Alamo kiosk in garage?

[JandD Mom]

Hi all,

I am a loyal Emerald Executive member, but I just got a good deal from Alamo. I am very hesitant to use Alamo because of prior unhappy experiences. However, I have a question.

Does Alamo have a kiosk in the garage or just in the terminal? I am thinking if we are happy with what we see in the garage, we'll check in. If not, we'll cancel our reservation and go to National.

Can anyone help?

TIA!

 

[NotUrsula]

As recently as late May, there were no Alamo kiosks in the garage.

 

[corster]

Does Alamo have a kiosk in the garage or just in the terminal? I am thinking if we are happy with what we see in the garage, we'll check in. If not, we'll cancel our reservation and go to National.

National and Alamo share the same fleet and the same exit gate in MCO. If you grabbed a car from the National lot in the same category as your Alamo reservation, nobody would know.

 

[silmarg]

National and Alamo share the same fleet and the same exit gate in MCO. If you grabbed a car from the National lot in the same category as your Alamo reservation, nobody would know.

I have not rented from Alamo since they were offsite...

Does this mean I can choose any car in my class from the parking garage when I rent from them in a few weeks (we got a full size car for $147 for 10 days).

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I have not rented from Alamo since they were offsite...

Does this mean I can choose any car in my class from the parking garage when I rent from them in a few weeks (we got a full size car for $147 for 10 days).

YEP you get to chose your own car. After chosing the car drive to the exit booth hand them your rental contract, license, and the paper hanging from the rear view mirror.

There are no kiosk in the garage but there are 10 inside close to the rental counter. When we were there in May there as an Alamo employee walking around the kiosk and she said to let her know if we needed help or had questions.

 

[silmarg]

YEP you get to chose your own car. After chosing the car drive to the exit booth hand them your rental contract, license, and the paper hanging from the rear view mirror.

There are no kiosk in the garage but there are 10 inside close to the rental counter. When we were there in May there as an Alamo employee walking around the kiosk and she said to let her know if we needed help or had questions.

That is FANTASTIC. When I rent a car I can be a stickler. I prefer to drive domestic cars, but most of all, I want a low mileage car. I while I dont rent cars all that often, I have been lucky to have been the very first driver of a fair amount of rental cars.

Nothing worse than driving a 20,000 mile car rental.

 

[puffkin]

Alamo is great. We use them all the time. The kiosks are right inside the terminal door where you exit for the garage. Alamo is the first rental agency you get to in the garage when you cross the street. The kiosk is super quick and then you just head out and pick any car in your row. The guy at the gate verifies you (license, credit card and rental agreement and off you go). From kiosk to on the road it usually takes us about 10 minutes and that is with installing a car seat. Super easy and fast and we always get great cars. Never had a single problem with Alamo!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

That is FANTASTIC. When I rent a car I can be a stickler. I prefer to drive domestic cars, but most of all, I want a low mileage car. I while I dont rent cars all that often, I have been lucky to have been the very first driver of a fair amount of rental cars.

Nothing worse than driving a 20,000 mile car rental.

I agree with you. Love having a newer car. We tend to pick a car with the same plate as the state we are renting from. So if we are in Florida we prefer a car with a Florida plate. Nothing says tourist like have a plate from another state on your rental. I know most rentals also have the barcode on the window but we prefer to have the plate match the state we are in.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

National and Alamo share the same fleet and the same exit gate in MCO. If you grabbed a car from the National lot in the same category as your Alamo reservation, nobody would know.

This is not true...

There are seperate exit gates for them

And National is cracking down on this type of 'Self upgrade"

 

[JandD Mom]

This is not true...

There are seperate exit gates for them

This is my experience also

 

[dioxide45]

Before they reconfigured the rental agencies at MCO, National and Alamo used to have kiosks in the garage. Inside their counter out there. However they no longer share a counter in the garage and I don't remember seeing a kiosk in the garage for Alamo after they reconfigured.

 

[keishashadow]

National and Alamo share the same fleet and the same exit gate in MCO. If you grabbed a car from the National lot in the same category as your Alamo reservation, nobody would know.

fyi, my last trip in July National had several reps walking the ExA asking customers if they were actually elibigle to select from that aisle. I didn't think much of it at the time until i came back home & read posts re being stuck behind people backing up into the garage.

This is not true...

There are seperate exit gates for them

And National is cracking down on this type of 'Self upgrade"

rightfully so, National's rates are typically higher but we've come to expect a nicer car on the aisles, especialy with ExA. Pickings have been slim the last few trips for us in MCO. Perhaps the enforcement will lead to more choices.

 

[corster]

I recall they had separate exit gates BUT you could easily drive from the National lot to the Alamo exit gate without a problem. If they've changed it, then obviously this won't work anymore.

And it's not self upgrading if you don't upgrade, a Full Size on the National lot is the same as a Full Size on the Alamo lot, and as far as their computer system is concerned, there's no difference since it's a completely shared fleet. In fact, they've been parking some of the higher-category cars exclusively on the Alamo side of the lot just so Emerald Aisle members won't try to self-upgrade into them.