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#481: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Story | Driving Customer Loyalty: Avis’ Vision for Premium, Personalized Mobility

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For decades, car rental has been viewed as a transactional necessity. Simply a checkpoint on the travel journey rather than a meaningful part of it. Beth Gibson, Vice President, Avis First, sees that as a missed opportunity. With the recent launch of Avis First, she’s leading a bold initiative to shift perceptions and elevate expectations, introducing a first-of-its-kind rental experience built around convenience, care, and concierge-level service.  Available to all travelers through the Avis app, the program also provides added advantages for loyalty members, including faster booking and recognition through the existing Avis Preferred program. This isn’t about perks. It’s about purpose and a relentless focus on what travelers actually value. 

It isn’t just a new tier; it’s a fundamental shift in the company’s approach to customer engagement. With nearly 18 years at Avis Budget Group, Gibson’s deep operational knowledge, frontline empathy, and relentless commitment to the customer have uniquely positioned her to lead this transformation. 

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back to our leaders in customer loyalty series. It's a brand story digital it's Thursday. Great happy with us. Today we're gonna have to bring a car. Especially if you're not far with your customer loyalty program. And even the R things can go wrong. Sometimes we need some of the key on that expensive car to make clean the key if the earth one is missing or gel thing, screening too. The process is frequently cumbersome and frustrating. You might get charged more for gas if you do a fill-up than you would pay for local gas station through miles away. Clearly, there's an opportunity to flip the script on this industry and do things differently. An opportunity that could be a game changer for the brand bold enough to lead the way. Enter AWS budget group, and there's a new initiative AWS first. This program is simplifying how customers engage with the brand, with a focus on luxury, convenience, and streamline the rental and return process. It has the potential to be a unique differentiator for the organization. To learn more, we're going to hear from Beth Gibson, who's the vice president at the Avis Budget Group, and she's going to discuss the rollout of the Avis First program. Beth, thank you very much for joining us. How are you today?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Looking forward to this discussion. First off, for those who may not be familiar, can you give us an introduction to the Avis Budget Group? Uh kind of the kind of the legacy and mobility in the rental industry. Would love to know a little bit more about the brand and how it started.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, of course. Well, next year we'll have something really big to talk about since we'll be celebrating 80 years in the business with Avis. But, you know, one of the things that I'm here today to really talk about is how Avis First, we just launched this new brand that is really redefining the car rental experience and the customer journey to really enhance our Avis brand.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And when you look at Avis First, uh, you know, what what drives the successes of Avis, Avis First, and kind of the brand?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You know, so I have been with company for a long time, and the main thing, majority of my job has actually been around the customer experience. And when we've been listening to what our customers are asking for, it's really around convenience, speed. They want accessibility to people. And so we said, well, what is an experience that could be like a first class experience? And that's where Ava's First came from. Um, so Ava's First is a premium first-class experience that gives you a concierge that's available to you the start of your rental, throughout your rental, and even at the end. We also give you a brand new vehicle with less than 20,000 miles. And we also include the fuel because all of our vehicles are connected. So we only charge you for what is used and we'll charge you at the local fuel pump rates. So it's all about convenience and listening to our customers. And we think that this is really just creating a differentiation within amongst all of our brands, but specifically with their Avis brand.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So when you look at uh Avis First, uh we were going to talk a little bit more about you, but uh you brought up this great new program. Uh how'd you come up designing that? How'd you come up developing the kind of the value proposition of the comp customer and keep it so value-laden?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You know, I like I said, it just listening to customers. I mean, we I actually spend the majority of my time I look at, you know, Google reviews, any kind of third-party surveys I can get my hand on. We have our own internal surveys for that we send to our customers. And there's two really key themes that people talk about, which is speed of checkout and the vehicle received. The other thing that I did was, you know, we have access to a customer advisory board that we uh put together here at Avis. And one of the questions I asked them was, can you define first class and car rental? Like what does that mean? And it was crickets. Nobody knew what that was. And I knew at that point we have an opportunity as an industry to actually define what does first class mean and create an experience that's truly special, that people would be willing to really invest their money in, but also uh get into the experience that we're building.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So you talked about uh listening to understanding the customers' feedback. There was kind of a gap there, or at least an opportunity around first class. You know, what else did they tell you about the experience uh that that made you think you could excel so uh quickly?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, you know, the main thing is is you hear about people talk about uh skip the counter. Sometimes you see that from a lot of people and our competitors say in it. But what does that really mean to the customer? You know, we've even invested a lot in what we call touchless experience. And for some people, that's perfect. They don't want to see anybody. They want to go directly to their car, they want to get out of the gate seamlessly, and we're excited that we do have a touchless experience. But something that there are travelers that want is the ability to have a personalized experience. And they want the ability to have like a concierge type of moment. Like I think about in the hotel world, I can get go to a really expensive hotel and get a suite with the butler. But what does that mean for us? And that's why we took the current experience that we have. We took our current technology and said, what are some things that we can invest in to build our app to be even better than we have today? And then how can we deliver on this experience through people?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You know, was the initial focus more on increasing share of wallet, uh winning premium customers potentially, driving NPS uh or all the above or something different?

