ALAMO is celebrating 25 years in the car-rental market with initiatives aimed at keeping its position as a leading leisure brand.
Next month it will open a rental centre at Fort Lauderdale which will have children’s play areas, a tourist information centre, a shop and changing rooms where customers who have just come off a flight can change into clothes better suited to the Florida climate.
The expanded rental centre concept is to be rolled out to Alamo’s other big tourist arrival airports.
Marketing manager Sally Craythorne said:”We already have 120 locations in the US so we are looking to enhance what we have rather than spreading ourselves too thin with new offices.”
The company is also developing voucherless rental to cut down on the paperwork clients need to take with them. “This is available with selected tour operators now, but we will be offering it to all those we work with,” said Craythorne.
Alamo was launched in 1974 in the US as a leisure car-rental company and has stayed faithful to that market despite expanding its business across the Atlantic. France and Spain were added to the retail programme for 1999, joining several European countries (see Factfile), and Italy will be signed up in 2000.
Senior director sales and marketing Nick Harwood said:”With the addition of Italy, we will be in all the key European leisure destinations, but the bulk of our business is to the US. We have a 26% share in Orlando, compared to Hertz and Avis on about 18%, and we are number one in many of the top US leisure markets.”
To seal its position in Florida, Alamo has just become official partner of Universal Studios. They plan to launch joint initiatives in the next month.
Harwood estimated that 90% of Alamo’s own UK business is flydrive packages booked by the trade through US operators including British Airways Holidays, Unijet, Jetlife, Jetsave, Thomas Cook Holidays, USAirtours and Kuoni.
About 5% is from agents booking car rental only, and there is a small amount of direct sell. Alamo is also a major supplier for brokers Holiday Autos and Suncars.
Harwood believes much of Alamo’s success is due to the strength of its brand. “We don’t have a large advertising budget, but people know our name,” he said. “I don’t think our profile has been raised by our becoming part of Republic, as sales and marketing are kept quite separate.”
Republic bought Alamo in 1996 and keeps it as a leisure brand, while its other car rental company, National, concentrates on the corporate market.
To celebrate its anniversary, Alamo has given its key tour operator partners special rates on Alamo Gold, an enhanced rental product available in the US that adds a free tank of petrol and three additional drivers to the collision-damage waiver, extended protection, state and airport taxes and airport fees in the fully inclusive rate.
Alamo is also offering agents and operators car rental for $25 a day for a compact car in Florida and Hawaii, compared to the usual price of $32. The offer runs until December 15.
alamo
Address: 126 Dyke Road, Brighton, East Sussex.
Contact number: 0990 994000.
Number of staff: 100, including 10-strong outbound sales and marketing team headed by Nick Harwood.
Areas of operation: North America, Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Spain, Malta, Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Holland.
Sample price: one-week’s rental in Florida and California in a four-door compact car (ie Chevrolet Cavalier) costs £189.
Agent commission: from 15%, plus a £5 Marks and Spencer voucher for every booking.