World Traveller 73 
My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Toronto Pearson International Airport
I have usually been intrigued by Hertz President’s Circle status. There is something overtly visual about elite rental car status, as compared to airline elite status. With elite rental car status, you actually get the opportunity to see nicer cars in certain corners of the lot, whereas airline status is limited to those elitist airline luggage tags and free upgrades that aren’t always apparent.
Unfortunately, my Hertz President’s Circle days have been a little bit less glamorous than I might have hoped. I would get the opportunity to visit Toronto Pearson International Airport and test out Hertz President’s Circle and their Ultimate Choice feature. Read on to see how our experience with Hertz in Toronto actually looked like…
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
I’ve maintained Hertz President’s Circle status for the past several years as a result of some heavy work travel. One of the primary benefits of Hertz President’s Choice is the Ultimate Choice aisle where you get to pick any car in the aisle and go. The marketplace has standardized this feature across many of the major rental companies in this space.
As I have previously written, for the most part, the upgrades have been pretty good, if not outstanding. While booking an intermediate car, we’ve been upgraded into Mercedes SLK Convertibles…
…even a great brand new Volvo V60 station wagon with less than 4,400 kilometres on the clock.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Since this space is about loyalty programs, Hertz offers a loyalty reward program called Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. The program is primarily designed to keep your driver’s licence, credit card and insurance preferences on file to allow for quicker rentals that allow for bypassing the legal formalities of the rental counter in many locations and allow you to get out on the road faster.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards also offers the ability to earn Hertz Gold Plus Reward points. While we didn’t typically get a lot of value from car rental points, they’ve recently delivered outsized value from travel when car rental prices escalated during the pandemic when many Hertz locations reduced their vehicle fleets, driving up car prices.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers three tier levels of Gold, Five Star and it’s top tier President’s Circle. It’s around the Hertz Presidents Circle level where the benefits get interesting.
Hertz President’s Circle Benefits:
Hertz’s highest tier level is Hertz President’s Circle. Hertz Presidents’ Circle offers the following benefits:
- Upgrades: Guaranteed
- Hertz Gold Rewards points earning: $1 = 1.5 points
- Hertz Ultimate Choice: Widest Selection
- Dedicated Hertz Reservation Line
With reward redemptions starting at about 950 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points, you’ll need a little bit of spend in order to get a free rental.
About Hertz Ultimate Choice:
My favorite feature of the Hertz rental experience is the Hertz Ultimate Choice feature found at airports where Hertz Gold Canopy service is offered.
Hertz Ultimate choice offers the ability to “pick from the best car in our newest fleet and go”. Airport locations in the united states offer the best versions of this, but there are select locations that do offer a great experience.
Typically, there is a sign board that designates the lot, along with a convenient monitor that indicates the location of your car. Dependent on the size of the lot, there is a correspondingly large zone.
There is also typically a sign information board that sets out the location of your car, in addition to any messages. Dependent on the size of the station correlates to the size and number of renters on the sign.
at Hertz Toronto Pearson International Airport
As a Hertz President’s Circle member, and as long as you rent an intermediate class car or better, I was able to choose any car in the aisle. As a result, there is usually something pretty good kicking around the lot.
There are odd times when you get stuck with the usual boring junk, but it’s better than nothing. There are often a few compact Sport Utility Vehicles parked around, and usually a Dodge Charger or two.
This leads me to my most recent experience renting from Hertz at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
My Experience at the Hertz Toronto International Airport
I was coming into the Toronto Pearson International Airport on an Air Canada High Density Boeing 777-300 flight. Unfortunately, as a result of Air Canada deciding to upgrade it’s computer systems, the flight was over four and a half hours late before it landed at Toronto Pearson Terminal One.
As the Hertz office was closing within twenty minutes of landing at 1 AM, I left MrsWT73 to collect a checked bag, and wandered over towards the rental car office. We were headed off to the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre for the evening before going onwards to the Residence Inn London Downtown for the weekend.
The Hertz Car Rental Centre is located within the parking structure of the Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One. It’s worth mentioning that Hertz also runs a rental facility in Toronto Pearson Terminal Three. If you’re flying anything other than Air Canada or a Star Alliance Airline, you’ll be visiting a different rental facility.
I used the double set of moving sidewalks in order to get over to the Car Rental Counters. This includes passing through to a series of elevators, taking a left, and taking the elevators down from the fifth floor to the ground first floor.