SPEAKER_01:

I will have to tell you the first thing I wanted to do was redefine the experience, like create a new experience in the car rental industry. So that by far was number one. And I do truly believe that if we can continue to deliver on this, I mean, we're only a couple of weeks in on this product, but if we can deliver on this truly differentiated experience, that MPS will come, market share, you know, share wallet, all those things will come with it. But my priority has to be stay focused on the experience first.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And when you look at uh differentiating experience, that can be somewhat challenging in in uh kind of the car rental business, right? The the transportation uh business. Uh how are you doing that? Uh what are you seeing? You know, how are you doing that first off?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, you have to make sure that you're listening to your competitors and staying relevant within the car industry world. So, you know, for us, like I said, uh I can't value enough of the feedback from our travelers. I think it's invaluable. Um, it's free to listen to your customers. But the main thing is that if I listen to the customers, they give you the nuggets of things that we need to be doing differently. So not only are we looking at the competitors, but just listening to what they want and then be able to deliver on what they want is two different things. And I think that those two things kind of coming together for us is what's led to this product.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You talked about kind of listening to your customers. Everyone talks about that. I mean, we run a trade association for customer loyalty. We meet weekly with our members to talk about different top topics. And, you know, listening to uh versus hearing your customer is a different process. It's active, it's engaging. Uh, you know, how do you execute on some of these things? Because it can be a big challenge, uh, you know, understanding exactly what the kind of your disparate audience may have an interest in. You know, how are you executing on listening to your customers?

SPEAKER_01:

I completely agree with you. Listening is not easy. So I like how you say listening and hearing. You know, one of the things is it's not just about for us like reading what customer comments are, it's not being afraid to reach out to the customers too and actually having that conversation with them. So especially whether it's good feedback or it could be negative feedback, we have a time and place where we actually make external phone calls and really start engaging with our customers. The other piece of it is actually working with really closely with our operations. So not only is our operation looking at the feedback daily, but they're also we're meeting with them weekly and monthly with our senior leadership team. Because I can sit there and say what customers want, but it's about executing on it. So we have to work really closely with our field team to make sure they know exactly what our customers are asking for and that we can deliver on it.

SPEAKER_00:

