Rate-Highway has announced the launch of Rate-Boomerang, a new feature for its auto rental rate automation system (Rate-Monitor).

"Rate-Boomerang allows you to lead your competitors into following your organization’s rates up or down, and then cleverly repositions your rates to exactly where you want them to be, all in three simple steps," said Michael Meyer, president of Rate-Highway. "You're basically redirecting the competition at scheduled intervals. Then you can automatically dial your rates back to where you really want to be, automatically."

These three steps include selecting the target rate from Rate-Monitor’s suggestion report, choosing the temporary “decoy” rates to apply and scheduling the time frame and final rate amount, according to Rate-Highway.

With the scheduling set, a rental company's rates might post as $85 per day for a particular car at 10:00 a.m. — when the pricing agent knows the competition will be watching for rate changes. Then at 10:45 a.m., the rates can automatically snap back to $78 per day.

"We talked to some of our customers about the idea a few months ago, and they were intrigued," said Richard Oshiro, director of customer care at Rate-Highway. "The development team went to work enhancing the Rate-Monitor service, we tested it, and then naturally arrived at the Rate-Boomerang name.”

For more information about Rate-Boomerang and Rate-Monitor, visit www.rate-highway.com.