Magazine for the professional car and truck rental industry.
Issue link: https://autorentalnews.epubxp.com/i/97296
MARKE T DATA [R AT E DATA] WEEKLY RATE QUOTES BY COMPANY The data reveal a defnite, consistent hierarchy of rates for the eight major brands. F FOR THE 2013 FACT BOOK, AUTO RENTAL NEWS conducted a survey of the eight major brands��� rate quotes at six airports over eight months in 2012. This analysis is based on a weekly survey of rate data provided by Rate-Highway, a provider of revenue management services for the auto rental industry, with commentary by Jim Tennant of The Tennant Group. Rates are an average of aggregator/ OTA rates for an ICAR (intermediate) on the date of the survey for the eight brands at six airports: Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), Chicago (ORD), Houston (HOU), Seattle (SEA) and Los Angeles (LAX). The line graph reveals that each company���s rates have a defnite, consistent hierarchy, with Hertz, National and Avis together in the top tier and Alamo and Budget clustered together at about $7 lower than Avis. Enterprise, Thrifty and Dollar follow below Alamo and Budget. Over the 34-week period, it is remarkable how closely the companies��� rates follow each other while largely maintaining the rate hierarchy. Moreover, the highest rates for all companies were found on the same week: July 20. However, at the end of the line graph in mid-autumn quotes diverge slightly. Hertz, Avis and National���s quotes continue upward; Budget and Alamo���s trend downward slightly, while Enterprise, Dollar and Thrifty���s descend more sharply. This is a consequence of a travel period skewed toward corporate business, of which Hertz, Avis and National have a greater share. This allows these ���premium��� brands to keep rates high even for their remaining leisure customers, which are represented in this survey. On the bar chart (on page 15), notice that the lowest six-city averages of Hertz, National and Avis quotes over the entire 34-week survey period are still higher than the lowest three brands��� averages. The data reveals that brands under the same corporate umbrella ��� Avis Budget Group, Enterprise Holdings (National/Alamo/Enterprise) and Dollar Thrifty ��� display wide price discrepancies, yet in many cases are side by side in airports and share, in some cases, a common feet. A DIFFERENT WORLD The world has changed. Long-time operators will remember the days of rate fuctuations in only the summer and winter, and then the advent of shoulder season rates marked the beginning of rate sophistication. This data shows rate movements week by week but today there is movement even within weeks. Each company���s highest rates are 5080% higher than its lowest rates over the 34-week period. A similar graph depicting rates from the 1980s would show monthto-month movement, not week-to-week, and swings far less dramatic than today. Are you keeping up? A session at the next Car Rental Show, April 15-16, 2013, will expand on this discussion and how non-corporate operators can apply rate management principles used by the majors to increase revenue. AVERAGE RATE QUOTES BY BRAND $80 $70 Dollar Thrifty $60 Enterprise Budget $50 Alamo National Hertz 14 Fact Book 2013 AUTO R ENTAL N EWS 9-Nov 2-Nov 26-Oct 19-Oct 5-Oct 12-Oct 28-Sep 21-Sep 7-Sep 14-Sep 31-Aug 24-Aug 17-Aug 10-Aug 27-Jul 3-Aug 20-Jul 6-Jul 13-Jul 29-Jun 22-Jun 8-Jun 15-Jun 1-Jun 25-May 18-May 4-May 11-May 27-Apr 20-Apr 6-Apr 13-Apr $20 30-Mar $30 23-Mar SOURCE: RATE-HIGHWAY INC. Avis $40