download the usrentacar iPhone app

Android – Click here to download the usrentacar Android app

Kind regards,

James,

Hi all,

Everybody likes a discount and companies like novel ways of advertising, so…

Budget Rent A Car out of Atlanta Airport and Wrap Media Group have teamed up to provide both.

David Berke COO of Wrap Media Group said

Like many other entrepreneurial ventures, this was conceived on a cocktail napkin in a restaurant. We’ve developed a new and unique way for brands to interact with their consumer audiences. The ability to integrate wrapped vehicles, product placement and online interaction into one solution is unparalleled

The USA car rental agency has rolled out the pilot program strictly in Atlanta on  25 rental cars—15 full size vehicles and 10 mid-sized SUVs—these vehicles have been covered, or “wrapped,” with ads for Sheets Brand Energy Strips.

Although the exact promotional rates for the ad-shrouded vehicle vary, according to the Associated Press, one Budget renter was able to get quite a deal. Instead of the usual $400 local rental fee for an SUV for four days, she signed up for an ad-wrapped SUV for a mere $88. (please note this is a local rental and does not include the insurances provided by usrentacar.co.uk)

So this begs the question…

Would you take a discount for a vehicle “wrapped” in Adverts?

Regards,

James,

Hi all,

Back in July 2010 I posted about Miami International Airport opening a new Car Rental facility. The 4 level facility which cost $480 million to build and houses 16 car rental firms received positive praise from our customers.

Mr Neil Maitland commented

Nice new rental car building at Miami Airport made collection and drop off very straight forward

Mr Philip Carson added

Miami airport is a pleasure to hire a car from now. You catch any shuttle bus and they take you to a new building that all the car suppliers are there I was in and out within 15 minutes

Mr Andrew Johnson wrote

The new rental centre at Miami Airport was excellent. When the rail link to it is complete it will be even better.

At present customers get to the facility via shuttle bus regardless of supplier chosen however shortly this will be replaced by an electric-powered MIA Mover, which can transport 3,000 passengers per hour and will reduce fuel emissions at MIA by 15%.

The MIA Mover, a 1.25-mile-long, elevated people mover system, is scheduled to begin connecting passengers from MIA to the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) on September 9 2011.

What’s your opinion of Miami’s Car Rental Facility?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Great news from the guys and girls at the British Travel Awards, usrentacar.co.uk has been nominated for best car hire company 2011 and Best Travel and Tourism iPhone/Smart Phone App.

To vote for us simply click here and follow the on screen instructions, every person that votes is automatically entered in to a holiday prize draw including attraction tickets, airport parking and a £1000.00 holiday voucher.

usrentacar.co.uk are obviously delighted to once again be recognised by the British Travel Awards and hope this year could see us sneak the prize away from the big boys of car hire.

How to vote

1. Click here or visit http://britishtravelawards.com/vote_form.php
2. Enter your information as reqested and hit submit.
3. Click on “Who provides the best additional holiday services?”
4. Click on “Best Car Hire Company (of the Year Awards)
5. Tick the box stating “U.S. Rent A Car”
6. Click on “Who provides the best travel information and price comparison?”
7. Click on “Best Travel and Tourism iPhone/Smart Phone App”
8. Tick the box stating “U.S. Rent A Car voucher app”
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit the Submit Answers button.

Remember – You do not have to vote in any other category to be entered in to the prize draw.

About the British Travel Awards

BTA’s chief executive Lorraine Barnes Burton said: “The British Travel Awards are widely considered to be the “Oscars” of the travel industry!  It’s the largest awards programme in the UK created to reward travel companies and the winning accolade is the benchmark for excellence when it comes to finding out who really is the best in the business of travel for the UK consumer.”

Companies were nominated by travel industry professionals and a selection of the previous year’s consumer voters, and the shortlisted companies now go to the consumer voting stage. In 2010 over 120,000 votes were cast with the results scrutinized and audited by Deloitte LLP.  The winners of the 2011 British Travel Awards will be announced at a glittering ceremony on 2 November at the Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park, London.

Kind regards,

James

Hi all,

Following on from my earlier blog  post regarding customer photo’s taken using the usrentacar voucher app, I thought I’d share some more photo’s sent to us via our facebook page and via our customer reviews.

Some great pictures there, I’m sure you’ll agree. Thanks to those usrentacar.co.uk customers who provided these great snaps.

Regards,

James,