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November 2, 2004

Hertz Puts Wayport in the Driver's Seat

By Glenn Fleishman

Wayport adds Hertz rental car counters to Wi-Fi World; navigation systems will show Wayport locations: On Tuesday, Wayport will announce a deal with the Hertz Corporation that allows Wayport to operate service at more than 50 Hertz rental car counters and waiting areas at airports in the U.S. The Hertz locations will be part of Wayport’s Wi-Fi World, a set of retail and customer-facing chain locations that are resold to service aggregators at a fixed monthly cost instead of a per-session rate. SBC is an early customer for Wi-Fi World, and will have the opportunity to add Hertz locations to their current pool of Wayport hotspots.

Wayport picked Hertz as a partners as much as vice-versa. Dan Lowden, Wayport’s vice president of marketing, “We’ve been talking to a lot of different brands, and we’ve selected key brands in each category that we’re going after.” Hertz is the leading brand for airport rental cars, especially in light of their premium business members. Wi-Fi service will be available both in parking lots and waiting areas, allowing a traveler to access the service before getting out of the car on return or leaving the lot.

Lowden said that Wayport will manage the Hertz locations, providing a co-branded login screen through which Hertz customers can pay for sessions or subscribe. As the Wi-Fi World reselling efforts expand, Hertz locations could be part of a subscription for SBC or other providers, too. Wayport sells its own in-house unlimited service offering for $29.95 for a one-year commitment for all of its directly served locations, and $49.95 for month to month. This offering is more a convenience than a competitive one; they expect their partners to drive usage. Hertz will not become a Wi-Fi provider in this deal; they’re looking at making their customer experience more appealing, not acquiring a new line of business.

The other part of the Hertz deal is the integration of Wayport’s hotspot locations into Hertz’s onboard navigation system, Neverlost. (Note to brand managers: never, ever choose a name that can be mocked with the addition or omission of a single letter.) Lowden said, “You’ll be able to search for Wayport and it will actually give you driving directions and help you navigate directly to the nearest Wayport location.” That might be a McDonald’s or a hotel.

Posted by Glennf at November 2, 2004 7:52 AM

Categories: Air Travel, Hot Spot

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» Putting Wayport into the drivers seat from Lockergnome's Mobile Lifestyle
Wi-Fi will soon be powering Hertz counters in airports all over the place once Wayport gets into the game. The partnership between the two companies was very much of mutual desire. Designed to enable Hertz to enjoy the goodness that... [Read More]

Tracked on November 2, 2004 8:34 PM

» Putting Wayport into the drivers seat from Lockergnome's Mobile Lifestyle
Wi-Fi will soon be powering Hertz counters in airports all over the place once Wayport gets into the game. The partnership between the two companies was very much of mutual desire. The partnership is designed to enable Hertz to enjoy... [Read More]

Tracked on November 3, 2004 7:09 AM

» Putting Wayport into the driver's seat from Lockergnome's Mobile Lifestyle
Wi-Fi will soon be powering Hertz counters in airports all over the place once Wayport gets into the game. The partnership between the two companies was very much of mutual desire. The partnership is designed to enable Hertz to enjoy... [Read More]

Tracked on November 3, 2004 7:10 AM

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