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The transfer buses that connect Heathrow’s airport terminals with the Hertz rental car depot keep arriving and departing at regular intervals. It was not always so. For years the service was both slow and chaotic, until Hertz asked the drivers for ideas on how to improve it.

“We sat down and said ‘let’s question it’,” says bus operations manager Kearnan McGrane. “We had never questioned it; we were never flexible before.”

A small team comprising drivers and managers soon discovered that it would make sense to replace large buses that circled the then four terminals with smaller buses that would serve just one or two terminals each. “You can either go around all the terminals in an orderly fashion or you can split the routes and halve the journey times,” adds regional manager Gustaf Isaksson.

Falling demand in the car hire industry
For Michel Taride, president of Hertz Europe, the restructuring of the bus service at the Heathrow branch is an example of the “speed and depth of the transformation” Hertz is going through. We will buy fewer cars this year than we did last year, perhaps by as much as 40%

“We are proud to have done a lot of what car hire companies are now forced to do while we were in good shape,” he says, explaining that staff members are being urged to get involved in planning and improving how work at the car hire company is being done.

These days, the car rentals sector, including global leader Hertz, is in trouble, having seen a sharp decline in both holiday and business travel since the onset of the recession.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has pointed to how Hertz and its rivals have been hit by a sharp reduction in the number of flights taken and raised concerns about their ability to raise finance in the future.

Hertz’s share price has plunged from a peak of $14.50 last spring and now trades at about $2.40.

Source: BBC News

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A cherry red Mini Cooper convertible enjoyed center stage at Hertz’s recent launch of a car-sharing service in New York, London and Paris — the most ambitious step yet into that market by a traditional car rental company.

Like existing car-sharing companies, Hertz Global Holdings is placing cars in a variety of locations that members of the sharing program, called “Connect by Hertz,” can reserve online. Rentals are charged hourly; the annual membership fee includes insurance, gas, roadside assistance, maintenance and use of a universal key card.

Hertz is entering the car-sharing market as the rental industry faces a series of challenges: Airlines have reduced flights, consumers have cut leisure spending and business travel has dropped, all of which have cut sharply into rental revenue and profits.

Even so, Mark Frissora, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in an interview that the company’s timing for launching Connect by Hertz could not be better. Starting small, Hertz hopes to capitalize on both consumer demand for alternatives to car ownership and the current weakness of its rivals.

“People can’t buy cars today,” Frissora said in an interview, referring to the current lack of consumer credit.

Rivals Avis Budget Group and Dollar Thrifty Automotive also are struggling. In December, Avis has announced a management salary freeze, downsized its planned fleet and cut more than 2,200 jobs as part of a drive to reduce annual costs in the face of dropping demand. Dollar Thrifty, meanwhile, reported a hefty fourth-quarter loss.

Other traditional rental companies already have tiptoed into the car-sharing market. Privately owned Enterprise Rent-A-Car expanded its WeCar sharing program, officially launched in St. Louis last year, to roughly half a dozen universities and businesses. And U-Haul International, also privately held, started a car-sharing program in Berkeley, Madison, Wis., and Portland, Ore., that it now plans to expand into Portland, Maine, and College Station, Texas.

Connect by Hertz is still dwarfed by other car-sharing operations. In New York, Hertz is starting with 10 locations in Manhattan, while Zipcar has 300 locations in greater New York.

Frissora said Park Ridge, N.J.-based Hertz plans to add 20 cities in North America and Europe next year, as well as universities and corporate locations. “We will grow it as rapidly as demand is there for it,” he said. “We have no limits on capacity.”

New York users will pay a $50 annual membership fee plus hourly rates starting at $10. Frequent users can choose a monthly rate instead. Zipcar’s annual fee in New York is also $50, and hourly rates start at $11. It also has a comparable monthly plan for heavy users.

Frissora said Hertz plans to lure members with accessories generally not available in its other rental cars, such as Bluetooth hands-free cell phone tools, an iPod connection and a hands-free audio kit for requesting customer service. “You press a button and you’re instantly connected to our reservation center,” Frissora said.

Hertz is also touting the “greenness” of its sharing fleet, which meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for high-quality environmental performance.

Source: Associated Press

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Amadeus says it has become the first company in the car rental industry to go 100% electronic for reservations with all car rental companies worldwide.

The technology company says its entire network of agencies can now use e-vouchers, first launched in December 2006, giving access to 24 global car rental companies in 36,000 rental locations worldwide.

Marcos Isaac, director of the travel services business group at Amadeus, said: “With the complete withdrawal of paper vouchers, Amadeus takes the lead as the technology partner for the car hire industry. Just as we did when we launched Amadeus Cars e-Voucher, we are providing the technology to bring benefits to travellers, travel agents and car rental providers.”

Elaine Cottrell, distribution systems manager at Avis Europe, added: “Avis Europe is delighted to have implemented Amadeus Cars e-Voucher globally. This functionality is a great benefit for travel agents as it provides them with the ability to pay for their reservation without having to produce a voucher at the rental counter.”

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Car sales in Spain plummeted by 28 percent last year, the worst slump on record, manufacturers said Monday. Automobile trade association ANFAC said 1.16 million vehicles were sold in 2008, down from 1.61 million the previous year.

