Hertz Named Inaugural Member of Travel + Leisure's "World's Best Awards Hall of Fame"

Hertz Continues Industry Dominance, Named Best Car Rental Company for 13th Time

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Aug 06, 2012, 03:48 ET

PARK RIDGE, N.J., Aug. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Travel + Leisure readers have ranked Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) the "Best Car Rental Agency" for the 13^th time in the magazine's "World's Best Awards" for 2012. In its 17^th year, the survey has become the definitive list of preferred hotels, cruise lines, airlines, car-rental agencies, outfitters, cities and islands, as voted by its well-travelled readers. Hertz's consistent and dominating performance has earned the Company a spot in the first-ever Travel + Leisure "World's Best Awards Hall of Fame," which signifies a company earning top marks for more than 10 years. The results along with the winners can be found in the August issue and online at http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest.

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"We're proud of our consistently high performance as indicated by Travel + Leisure readers and are honored to be named to Travel + Leisure's first Hall of Fame group," said Mark Frissora, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Hertz. "We're happy to be chosen as the top car rental agency 13 times and are thrilled the well-travelled readers of such a prestigious publication recognize our continued passion and commitment to providing an unparalleled experience focused on speed, ease and value to customers worldwide."

In the survey Travel + Leisure readers were asked to rate Car Rental Agencies on a scale of 1-5 (One being poor; five being excellent) in five categories; vehicle selection, vehicle availability, rental location, service, and value. Required component ratings were then averaged, creating an overall score that put Hertz on top.

Additionally, Hertz was recently awarded Travel +Leisure's SMITTY award for "Best Social Media by a Car Rental Agency," and swept the first annual Flyer Talk awards - winning Best Rewards Program and Best Overall Benefits in the Americas, Europe/Africa, and Middle East/Asia/Oceania. Hertz was also named "Best Overall Car Company" in the Zagat's 2012/13 Car Rental Survey, taking home top honors and wins in 14 additional categories, more than any other car rental company.

Operating one of the youngest and most diverse fleets in the industry, Hertz is committed to offering its customers the most technologically innovative products and services available that results in the fastest, easiest and most valued rental experience. This includes Hertz 'Carfirmations', a mobile SMS text and email service that confirms a Gold member's reservation and advises them of their car and location prior to arrival at the Hertz facility; 'Gold Choice' which gives Gold members the power to keep the car they reserved or simply choose a different car from the Gold Choice area; Counter By-Pass and e-Return which allows customers to bypass counter lines and go directly to their cars and then return their vehicles with the fastest car rental drop off that includes an email receipt within hours. These are all free services for Hertz Gold Plus Rewards members which is free to join. In addition, Hertz continues to expand the presence of its ExpressRent Interactive Kiosks that let customers rent a car, with or without a reservation, through a live, face-to-face video kiosk. Finally, Hertz pioneered vehicle specific reservation capabilities via its collections series and has the largest fleet of make and model reservable cars in the industry.

For more information, visit www.Hertz.com or follow Hertz on Facebook or Twitter.

Travel + Leisure 2012 World's Best Awards Survey Methodology
A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure®, in association with ROI Research Inc., was made available to Travel + Leisure readers at tlworldsbest.com from December 1, 2011, to March 31, 2012. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine (January, February, March, and April issues), T+L iPad® editions and newsletters, and online at TravelandLeisure.com. To protect the integrity of the data, after March 31, 2012, respondents were screened by Travel + Leisure and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally. The survey website, tlworldsbest.com, was maintained, monitored, and kept secure by ROI Research Inc., which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential. The scores are indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics. Respondents were asked to rate hotels, islands, destination spas, and rental-car agencies on five characteristics; cities, cruise lines, and tour operators and safari outfitters on six characteristics; and airlines and hotel spas on four characteristics. In most categories, respondents could also rate additional optional characteristics; these ratings were not included in the final score. For each characteristic, respondents were asked to rate a candidate on a scale of 1 to 5, where "1" means poor and "5" means excellent. Required component ratings were then averaged, creating an overall score. A minimum number of responses were necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the World's Best Awards listings. Throughout the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards, scores shown have been rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point; in the event of a true tie, properties, companies, or destinations share the same ranking.

About The Hertz Corporation
Hertz, the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand, operates from approximately 8,650 corporate and licensee locations in approximately 150 countries. Hertz is the number one airport car rental brand in the U.S. and at 119 major airports in Europe. Hertz was voted the Best Overall Car Rental Company in Zagat's 2012/13 U.S. Car Rental Survey, earning top honors in 14 additional categories, and the Company swept the global awards for Best Rewards Program and Best Overall Benefits from FlyerTalk.com. Product and service initiatives such as Hertz Gold Choice, NeverLost®, and unique cars and SUVs offered through the Company's Adrenaline, Prestige and Green Traveler Collections, also set Hertz apart from the competition. Additionally, Hertz owns the vehicle leasing and fleet management leader Donlen Corporation and operates the Hertz On Demand car sharing business. The Company also owns a leading North American equipment rental business, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, which includes Hertz Entertainment Services.

To make car rental reservations or for more information, customers can call Hertz toll-free at 1-800-654-3131. Information and reservations are also available online at www.hertz.com.

SOURCE The Hertz Corporation