Scenario 3: When You Must Refer to a Competitor
You have 150 reservations for the day and 51 check-ins for the day. There are 12 vans sitting on the lot at 7 a.m. All reports have been run and reconciled, and it has been determined that you are approximately 30 cars short for the day.
You have called the competitors, and a competitor has agreed to take any and all reservations at the same price.
Mid-morning rolls around and the buses begin pulling in with six to 10 reservations at a time. There are approximately 15 reservations waiting to be honored. You currently have one economy, one compact, two midsize, four Mustang convertibles and two minivans. What do you do?
A. The lead agent in charge of coordination will greet customers as they arrive or may choose to ride the bus with them.
- All available rental agents should be at the counter waiting to assist the customers.
B. The lead agent will look at the reservation manifest to determine which reservations you will be able to accommodate with the number of cars available at this moment.
- The lead agent will advise the customer to proceed to the counter and will advise the agent which vehicle is assigned each customer. (It is very important that the counter staff communicate with one another. Before upgrading into a vehicle, you must be sure that the car is not assigned to another customer standing in line.)
- The lead agent will advise those customers that are going to the competitor that “we are experiencing slow returns.” Have two copies of the referral form completed. The greeter will assist the lead agent with transporting those customers being referred.
- The lead agent might offer to have the customers wait a few minutes in hopes that cars may check in while the first customers are being waited on.However, if you know you are going to have to send customers to the competitor, it should always be done as early in the day as possible to eliminate the possibility of a sellout by the competition.
Once again, under no circumstance do you tell the customer that you are overbooked.
Scenario 4: Handling the Busload After arriving 10 minutes early for your shift and speaking to the manager about the goings on for the day, you discover that you still have 65 reservations and 47 returns. With your no-show factor, you will still have several vehicles to “free sell” later in the day or night. However, at the moment you have three 15-passenger vans, one convertible, two midsize and a luxury car. And then lo and behold, a busload of people arrives at your counter.
What should you do? Keep in mind that cars check in on a regular basis.
A. The lead agent should qualify the customer.
- Find out how many people are in the party.
- How long will they need the vehicle?
- Where are they going? How long will they be in the area?
B. The lead agent will then assign the available vehicles according to the customer’s reservation and needs. Keep in mind to use the larger vans for minivan reservations first.
C. Once you have depleted the ready line you will need to explain to the remaining customers that there has been a delay.