Looking at monthly figures, the association also said sales flopped by 49.9 percent to 72,377 in December, compared to 144,441 sold in the same month of 2007.

Spain, one of Europe’s best-performing economies over the last decade, is in a sharp downturn because of the international financial crisis, which has exacerbated a collapse in its key construction industry. Automakers such as Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen have all announced job and production cuts in Spain in recent months. Not even the car hire industry in Spain will be able to stop this. Due to the financial crisis many car hire companies in Spain will also suffer severe problems in renewing their fleet of rental cars. Car hire in Spain still is a cheap option against the use of public transport in many travel destinations like Alicante, Malaga or Palma de Mallorca where there is a large offer of cheap car hire.

Source: Associated Press

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The weak pound is likely to affect the choice of holiday destination in 2009 according to ABTA, which represents travel agents and tour operators. Sterling fell by more than 30% against the euro and the US dollar last year. Egypt and Turkey, with lower living costs, are likely to benefit and both countries saw increases of more than 30% in visitors from the UK last year. Mexico, Cuba, Dubai, Croatia and Australia are among other destinations predicted to do well this year.

Spain is the most popular destination for British tourists with around 12 million holidays taken there each year. Around seven million holidays are taken in France with more than two million in the US and Italy. Around 1.3 million are currently taken in Turkey.

The travel industry claims the demand for holidays in the 16 countries which have adopted the euro is unlikely to suffer any dramatic fall. However a spokesman from ABTA says a lot of British people have established ties: “I still believe Spain will be way up there in terms of our favourite destinations. A lot of people have second homes over there for instance.”

Source: Associated Press

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Arrivals of foreign tourists to Spain, the world’s second biggest tourist destination, plummeted in November as top customers Britons and Germans stayed at home during the global economic slowdown.

Arrivals fell 11.6 percent in the month from a year earlier, the first double-digit decline in years, with British visitors down 15 percent and 7 percent fewer Germans, Spain’s Industry, Tourism and Trade Ministry reported on Monday.

Tourism is Spain’s second biggest industry and leading destinations Catalonia and the Balearic Islands suffered falls of over 10 percent in November.

Foreign tourist arrivals declined 2 percent to 54.6 million in the 11 months to November, marking another economic blow to Spain during the collapse of residential construction and real estate sectors that are its largest industry.

As well as the global downturn, Britons have been hit by a second whammy with sterling slumping to a record low against the euro.

Car hire companies in Spain have been affected by the downturn as well and report significantly less car rentals since October 2009. Car hire in Spain is still very affordable, but the decrease in the number of foreing visitors has slowed down the car hire bookings for 2009. Some car hire companies report a decrease of up to 20% in the number of car hire reservations compared to last years figures.

Source: Reuters

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Few Spaniards would sacrifice their annual summer vacation. But while Spain’s beaches are still busy, shops and restaurants at its resorts are ominously quiet as the country’s economic crisis envelops the tourism industry.

After 50 years of uninterrupted growth, Spain’s overbuilt and relatively expensive resorts seem ill-placed to cope with a downturn, at a time of increasing competition from cheaper, less-crowded destinations like Croatia and Turkey.

“In 48 years, I have never seen losses like this; tourism bosses I’m talking to have never suffered so much,” said Domenec Biosca, president of Spain’s Association of Tourism Directors and Experts. He said that in many parts of the country, tourism was already in deep recession, as both Spaniards and foreigners travel less distance, stay less time and spend less money.

Spain’s biggest hotel group, Sol Melia, reported that profits fell 41 percent in the first half of the year, while those at business hotel group NH dropped 20 percent. Revenues in the Canary and Balearic islands have fallen as much as 12 percent this year, Biosca estimated, predicting that such mature destinations would gradually decline in the face of foreign competition, despite lowering their prices.
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Tenerife is the biggest of the Canary Islands. Its capital and port Santa Cruz de Tenerife is located in the north of the island. You can spend your holidays in the green and cooler north in Puerto de la Cruz or in Los Cristianos and Playas de las Americas in the sunnier and drier south.

With a rental car you can easily discover the whole island during your vacation and see the different landscapes Tenerife offers.The highest mountain of Spain, the 3.718 Meter high Pico del Teide, is a dormant volcano in the centre of Tenerife. The area around the volcano is a national park where you can see the different landscapes and surfaces created by the eruptions. There is even the Parador Hotel if you wish to stay overnight.The Anaga mountain range in the northeast is the oldest part of the island of Tenerife. It was formed by a volcanic eruption. Because of the relative altitude and the passage of the trade winds it is an especially humid zone, which favoured its special flora diversity, including the Laurisilva trees. Enjoy a drive along the winding roads with your rental car. Tenerife is a popular destination for golf players as it offers 9 different golf courses, the majority of them in the south.Tenerife has two airports: the smaller Tenerife North (close to La Laguna and Santa Cruz) and Tenerife South (close to Los Cristianos and Playas de las Americas). We work with various renowned car rental companies at both airports and in the resorts. Request a quote for your car hire in Tenerife on our website. Our search engine will find you the best deal available.

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