The Hertz Rental Car location is relatively easy to find, and is about ten minutes walk from the main terminal.
Getting to the Rental Car Centre:
I had received an “carfirmation email” from Hertz indicating that my car was available. in the Hertz Ultimate Choice aisle. I was directed to the Hertz sign display in order to check the status and location of my car.
Unfortunately, for what ever reason, my reservation and name was not showing on the sign display. This could have been because I was almost five hours late as a result of that late Air Canada flight.
Knowing that Toronto Pearson Airport had Hertz Ultimate Choice – the feature that allows you to select ay car and go, I headed over to the Ultimate Choice aisle.
Hertz Ultimate Choice Toronto Pearson has the smallest Ultimate Choice Aisle I’ve ever experienced. It’s also the only Hertz location in Canada that offers Ultimate Choice; a staple of Hertz through about thirty different US airports.
Toronto Pearson Terminal One Hertz Ultimate Choice features approximately 12 parking spaces for Presidents Circle, and another 12 for Hertz Five Star- their mid tier status.
When I got over to the Hertz Ultimate Choice President’s Circle aisle, I found exactly one car. The lot was otherwise deserted.
I found a brand new lonely 2023 Nissan Rogue was sitting there, with only 750km on the clock. I don’t normally turn away a new car, but a mom like Sport Utility Vehicle isn’t normally my first choice.
Knowing that Hertz Ultimate Choice customers can also select a lower class of car outside of their elite level, I took a brief wander through the Five Star Area and the Regular Gold area.
In the Hertz Ultimate Choice Five Star area, I found zero vehicles.
In the Hertz Ultimate Choice Gold area, I found zero vehicles.
In the Premium Upgrades area, I found a lonely Ford Mustang convertible. It’s worth noting that Ford Mustang Convertibles are usually found in the President’s Circle aisles at most US airports. In this case, I would have had to pay an extra amount for the privilege of driving something normally available for free at a US airport.
I took a quick wander over to the Reserved area, but the Chevrolet Camero, the Chrysler 300 and the dodge Durango wasn’t too appealing for me; even if they may have been specifically reserved for another customer.
With the choice of one car, I ended up in the Nissan Rogue for the week. It was hardly exciting, but it did have that new car smell.
Returning at Toronto Pearson International Airport:
After a week in Toronto staying at the Sheraton Toronto Airport and Conference Centre, the Residence Inn London Downtown, and a return visit to the Marriott City Centre Toronto, it came time to depart.
When I returned the vehicle, the vehicle was checked in without any delay by the roving attendant. I confirmed my email to the attendent for the receipt; which actually never came.
I stopped by the rental counter on my way out to collect a paper copy of the receipt. I haven’t had a lot of luck with Hertz promising e-receipts lately, and for some reason, Canadian rentals don’t seem to appear on my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards account when I look them up.
As my curiosity got the better for me, in order to see if the car selection got any better from the “one” vehicle on my way in, I passed by the Hertz President’s Circle aisle on my way to the terminal building for my departing flight.
This time, the Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice consisted of two white full size pick up trucks: a full size Dodge Ram, and a full size ford F150. They were just the thing for driving around urban Toronto (laughing).
I happened to notice a few Nissan Rogues and Chevrolet Traverse in the Five Star lot, but there was nothing there that was all too exciting or exotic.
Ultimately, the Hertz President’s Circle experience at Toronto International Airport was pretty basic and utilitarian. I haven’t been lucky getting any decent upgrades here in the President’s Circle aisle on this, or any past visits.
I headed up to the Plaza Premium Lounge – Toronto Terminal One Domestic, prior to heading home to Vancouver from Toronto.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Toronto Pearson International Airport:
While I’ve previously had high expectations of Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice, I’ve learned to taper those expectations.
My Toronto experience was much like my Las Vegas experience, where heading to the Hertz Ultimate Choice aisles meant arriving to an empty parking garage without a car to be found. Fortunately, I received a “mom – mo – mobile” Nissan Rogue for this week’s travels. While it was brand new at less than 750 kilometres on the odometer, it wasn’t all to exciting a drive. The vehicle was a “guaranteed” upgrade per the terms and conditions of the Hertz President’s Circle program, but it wasn’t all that much more.
If you are hoping for a broad selection of Hertz Ultimate Choice vehicles in Toronto, I would moderate your expectations accordingly and expect to pay for vehicle upgrades normally available on a complimentary basis at US airports.
World Traveller 73 
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