Avis Launches New Revenue Based Loyalty Program
…with mystery redemption levels. Last fall Avis announced Avis First would be replaced by Avis Preferred and on July 1 that finally happened. You can opt in to earn Avis Preferred points here and get 250 bonus points if you rent within the first 3 months.
Whereas the old Avis First program was based on number of rentals, Avis Preferred points appear to based solely on spend. There are three levels in the Avis Preferred program, the higher your status, the bigger the earning bonus on spend.
Avis Preferred Levels
Avis Preferred is the basic level open to everyone and earns $1=1 point for car rentals and $1=2 points for accessories.
Avis Preferred Plus has two levels
- If you have 12 eligible rentals or spend $5000 in a calendar year you will earn 1.25 points per car rental dollar and 2.5 points per accessory dollar. You’ll also be eligible for one-car-class upgrades and have access to a dedicated reservation number.
- 25 eligible rentals or $7,000 in spend per calendar year will get you 1.5 points per $1 on car rentals and 3 points per $1 on accessories. You get the same one-car-class upgrades and reservation line as the other Avis Preferred Plus tier.
Redeeming Avis Preferred Points
This is still a mystery. Per the website and terms & conditions we know Avis Preferred Points redemptions will include but aren’t limited to:
- Free rental day exclusive of insurance products, taxes, fees and surcharges
- Car-class upgrades
- Optional Products including, but not limited to, car seats, booster seats, infant seats, GPS devices, Extended
Roadside Assistance, satellite radio and ski racks.
What is not clear is how many points it will take to redeem for those items. I reached out to Avis via Twitter and was told the following but they can’t point me to a particular chart or webpage. My guess is the program is still rolling out and the redemption levels might not be finalized yet?
@HeelsFirst The # of points req’d is based on elements such as duration of rental, date, car class, time of year, and location.
— Avis Car Rental (@Avis) July 6, 2015
Also interesting to note that while the website brags about no blackout dates, the tweet above suggests you’ll pay a premium to rent “at certain times of year”.
This “in-progress” roll out hypothesis is further supported by their FAQ page which as of noon today, still stated they don’t have a points earning loyalty program.
Stay tuned for additional details…
