Three experts, three fireside chats — one big picture: The opening keynote address for the 2021 International Car Rental Show (ICRS), “Understanding the Recovery for Car Rental,” takes on a new format for the event.

Convening at 10am PST on Monday, Aug. 16, the keynote will commence with Will Withington, senior vice president of North American Operations at Enterprise Holdings, who will engage with Chris Brown, executive editor of Auto Rental News. Withington will share insights from the world’s largest car rental company on the rapid travel recovery, managing supply constraints, and key learnings from the pandemic, as well as the evolution of the customer experience and new technologies in mobility.  

Immediately following, Brown will sit down with Zo Rahim, manager of economic & industry insights at Cox Automotive. Rahim will dive into today’s perfect storm of increasing demand meeting a drought of used-vehicle supply and how macroeconomic conditions will affect the sales environment moving forward.

The third fireside chat features Charlie Coniglio, senior vice president of North America at CarTrawler, who will deliver a data-based U.S. and global perspective on car rental pricing and booking trends in the context of the larger travel spectrum.  

“If ever the question, ‘Where are we headed?’ needed to be answered, that time is now,” said Chris Brown, ICRS conference chair. “I’m excited for this one-on-one format and to dive in with Will, Zo, and Charlie on the issues directly affecting the business lives of ICRS attendees.”

Presented in conjunction with the American Car Rental Association, the 2021 International Car Rental Show will take place Aug. 15-17 at Caesars Las Vegas.

The 2021 ICRS will offer both in-person and virtual options for attendees, in which the keynote presentations and most of the seminars will be streamed live. Registration is now open.