Update--National Reservation - Can I do this??

[disney4me4ever]

I have an existing National reservation for 3/12 - 3/17/06 at a "fairly" decent rate $167 (EA/Priceless + Ent. cpn). Now we may have to change our vacation dates to 3/13 - 3/18. Would that entail making a whole new reservation, or could I just modify the existing one? I shudder to think what this will do to the price as they are so high now! Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nancy

 

[DebbieB]

You should be able to change it. I had a reservation last year for a Friday and we ended up going Saturday instead and it allowed me to modify the dates and keep the great rate I had.

 

[beattyfamily]

I believe if you go in and modify and make any changes, it will show you your old reservation quote and the new one and you can see if it changed at all before you accept the changes.

They changed their website to be able to modify without loosing a rate you have about a year or so ago.

 

[rdsx28]

Hi, I just modified mine due to a time change in our flight. It comes up and shows you your current reservation and the new one you are making as well as the price difference. My price went up only 10.00 because we were arriving so much earlier than originally planned it was considered another day.Good Luck!

 

[disney4me4ever]

Well, I should have known better! After numerous attempts to modify the ressie on National's "oh-so-friendly" website I wound up having to call technical assistance. I tried to add the Entertainment coupon from my new 2006 book, which I just received last week. Coupon wouldn't take unless I added the Entertainment contract code. That would mean I would have to delete the Priceless code. No way! The CS Rep said that you can no longer stack coupons. Since when?? I have always used either AARP + Entertainment or Priceless + Entertainment. She manually pushed it in, but I won't have a copy of that to show at the garage.

Also, I wanted to check what would happen to my rate if I changed the date from 3/12 to 3/13 arrival. The rate goes up to $290.39!! So I guess I either spend $200 more on the airfare and keep my dates, or "save" $200 on airfare and "spend" another $150 on my rental. It's enough to make me bag the whole thing. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for letting me vent,
Nancy

 

[SuzanneSLO]

It wasn't with National or at MCO, but after 9/11 we arrived late for a rental car reservation and were able to keep the rate we had been quoted.

In our situation, we booked flights, then our rental car. Then after 9/11, the airline dropped our flight. We decided to go on a flight the day before and I rebooked the rental car. Then the airline added back our original flight, so we wanted to go the next day again. No probelm with the airline, but with Hertz it in raised the rate by more than $100.

So, we just arrived late for our reservation. I called Hertz before our scheduled pick-up time to let them know we wouldn't be on the flight that was reflected in our reservation and they allowed me to pick it up about 18 hours later without changing the rate applied.

Because people do miss flights or have them delayed from time to time, arriving later for a rental car pick-up happens all the time. With Hertz, it ended up being no problem for us, but of course, you mileage may vary with National.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[Dopey & Grumpy]

I booked National for our trip on Wednesday way before they changed their website. I've gone in several times and modified my times of arrival or dates and it comes up with a rate approximately $50 higher than my original. I'm not talking a higher rate because of the changes, I'm talking a higher "beginning" rate. My original rate started out as $147 and now the rates start out as high as $192.

Since they're new web site, you can't do all the neat tricks you use to be able to do with the old one. I guess that's called "good business sense".

We had it so good for so long, it's hard to swallow not being able to tweak the site to get low rates. I might just start shopping around and using other car rentals if their prices keep rising. I booked a car from Enterprise for the same number of days and my rate was $125. Of course, you don't get to pick your car but if I can save money, I'll let them pick it for me.

BTW - the car rental from both agencies were for the same days. Because of certain circumstances, we had to rent a car to get to the airport. It was cheaper to rent a car and pay the parking then to rent a vehicle and driver to bring us then pick us up.

 

[beattyfamily]

Well, after reading this thread, I tested my reservation and changed my arrival time by one hour and did the same for my departure time and nothing changed. The rate stayed the same, thankfully.

It did looked like it was going to be a MUCH higher quote on the page where you piick which car you want (showed the current going rate), but after you select your car size, the next screen showed me my old rate quote and the new rate quote and they were identical...so at least for minor changed, the rate stays the same.

 

[disney4me4ever]

I agree the rate didn't change when I modified the time; but once I plugged in the date change, from arriving on a Sunday to a Monday.......whoosh! Up went the rate. And I wouldn't say if it were nominal, but this was exorbitant!

Nancy

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

I just had this experience with Alamo.

I had a reservation for Thursday evening, wanted to change the pickup time to Friday morning. I did not expect a lower price (I still had the car for 4 days). I went online to change the time and it upped me $600!!!!! The site said only SUVs were available. So I called customer service, and staying in my car category would bring me $140 more!

I wanted to change my reservation because we were lucky enough to get a Hotwire price for the Hyatt (thanks Dis Boards) and I didn't see a reason to pay parking. But I guess a $10 parking charge is better than a rental increase.

I could understand if I needed the car for more time, but for less??? I only wanted to pick it up 14 hours later.... The customer service rep was very nice but most firm about the rate - she wouldn't even let me check in and get the car the next morning. It's not like they don't have room for the car and I know they have the car because I have it reserved! I'm not asking them to take a loss on my change.... ok rant over.....

Lesson learned? I'm not quite sure......

Lee Ann