“I’ve recently paid attention to the dollars-off redemption options. For example, 600 points for $30 off. Can be a reasonable redemption value when rates are low. If rate is $15/day, this yields two days for 600 points, versus 1500 points required under the newly-worsened reward chart. Obviously better for customer. And if Hertz corporate is concerned about redemptions on super-high-priced vehicles at peak time, this also helps protect them against that” is what veteran FlyerTalk member bedelman posted in this discussion. “Today the dollars-off redemptions are no longer appearing for me within hertz.com, and also appear to be missing from https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/ememb…points-program. Gone for good? What a double-whammy that would be.”
Did Hertz Remove Yet Another Feature of Gold Plus Rewards With No Advance Notice or Warning?
When I checked, the redemption of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points for discounts on car rentals indeed is no longer anywhere to be found at the official Internet web site of Hertz.
The following awards were not initially listed on the suddenly former redemption charts — although using points for discounts was introduced on Friday, November 30, 2018:
| Use Points for Discounts | Standard Rewards | AnyDay Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| $5.00 discount |
|
200
|
| $7.50 discount |
|
300
|
| $12.00 discount |
|
400
|
| $20.00 discount |
|
500
|
| $30.00 discount |
|
600
|
| $180.00 discount — New |
|
3,600
|
What is bizarre is that the redemption of 3,600 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points for a discount of $180.00 off of a car rental was recently added prior to the chart disappearing altogether.
Last month, Hertz implemented what is widely perceived as a massive devaluation of its Gold Plus Rewards frequent renter loyalty program, through which the points needed to redeem for all rewards increased between 11.11 percent and 81.82 percent, with no advance warning, notice or explanation — and weekend day rewards were eliminated altogether.
Then, a new and arguably draconian point usage cancellation policy is now in effect — including the forfeiture of some or all points which were redeemed to book the reward, depending on when the reward was canceled — and it is practically buried at the official Internet web site of Hertz. As with the increase in the number of points needed to redeem for rewards, this new policy was also implemented with no advance warning, notice or explanation.
In fact, I did not receive any notice pertaining to the changes in the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards frequent renter loyalty program until at least nine days afterwards via e-mail message — and some people reported receiving no message at all to this day.
Summary
I doubt that the disappearance of the redemption of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points for discounts on car rentals was an accidental technical glitch, as the rewards for vehicles from the Dream Cars collection has since been condensed — nothing was taken away — and tucked under Collection Rentals, which indicates to me that changes did occur yet again…
…and if the redemption of points for discounts has indeed been purposely removed, then that is yet another perceived devaluation which was implemented by Hertz — once again, with no advance warning, notice or explanation.
Hopefully, I will be proven wrong…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
