Rental car situation in Tampa?

[jnrrt]

Well, the good news is I got a great ding fare for exactly the times we want it. The news that is just fine with us is that it's into Tampa - grandma lives there, so now it's easier to visit. We'll just drive over to Orlando from there. But I have no idea what the rental car situation is there.

First questions, does National have an Emerald Aisle there?

Second question, who's on site?

I'd just like to know how to start, thanks!

[pouncingpluto]

We're going to Tampa in August, and rental cars seem to be significantly more expensive than in Orlando.

Alamo is definitely not on site, so I'm betting National is not either.

Enterprise and Budget are onsite. A few weeks ago, the cheapest I could get for an onsite company was $160 for Enterprise in a compact (4 nights). The fares came down (but have gone back up a little), and I managed to get $106 with Budget, using a coupon code from mousesavers. However, now Enterprise is back to being the cheapest.

[Colorado Belle]

I fly into Tampa when fares from Denver are cheaper, and I often pick up cars in Disney and return them to the Tampa airport. Budget and National are offsite, but quite close and shuttle service is easy. I rented from Tampa a few times and back then didn't notice significantly cheaper rates...but after ME caused a lowering of rates in MCO, I haven't found anything as low as MCO.

This is the perfect post to announce that about a month ago I called SW and told them that I had waited forever for them to come to Denver and now that they had...they didn't fly anywhere I wanted to go from here....so I asked pretty please if they would start flying to MCO. GUess what....the other day they announced that starting Aug 5, they are flying to MCO from Denver (1 NS a day)
YEA!!!!! So you will all have to tell me about DING fares!

I already booked the October trip on SW. $217 NS from Denver. And i have my rapid reward card . So what happens if I only fly 15 segments this year? Any carry overs or do you lose everything each year end????

[pouncingpluto]

Are you sure Budget is offsite? Expedia says they are onsite!

[nono]

National is definitely not walk up in TPA, but it is still on airport property, so it's a short run via shuttle with little to no traffic.

VERY efficient operations there from the 3 times I've been there (inlcluding last week). Yes, there's an Emerald Aisle.

Good luck making your :computerg for your :coolcar: !!!

[jnrrt]

Thanks, I guess I'll be trying Enterprise and Budget as well, now, although it never occurred to me that rates would be cheaper at MCO because of ME. Oh well, the airfare will definitely make up for it. $75 both ways seems to be a steal right now, especially considering gas prices. I got $48 last year, but I'm not holding my breath - the ding into Orlando today was $118!

Do the other companies have programs like EA? I guess I'll be doing some homework. We love missing the line, and we love picking our car.

[pouncingpluto]

As a comparison between MCO and TPA car rental prices (both of these prices included coupon codes I got from Mousesavers):

Orlando
May 2006
6 nights
SUV
$99.20

Tampa
August 2006
4 nights
Compact
$106.97