Posts Tagged ‘budget’

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Jet2 ramps up summer holiday departures

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Jet2, the low-cost airline, has increased the number of flights it will be offering to customers wishing to take off for popular holiday destinations across Portugal and Spain this summer from airports in Northern England and Scotland. The decision was made after the budget carrier saw a significant increase in demand for services to tourist hotspots like Alicante and Majorca.

Travellers departing from Scotland will have access to a timetable of six flights each week to Majorca from Glasgow Airport as Jet2 increases the number of departures to Spain. Those preferring Alicante will be able to fly out of Newcastle Airport on two additional weekly flights.

Four flights a week will be available to passengers choosing to fly out of Leeds Bradford Airport to the Canary Islands as services are increased to summer holiday favourite - Tenerife. The additional service departs ever Thursday. Customers will also have the opportunity of taking off on Sundays for Murcia in Spain as extra seats are laid on.

From Manchester Airport, those wishing to fly to Majorca and Alicante will now have a better chance of doing so on a Friday or a Sunday as additional services will mean two departures on these days. A Saturday service to Tenerife has also been added from Manchester bringing the total number of departures each week to three.

Additional seats are also available from the airport to the extremely popular summer hotspots of Malaga and Ibiza. Jet2 has warned that it expects the extra capacity to sell quickly and advises customers to book as soon as they know their holiday dates.

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US court rules in favour of Zipcar

Monday, June 21st, 2010

A US district court in Queens, NY, ruled that Zipcar and other car-sharing firms are awarded the same liability coverage as traditional car hire companies such as Avis and Hertz when it comes to injury-related accidents. Supreme Court Justice Roger N Rosengarten ruled that the Graves Amendment, a 2005 federal law that protects car rental companies when accidents occur while consumers use their vehicles, also applies to car-sharing firms such as Zipcar.

According to Justice Rosengarten, although Zipcar advertises itself as a unique car-sharing company that offers services different from traditional car hire firms, the company and others like it still fall under the liability umbrella of the Graves Amendment. He went on to say that Zipcar is in the business of renting or leasing motor vehicles, thereby must be covered for liability as are companies such as Avis, Hertz, or Budget.

Founded in 2000, Zipcar now advertises itself as the largest car-sharing company in the world, and has accumulated membership of over 275,000 individuals in the US, Canada, and the UK. The Massachusetts-based company provides car hire by average citizens with their personal autos, either by the hour or per day.

The issue was brought to court after Leslie Minto suffered injuries after she was struck by another car, driven by Dale Douglas, a Zipcar member. In her argument, she claimed that Zipcar was not a typical car hire firm, and should not be covered by the Graves Amendment.

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Greenlight finds Avis and Budget tops in car hire web searches

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Greenlight announced that 1.4 million car hire internet searches were performed in April, with Avis and Budget showing a dramatic increase in search visibility. Greenlight, the leading independent specialist search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) consulting firm in the UK, revealed the findings in its Car Hire April 2010 report.

During the study, Greenlight compiled data to classify the 356 most popular global destinations that Britons travel to, which amounted to 44 per cent of all car hire related searches. The company also profiled which search terms were used by consumers to book car hire companies, with Car Hire appearing 201,000 times, representing 14 per cent of the total.

Budget and Thrifty car hire companies saw a 13 per cent increase in natural search visibility, bringing both into the top 10 of the league table. The car hire giants had previously been ranked at 11 and 12, respectively. Greenlight found that CarHire3000 was the most visible advertiser in April, achieving 82 per cent of voice.

Avis also made strides in search engine returns, increasing its paid visibility by 44 per cent since January. The company leapt in ranking from 10 to three during the period. A few new car hire firms made gains in search engine success, including SunCar, which achieved a 25 per cent share of voice and finished at nine in the league table.

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Carrentals.co.uk offers ski resort car hire from as little as £8 per day

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Popular car hire comparison website Carrentals.co.uk, is offering travellers to European and North American ski resorts budget car rental from as little as £8 per day. The late deal, to coincide with the spectacular snow in many resorts, is on offer at Girona Airport.

The award-winning price comparison website is also offering cut price deals on car rentals from just £17 a day at Bergao Airport, £21 a day in Salzburg, £15 a day from Zaragoza Airport and £17 a day at Turin Airport.

Managing director of Carrentals.co.uk Gareth Robinson said that this year was seeing great snowfall in popular resorts throughout North America and Europe, and with that in mind, the website is recommending that travellers who are heading for a late getaway should book ahead and compare online to get the best deals.

He also pointed out that because Carrentals.co.uk compared deals from numerous suppliers all on one website, people are always able to get the best deal around. The company has also been advising customers to book extras like snow chains and sat nav systems in advance, to ensure that they are not disappointed once they arrive at the airport.

Carrentals.co.uk compares different car hire options from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Budget, easyCar, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 9,000 locations around the world.

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Prius being pulled from car rental fleets over brake fears

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Many major car hire firms are pulling the Toyota Prius hybrid cars from their fleets as the models were recalled over complaints made about their brakes.

The vehicles are popular with drivers who want to maintain a low carbon footprint when they are travelling on holidays.

The world’s largest hire car firm, Hertz, also charges a premium for hiring cars in its ‘Green Collection’, with drivers paying up to 10 per cent more than they would for renting a non-hybrid car of a similar size.

The decision to remove the third-generation Prius comes only days after many car hire firms also pulled other Toyotas from their rental fleets following a safety recall prompted by reports of the accelerator pedal sticking.

Hertz said the company was in the process for fixing the Priuses in its fleet.  According to a company spokesman, safety is the company’s main concern, and customers would be able to select other hybrid models or green models in the Green Collection fleet.

The new Prius has also been withdrawn from other car hire firms including Enterprise, National and Alamo.

