Thrifty Car Rental Pick-up in Maui

[tears]

I just rented a car from Thrifty in Maui with a pick-up at Kahului Harbor on Kaonawai Street. Is this the correct location to choose, or should I have chosen the airport location? Thanks.

 

MAT

[whale-watcher]

I think there is only one actual thrifty location for Kahului...these are just different "codes" to let them know where to pick you up. BTW, you might want to check the rate for both the port and the OGG "locations".

[chrisadams]

We're going to be in Kauai on June 5th. The cruise pick-up location LH2 is $148.28 with Thrifty. The airport location code LIH is $52.00 with Thrifty. Both location codes give the same address. Naturally, I want the airport location, but will the shutlle take me there from the ship if I use the airport code? Help!

[whale-watcher]

I used the airport codes for all locations...not sure if anyone has had problems with this, but we did not (at least with Hertz in Kauai, Thrifty in Maui).

[beachchick]

We're going to be in Kauai on June 5th. The cruise pick-up location LH2 is $148.28 with Thrifty. The airport location code LIH is $52.00 with Thrifty. Both location codes give the same address. Naturally, I want the airport location, but will the shutlle take me there from the ship if I use the airport code? Help!

 

OMG!:eek: I've heard about differences in pricing between cruise pickup and airport pickup as much as $30 per day, but nearly $100???:mad: Yes, it does require more resources (shuttles, drivers, fuel) and even though in most cases the airport locations are less than 10 minutes away, those costs do add up. The extra costs should be paid by those who use the service, rather than raising the rates for all renters (including those coming in by air who don't need the additional shuttle service).

 

IMO, the charge should be commensurate with the actual cost of "doing business" with cruise pax. For example, say a flat $5 or $10 per rental (not per day) for Nawiliwili/Lihue (Kauai), Kahului (Maui), and Hilo; a flat $15 or $20 for Kona (airport) and Honolulu. I think the rental companies should have the exact same rental rates for both air and cruise pax, and then should allow cruise pax to choose to pay the extra "shuttle service" fee. That way, pax can decide if they want to use the shuttle or get there on their own by taxi (or even bus). With the shuttle fees I suggest above, pax would still be saving money over r/t taxis. For example, a taxi to and from the Kahului airport would be about $20 to $25, so a flat shuttle add-on through the car rental company would save $10 to $15 (maybe more).

 

Unfortunately, the rental companies haven't asked me. In the meantime, they want to charge nearly $100 per day for the convenience of a 10 minute o/w shuttle ride? Please! That's highway robbery!

 

To answer your actual question. Book through the airport location. The worst that could happen would be that the shuttle driver will have a list of pax with reservations (sometimes they do) and would only let those who booked through the cruise pier location on the shuttle. In that case, you'd need to spend maybe $10 on a taxi to the airport. You might even be able to get a ride back to the pier when you drop off the car (they don't usually have lists then). Even if you had to take a taxi both ways, the $20 or so is a savings of $80 over what they want to charge you if you book for the cruise pier pickup. At those rates, cruise pax won't book through the company at all--And frankly, we'd boycott.

 

Finally, I am not one of the members who recommends Thrifty as "the" rental company for cruise pax. We've booked with them and had no problems, but we've also booked with National, Alamo, Budget, and Avis and only had one problem once (and that was on a land trip). We go solely by price and (for cruise only) if they send shuttles to the pier. Other than that, there's just not that much difference.

 

beachchick

[chrisadams]

Thanks for your input beachchick. You pretty well summed up my thoughts on the matter! I'll be using the airport codes with the exception of Kona.