National expands its innovative key locker system

Following a successful trial at Stansted Airport, National Car Rental has launched key Lockers at Birmingham and Luton airports. Key lockers enable business travellers to bypass the counter, gain secure access to the car keys and rental agreement and get on with their journey, quickly and easily.

Lorraine Farnon, divisional vice president and UK sales director, says, “The response to our first key locker facility at Stansted has been fantastic. We have therefore been keen to roll out the initiative to further locations to enable more customers to benefit from a swift rental experience.”

Customers wishing to use the key lockers simply make their reservation on carhirebooker.com or via National’s contact centre using a credit card or account facility. When they arrive at the airport they bypass the rental counter, go straight to the key locker and swipe their credit card to gain access to the car keys and rental agreement. Alternatively if they are paying on account they simply enter the pin number confirmed by SMS at the time of booking.

The lockers form part of National’s award winning Seamless Rental proposition, offering business travellers a streamlined, rental experience from reservation through to e-billing.

The first key locker facility at Stansted was piloted with BT – a customer of National’s for over 10 years. The development meant that BT customers arriving at the airport could go straight to the National parking facility rather than collecting the car keys and documents at the rental desk. There they simply swipe their credit card at the locker and the keys and rental agreement are automatically dispensed.

“Key lockers make the whole rental process so much quicker, smarter and more efficient,” Celia Gullen of BT Procurement comments. “The trial was a huge success, helping our drivers reduce the time spent queuing at the beginning and end of long journeys. National continues to deliver service innovations that really make a difference to customers by understanding BT’s changing needs.”

Lorraine Farnon adds, “Key lockers are part of a whole suite of online products and services designed to create a genuinely integrated and seamless rental solution.

“National continues to set the standard when it comes to developing innovative services that improve business and traveller efficiency and experience, while reducing business costs and, importantly, assist companies to meet their duty of care responsibilities.”