"My experience of renting has always been just like you describe for National."
This is my experience with Hertz Gold as well and I suspect it is about the same with all rental car companies: if you are a member of their club, you can breeze right through and drive off the lot in about five minutes.
Except abroad ... I can only speak about European cities, but the Hertz locations have no idea what I am talking about when I talk about my name on the screen or just grabbing the car and driving out - they think I am a crazy person and they work for Hertz. Renting in Europe is the same (terrible) experience as walking up to a rental desk in the US as a non-member.
lol, I've never had such a good experience renting a car. I suppose because I've never really rented from an airport. They somehow almost always take at least 30-45 minutes. And don't get me started about enterprise.
My experience of renting has always been just like you describe for National. Walk to the lot, find my name on the screen, go the indicated row, pick any car from that row, get in, drive out.
I've been Hertz-loyal all this years precisely because the experience is so zero-effort.