World Traveller 73 
My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport
My latest trip though Maui Kahului International Airport had me testing out the brand new Maui Rental Car Centre. The Maui Rental Car Centre was a massive upgrade in experience from the past bus shuttle that used to take us over to the nearby rental car lots. The Maui Rental Car Centre was a world class rental car experience. Unfortunately, Hertz didn’t have that many cars available to choose from, and has become a bit lackluster in their selections.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
As many regular readers would know, I’ve maintained Hertz Presidents Circle status for a number of years now. In terms of treatment by Hertz employees, it seems to be among the most indifferent elite status’ around. Despite this, much like the Marriott Bonvoy progrma, you get the occasional surprise upgrade.
Todays travels were into Maui Kahului International Airport for a week long holiday. The Maui International Airport has had a brand new rental car centre constructed since my last visit, which replaced the past shuttle bus transfer to the lot scenario. While the rental car agencies still maintain the old lots, they’ve been converted into non public facing vehicle servicing areas. Instead, visitors are directed to a brand new rental car centre building close to the airport.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Hertz car rental 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. As a business renter that is renting approximately fifteen times per year, I’ve recently gotten some value out of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards.
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.
This leads me to my most recent experience renting from Hertz at the Maui International Airport.
My Experience at the Hertz Maui Kahului International Airport:
I had a pretty good experience at the Hertz Maui Kahului International Airport. The experience is far better than the past time I visited, as a result of the newer and more modern facility.
Locating the Maui Rental Car Centre:
After coming off Alaska Airlines New First Class Seattle – Kahului Maui, we headed to baggage claim and collected our bags.
Heading immediately out the door, it’s now a trek across the arrivals loading area street to get towards the rental car centre.
The new Maui Rental Car Centre building is located a short distance away. The building is not attached to the airport.
Once you’ve crossed over to the other side of the street from the Maui International Airport arrivals area, you’ve got a choice of taking a short surface level train toward the center.
Alternately, you can take a short and mostly level eight minute walk to the rental car centre. Since we had arrived in long pants, and were adjusting to the great Hawaiian warmth (even at ten o clock at night), we opted for the train.
The Maui Airport Authority was only running one train at eleven o clock at night. As a result, most of the travellers using the rental car center ended up bunching up all together in the train.
Arriving to the Maui Rental Car Centre:
After disembarking off the train, I found myself in an open air concourse housing all the rental car agencies. The Hertz office had a prominent location. However, at 11 PM, the office was sewn up tight.
A sign was posted at the door, directing Hertz Gold and President’s Circle Members to proceed to the rental garage.
I wandered down the concourse and with a hard left, self navigated my way to the rental car lot. Given the late hour, Hertz ran it’s operations off the lot kiosk. Regular renters faced a small line to get their rental car paperwork processed.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers the ability to get all the paperwork completed in advance. As a result, everything was already prepared. I located my name on the sign and headed out to select a vehicle.
I really have to applaud rental car agencies for allowing the ability to process the paperwork in advance, as it’s a massive time saver.
Hertz Ultimate Choice Maui International Airport:
Hertz offers Ultimate Choice at the Maui International Airport. The Ultimate Choice concept allows travellers to select any car in their assigned aisle and go. In theory, this means that you get to pick from a variety of cars. However, I’ve often found that these aisles generally contain a more limited model selection.
I’ve actually had better upgrades when dealing with a host at Hertz Gold Counter locations as a Hertz President’s Circle member, rather than at an Ultimate Choice location.
Hertz President’s Circle Selection at Maui International Airport”
On a Sunday night at 11 PM (a high demand time with visitors arriving for the week), at the Hertz Maui, I ended up with a choice of four different cars in the Hertz President’s Circle Aisle.
The President’s Circle vehicle choices were between a Grey Kia’s, two new Jeep Compasses, and a Kia SUV. The choices weren’t super aspirational, and the best I could hope for was a newer model. The area was absent of the usual Ford Mustang convertibles and Jeep YJ’s.
