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The total incompetency of the Avis, Budget, Hertz agencies at the STT airport deserve a comment. During our visit from April 12 - 19 the near universal experience of 7 couples in our group at the Airport was that so called "reservations" for rental cars with these agencies was much more of a "may I rent one?" than a firm reservation. Typical waits for a car ranged from one half hour to an hour, and some were strongly urged to "wait til the next day" to get their car. On the other hand, firm to aggressive communication to the agents seemed to magically produce a vehicle when "none were available". Likewise, travellers familiar with the expedited return service in the States are in for a rude awakening in St. Thomas, especially if they are on a tight time schedule, because "returns" have to wait in the same line as "arrivals".
"Next time" we will go to the car rental line as soon as we get off the plane, and even before we get our baggage. We would probably call them direct in STT a day or two before just to remind them about our reservation.
For those who wish to rent a car on a daily basis in StJ make your reservation well in advance, if you can. We were unable to rent a car "the day before" on several occasions...although it might have made a difference if we physically walked to the StJ rental car places to see if they had any in stock.
Having said all the above, renting a car is the only way to travel on STT if you are staying for longer than a weekend. The roads are generally in excellent shape, with the only difference from "home" being the left side driving and lots of hills and few shoulders. Basically it was a pretty easy adjustment --- especially with a companion for a copilot for navigation.
JJH
Welcome to "island time".
Aside from the assimilation issue, how was your trip?
Hi Chris: I have previously described various aspects of our trip in prior posts and don't want to burn valuable e-bytes with a rehash- but short and sweet we had 47 people attend a wedding at STT and it was spectacular - STT is a wonderful island and compares very favorably with other Caribbean Islands we have visited over 20 years, it has great restaurants (Romano's & Roberts American Grille are 2 of the best) we had a wonderful time at Pavillions and Pools, while other guests really enjoyed Pt. Pleasant. We intend to return next year, and without the constraints associated with hosting a wedding we are looking forward to seeing more of STT as wellas STJ. Overall grade for STT was an "A".
JJH
Sorry to hear about the car rental troubles. We were there the same time as you (April 14-21..we stayed at Point Pleasant as well) but didn't rent a car. We just stuck with taxis and safari buses. Hope it all goes more smoothly next time for ya!
I have rented cars 2x a year for the last nine years. Budget and Avis I have rented one time each, all of the other rentals were with Hertz. I reserve on-line and have never had a problem with my reservations. I always take my confirmation copy with me, but have never been asked for it. This past February, I did arrive early and had to wait about a half hour while it was getting washed.
I always go straight to the counter while DH or friends wait for their luggage (I always do only carry-on).
I'm sorry you had a problem, but for the sake of others reading your post, I don't want them to think this is always the case.
Hey, I had to wait for an hour in Ft Laugerdale for a car (they have 20,000 I was told)and did not get the one I reserved online from Hertz. They were awful and I had to get the supervisor involved to get going. It happens everywhere!
RL
Yep. I had a firm reservation with Budget in Seattle, and they didn't have the car I had reserved available. Ended up renting from nearby Dollar instead.
I have always rented from Dependable Car Rental and never had any issues. They are very friendly and helpful.
On our trip last week, two of the girls in the group decided they wanted their own car for the week. They called Courtesy the second our plane landed at the STT airport, and the car was waiting for them when they got off the ferry at 5:20 on St. John. No wait at all, and it was totally last minute.
I think the biggest thing is just to set your mind to island time and not let the waits at restaurants, for taxis, for ferries, etc. worry you.
If I were staying on STT and wanted to day trip to STJ, I'd just take the car ferry, making sure that my rental car company was OK with that.
As said Rick Dependable is good. I think locals are the best. I know on St Croix you always get better service with Centerline, Judy's or Olympic. They come to the airport pick you up and are courtious too. Drop off is just that. Leave it in the parking lot at the airport. What could be better.
sometimes things happen. I go to St Thomas on a regular basis and used to rent from Thrifty and now rent from Avis. I've never had any problems with proper reservations. Avis usually has two employees at the counter, and yes sometimes you might have to wait in line, just like at any other airport. I travel all over the country on a regular basis and have seen a number of long lines anywhere, including NY, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit , Cleveland and etc.
One way around is to become a preferred member, than a car will be ready for you.
Having bad experience is annoying, but you cannot give out blanket advise to everyone based on one bad experience.
As I've mentioned, I've been renting cars at the airport for years now and it is not different from any other airport
I've waited a lot longer at other airports than I have at STT. I think it depends partly on the rental car company, how many people are working, how busy it is, etc. I guess I just don't care as much if I can smell the ocean breeze while I wait.
I think they all "overbook" as do the airlines. It's a $ thing in anticipation of cancellations. If they were to charge you card prior to the actual rental taking place, I think things would be different but not necessarily better. Seems that if you rent via Hotwire you end up at Hertz even though they won't tell you which company till after they charge your card. Non-refundable I might add.
That's good to know about Hotwire. I've rented from them a lot for other destinations but wouldn't on STT because I would need my car on St. John and with Hertz, that'd be a no-go.
However, when I've rented cars stateside from them, I've always gotten Avis.
