Budget Boost for Online Bookings

22 November 2002

Budget Rent a Car has experienced strong growth in recent Internet traffic with 35 percent of its leisure car rental days now being booked online at budget.com.
More than 23 percent of the company`s overall reservations are booked at budget.com, up from 12 percent in 2001, with the site attracting, on average, more than 51,200 unique visitors per day, 358,000 per week and 1.5 million per month.

“We have seen a significant growth in reservations at budget.com as more people are recognizing that they can get the lowest rates by booking directly through the company Web site,” said Mike Gavelek, vice president of Marketing for Budget. “We are aggressively pursuing the Web market and feature more than 200 special deals every week at budget.com that are not available on other travel sites. The blend of value and convenience has been very effective in securing repeat business.”

Approximately one quarter of car rentals reserved by members of Budget`s customer loyalty program, Perfect Drive, are booked at budget.com. This is partly attributed to Budget`s year-round promotion enabling Perfect Drive members to earn double points just by booking at budget.com.

“Our Internet agency Indigio has played an important role in helping us drive the growth we have experienced,” said Gavelek. “By simplifying the booking process and developing creative online tools, Indigio has helped to make it faster and easier than ever for our customers to book online.”