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Hi all,

When Dollar Rent A Car decided not to take the Hertz offer and enter in to advanced talks with Budget Rent A Car the stumbling block would always be proving to anti trust regulators that the consumer would be the winner, here is the latest joint statement from Avis/Budget and DTAG (Dollar /Thrifty)

As previously reported, following the termination of Dollar Thrifty’s merger agreement with Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Dollar Thrifty and Avis Budget have been cooperating to pursue antitrust regulatory clearance of a potential acquisition of Dollar Thrifty’s common stock by Avis Budget.

During this period, Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty have presented to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) a jointly held view that the potential transaction would not reduce competition in the rental car industry. Each believes that intense competition from Enterprise/Alamo/National and Hertz/Advantage, as well as numerous smaller brands, would continue after the proposed transaction. In addition, Avis Budget has expressed the view that a merger with Dollar Thrifty would result in significant cost savings and other operational efficiencies. These synergies and the increased ability of the combined company to compete against other competitors in the marketplace will benefit all rental car consumers, particularly Dollar Thrifty’s core leisure customers.

Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty believe substantial progress has been made in the discussions with the FTC on these issues, but the FTC’s position with respect to the competitive issues remains uncertain. The two companies have produced millions of pages of documents and provided vast amounts of data to the FTC regarding the car rental industry and their respective businesses as part of a “Second Request” review process. Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty each have notified the FTC of their intention to certify substantial compliance with the Second Requests on a timetable that would require an official decision from the FTC by the end of March or early April.

As the FTC review process continues, Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty remain focused on building their individual businesses to drive continued growth and maximize value for shareholders. Dollar Thrifty and Avis Budget reiterate that they have no agreement with respect to any merger or other business combination, and that there can be no assurance that any such transaction (or the terms thereof) can be agreed upon.

Do you think this joint merger will benefit the consumer?

I will of course keep you updated as more information becomes available.

regards,

James

Hi all,

In 2010 New York welcomed 48.7 Million visitors, staying on course to hit the magic 50 million visitors as predicted by Mayor Michael Bloomburg back in 2007.

Reports state that of the 48.7 million, 39 million were USA citizens and 9.7 were from over-sea’s.

Mayor Bloomberg said:

‘The strength of our tourism industry is one of the reasons New York City was less impacted by the national recession than other cities, and it continues to be one of the reasons we’re growing faster than other cities today.

‘The industry employed more New Yorkers in 2010 than ever before, and the $31bn visitors spent this year supported our restaurants, shops, hotels and cultural institutions.’

Is New York on your list of places to visit by 2012?

regards,

James

Hi all,

This post is as much for me as it is for you guys. I generally have to call different parts of the U.S. at least 10 times a day and I can never remember the time difference between the UK and varies parts of America. So this blog will list major locations and the time difference.

Pacific Zone

State                              City

Washington                  Seattle

Oregon                           Portland

Nevada                           Las Vegas

California                      San Francisco

Time Difference – GMT minus 8 hrs

Mountain Time Zone

State                              City

Montana                         Billings

Idaho                               Boise

Wyoming                        Jackson Hole

Utah                                  Salt Lake City

Colorado                         Denver

Arizona                            Phoenix

New Mexico                   Santa Fe

Time Difference – GMT minus 7 hrs

Central Time Zone

State                              City

North Dakota               Grand Forks

South Dakota                Sioux Falls

Minneapolis                  Minnesota

Wisconsin                      Milwaukee

Nebraska                        Grand Island

Iowa                                 Cedar Rapids

Illinois                             Chicago

Oklahoma                        Tulsa

Missouri                          St. Louis

Arkansas                         Little Rock

Tennessee                       Memphis

Texas                                Dallas

Louisiana                        New Orleans

Mississippi                      Jackson

Alabama                          Huntsville

Time Difference – GMT minus 6 hrs

Eastern Time Zone

State                              City

Michigan                        Detroit

Maine                               Portland

New Hampshire           Manchester

Vermont                         Burlington

Massachusetts              Boston

Rhode Island                 Providence

New York                        New York

Indiana                            Indianapolis

Ohio                                   Cleveland

Pennsylvania                 Philidephia

New Jersey                     Newark

Connecticut                    Hartford

Kentucky                          Cincinnati

West Virginia                  Lewisburg

Washington DC               Washington

Maryland                           Baltimore

Delaware                           Wilmington

Virginia                              Richmond

North Carolina                Charlotte

South Carolina                Myrtle Beach

Georgia                               Atlanta

Florida                                Orlando

Time Difference – GMT minus 5 hrs

Alaska is 9  hrs behind the UK and Hawaii 10 hrs behind.

I hope you find this useful.

Kind regards,

James

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Hi all,

Ok, so they don’t like being called nerds… so…. the geeks in the IT department have followed their Dollar Car Hire Las Vegas locations map with a map showing all the Dollar Car Hire locations in New York including opening times etc. You can very their hard work here, Dollar Car Hire Locations in New York.

As we now have live availability with Dollar Rent A Car you can now check available vehicle categories up to 15 minutes before collection! Also we offer free one way rentals from Nevada to California and vice versa so you could always collect from a downtown location but return it to the airport?

Is there another location you’d like us to map or have we missed something?

Kind regards,

James

Name: Jane Hockey

Position: Support Agent

Years Served: 1 Year

Biog (what do you do here): I answer emails from customers, as well as phone calls. I also send on all of our customer’s bookings to our suppliers.

Area of Expertise: General Queries

Favourite USA Location: New York

Ideal Road Trip Companion (not your partner): Lewis Hamilton, not only is he good looking but he could do all the driving!

