- Hertz introduced its Gold Squad, a group of golden retrievers, meant to comfort and decrease stress of travelers.
- The Gold Squad debuted last week at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
- As part of Hertz's future plans, the Gold Squad will make surprise visits to other airports, including Chicago, San Diego and Atlanta.
In order to help relieve travelers of some of the stress that comes with traveling, Hertz recently rolled out its Gold Squad, a team of around 20 golden retrievers.
The rental car company’s Gold Squad will be doing meet-and-greets for weary travelers at a number of airports this year, and maybe next year as well, per USA Today.
“We know the last leg of travel can be draining, so we’re bringing in the Hertz Gold Squad to change that and offer comfort, calm, and a few cuddles during peak travel times to select airports,” Kari Birdsall, Hertz vice president of operations excellence, said, per USA Today.
According to Scripps, the Gold Squad made its debut appearance on Aug. 18 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Moving forward, the canine crew will make surprise visits at other locations such as Chicago, San Diego and Atlanta.
The purpose of the Gold Squad
The Gold Squad, named after Hertz’s gold-and-black logo, will not only help bring joy to travelers but the dogs will also help Hertz employees promote enrollment in the company’s Hertz Gold Plus Rewards loyalty program.
“That program allows members to make car rentals faster, get exclusive rates when booking on Hertz.com or the Hertz app, skip the counter at select locations, earn points redeemable for free rental days and more,” per USA Today.
“This is the Gold Squad and we want to make people feel golden,” Lauren Luster, Hertz spokesperson, said, according to USA Today. “You can join Gold Plus Rewards and skip the counter in your future trips, that makes you feel golden.”
According to USA Today, the company got the idea to bring dogs to airports earlier this summer. All the dogs in the Gold Squad come from local service dog organizations and are expertly trained for a variety of purposes.
“It’s as simple as we wanted to ease the travel experience, especially during peak travel,” Luster said, per USA Today.
The Gold Squad’s debut run in Texas was purposefully done on a Monday, when the airport would be busy, and the dogs were active from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day.
Luster also said that people who are allergic to dogs don’t need to worry, because the dogs are kept in open spaces in the airport’s rental car areas and travelers can choose to engage or not, per USA Today. The dogs will also all be accompanied by a trained handler.
The Gold Squad events will also include giveaways featuring stress balls, snacks, water, phone chargers and other items.
Relieving travel stress
This new marketing campaign from Hertz comes as travel stress is peaking, according to Scripps.
A recent study from YouGov showed that 70% of Americans say booking a vacation is stressful, with added frustrations coming from flight delays and navigating airport logistics.
Travel stress is also expected to increase over Labor Day weekend. Last year, over 17 million travelers were recorded over the holiday weekend and millions are expected to fly for Labor Day this year, per Scripps.
Meet the Gold Squad
On its website, Hertz posted introductions of a few of the dogs who were involved in the Gold Squad’s Texas debut.
One of these dogs was Sammy, who, according to Hertz, loves swimming, sitting pretty and “the fact that with members-only rates, her owner spends less on rental cars and more on treats.”
There is also Duke, who enjoys chasing tennis balls and exploring new sidewalk smells. Mulligan, another one of the dogs, loves peanut butter and long walks.
The last of the dogs introduced on Hertz’s website is Belle, a “very good girl” who “loves helping people navigate stressful travel situations, her duck stuffie, and a biiiiiiiiig stretch inside an SUV upgrade.”