A spokesman for Enterprise said that due to the high level of customer concern and media coverage of the ongoing story, the Toyota Prius are being removed as well.

Similar action has been taken by Budget, Avis, and car share clubs such as zipcar and Streetcar.

A Streetcar spokesman said that the cars were being removed pending discussions with Toyota over what action must be taken.

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Car rental firms react by withdrawing Toyota models

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Toyota’s reputation could be severely dented given the slow manner the company has dealt with the faulty accelerator pedals in their cars.

The embroiling crisis engulfing Toyota has plunged to new depths with major car hire firms pulling the auto manufacturer’s models from their rental fleets, with US authorities launching a fresh safety probe, just as the carmaker estimated the crisis has already cost £1.3 billion.

The new twist in the drama witnessed Toyota suffering another terrible day on the global stock markets, with a total of $30 billion being wiped of the company’s vale since the crisis began.

The world’s largest car manufacturer has been running a global recall of eight million cars, including 180,000 in the UK.  The company is attempting to ease customers’ fears over safety by placing adverts in newspapers and posting videos online.

The company’s UK managing director Miguel Fonseca said that he wanted to complete the UK recall within eight weeks, in spite of the parts needed for the repair not arriving from Japan until next week.  Toyota service centres will be prioritising recall work as well as working extended hours and weekends.

Toyota yesterday predicted that the total cost of the crisis around the world would be $1.1 billion in repairs and $900m in lost sales in the first three months of the year. This is a further blow as it was revealed that Avis-Budget has taken over 20,000 Toyota’s out of circulation and Hertz is likely to remove even more.

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Less Britons applying for passports

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

A new report put together by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has revealed that the number of people in the U.K. applying for a new passport or applying to have an old one renewed has dropped by ten percent since 2007. Sir David Normington, Home Office permanent secretary said earlier this year that he thought the drop in those applying could be blamed directly on the recession. He said that people were now either not renewing passports or waiting until they knew they would need them before applying. He went on to say that the price of a new passport was probably putting people off. At the time Sir David was speaking U.K. passports cost £72 (they are now £77.50) and he said that at a time when most air fares are cheaper than that people are realising that a new passport takes quite a chunk out of the holiday budget.

Because less people are applying for passports the Identity and Passport Service has had to redistribute around ten percent of its workers to places where there is a high demand for customer service such as JobCentres.

The new figures have been released as part of an investigation into the Home Office’s management of its finances. The investigation was launched in 2006 when the Home Office finances were described as being in disarray. Three years on the report says that there have been dramatic improvements. The Home Office is now being held up as an example to other sectors of the civil service.

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High ATM commission charges can leave holiday makers with a headache

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Many UK holiday makers admit to spending far more than they expect to when travelling abroad. New research shows that only forty-eight percent of travelers actually bother to calculate the amount of money they might spend whilst on a foreign holiday. First Rate Exchange Services, who are responsible for the research, say that the cost of the use of foreign ATM machines is often something that holiday makers fail to budget for when planning their trip.

First Rate Exchange Services say that last year around £7.8 billion was taken out of ATMs in foreign countries by holiday makers from the U.K. That means £326 million was paid out in bank charges, commission and advance fees. Many people don’t realize just how high the charges can be when using an ATM abroad. On the average withdrawal of £108 customers will pay around £6 if they have used their credit card for the transaction or £5 if they use a debit card. With charges like this First Rate Exchange Services said it wasn’t hard to see why a third of those polled said that they overspent dramatically on their holidays.

Most careful with their money are apparently the Welsh with Londoners topping the poll of most likely to withdraw all their cash from foreign ATMs.

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Budget Rent A Car is Car Rental Supplier of the Year

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Budget Rent A Car has just been named Car Rental Supplier of the Year. The award was given at the Travel Leaders National Meeting in the U.S. Travel Leaders is one of the world’s biggest travel agency networks spanning both the business and leisure travel sectors. The gong was presented to Budget at a ceremony that took place in Salt Lake City which aims to recognize excellence in companies who supply their customers with the best services, products, customer service and sales support.

President of the Travel Leaders Franchise Group, Roger E. Block congratulated the car hire firm and its employees for doing a first rate job. He said that Budget Rent A Car was a company that was highly valued by both travel agents and travel managers and said that they consistently provided a professional service.

Senior vice president of global travel and partnership sales at Avis Budget Group, the parent company of Budget Rent A Car, Kaye Ceille said that the company aimed to provide agents and managers from Travel Leaders with the best vehicles as well as the best rates along with market leading service. Ceille went on to say that it was an honour for the car hire company to receive such a prestigious award.

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New car rental site ElephantCarHire.com offers more innovation

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

A brand new car rental comparison site has been rolled out that aims to make the experience of hiring a car on line as simple and hassle free as possible. ElephantCarHire.com aims to compare the prices of rental cars from over 450 different providers and put together a list of the cheapest vehicles available in each class for customers using the online service.

The new site has been nearly a year in development and spokesman for the site, Francesco Contu says that they have been working to go against the tired old models of other rental comparison sites. He says that the rental market has become somewhat stagnant over the last few years with many people concentrating simply on prices. He says that ElephantCarHire.com is more about innovation.

ElephantCarHire.com’s, Enrico Sosa says that he thinks that too many people searching the web for car hire deals are wasting their time trawling all the possible sites in order to get the best deals, especially in the present economic climate. He says that he is one of them and that this is a reason that they decided to set up a new comparison website.

Sosa says that the real difference with ElephantCarHire.com is that it is in partnership with 450 companies around the world such as Budget, Enterprise, Avis and Hertz offering car rental in over 6,000 destinations. He says that because there is a link to these companies his website can compare prices from all companies and in all destinations to supply the customer with the optimum solution to their car rental needs.

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