In the end, there were only 4 vehicles available to the Hertz President’s Circle members, with three names on the board. It was time to select quickly.
Hertz Five Star Selection Maui International Airport:
In the lower category Hertz Five Star Aisle, there was a Ford Esape, a Jeep Compas and a Ford Explorer. Hertz Presidents’ Circle members are also allowed to select from the lower category Five Star Aisles. In this case, there wasn’t anything more appealing from this area. We had planned to drive the Road to Hana on this trip, so we didn’t go for the larger Ford Explorer.
The Vehicle: A Brand New Jeep Compass
I ended up selecting a brand new Jeep Compass with less than 1,200 miles on the odometer. After putting the back seats down, it managed to fit two medium sized suitcases, two rolling suitcases and our laptop bags.
After hopping in the car, we headed for the exit. With only one attendant working, we had a short wait before being able to get out of the lot.
We had a forty minute drive getting over to Kaanapali. We were off to the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa for a seven day stay.
Overall, the pick up experience was exceptionally smooth. Everything went as expected, and my paperwork was ready on arrival. The only negative was the lack of selection in the Hertz Ultimate Choice Aisle.
Returning at Maui Kahului International Airport:
After a week long rental, it was easy to return the vehicle at the Maui Kahului International Airport.
Following the marked signs, it was easy to locate the Maui Rental Car Centre access return.
After selecting the rental car exit, I identified the rental car company, which took you to a ramp to your designated level.
Following the signs, I ended up back at the Hertz / Dollar / Thrifty return zone. There was a roving attendant that allowed for a quick and easy return.
I always appreciate getting an easy return, as it allows for your contract to be closed as quickly as possible with one thing less to be worried about.
Checking Out The Maui Ultimate Choice Aisles on the way out:
After I completed my return, I was curious to see if the meagre Hertz Ultimate Choice selection had gotten any better on my Sunday morning flight out of town. As a result, i took a walk over to the Hertz President’s Circle and Five Star Aisles to see whether I would have fared better getting into Maui on an earlier flight.
Unfortunately, the selection was worse than when I arrived in the late evening.
The Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice Aisle contained one sole lonely Ford Escape.
Where as the Hertz Five Star Ultimate Choice zone contained just three vehicles; a Nissan Sentra, a white Jeep Compass, and a black Chevrolet Malibu.
I did happen to find a number of the better products in the Hertz Premium Upgrades section. There were a number of Jeep YJ’s, Jeep Grand Cherokee’s and Ford Explorers in this zone.
I also happeneed to notice that there were two rows of Ford Mustang Convertibles and Jeep YJ’s located in the reserved aisles. I suspect that the Hertz Maui office saves these for category booked reservations, and consequently doesn’t offer them for complimentary Ultimate Choice upgrades.
If you’re hoping for a Ford Mustang convertible or a Jeep YJ; my advice would be to book this category directly on the website, as opposed to waiting for it in a Hertz Ultimate Choice upgrade.
Returning to Maui International Airport:
After my snoop through the Hertz Ultimate Choice lot, it was an easy return back to the Kahului International Airport building. From the Maui Rental Car centre, it was an easy walk to the train concourse.
There were signs to the walkway back to the Kahului airport terminal. Strangely, the walk back was listed as being three minutes. The walk out to the terminal was advertised as eight minutes. The discrepency must be the new math.
Given the heat, and I didn’t want to end up all sweaty for the plane ride home, I ended up just opting for the train.
I was able to check into our flight home on Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego without any issues.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Maui International Airport:
Overall, Hertz President’s Circle has a favorable experience, as long as your expectations aren’t too over the top.
The Hertz Maui Rental Car Centre is a terrific new piece of infrastructure. Unfortunately, Hertz didn’t have an all to impressive selection of vehicles, and we ended up with pretty much the same experience that I get from my urban rental car locations; a soft one category upgrade into something pretty plain.
World Traveller 73 
Recent Comments