Favourite Car: Aston Martin DB9…. but I guess Peggie the Peugeot will have to do for now!!

If you were a Disney Character or Character that appears at Universal who would you be?: Ummm Snow White I guess, I don’t really know.

Below is U.S. Rent A Car’s top 7 Restaurants in New York. Please feel free to comment on them or add suggestions.

1. Per Se, one of the best restaurants in the world operated by renowned chef Thomas Keller, (Per Se ranked #6 in the world by The S. Pellegrino Restaurants Guide in 2009) offers two prix fixe tasting menus for $275; a 9 course tasting of seasonal vegetables or the 9 course chef’s tasting menu, which changes daily. To dine in Per Se is a gastronomical & emotional experience.

 

2. The Red Cat – This Old Chelsea food hall is a New York original. The Red Cat’s combination of come-as-you-are sensibilities and straightforward, satisfying, and occasionally irreverent cuisine instantly establish the restaurant as a favorite with New York diners.

 

 

 

3. Zorzi,  located in New York City’s Midtown East. It is a chic & popular restaurant that serves excellent Northern Italian cuisine. Every day Zorzi serves delectable finger food to delight your palate paired with cool drinks, great wines and paramount hospitality. Great decor and relax, lively atmosphere.

  

  

4. Bella Blu is the Upper East sided most popular restaurant. A masterpiece of art, designed by Antonio Romano. The architecture and food are in a class of their own. Bella Blu is known for its mosaic brick oven pizza. An attractive restaurant filled with vivid Mediterranean decor, abstract paintings. which all add to a wonderful dining experience at surprisingly affordable prices

 

 

5. Lattanzi, serving exceptional, authentic, and high-quality Italian cuisine. It always attracts an impressive number of celebrities and draws loyal clientele from destinations all over the city and the world. Despite this, it remains a hidden jewel: one of the city’s best kept culinary secrets.

 

 

 

6. One if by Land, Two if by Sea, outstanding American cuisine and one of the most romantic restaurants in the city. Fine dining in a landmark Greenwich Village carriage house. Dinner 7 nights a weeks, $20 Sunday brunch from 11:30 am-2:00 pm, Casual dining at the bar.

 

 

 

7. Natsumi Restaurant specializing in Japanese-Italian fusion cuisine; the innovative menu relies on simple preparations with dynamic flavors. Two separate experiences in two adjacent sites, a restaurant and bar/lounge are now open in the theatre district. One of the most interesting dining destinations in New York.

Below is U.S. Rent A Car’s top 7 things to do in New York. Please feel free to comment on them or add suggestions.

1. Central Park  is an urban park that occupies about 1.2 square miles (341 hectares, or 843 acres) in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park was opened in 1859, completed in 1873 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.  Activites include Horse drawn carriages, pedicabs, Climbing, public theaters, Opera and concerts.

 

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, United States, North America. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments.^[5] The main building, often referred to simply as “the Met”, is one of the world’s largest art galleries; there is also a much smaller second location in Upper Manhattan, at “The Cloisters”, which features medieval art

3. Staten Island Ferry  is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between Manhattan Island and Staten Island. The ferry departs Manhattan from South Ferry, near Whitehall Circle, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park. On Staten Island, the ferry arrives and departs from St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace, near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court.

4. Trinity Church at 79 Broadway, New York City, is an historic, full-service parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Trinity Church is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in downtown Manhattan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Statue of Liberty officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World (French: la Liberté éclairant le monde), dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution. ^{It attracted 3.2 million visitors in 2007.}

 

 

 

 

6. Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York, The Empire State.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The Frick Collection is one of the preeminent small art museums in the United States, with a very high-quality collection of old master paintings and fine furniture housed in 16 galleries within the formerly occupied residential mansion. The paintings in many galleries are still arranged according to Frick’s design, although additional works have been bought by the Frick Collection over the years in a manner deemed to correspond with the aesthetic of the collection.

 

 

 

 

With valentines day rapidly approaching you may be thinking that it was time you finally pulled your finger out and proposed to your partner. If you’re struggling for ideas on the best place to pop the question then take a look at our pick of the top USA destinations for romance;

Rockefeller Ice Rink, New York, USA

For romance with built-in glide, propose at the Rockefeller Ice Rink. If you buy the Engagement on Ice package the staff will clear the ice of everyone but yourself and your partner, play your song over the tannoy and supply champagne. Get down on one knee to cheers from the crowd. Then you can skate around for your victory lap. It’s best to go for this one if you’re really sure it’s going to be a yes.

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The beauty of proposing in Las Vegas is that you won’t have to wait out a long engagement. Just grab yourself a cheap Las Vegas car hire and zip along the strip and find yourself down to a quick-fix chapel and you can get hitched there and then, following in star-studded footsteps – from Elvis and Priscilla Presley to Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. And fingers crossed, marriage will last longer than other Vegas lovebirds Pamela Anderson and Rick Soloman (six months) or Britney Spears and Jason Allen Alexander (55 hours).

Empire State Building, New York, USA

Where could be finer to propose than 320 metres above the rush and hustle of NYC? Follow in the footsteps of Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant, who met here annually in An Affair to Remember and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle. It’s open until 2am, but unless you need a night out on the tiles to build up courage first, the best time to aim for is sunset, ideally on Valentine’s Day when the tower is lit up in red. Cheap New York Car Hire

For all departures from 12^th Jan 2009 onwards, passport holders from the United Kingdom, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland will be required to have an ESTA – electronic system for travel authorisations – issued for their trip into the US.

ESTA will replace the paper visa forms currently issued whilst in-flight. To apply for the ESTA please visit to https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov at least 72 hours prior to your trip.