We’ve all been there. You finally arrive at your destination after a long flight, excited to start the vacation you’ve been anticipating for months. After you collect your bags at the airport, you make your way to the rental car counter, only to find a line stretching out the door of the building.
There are few worse feelings for a traveler than this, and most people are simply forced to deal with it and wait their turn, even though lines can last several hours in some cases.
However, there is a way to avoid all this dreaded waiting entirely — and that’s to have elite status with a rental car agency (or, even better, multiple companies). As part of the latest refresh on the American Express® Gold Card, Hertz Five Star® status is now an included perk on a mid-tier card.
At first, I didn’t read too much into this inclusion for the Amex Gold card, but as I thought it over, I realized it is a pretty neat perk, especially since its $325 annual fee (rates & fees) didn’t go up.
What Is Hertz Five Star Status?
Hertz has a loyalty program called Gold+ Rewards, with just 2 elite tiers: Five Star and President’s Circle. The Five Star level typically requires $1,000 in eligible spend or 3 Hertz rentals during the calendar year, and includes the following benefits:
- 1-class upgrade to a full-size vehicle, applicable at participating locations and subject to availability.
- 25% bonus Gold Plus Rewards points on all eligible rentals.
- Expedited pickup at more than 1,000 locations around the world.
- Choose a different vehicle on the spot at no extra charge with Hertz Ultimate Choice.
Now, Amex Gold cardmembers can enroll in complimentary Hertz Five Star status, which is especially nice given the issuer didn’t change the card’s annual fee.
Why I Enjoy Having Hertz Five Star Status
Despite not being a top-tier elite status, Hertz Five Star is well-designed to deliver practical, real-world benefits that provide genuine value in several ways.
The most valuable to me is access to expedited vehicle pickups. I pick up the vast majority of my car rentals at airport locations, and these can have incredibly long lines — especially at popular vacation destinations — and I run out of fingers before I’m finished counting the times I’ve had to wait in line for well over an hour to finally get my car.
However, the ability to go directly to the front of the line at participating Hertz locations changes the game entirely — it lets youstart your vacation sooner and with far less stress. There are few things that cause more travel stress than waiting in a long, barely-moving line after getting off a long flight and desperately wanting to get on with the last step of your journey.
Scoring access to a perk like this by way of a mid-tier travel rewards card is an incredibly valuable and somewhat rare perk, as car rental elite status is more commonly reserved for only the most premium travel rewards cards.
Next, better upgrade chances can take your vacation to the next level. Think of arriving in a place like Hawaii, where you’ve rented a standard mid-size SUV, for example. Having Hertz Five Star status makes you eligible to receive upgrades (and increases your chances of doing so when compared to those with no status).
Now imagine getting to the counter — without waiting in an hourslong line — and hearing you’ve been upgraded to a Jeep Wrangler. That can add real value to your vacation, as a car like that in a place like Hawaii really enhances the experience and makes it that much more memorable.
It may seem like a minor, maybe even inconsequential perk, but taking advantage of what Hertz Five Star has to offer can provide real-world benefits for an often-overlooked, often-annoying part of traveling.
Is the Amex Gold Card Worth It?
The Amex Gold card remains one of our top picks for an everyday travel rewards card, and it got a few perks without a higher annual fee. Beyond Hertz Five Star status, its earning potential got stronger with the enhanced 5x bonus category for prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ (iOS, Android), up from 2x points.
It also updated its dining partner portfolio for its annual dining credit, removing some of the less useful partners in favor of other options that are more ubiquitous and therefore easier to use.
In addition to those perks, here’s what you can expect with the Amex Gold card (enrollment is required for some benefits):
- Earn 4 points per $1 at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 per year, then 1x points) and at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year, then 1x points).
- Earn 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
- Receive up to $100 in Resy statement credits annually, split into 2 $50 credits per half of the year (enrollment required)
- Receive up to $7 in Dunkin’ statement credits each month, up to $84 annually (enrollment required)
- Receive up to $10 monthly (up to $120 annually) in Uber Cash that can be used for rides or food in the U.S. (just add your card to your Uber account and pay for the transaction with an Amex card).
Hot Tip: Apply and find out if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer as high as 100,000 points with the Amex Gold card. Welcome offers may vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Final Thoughts
If you have an Amex Gold card, it just got more valuable without an increase in its annual fee. Don’t forget to enroll in the benefit online so you can access your perks right away.
It may not grab the headlines like some of the other perks offered on the Amex Gold card, but the included Hertz Gold Plus Five Star status is actually a benefit packed with value. It can make a big difference when you rent a car by saving time and increasing your chances of scoring an upgrade.