At the 2012 Car Rental Show next week in Las Vegas, a suite of seminars will give you tips on topics such as GPS tracking, remarketing strategies, customer service and others.

The show will open with cocktails on Sunday, March 11, with several pre-conference seminars Monday morning.

After the special address Monday afternoon by Congressman Sam Graves, and then the keynote address by Hertz Corp. CEO Mark Frissora and Donlen Corp. CEO Gary Rappeport, attendees will get to choose from two seminars at 2:50 p.m. ACE Rent A Car will give a presentation on how the company reduced no-shows through its guaranteed reservations system, and will guide listeners on how to implement and run a similar program. Or, attendees can go to a presentation by Eckhaus Fleet on “Honing Your Remarketing Plan.” Are you doing all you can to enhance the value of your vehicle in the auction lane and online?

The next morning at 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, March 13 — after the general session on creating travel industry partnerships and the American Car Rental Association’s panel on current legislation — a panel will look at GPS tracking in car rental. With more car rental companies including vehicle tracking systems into fleet, the panel will address disclosure of devices to customers, recovering vehicles and maximizing your return of investment.

Also at 10:45 a.m., TSD will conduct a discussion on how to make the most of your business partnerships, including with insurance companies, opaque websites, dealers, body shops and more.

Later that day at 2:45 p.m., Jim Schalberg of Auto Rental Solutions and Dick Radzis of Ace Rent A Car will present on customer satisfaction, from first contact to the end of the rental transaction. This seminar will provide coaching and tools in meeting and greeting your customers.

Attendees can also choose at 2:45 p.m to go to “Leveraging Internet Marketing to Grow Your Market Share on Google, Bing and Yahoo”. Tips and tools from The Web Guys will focus on search engine optimization and search engine marketing to get your company ranked higher on Google, Bing and Yahoo. The presentation will also look at social media marketing. (For a taste of what The Web Guys know about car rental, check out this article.)   

Delving further into new technology, one of the last sessions will focus on mobile devices and computing. At 3:35 p.m., this instructional seminar will go through using the latest tech tools, including smartphones, tablet PCs, plug-in credit card readers and Web-based rental management solutions. Plus, learn how mobile apps are becoming an important force for the independent car rental agency, particularly in off-airport locations.

For the full 2012 Car Rental Show schedule, go to www.carrentalshow.com.