For those of you who don’t remember, FFN = Faster Free Nights, an excellent promotion Hyatt ran a few years ago whereby you could get a free night for every two stays. Now, National is doing something similar for members of its Emerald Club loyalty program. For every two rentals of two or more days you’ll get one free rental credit for a future rental between September 10, 2012, and June 16, 2013. This promotion lasts from now until the end of January 2013, giving you plenty of opportunity to earn those free rental days. (HT to New Girl in the Air!)
Remember: You must register before reserving a car!
This is also a great time to remind you that one of the key benefits of renting a car is that you can often cancel your reservation and rebook whenever prices go down. Although some people like to use Hotwire or Priceline, I’m not a fan because I don’t get to stay in control of the booking process (I like transparency), and the extra benefits like rebooking a reservation or getting an upgrade through elite status give me the opinion that I’m coming out even at the end. We all have our preferences.
I just booked a reservation for Dallas in October to see the Texas State Fair. I also had a reservation I made earlier in San Francisco, which I profiled in my post on how to hack a great car rental rate. Well, since you need to register before making the reservation in order to get credit, I did the only sensible thing: I made a new reservation and cancelled the old one! Not only will I now get an extra point toward a free rental day, but I also saved $17 since rates had gone down between now and then. 😀
So, don’t assume that a promotion doesn’t apply to you just because you have to register before reserving. Also don’t overlook the reservations you’ve already made. There are often opportunities to goose your return by re-evaluating all of your travel plans on a semi-regular basis, which I try to do once a week just spending 15-20 minutes on the weekend to refresh my memory about where and how I’m traveling. It’s like searching for loose change in the couch cushions, but less filthy and a whole lot more rewarding!