That makes perfect sense. And one of the things we saw, uh we do a loyalty survey every year of people who run, you know, kind of award-winning uh significant loyalty programs. And this whole idea of operationalizing the customer loyalty program is a big focus, you know, some economic headwinds in some industries. So they want to make sure the program is working well uh and having that internal alignment. And sounds like you're doing a pretty significantly good job at driving that internal alignment.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes, you can't do anything without the people in the field.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Uh we kind of skipped ahead, but would love to know a little bit more about you, your role at Avis, you know, uh where you got to or how you got to where you are today, or uh, you know, were there positions that kind of led to this role? How'd you get involved in customer experience and customer loyalty?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um, in just a few days, I actually had 18 years with Avis Budget Group. So it's kind of amazing. I actually started as an entry-level salesperson in Tampa, Florida, knocking on doors to drive brand awareness for Avis at the local facilities. Um, and I spent seven years in sales. So it was my opportunity to actually understand what customers are asking for, whether it's the travel managers or it's even the end users that are actually wanting the vehicles and renting the vehicles themselves. So I spent seven years doing that. And then after moving my family around for promotions in the sales department, I actually started all over my career and went into operations. And I spent three years in operations. And by far, that was probably the most invaluable thing that I did to actually work shoulder to shoulder with our service agents, cleaning cars, moving cars, checking in vehicles, being in the front line at the counters, you know, dealing with customer service issues and being with their rental sales agents. I actually got to see what it was like to actually deliver on the promise that I was delivering for seven years. I actually had the opportunity to actually deliver on that. So after I spent the three years in operations, that's when I moved into headquarters and I started looking at our products and services that we provide to our customers to drive experience, customer experience, and then this opportunity to define Avis first.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You know, you look at the role, obviously, big role. Uh it's an experience you have. It's interesting to hear how you were uh kind of got into your current role. But when you look at some of the challenges or opportunities that you face with in your position, you know, what keeps you up at night? Uh, you know, what are you thinking about?

SPEAKER_01:

Sometimes I'm thinking, am I moving fast enough? Because you have to stay relevant in this industry. But you know, it's I actually think about our people. Um, you know, when we, and I'm gonna go back to Avis First a little bit, but when we launched Avis First, it wasn't like there was this entire team that's thinking about reinventing the customer experience. It started with a dream. And then it was about having people align with your dream. And the hardest thing is actually executing on the dream. So I can think big, but can I deliver on it? Is probably the hardest thing. So there was a lot of sleepless nights making sure I had the right team rallied around me because these this wasn't anybody's just day job. This was also like an extracurricular activity for some of our other uh work groups. But seeing that come together today is the most special thing that's happened to me. But it was also a lot of sleepless nights saying, can I actually deliver on a dream? That's also a change. People, it's change is hard too. So creating this change in our industry and our my own in Avis on how we deliver vehicles to our customers, making sure that we train them appropriately to deliver on the expectation that we're promising, like that was a lot of work. Um, but I'm so excited that it all came together.

SPEAKER_00:

