Hertz is a Finalist for Best Car Rental Company at the
2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and it brings the field its deepest heritage: more than a century after the company began renting Model Ts in Chicago, the yellow-and-black livery remains what much of the world pictures when it hears the words car hire. Longevity of that order is not sentiment — it is compounded operational knowledge, and the frequent business renter feels it in a dozen small mercies per trip.
Gold Plus Rewards is the heart of the proposition. The scheme that pioneered skip-the-counter rental still does it best at scale: profile stored, name on the board, keys in the car, gone — with President's Circle and Five Star tiers layering upgrades and choice for the heaviest travellers. The fleet strategy leans premium where it counts, from executive saloons for client-facing trips to the Adrenaline and prestige collections that turn necessary journeys into perks, while the Dollar and Thrifty stablemates cover sharper price points under separate flags. A century of process shows where renters feel it most — the return lane, where drop-and-go remains the fastest quarter-minute in the category.
The network maps onto business reality: major airport estates spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, strong UK coverage at the gateways and regions, and international profile consistency that keeps multi-country trips friction-light. Corporate programmes are among the industry's most established, with negotiated rates, billing integration and duty-of-care reporting refined over decades of blue-chip relationships. Electrification proceeds at commercial pace across the fleet, and the app has caught the modern standard: booking, modification and receipts without a phone call needed. Even the pitfalls of the trade get addressed head-on —
Travelling for Business has warned
what can go wrong with late-night car rentals, and Hertz's staffed desks, extended hours and loyalty-tier guarantees are precisely the insurance seasoned travellers buy against them.
The nomination recognises the original, still competing like a challenger: a hundred years of knowing that in rental, the product is the fifteen minutes around the car. Winners will be announced at the 2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and Hertz has been dressing for occasions since the Model T.
