Thrifty Car Rental in Hilo Closed

[fabby50]

Wanted to share that the Thrifty Car Rental office in Hilo has been closed. They very kindly changed my reservation to Budget and sent me a reservation confirmation. I got this before I got a phone call from Thrifty telling me the office had been closed, so I was a little confused at first.

 

Figured I'd post just in case anyone misses the phone call or if Thrifty misses an already confirmed reservation -

[mnchkn11]

That is good to know, thanks. I have not gotten an email or phone call from Thrifty, but I checked my reservation and it says "already canceled." We are going in March, so maybe that is why. When are you going?

[fabby50]

Not till May. I bet there will be a boat load of Thrifty people showing up in Hilo with existing reservations trying to find a car if Thrifty doesn't contact them all. I hope a bunch see this posting -

[Allis154]

Thanks for posting this..meant to yesterday but forgot. My reservation got changed to Dollar.

[mnchkn11]

Not till May. I bet there will be a boat load of Thrifty people showing up in Hilo with existing reservations trying to find a car if Thrifty doesn't contact them all. I hope a bunch see this posting -

 

I'm so glad you let me know, then! I already re-booked with Hertz. I guess I better check all of my other Thrifty reservations before I leave on vacation! So far they are fine.

[mom2msb]

Thanks for the heads up! Our reservation was also cancelled. I just rebooked with Avis. Does anyone know why this location closed?

[Appygirl]

That's kind of weird. Thrifty and Dollar are owned by the same company and the Dollar rental kiosk is next door to Thrify at the Hilo airport. You'd think they'd be trying to push the business onto Dollar instead of Budget. Unless Dollar is already fully booked for that date.

[Ilovesailing]

All this has to do with the FCC approving Hertz buyout of Thrifty's and Dollar car rentals

for some 2 billion dollars. I'm sure Thrifty's won't be closed for long but who knows.

[tracyktn]

Thanks for sharing this info. I just checked my Thrifty Reservation for March and it was cancelled. I called them and explained, she didn't have a clue. She told me they did not cancel my reservation, and Hilo is still open. I assured her I did not cancel it, she offered to re-book but then said they are sold out. Once again Cruise Critic Members know whats going on more than their own company employees!

 

I am so glad I saw this, I would be very frustrated to arrive in Hilo and find out I don't have a car. The least they could have done was send an e-mail letting me know they were cancelling the reservation.

 

Going to make a new reservation somewhere else now.

[davrap222]

Ditto... They had they did not have a clue and could not even confirm the Hilo location was closed. They kept telling me that I cancelled the reservation. I just booked with Hertz.

 

Anyone know who has a shuttle from the ship? I am going to search for a post I cam across a while back...

 

Allis154- Thanks for posting this info on the Solstice Roll Call. I would have never known otherwise!

[DJ Cruisers]

Wow, thank you everyone for this info. We booked our car rental for our cruise in March last summer and sure enough it has been cancelled! No phone call from Thrifty or email. We called the Hilo office and they kept saying we cancelled it. We informed them no way did we cancel it, they did. Now they are booked with no cars available. They connected us with Hertz. We were able to book with them at a much higher price.

 

If I had to guess I would say they cancelled the people with cheap rates so they could have the cars for someone paying more. I booked thru I think it was the Hawaii Car Rental discount site people have recommended on cruise critic. Did anyone else book theirs thru that company, just wondering. I have booked car rentals in Hawall many many times and have never had this happen. I never used this discount company before though.

 

Again, thanks for the warning everyone. We would have been very disappointed to get to the port with no car reservation. Cruise Critic is great!!!!!

[Ilovesailing]

Wow, thank you everyone for this info. We booked our car rental for our cruise in March last summer and sure enough it has been cancelled! No phone call from Thrifty or email. We called the Hilo office and they kept saying we cancelled it. We informed them no way did we cancel it, they did. Now they are booked with no cars available. They connected us with Hertz. We were able to book with them at a much higher price.

 

If I had to guess I would say they cancelled the people with cheap rates so they could have the cars for someone paying more. I booked thru I think it was the Hawaii Car Rental discount site people have recommended on cruise critic. Did anyone else book theirs thru that company, just wondering. I have booked car rentals in Hawall many many times and have never had this happen. I never used this discount company before though.

 

Again, thanks for the warning everyone. We would have been very disappointed to get to the port with no car reservation. Cruise Critic is great!!!!!

 

If you think your paying too much have a look at this site, we have used them after finding them here on CC. Do a fake booking.

http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/

[DJ Cruisers]

If you think your paying too much have a look at this site, we have used them after finding them here on CC. Do a fake booking.

http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/

Thanks, we did originally book with either that site or one similar and got a very cheap rate. At this point since we are splitting the cost with another couple we'll keep what we have just in case it was that cheap rate that got us cancelled. I know it is Easter week and spring break time over there the day we have the car. From past experience that is a very busy time.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I checked online and my reservation was also cancelled. I'll let everyone know what happens.

 

Cynthia

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I received this reply from http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/

 

Subject: RE: 02/16/2013 07:37:44 AM -> Cancelled Thrifty reservation

 

 

Thanks Matthew. Thrifty Hilo is shutting down and will be run by another in the future. The Thrifty reservations made past the closing date will be honored by Dollar Rent a Car at the same rate. I will be back to you Monday with more details on this. Please post. Thanks Ron

 

I'll let you know what happens on Monday.

 

Cynthia

[tracyktn]

When I called the regular Thrifty 800 number they were no help with my cancelled reservation (that I didn't cancel) and I did originally book on-line direct with them not a 3rd party.

 

I called the Hawaii Thrifty number of 800-367-5238 and they gave me a reservation number through Dollar at same price as my original Thrifty rate. I suggest anyone who had a Thrifty Reservation at Hilo to call this number and you should get same rate you originally booked.

[mnchkn11]

Does anyone know if only the Hilo location is affected? I also booked on other islands through them and don't know if I should be concerned....

[MAXII]

Hi folks: just thought I would follow up. I left it a few days and when I heard nothing, I sent an e-mail to Thrifty citing my disappointment in the fact I had learned of the cancellation from folks here on tripadvisor and cruise critic.

 

Well, pleased to say that 3 days later I received an apologetic e-mail confirming the Thrifty location in Hilo had closed a long with a copy of a reservation now with Dollar! Same price and car.

 

All is well that ends well as they say :)

[jimbob44f]

Does anybody know if the car companies send shuttles to the Dock??

[CRUZBUDS]

yes -- most if not all do

 

Have a reservation -- usually no reservation.... no car

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I finally received this today. One more thing checked off the list.

 

Discount Hawaii Car Rentals

6:09 PM (15 hours ago)

 

Thrifty will be closing their Hilo (ITO) location as of March 15. They have cancelled all Thrifty reservations made that co-incide with this closing and rebooked all of those reservations with Dollar Rent-A-Car in HILO (ITO) with the same benefits etc. as the original reservation.

Here is your new Dollar confirmation #xxxxxxxx. If you wish to review the details, you may visit Dollar.com online to view this new reservation

 

Cynthia