You mentioned the change with the industry. That's a pretty uh significant topic we have within our communities, how customers are changing, maybe holistically within different verticals. When you look at some of the things you want to do with Avis First, it's very unique, kind of avant-garde. Uh, but holistically, how is the car rental industry, the mobility industry changing and how are customers' expectations uh also evolving?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I think the biggest thing for us is it's not a one size fits all for our customers. And I think sometimes we get said that there is a one-size-fits-all, but it can't be. So we want to be able to customize the trip for the customer based off of their travel needs, whether it's commercial or it's leisure or what we call bleisure, where people are blending their travel experiences, whether it's self-service, if they want a high touch in a first class experience, or hey, they want to talk to somebody at our locations. We want to make sure we're the best in each one of those segments, not just the best at one. And I think that's something that we've all had to change to say, let's personalize this experience for what that customer needs at that given time. It's a little different than just having a one size fit-all approach.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And personalization, another uh pretty significant topic. And you mentioned uh one size is not going to fit all. So when you look at personalization, how do you leverage customer data, the preferences, the feedback, or maybe even some behavioral insight to optimize on the personalization uh opportunities you have, make sure the rental experience is tailored to that individual first, you know, within the LOLTI program and within uh Avis First as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, data is so valuable. So as we collect the data here, we I have a very special team that is combing through every single survey response and all the rental dynamics that happens. The main thing is that we make sure that we create different pillars of our customers and then we make sure we engage with them differently based off of those pillars. Um, and I will say sometimes, you know, in certain industries, in certain companies, they only look at the surveys that they send out. And I say social, you have to go, you have to grab all the feedback from social. You got to go out to the external reviews too, because those are just as important to our to our dynamics of what we're looking at and delivering a customer experience.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Um when you look at emotional loyalty, uh, it seems like uh this uh program may have the ability to drive some unique engagement, potentially uh deepen emotional loyalty. You know, how are you looking at emotional loyalty and in what role does that play in kind of the Avis First uh kind of offering?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, loyalty is earned, right? I mean you know, no one is guaranteed to rent from you more than one time. And so I think you have to have that emotional connection to a traveler to make them want to rent multiple times. The thing with Avis First and having that concierge touch, you know, like I said, we've been launched, we've launched a couple weeks ago. And having to like actually looking at how frequently our travelers are actually reaching out to our concierge before they pick up the vehicle, whether it's they want us to lay down the seats because they have four pieces of luggage that they want to have ready, or in Manhattan, they wanted the vehicle delivered and it is very hot here right now, and they wanted the air conditioning seats on, or we actually take the time to show them how to start the car and do the Apple CarPlay. Like all those little things that may seem intuitive when you see some of these new cars can be challenging. That little personal touch goes a long way, and I think it creates a bond. It's not just a car that you're receiving, it's also a person that you're receiving with your trip.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You know, looking ahead, uh, Avis First, uh, first off, let's let's back up a little bit. Uh some of the early adopters of Avis First, uh, and what have you heard from them? What are they saying about the program? What do they like? What do they not like? You talked about, you know, uh they want the air conditioning on, they you're showing them how to use Apple CarPlay. You know, what what are some of the early uh kind of adopters telling you?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't the we we actually had our first customer actually out of Denver Airport. So it was pretty exciting. Um, and it was a family, a family with two teenage kids, uh husband and wife. And the wife said, I will never take the bus again. So, you know, obviously time was valuable to that traveler at that given moment. And that was really special to us. You know, some of the things that we're still working through, obviously, not everything is perfect when you launch, is uh the adoption of technology. So this is an app enabled product. So if you want this product when you book it, you do have to download our app, you do go through biometrics and validation. So helping walking customers through that, because it is a new journey when you think about the car rental experience. It's new. So we have to make sure we explain that in a way that our customers understand and it doesn't cost friction. Um, that's been some of the biggest feedback that we've got. So very positive on the experience. I think for us, our opportunity is just making sure that the technology is easy to use.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And how do you make technology easy to use, right? You mentioned kind of making sure you have an app that is a concern for many people in customer loyalty, right? Making sure that uh they have access to digital-only events. But now some brands are kind of reversing track. Kroger just uh they're putting all their coupons up front on their circulars like they'll be up front. Many uh convenience stores, same thing. They're kind of balancing you need to be in the app and then uh kind of making sure that's accessible to everyone. Is there a balance to that? And if so, how do you how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I that's a great question. One, I will tell you, we test and test and test so much, but not just us, environment was building, it's was our customers. So we actually had live customers testing this product and giving us feedback. I do agree that not everything would be 100% app. So when you go to book this product, you can book on web, you can book on dot com, you can book book mobile, you can book on app. So we want the ability to get into this experience on any platform. But then when you want to live into the experience, you do have to have the app. And the main thing is it's just so we can create that constant communication back and forth, the customer can track the vehicle because that's super important that you want to be able to track the vehicle to know the ETA of arrival. Because it's not just at airports, we're also off airports. So you think about if you're at a the Lowe's hotel in Orlando and you want a vehicle delivered to you to take a trip to the beach, you want to be able to track it and stuff. And that stuff is enabled through the app. Um, so it's a dual experience, but there's very specific things in the app that is enhances the experience once you're in the rental.

SPEAKER_00:

So you can actually have uh kind of the a card delivered to your hotel then?

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. You can have it delivered wherever you want it to be.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. And and and how do you keep that at kind of that that that that reasonable price point? How are you enabling that?

SPEAKER_01:

So there's a couple of things that we're doing is because I want to be very consistent on this on this delivery of uh the customer experience, we're actually gonna um only have a select amount of events that we can do per hour. So that's number one. So this isn't just gonna be everybody everywhere can get this experience. We're only gonna have a certain number of events that we can have per hour through a 16-hour shift. So that's one thing. So that's some of the things that we're doing is say, here's the price point that we are gonna go forward with, but we also want to make sure at the end of the day that my experience is a hundred percent consistent and that we're able to deliver on it a hundred percent of the time.

