ST. LOUIS--July 15, 2013: National Car Rental was recognized as the best overall car rental service in the travel industry for the second time by Executive Travel readers. National was named "Best Rental Car Company Overall" in the publication's 2013 Leading Edge Awards, which recognize companies providing the most "innovative, high-quality products" to business travelers. National's Emerald Club also won the Leading Edge Award for "Best Rental Car Company Loyalty Program."
“We will continue to focus on and invest in new technologies, programs and products to ensure we provide our customers with the speed, choice and control they have come to expect from National and our Emerald Club.”
Twenty-six years ago, National revolutionized the car rental industry with the launch of the first comprehensive frequent-renter program -- the Emerald Club. Today, the Emerald Club expedites the rental process for members by offering counter bypass as well as access to National's "Emerald Aisle," an exclusive section of the lot where members can select any vehicle as long as they reserve a mid-sized car. In addition, Emerald Club members can choose to receive EmeraldAlertsSM -- emailed communications that include Arrival and Return Alerts, and Drop & GoSM service with convenient eReceipts.
Last year, National introduced new multilingual, touch-screen kiosks and launched the ONRAMP concierge program. National's multilingual kiosks are available to customers in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese languages. ONRAMP offers customers the opportunity to use their mobile phones to scan a QR code, located on vehicle windows and key tags, to access information about their rental vehicle's make and model, connect to geo-targeted websites, such as Yelp and GasBuddy, and take advantage of special National offers.
"We are honored to receive two 2013 Executive Travel Leading Edge Awards in recognition of our efforts to exceed the expectations of business travelers each and every time they rent with us," said Rob Connors, who leads National's brand marketing efforts. "We will continue to focus on and invest in new technologies, programs and products to ensure we provide our customers with the speed, choice and control they have come to expect from National and our Emerald Club."
Published by the American Express Publishing Corporation, the leading publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines, Executive Travel surveyed its readers -- comprised of global business travelers who take an average of 38 roundtrip airline flights per year -- about their business travel experiences in order to identify the 2013 Leading Edge Award winners. The resulting annual list recognizes winners in 34 categories. Other winners of this year's awards include St. Regis as the number one hotel overall and Delta Air Lines as best domestic airline overall.