The Hertz Corp. and customer loyalty marketer S&H greenpoints.com Inc. this month announced an agreement that gives loyalty program participants a double-points incentive when renting cars from Hertz.
It's a characteristic move for Hertz, which is a strong believer in loyalty marketing programs.
“Certainly loyalty programs work; there's benefit to them,” said Elliot Friedman, Hertz division vice president of travel industry and partnership marketing.
Hertz is already involved with 10 U.S. airline loyalty programs, two hotel frequency programs and the America Online AAdvantage program, “which is like an extension of the traditional American Airlines Advantage program that's been going for 20 years,” Friedman said.
“There are lots of loyalty programs to choose from out there, but the S&H brand was important, as was their target audience of leisure travelers as opposed to frequent travelers involved in frequent-flier miles programs,” Friedman said.
Jim Buchanan, S&H senior vice president of business development, agreed.
“They want to use us to increase their position in the leisure-travel market. We have a brand that has over 70 percent awareness, and they get the benefit of that,” Buchanan said.
Hertz also becomes the exclusive car rental partner of S&H, Buchanan said.
“Our exclusive partners are in a very special network,” he said.
Greenpoints will be credited to participants who rent from any of Hertz's 1,600 U.S. agencies.
Until Feb. 28, greenpoints participants will earn double points — 20 instead of 10 — for every dollar spent on qualifying midsize or larger car rentals. After the introductory period, participants will receive 10 points for every dollar spent on qualifying rentals.
Both companies are promoting the partnership on their Web sites.
Instead of traditional Green Stamps, consumers in the new S&H program earn digital points when shopping at online and traditional S&H partner merchants.
The brick-and-click loyalty provider is working with Florida technology company xiNETix to create a network that allows participants to receive greenpoints when shopping offline.
Consumers will be able to swipe their S&H-branded membership cards at traditional merchants to collect their points, which can be used to purchase CD players and cordless phones or airline tickets and cruises.
