This is true in places like Denver as well. It can get tough to get rental cars in the winter or in summer (spring and fall are better) because of vacationers going a number of hours from the airport. Uber/Lyft don’t really help with those trips. Generally I do Uber/Lyft in Denver because it’s more convenient if a bit more expensive.
I actually agreed with you in my comment above. I said aside from the sight-seeing vacation or roadtrip, I don't see the rental value.
But vacationers aren't the bread-and-butter of rental car companies, business travelers are, which make up 75%+ of revenues.
Many American cities also decentralized their business cores, and developed suburban office parks far flung from airports, the city, any infrastructure, or each other, but very convenient for the managers who live along the fairway at the nearby country club. For those cities, it's impossible to get a rideshare from the suburbs. Unless you are in a college town, drivers do not patrol there and you will be waiting for a car to come from downtown or the airport to pick you up and take you to your hotel. The rental rate might even work out ahead given how expensive rideshare gets over time and distance.
They have their place in vacation spots with poor pedestrian infrastructure, and middle ground cities with poor uber/lyft service. Rental cars might be done in boston and nyc, but still viable in Cleveland where getting a lyft from a suburban office campus could mean 30 minutes of waiting for the driver who grabbed your request all the way from downtown to show up.
Solid point. So many vacations require a rental car. Thinking of my last few vacations, ski trip to Colorado, Glacier National Park in Montana, Marco Island in Florida. None of those would be practical with ride sharing and even if they were it would be far less comfortable.
Re:Never Hertz to Ask
by rkuykendall-com on Monday June 15, 2020 @03:20PM
(#23531797)
You know what else is viable in remote, beautiful locations? Blockbuster. Doesn't mean you should bet on it sticking around as a major publicly-traded company.
Or any of the national parks that's far enough you can't drive your own car all the way from your home? After you finished your activities for the days and are ready to go back to your hotel, you might not even have phone signal to call Uber/Lyft in the national park.
I guess you and me just have very different definitions to "vacation".