Avis are leveraging the popularity of Amazon and are now offering discounts to Amazon customers who book a car rental in the form of Amazon.com gift cards, effectively exclusive Amazon Customer Avis discounts.
Amazon customers who book an Avis vehicle can save money on their rental and receive an Amazon.com Gift Card valued at 10% of their rental price. Later this month, those who book an Avis vehicle using the Avis skill for Amazon Alexa will receive an Amazon.com Gift Card valued at 20%.
The Amazon Customer Avis discounts integration is relatively deep with ‘Login with Amazon’ in on the Avis website. The offering builds upon a relationship between the two companies that dates back to 2017 when Avis launched a skill for Amazon Alexa. The skill enables Avis customers to make a car rental reservation, review current or past reservations and request an e-receipt of their last rental. Travelers have instant, voice-controlled access to the car rental booking process with such commands as “I need a car at La Guardia Airport at 9:00 a.m. this Friday”.
“Amazon customers are accustomed to convenient and on-demand services, and Avis Budget Group is pleased to be able to add transportation to the mix. As digital technology evolves we are able to offer increasingly seamless travel experiences for our customers, and hope these great incentives encourage more people to try our new offerings, including our Amazon Alexa booking tool. We are excited to work with Amazon to offer their customers a valuable benefit when they rent with Avis.”
– Beth Kinerk, Senior Vice President, Sales, Avis Budget Group
This is an interesting example of businesses recognising the loyalty of Amazon customers and offering benefits outside of those one would normally associate with Prime Membership. Amazon and Avis haven’t revealed details of how the offer is funded, but it would be reasonable to expect that the majority of Alexa owners are also Amazon Prime members so the discount uplift to 20% for booking using the Alexa Skill will be tapping into Amazon’s most loyal customer base.
Currently, the discounts are applicable to Avis rentals in the United States, with the expectation to launch in other key markets in the future.
