The airport currently has nine car rental companies on-site. We can’t give one of them a competitive advantage over the other, and that’s really what they’re looking for.” “We have an obligation to treat similarly situated tenants the same. “They don’t view themselves as a rental car company, and they so far have refused to sign our agreement,” Andreasen said. Shane Andreasen, a director at the Salt Lake City airport, said his office has been trying since Avail’s beginnings to get it to sign a car rental operating agreement. The CEO added that the 14 other Avail-serviced airports - including Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles - are more open to innovation. “We’ve seen them in every market try to influence airport officials.” “We know these companies really well we know how aggressive they are,” Osborn said. He suspects the powerful car rental industry lobbied against Avail. Osborn said it’s no coincidence the airport shut down his business ahead of a peak travel period. Avail is a scam company that will leave you hanging last minute.”

“I had to go find other parking, and pay for it. “I just got an email saying that they are canceling our reservation, and that we cannot park with them,” one customer wrote in a May 23 Yelp review. And with the car-sharing company now offline in Utah, its customers are not happy. That trend, coupled with a vehicle shortage from the pandemic, made Avail one of the few affordable choices for a temporary set of wheels.

“A whole bunch of customers are scrambling at the last minute, and prices are just crazy right now.”ĭemand for travel is surging as people get vaccinated and destinations ease restrictions. “We had to make a lot of cancellations,” said Avail CEO Mike Osborn.

Rent a car in salt lake city airport