Despite the budget cutbacks, in 2008, customer satisfaction was up for hotels (+0.9) and airlines (+1.5), but down for car rental companies (-0.9) compared to 2007, according to the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI).

Car Rental satisfaction scores were down for the year. This industry continues to face a difficult operating environment with fewer people renting cars and rising costs (e.g. higher vehicle maintenance and repair costs). Alamo (+2.5) and Thrifty (+1.8) showed the biggest annual improvements in customer satisfaction scores despite the industry's downward slide. Enterprise continues their industry dominance with overall satisfaction and loyalty scores well above competitors, although their winning margin was smaller this year with Alamo making a big jump to finish in second place for 2008.