Enterprise Holdings, which owns and operates the largest fleet of rental cars in the world under the Alamo Rent A Car, National Car Rental, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car brands, will announce tomorrow that it is ending its relationship with Orbitz.com and its sister site CheapTickets.com on April 1 after “months of difficult discussions.” I asked Pam Nicholson, the president and chief operating officer of Enterprise Holdings, to explain the decision and what it means to travelers.
DISPUTE
The Crowne Pointe Historic Inn is described as a “classic 140 year old Cape Cod Sea Captain’s estate” in Provincetown, Mass., and Carolyn Boschi was looking forward to her stay at the upscale resort. Then her father-in-law died unexpectedly, and she asked the hotel’s owners if they could apply her deposit toward a future stay.
When Barbara Baksa changed her United Airlines tickets, she assumed the upgrade to Economy Plus would transfer to the next flight. Wrong.
This is Kathyria Padilla’s rental car. When she returned it to Avis last April, she took a few snapshots of the vehicle, just in case. Good thing she did.
When Judy Galliher of Silver Spring sent me her hotel horror story, I had a reflexive, Scrappy Doo-like reaction: Lemme at ‘em!
“The number of credit card disputes seems to be on the rise,” says Jason Sarracini, the president of Toronto-based TargetVacations.ca, an online travel agency. “Consumers seem to think they can use their cards as bargaining tools.”
Even though she prepays for a hotel room on Hotwire.com, Elke Rist gets half of what she’s promised: just one bed and quarters the size of a “jail cell.” It will cost her twice as much as the room she reserved. Can the hotel do that?
Let’s say your cruise is cut short by the outbreak of a gastrointestinal virus. You spend most of your vacation quarantined in your cabin. Should you pay for it?
I admit, I have an unfair advantage. When I ask a travel company to reconsider its decision to deny a refund or impose a surcharge, my e-mail signature pretty much says it all: If you don’t do the right thing, this might make an interesting story. But you don’t have to be a nationally syndicated columnist and ombudsman to persuade a travel company to see things your way.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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