NATIONAL Car Rental is delaying the launch of its Emerald Club in the UK for at least 18 months until its new computer reservation system, Global Odyssey, is fully operational.
Global Odyssey launched in the US at the end of February and is a fully-integrated system, handling reservations, all rental details and billing. It will be up and running in Canada next, followed by Australia and the rest of the world.
“At the moment we have different systems linked by interfaces,” said president and chief executive officer Geoff Corbett. “It works from a reservation perspective but can’t perform like an integrated system.”
National originally planned to bring the Emerald executive club to the UK this year as it is keen to be able to start marketing to individuals.
“Over the next five to 10 years it is going to be critical to be able to know your clients’ requirements,” said Corbett.
“Once people join, we can track members and target benefits selectively. For instance, if someone moves from one company to another we want to keep him as a client.
“The delay in bringing the club to the UK is frustrating, but many of our competitors have a 35-year headstart on us.
“We are a new brand in Europe and have to be patient.”
The Emerald Club has 1.9m members in the US. Like competitor clubs, a one-off master rental agreement is signed to eliminate all paperwork and there is a loyalty points scheme.
One of the club’s key features is Emerald Aisle, which allows renters to choose a car from a selection of vehicles from group C upwards. All are charged at the group C rate.
This led to the development of National’s Choice brand, which launched at its Heathrow site in March and is at 41 US locations. Choice is for all National clients and allows them to select a vehicle by colour, make or certain features from within the group booked.
“You don’t have to be a member of any club to take part in Choice, so we were able to do it now,” said Corbett. It will be launched at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport next, and probably introduced later at Frankfurt and Munich Airports.
Corbett said he hopes to attract 400,000 members for the Emerald Club in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“That is a conservative figure, but people do not rent so frequently here as in the US, where some members are hiring a car 200 times a year,” he added.