Car Rental Deals

Travel | Take a scenic Hawaii drive | Seattle Times Newspaper

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:43:46 +0000

Travel | Take a scenic Hawaii drive | Seattle Times Newspaper.

Take a scenic Hawaii drive

If you’re going to Hawaii, take a scenic drive for a few hours or a day-trip. Here are some of my favorites: • Kauai: Hanalei to Ke’e…

By Gary Warner

The Orange County Register

If you’re going to Hawaii, take a scenic drive for a few hours or a day-trip. Here are some of my favorites:

• Kauai: Hanalei to Ke’e Beach: Drivers wind down the hill from the hyper-polished world of Princeville, across the one-lane bridge and then bounce along a two-lane road past horse farms, tropical gardens and wet caves before pulling into the lot at Ke’e Beach, where they can sunbathe, swim, snorkel or set off on the trail up the Na Pali Coast.

• Maui: Less famous than the road to Hana, the road across the western tip of Maui features the island’s top surf spot, a spooky cliff filled with stacked stones, tiny villages, one-way roads on steep grades, before popping out for the long drive down to funky Wailuku, the little touristed capital of Maui County.

• Oahu: The long way to the island’s North Shore, along the Windward Coast (the island’s east coast), takes in a Buddhist temple, passes a Marine base, and skirts coral-rimmed beaches, ramshackle markets, fruit stands and shrimp farms before popping out at the outskirts of the Turtle Bay resort.

• Big Island: The knobby thumb at the top of the Big Island is former sugar cane country, with the towns reflecting the plantation-era past with clapboard buildings and huge banyan trees. The road dead-ends at the cliffs above this North Kohala Coast. You can backtrack the same way or swing upcountry at Hawi and take the high road back to the Kona Coast through the rows of pine trees planted by settlers.

• Molokai: The most Hawaiian (and least-visited) island is best known for the dry Molokai Ranch area in the west or the Kalaupapa National Historical Park, better known as the leper colony founded by Father Damien.

But a drive along the southern coast takes visitors to pretty, lonely stretches of the island, past coconut tree groves at Kapuaiwa, the golden sand beach at Kakaha, the Kamalo Church (built in 1871 by Father Damien), and a collection of nice beaches around Maloo, before ending at the Halawa Valley lookout. It’s a wetter, greener, wilder antidote to the red dirt world of the other side of the island.

Great deals on Hawaii Car Rentals are available from SummitPacific. While on Kauai consider a condo rental at Hanalei Bay Resort.

Enterprise Holdings Ends Partnership with Orbitz

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:53:25 +0000

Enterprise Holdings, which owns and operates its fleet of rental cars under the Alamo Rent A Car, National Car Rental, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car brands, today announced it will end its partnership with Orbitz.com and its sister site CheapTickets.com, effective April 1.

“We are ending our negotiations with Orbitz following their decision to de-list National and Alamo,” according to Pam Nicholson, president and COO of Enterprise Holdings. Nicholson also listed high commission rates from Orbitz as another important factor in the decision to end the partnership.

In a statement from Orbitz, the company said that it was unable to find mutually agreeable terms for continued promotion of Enterprise brands on Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com after the previous contract with Enterprise Holdings had expired.

“Orbitz has replaced Enterprise Holdings with other suppliers that better serve the needs of our customers,” according to Orbitz’ statement. ”Moving forward, we will continue to give customers choice among a robust selection of car rental options – including Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, Advantage and other leading suppliers – that will fully meet travelers’ needs.”

Enterprise Holdings had been in negotiations to add its flagship brand to the Orbitz site when it was informed of the company’s decision to accept only Enterprise and remove National and Alamo from its listings, according to Enterprise Holdings. Alamo and National have been listed on Orbitz.com since 2001 and were acquired by Enterprise Holdings in 2007.

“While we would have preferred a different outcome, effective April 1, none of Enterprise Holdings’ three brands will be listed on Orbitz.com or CheapTickets.com,” according to Nicholson.

Car Rental Deals in Hawaii

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:51:43 +0000

Car rental deals searches for the best deals on car rentals around the country. From Mexico to Florida to Hawaii, we’ll post information to help you find the best deal.

If you’re traveling to Hawaii, we recommend Hawaii Car Rentals by SummitPacific. They have worked out special negotiated rates with all the major car rental companies including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, and Thrifty. These rates are lower than the car rental companies offer you on their own websites, so in some cases, SummitPacific can’t even mention the name of the company. You just send them your dates and the car that you want and Summit will find the best rate. And, you can cancel at any time without penalty.

We’ll post more deals around the country when we find them.

Always:

Rent the smallest car you can fit into but be sure to consider your luggage. Most small economy cars have little to offer when it comes to trunk space. Although you can sometimes upgrade to a larger car at the airport, the upgrade will usually cost you a little more than if you just reserved the larger car originally in advance.
Be sure to check your airline arrival and departure times carefully when you make your reservation. Most car rental companies will charge you for an extra day if you’re more than an hour late when bringing the car back.
If you have auto insurance at home, check with your insurance carrier to make sure that you’re covered when renting a car. If so, you don’t need to pay for extra Collision Damage when you rent. Waiving the insurance offered to you at the car rental agency will can save you up to $10 a day.