I have always been intrigued by Hertz President’s Circle status. However, I think my days holding this elite level with Hertz are numbered. This week’s travels would have me passing through Ted Stephens Anchorage International Airport. I typically get better experience renting from Hertz in the United States than I do within my home country of Canada. With a week’s rental in Anchorage, Alaska, how would my experience fare ?

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This post is one chapter on a winter trip to Alaska, United States. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Ted Stephens Anchorage International Airport.

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As I have previously written about, 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.

At times, I’ve gotten some pretty terrific upgrades that have included upgrades into Mercedes SLK Convertibles…

…and 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.

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 Anchorage International Airport.

My Experience at the Hertz Anchorage International Airport:

I arrived into Ted Stephens Anchorage International Airport on an Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Anchorage flight.

I had a beautiful flight in, and was inspired by the views on the descent.

After touching down, it was an easy disembarkation into the Ted Stephens Anchorage International Airport concourse.

Finding the Rental Car Kiosk:

We wandered through the airport concourse and out towards baggage claim. As an airport that services a large volume of cruise ship passengers, the airport was well organized and spacious.

We descended down to the baggage claim level to collect our bags.

We then proceeded through a long tunnel towards the rental car centre building. The rental car building was located in a separate and distinct building.

After a short walk, it was easy to find the Hertz counter. There was a separate and distinct Hertz Gold Member Express Line for Gold, Five Star, President’s Circle and Platinum level members.

It’s worth mentioning that car rental in Alaska can be quite expensive. I ended up redeeming Hertz Gold Rewards points against this rental for one free day to lower the cost.

My paperwork for this particular rental had not been pre-printed nor ready to go. The Hertz Anchorage location does not have Ultimate Choice, and their highest level of service is Gold Counter. This meant that there was no browsing the aisles to select a vehicle of choice, as you might find in an airport with Hertz Ultimate Choice.

The Vehicle: A Brand New Nissan Rogue

I had booked an intermediate vehicle. Hertz President’s Circle status offers a guaranteed upgrade. Today, that translated into being assigned a brand new Nissan Rogue with 17 miles on it. The fact that we were able to drive a vehicle with 17 miles on it starting off from Anchorage, Alaska, USA was pretty amazing indeed.

We set out towards the Aloft Anchorage and The Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood, Alaska for a week.

Overall, the pick up experience was pretty smooth. Everything went as expected, although my paperwork wasn’t immediately ready on arrival.

Returning at Anchorage International Airport:

After a week at The Hotel Alyeska, it came time to head home. I was scheduled to depart on an Alaska Railroad Winter Aurora Train Anchorage – Fairbanks for our next adventure.

I had no challenges getting gas for the rental car and the return process was smooth. My bill was processed and arrived by email, as expected,

I had no issues getting my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards to credit and everything was as expected.

My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Anchorage International Airport:

While I’ve previously had high expectations of Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice, I’ve learned to taper those expectations.

The experience at Hertz with Anchorage International Airport was as expected. The most surprising part was receiving a brand new vehicle that was a small sport utility vehicle as a one category upgrade from the intermediate car that I had booked.

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If you have visited Hertz Anchorage, did you get assigned a reasonable vehicle that met your expectations ?

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