Hertz Gold Plus Rewards "enhancement" from 1 Jan 19

[QF WP]

Well the enhancements have already happened according to the email I just received . Thanks for letting me know in advance Hertz .

The email trying to paint a positive picture:

At Hertz, we're always looking for new ways to add value to our Gold Plus Rewards® members. Effective January 1, 2019, we have updated our award-winning loyalty program, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards®.

You can look forward to:

• Earn points even faster - and redeem them in new ways.
• Find ways to spend your points with our 'Cash + Points' program.

But I can't match their enthusiasm when reading the new program T&C's. They give with one hand and taking with both hands: Offer

Introducing new enhancements and changes to Hertz Gold Plus Rewards®


Changes in point earning and expiry:

• Increasing point multipliers:
• Five Star: From a 10% bonus to a 25% bonus
• Presidents Circle: From a 25% bonus to a 50% bonus
• Updating Five Star qualification status from 7 rentals or $1,500 spend (excluding taxes and fees) to 12 rentals or $2,400 spend (excluding taxes and fees).
• Changing points expiration from 24 months of activity to 18 months of inactivity.
• Eliminating select activation bonuses including sign-up bonus and 15th rental bonus.

A better, faster experience:

• Offering Five Star for a Day for Gold members that reach 8 rentals and President's Circle for a Day for Five Star members that reach 16 rentals so you can experience next tier benefits.
• Offering you the chance to upgrade to any available car on the lot after your 30th and 40th rentals.
• Guaranteeing President's Circle members their requested vehicle is available with at least 24-hour notice at our airport locations. Previously, we required at least 48-hour notice.

Flexible redemption options:

• Introduce Cash + Points: Use a combination of points and currency instead of one or the other - to pay for rentals and vehicle upgrade.
• Offering new ways for you to earn and use points beyond rentals - including unique and exclusive access to Hertz Rewards - our auction platform.
• Offering you the chance to use your points to redeem for luxury vehicles in the Hertz Dream Cars Collection. (Effective mid-January 2019)

 

[boomy]

Looking forward to see how open will the Dream Car collection be using points. One of the annoying things about Hertz is they only allow basic and boring car reservations in Europe when using points. So far was lucky to get good upgrades on the spot but it’s an unnecessary gamble each time. Will be good to be able to book some nice cars in advance.

 

[QF WP]

I just want them to continue to credit to AA, so I keep my AAccount open. I've almost given up on hire car with the advent of Uber. Why drive in an unfamiliar city?? I must be getting old..

 

[burmans]

You are being a bit obtuse here, what don't you like about the new T&Cs?

 

[QF WP]

@burmans, sorry for my obtuseness. My major issue is that they giveth with one hand:

Changes in point earning and expiry:

• Increasing point multipliers:
• Five Star: From a 10% bonus to a 25% bonus

but they taketh with both hands:

• Updating Five Star qualification status from 7 rentals or $1,500 spend (excluding taxes and fees) to 12 rentals or $2,400 spend (excluding taxes and fees).
• Changing points expiration from 24 months of activity to 18 months of inactivity.
• Eliminating select activation bonuses including sign-up bonus and 15th rental bonus.

My major beef is that they changes the rules retrospectively (as the email was received 10 January, with the changes made effective 1 January).

using the word "updating" is merely Marketing trying to make it appear positive (it is for them), when in fact that is a massive jump in qualification requirements. A 70% increase in rentals and 60% in spend.

As a side note, It's a pity that my wife had an accident in our car (not her fault) and the insurer gave us a hire car (Hertz) and I can't put in my card number in it. We have the car for a month as the accident happened in mid-December and no panelbeater could do the work before Xmas...

 

[Flashback]

I still have my Hertz President's Circle membership, going on 3 years or so now. Status matched from Accor Platinum when I had it (thanks AMEX Plat!) and it never seems to have dropped. That being said, I've recently been finding direct pricing (even with CDP) really expensive, so have been straying away from booking with them.

 

[QF WP]

Same with my previous President Circle membership (think it was from VA Platinum). I had it for between 2-3 years and still have the CDP code in my profile.