Alamo online check-in using Costco?

[sgrap]

My husband just tried to do online check-in for our Alamo rental car that we rented through Costco. It wouldn't let him do it, said it didn't recognize the 'coupon.' Has anyone had a similar experience with a rental car reservation through Costco travel? Anyone had success? Thanks!

 

[jtba]

what coupon are you trying to enter?

 

[jtba]

btw we also did our alamo rental through costco, but we were able to check in online. this was for our mid-april stay at aulani.

 

[sgrap]

what coupon are you trying to enter?

No coupon, that is what is weird.

 

[sgrap]

btw we also did our alamo rental through costco, but we were able to check in online. this was for our mid-april stay at aulani.

OK good, thanks. I was worried maybe it didn't work with Costco reservations. DH just put our name and confirmation # and it wouldn't let him go any further because of the coupon--which we didn't have one. DH sent an online contact inquiry, so we will see what they say. Thanks for the help!

 

[sgrap]

btw we also did our alamo rental through costco, but we were able to check in online. this was for our mid-april stay at aulani.

And it can be done 10 days ahead of time, right?

 

[jtba]

we did it a few days before, probably not as early as 10 days. i mean, you probably can, but we didn't do that it early.

that's weird it's asking for a coupon. i do not recall encountering it. thought it was all very easy, probably took no more than 5 minutes total (including enter both drivers' names, etc.).

good luck! keep us posted.

 

[sgrap]

we did it a few days before, probably not as early as 10 days. i mean, you probably can, but we didn't do that it early.

that's weird it's asking for a coupon. i do not recall encountering it. thought it was all very easy, probably took no more than 5 minutes total (including enter both drivers' names, etc.).

good luck! keep us posted.

We are a week out, so maybe it is just too early. I thought I had read 10 days so figured I'd try to get it done and off my list. ;-) I don't know that it's asking for a coupon exactly--it's saying it doesn't recognize the coupon when we aren't even putting in a coupon. Hubby does online check-in stuff all the time for work travel, so it should be easy for him. Hopefully it will work in a day or two, or the Alamo help contact will be able to help us. Thanks again!

 

[msaseifert]

Please report back and let us know! We are leaving in July and have rented a car from Alamo through Costco as well, would love to know your experience. Have a wonderful trip!!!!

 

[bcwife76]

We just got back from a week on Maui. We rented our car from Alamo through Costco and did online check in (the night before) and we had no issues. So maybe you are trying to do it too far in advance?

 

[sgrap]

My husband got it part-way through today but we still need to add the credit card and now it is back to the "Could not validate coupon, continued without coupon" message. I got it all the way through with the credit card information later in the day, and then it said they were experiencing problems with their system and it didn't go through . . . . it's been that kind of day overall! We will try again tomorrow.

 

[Loveallthingsmouse]

I contacted Alamo a couple weeks back asking if we could check in online (booked thru Costco) they said we could check in online 2 days before.

 

[sgrap]

It finally worked this morning, hurray! They have must be having some issues with their website. We are 5 days before pick up.

 

[Amw1064]

It finally worked this morning, hurray! They have must be having some issues with their website. We are 5 days before pick up.

We are 5 days out as well. I had no idea we could do online check in for the rental car. I am going to give it a try.

 

[sgrap]

We are 5 days out as well. I had no idea we could do online check in for the rental car. I am going to give it a try.

I read about it on here! Sounds like it saves a ton of time standing in line.

 

[Amw1064]

I read about it on here! Sounds like it saves a ton of time standing in line.

Yes, it should be much faster. We had to wait in a short line last summer. It took me awhile but I kept hitting the button over and over and over and over, etc, etc, and finally it went through. Kept giving me that coupon message that you got. It is done now!!!

 

[ihearthawaii]

We are renting from Alamo for our trip this fall. How does the online check process work once you get to the rental office from the airport?

 

[jtba]

We are renting from Alamo for our trip this fall. How does the online check process work once you get to the rental office from the airport?

I described it in day 1 of my trip report: http://www.disboards.com/threads/sp...l-10-15-2016-trip-report-in-progress.3504148/

 

[lishie]

We're renting Alamo from Costco next week. I was able to do my online checkin to skip the counter yesterday. I think you can only do it two weeks or less in advance, but I was able to do it.

 

[twodogs]

We rented from Costo for Alamo for our first trip last week. I did not try to check in online with Alamo ahead of time, because I thought it only worked on direct bookings through Alamo. Will try it next time.

In any case, based on recommendations here, we headed straight to the kiosks (to the left once you enter the Alamo building) when we got off the rental car shuttle bus (that's another story, as I would be cautious about renting from Alamo again due to having to take a shuttle). No one went for the kiosks except us, so everyone else off of our shuttle went to stand in line. A person actually came over to see if we needed any help, which was nice. I was able to check in, as well as add my father as a second (free, thanks Costco) driver. He needed his driver's license to scan in his information. It took no more than 3 minutes for the entire process. We then took the print out outside (doors opposite the kiosks) and then sat to wait for our full sized SUV. This took about 15 minutes, as they keep them off site somewhere. If we had a standard car or Jeep rented, we could have walked out, picked one out, and left.

One BIG warning: on the day we left, I drove everyone and bags to airport, and dropped off all checked bags and family except my older daughter, at the terminal. We were worried about big security lines (there were none), so I wanted to drop them off to get started. I followed the signs for "Rental Car Return" but that led me to the return area for pretty much every other rental car company EXCEPT Alamo. The person there gave me directions to get back to the Alamo place off-site, but they were literally 20 step directions. Needless to say, one wrong turn took us to a very seedy area near some docks. We got turned back the right way (search Google Maps for "Alamo rental car return HONOLULU AIRPORT" not just "Alamo rental car return" to get to the right place). We dropped the car quickly and boarded a bus quickly to head back to the terminal. All in all it was fine because we had baked in extra time for just this type of thing, as we had TSA precheck, for which we were literally the only ones in line (regular line had <5 people in it as well). But I might pay a little more to rent from a company that is onsite at the airport in the future to avoid this entire hassle.