As its popularity grows, so too does the requirements of its customers. As Rentalcars.com became the world’s leader in online car rental services, new trends started to develop and with them new opportunities. The rise of the “urban renters” - urbanites who prefer to rent a car for short periods rather than own a car outright - meant an ever-growing demand in downtown and suburban areas.
The ability to tap into this new market and offer customers the flexibility and choice they wanted was now a new challenge. Typically, Rentalcars.com operates through tightly integrating its online platform with the inventory management systems of global car rental brands. However, the distribution of these partners is skewed towards airports.
Meeting this increasing customer demand outside of traditional airport locations required Rentalcars.com to recruit local independent car rental operators. However, these operators have a myriad of operating systems and often negligible in-house IT support, making integration to the Rentalcars.com platform effectively impossible.