SPEAKER_00:

That makes sense. So it's almost kind of an aspirational exclusive type offering, right? So that makes it uh can give it kind of push it to the top of a top of mind consideration for your customers.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. I like to call it affordable luxury.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. Okay. You know, what is the uh, you know, talked about technology, making tech technology work, making sure that it's uh easy to use. You know, what's the next big innovation or investment uh Avis is focused on to you know advance the customer experience and and deepen customer loyalty?

SPEAKER_01:

Um well, I will tell you from personal experience right now, I am only focused on expanding Avis First and really focusing on this to be a global experience. It's not just something that we're looking at to be in our backyard. We're trying to figure out um how to make a global program. To me, loyalty is a global initiative, and I think there's opportunities to be better at that. And for us, having Avis First be one of the things that we really hold on to as a global experience is just to me the start of a bigger opportunity for Avis Budget Group.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, and since launching Avis First, what are two or three things that your uh you and your team are are most proud of?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, you know, you know, I when I was thinking about like what are things that we're proud of. One, to stand up this product with I would say we started thinking about this eight months ago, and to see this come to life um so quickly, but also very well produced is outstanding. I think the other thing, and I'm gonna go back leaning back on my whole customer experience um job, the thing that I get most excited about is when actually I see the power of recovery. You know, we're not perfect, nobody's perfect. And when I see our employees go above and beyond to recover a customer, that's special because that's something that takes an extra effort from our employees to do. You know, sometimes it's not exactly what's trained, it's what the employees do. And and I like to celebrate the power of recovery with our employees.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Uh we talked about this a little bit. Uh, you know, what does customer loyalty mean to you and to Avis in in today's highly competitive, you know, mobility landscape?

SPEAKER_01:

I think uh look, loyalty is definitely earned. And I think it's a blessing when we get the opportunity to have a customer become a repeat traveler for us. I think it's more than just points. I mean, points are nice to have, but to earn space uh for a customer to continue to pick us and come back to us to me is invaluable. So we lean in very heavily to understand why do people become repeat travelers with us, what drove them to uh continue to pick Avis when there could be other competitors. Um and it it's pretty exciting when you see it's not just about price, it's all about the experience. And that to me is really important. So, you know, I always tell people it's you have to earn it. Um, and if you think it just happens overnight, it doesn't. You have to make sure you earn the loyalty of our customers.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. So the last question, uh, you know, what can Loyalty 360 do to help you and your team to uh kind of stay ahead of the customer experience, customer loyalty industry?

SPEAKER_01:

First, I just want to say thank you for this opportunity um to have the opportunity to speak to you. Um I also think there's great opportunities where we can partner together and learn more and be more involved with your platform. So again, like I appreciate everything you can. I think data is power and having the opportunity to speak to other leaders in this industry is really valuable.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Uh now we have our wonderful quick fire uh round of questions. Uh I'd like to keep into one word or short phrase. The first one, you know, what's your favorite word?

SPEAKER_01:

Driven.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. What's your least favorite word?

SPEAKER_01:

Can't.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. What excites you?

SPEAKER_01:

Innovation.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh what do you find tiresome?

SPEAKER_01:

Excuses.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh is there a book that you read once or twice or many times that you'd like to recommend do to colleagues?

SPEAKER_01:

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there we go. Um Is there a profession other than one that you currently have that you would like to attend?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh sports news journalism.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Interesting. Um what uh do you enjoy that you uh maybe don't get as much time to do as you once did?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I wish I could travel a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And who inspired you to become the person that you are today?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, my mother.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. Uh and uh what do you typically think about at the end of the day?

SPEAKER_01:

My team and family.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. And last question how do you how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family?

SPEAKER_01:

Authentic.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. Well, Beth, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today. It was great getting to know you a little more. Also, you know, about the wonderful AVUS First program and how it's being rolled out, and you know, how it's gonna set the bar, set the standard for the mobility industry. It was it was great to hear uh and what you're doing in that regard. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it, Mark.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And thank you everyone else for taking the time to join us today. Make sure you join us back every Thursday for our leaders in customer loyalty uh series. Uh, looking forward to having you back uh then. Until then, have a wonderful day.