Travel Weekly sat down with Avis Budget Group’s regional managing director, Tom Mooney, to find out what the company is doing to reinvent the rental industry.
TW: What is Avis Budget Group’s goals for the rental process?
TM: At Avis Budget Group, our mission is to reinvent the rental experience through ongoing innovation and digitisation of our business, whilst delivering a personalised, streamlined and innovative experience for all leisure and business customers.
As a mobility provider, we’re completely engaged in this shift, and are taking numerous steps to commit to investing, partnering and innovating to meet the evolving opportunities in the future of mobility.
TW: In what ways is Avis Budget Group reinventing the rental industry?
TM: At Avis Budget Group we continue to examine the overall customer journey to determine how we can make it more streamlined, transparent, convenient and personalised for our customers – putting them in the driving seat even faster.
The Avis mobile app is a great example of technological innovation that is changing the way consumers rent and use their vehicles. The Avis app enables customers to control every aspect of the car rental process through their smartphone, including changing or upgrading to the exact vehicle you want to drive, extending your rental on-the-go, as well as providing you details of the nearest petrol station and parking options.
TW: How are today’s on-demand mobility services being matched?
TM: From mobile apps and connected cars, to new offers and processes, our global goal is to make the car rental experience smoother for our customers around the world and closely match today’s on-demand mobility services.
Connected car capabilities will enable us to deliver operational efficiencies by providing real-time inventory counts, mileage management and automated maintenance notifications.
TW: How does the company view autonomy in the rental process?
TM: Autonomy is an exciting new frontier in the rental process.
To prepare for current and upcoming change, we are also building new platforms, technologies and capabilities to further revolutionise the customer experience as vehicles become more autonomous.
TW: What is Avis doing to support the trade?
TM: At Avis Budget Group, we have always taken a vested interest in supporting the travel industry and in particular to Avis Australia, we support the travel agents helping Australians get the most out of their holidays. We have recently launched our 23rd annual Avis Travel Agent Scholarship program, which has evolved into one of the most valuable and prestigious awards offered to New Zealand and Australian travel professionals.
