Travel Agent Magazine June 12, 2000 Being Number One With its Passport Club Program, Payless Makes Your Corporate Client Feel Special By Danielle Wood A t the beginning of June, Payless Car Rental reintroduced its Payless Passport Club program. Specifically geared to business travelers, the program is designed to make the car rental process smoother and more efficient. By reducing many of the prob- lems (such as delays and competition with leisure travelers) that are at the root of corporate clients’ travel-related complaints, Payless reminds these travelers that their needs are understood. And, through the Passport Club program, these business travelers are made a priority. Passport Club members receive the benefit of such service from the moment of their—or their agent’s—first interaction with Payless representatives. When retailers call to make a reservation for their Passport Club clients, they are directly routed to a special area in the Voice Reservations Department to ensure that they receive im- mediate service. Priority is given to online reservations through a separate Web site specifically for club members [www.paylesspassportclub.com]. By the time your clients return their rental vehicle (having experienced Payless’ 24-hour traveler’s assistance) to a designated Passport Club area, they will know what it is like to be number one—at least at Payless. It is this priority service that makes Payless representatives confident that business travelers will keep coming back. In addition to the priority service, the Passport Club program offers business travelers low rates that are designed to fit into any company budget. The systemwide corpor- ate rates range from $35 for an economy car, to $43 for a full-size vehicle, per day. These rates include a free mileage allowance and liability insurance. Payless also waives the fee generally charged for extra drivers when the driver is a business as-sociate. Your client’s younger business associates will also have permission to drive the vehicle. A standard fee of $10 is charged to drivers 21 to 24. Rental taxes and any optional services that are requested are additional. CDW/LDW coverages are offered only where required by law. The Passport Club fleet features four categories of cars, simply identified to make a business traveler’s choice faster and less complex. The categories include the Ecar (economy), Icar (intermediate), Ccar (compact) and Fcar (full-size). In addition to listing the sample car models, the club’s Web site [www.paylesspassportclub.com] details the amount of people and luggage that each vehicle can hold, making sure that renters select the proper size. Something for You For too long, it seems that corporate car rental programs have worked to almost eliminate the agent from the booking process. They have offered clients better deals and “faster processing” when they choose to go it alone. But this is not the case with the Payless Passport Club program. Rather, retailers can book their clients’ corpor- ate rentals, and the clients will still receive the same benefits (minus the time and effort) as if they had booked the rental themselves. Equally important are the benefits that you, the agent, receive. In addition to the ability to book more corporate car rentals, you will receive a higher commission than the standard corporate rate. Payless offers a 7 percent commission on its corporate and government bookings. This is more than their competitors, most of whom offer a standard commission rate of 5 percent for corporate rental bookings. The company commission policy is also based on the actual length of time that your client rents the vehicle. For additional information on the Passport Club program, call Payless at 800-PAYLESS or visit the program’s Web site.

Fast Facts Payless Car Rental Address: 2350-N 34th St. North St. Petersburg, FL 33713-3614 Web site: PaylessCarRental.com Local Phone: 727.321.6352 Fax: 727.323.3529 Travel Agent Help Desk: 800.541.1566 Reservations: 800.PAYLESS Commissions: 10% leisure - 7% corporate and government