Payless Car Rental Blog

If you’re a Perks Club member, you can save up to 10% on your rental car in September.  If you’re not currently a member, join Perks Club for free to get 10% off!

We are also adding some Last-Minute Deals, for those who like to book their travel arrangements at the last-minute.

At Payless, we believe that everyone who wants to travel, should be able to travel, even during this downturn.  We will continue to help you stretch your dollar so that you can save more for the trip.   Enjoy!

Traveling to Tampa on a budget? Here are some tips to help get you started. Right now, all the major airlines have cut prices and JetBlue just announced an All-You-can-Jet deal that’s worth looking into. Generally speaking, it’s recommended that you book directly on the airlines’ website, since usually that’s where you can get the lowest rates. The same goes for car rentals, as travelers can get special exclusive deals and the lowest rates if one books direct. Plus, if you ever have a change in plans or issues, by booking directly, it will be much less of a hassle than if you booked through a travel portal website.

Hotels are quite affordable these days and you can find rooms starting at around $40 a night at some places. Your best bet to save on lodging is to shop online at one of the three-star hotel chains. As with airlines and car rental, it’s usually better to book directly on the particular company’s website as you’ll most likely find the lowest rates and special deals there.

Rates for rental cars in general have gone up due to the low supply of cars. However, at Payless Car Rental, our rates are usually lower than what many other rental car agencies are charging. You can still get a good deal on car rental this month as we’re offering Perks Club Members 7% off on all rentals booked in August.

What about getting to the airport?  The cheapest option of course is to get a ride from someone, but remember to treat them to lunch or dinner at some point.  You could take a shuttle bus which will cost you around $15-20 one-way.  If you’re going to be traveling for fewer than 5 days, your best bet is to park at an off-airport facility.  We recently launched our airport parking portal at PaylessParking.com.  What makes PaylessParking.com unique is that there are no convenience fees so you’ll more than likely pay less than going elsewhere!

If you choose to rent a vehicle from us in Tampa (and we hope you do!), when you arrive at the store location, you can find many coupons and brochures available at the store in the coupon and brochure rack inside near the entrance. You can get discounts on theme parks around Tampa such as Busch Gardens, restaurants, shopping, etc. We hope you’ll enjoy your next trip to Tampa.

Payless Car Rental is now on Facebook! Become a Facebook fan of Payless Car Rental today to receive special deal and contests available only to our Facebook fans. In fact, we will soon be offering a secret deal on our Facebook Fan page, and only those who are fans will be able to view this special offer.

Feel free to post on the Facebook wall and share stories and pics if you’d like. We’ll be updating Facebook often, just as we’ve been updating our customers on Twitter.

You can now add Payless Car Rental info to your TripIt itineraries whenever you book your rental car on PaylessCar.com! If you already have a TripIt account, simply forward your PaylessCar.com confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com, and within seconds, you should see your Payless rental information in your TripIt travel itineraries. This can help with organizing a trip and you can share your travel itinerary with family members and friends. We hope that you will find the Payless Car Rental - TripIt functionality useful during your travels this summer. Let us know how you like the Payless Car Rental & TripIt functionality!

To celebrate our new, easier-on-the-fingers domain name, PaylessCar.com, we’re offering a special discount offer of 7% Off all bookings in August to all our Perks Club Members. If you’re not yet a Perks Club member, you can join today for free! The signup process is very quick and simple, as it only takes maybe a minute to do. We offer Perks Club Member-exclusive offers year round as a way to thank our loyal customers! Payless Perks Club Members save more on every rental at PaylessCar.com.

Last night, we changed our website address to PaylessCar.com. We believe that the shorter URL should not only make it easier for our customers to remember our website address, but also is easier on the fingers. We felt that it was necessary to make the change now especially considering that more and more travelers today are using mobile phones to make travel arrangements (we all know how fun typing on mobile devices can be…), update Twitter, etc.

Please update your bookmarks with our new address at PaylessCar.com.  Thanks!

Congrats to all of you lucky enough to get your hands on the new iPhone 3GS today!  The new iPhone 3GS is reportedly the most powerful and fastest iPhone model to date.  One of our developers got his iPhone 3G S today and we ran our iPhone version of the Payless website through some tests. We’re pleased to say that our iPhone rental car portal is compatible with the new iPhone 3GS. With the new iPhone 3G S, it’s more convenient than ever to rent a car on smartphones such as the iPhone 3GS.

We recently launched our Twitter page to better engage in conversations with our customers. We’d like to hear both your positive experiences and those areas that you feel we can improve on. And what features and/or special offers would you like to see in the future? Also, whenever new special deals or new features are released, we will post them on our Twitter page.

We will be tweeting often, so follow us on Twitter @PaylessCar

3…2…1…Happy New Year! Every New Year seems to start with a new resolution, but does a New Year mean a new you? Certainly not, but for many it means a time to make a change in one aspect of your life. Remember a New Year’s resolution should be about you or a cause that you care about.

Stay on track with these Payless Pointers:

• Set realistic goals. It goes without saying that most New Year’s resolutions are easier said than done— especially if you set the bar too high.

• Don’t overload yourself. It’s difficult enough for the average person to follow through on one ambitious New Year’s resolution, so why bombard yourself with three or four? Trying to do everything simultaneously is a recipe for failure. Pick the most pressing issue at hand, and if you achieve one resolution, pat yourself on the back and move onto the second. You have a whole year to reach that resolution, there’s no need to rush the process.

• Get friends and family involved. The more people you announce your resolution to, the more people there’ll be to pick you up if you fall behind. There’s no shame in seeking support if you can’t accomplish your resolution on your own.

• Lastly, don’t sweat the small stuff - set realistic goals, and work towards achieving them. Let 2009 be the year to take action.

Happy New Year 2009 from the Payless Family to yours!

St. Maarten is considered a paradise in the Caribbean referred to as the Little Europe of the Caribbean.  There are two countries on one island. The entire island is 38 square miles and is divided into two sides, Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin. Travelers can enjoy two different cultures, cuisine and hospitality.

It is a haven for shoppers who are looking for duty free deals on jewelry, electronics, liquor, and cigars. There are many activities on the island geared for honeymooners, families or just people wanting fun and adventure. Travelers can fill up their day with activities, either by staying on the island or visiting a nearby island. Take a catamaran trip to St. Barths, plan a diving trip with Dive Safari, ride horseback with Lucky Stable, or gulf at Mullet Bay.

The night is filled with activities from dining along the Simpson Bay strip, Maho, Coopercoy or on the French side you can enjoy international cuisine at its best. Must try La Gondola for Italian food, Tropicana Restaurant for French food, Bamboo Bernie for Sushi, and the Boat House for seafood. Cherie’s Cafe is known best for its family entertainment. After dinner, visitors can go to one of the many casinos, the Bliss Night Club or just enjoy the jazz music at The Sopranos. Nightlife is never scarce in St. Maarten.

St. Maarten enjoys warm tropical weather all year round and boasts over 30 white sand beaches. Vacationers can opt for a little romantic cove to a beach but will find they are never far from the crystal blue water. From the famous Mullet Bay Beach, Simpson Bay, Great Bay, Le Galion, Orient Bay, Friar’s Bay or Baie Rouge, one can relax and enjoy the tranquility while soaking up the Caribbean Sun.

St. Maarten does not have any public transportation. Most tourists travel by taxi or rent a vehicle. The international traffic rules apply and we drive on the right hand side of the road. Renting a vehicle is the best option for getting around. Payless Car Rental’s St. Maarten location offers a wide variety of vehicles at competitive prices. See you in St. Maarten!