Safety Practices in Rental Cars & Ride Shares

How rental car agencies and ride share companies are keeping travelers safe.

Safety in the meetings experience equals safety across the entire travel journey. At ALHI, we understand that information is power.

For months, ALHI has been laser-focused on gathering best practices and insights from our industry partners, as well as several federal, state and local government organizations. Our goal: to share real data and trends from trusted sources in order to educate our clients, our members and the industry at large to ensure confidence about the path ahead.

The situation continues to be fluid, and ALHI is dedicated to providing updated information in a timely and expert-sourced manner. Here, we take a look at safety measures rental car agencies and ride share companies are taking to protect you in your final destination.

Rental Cars

In order to learn what safety measures car rental agencies are taking to keep their customers safe, we took a look at guidelines published by Enterprise Holdings, which includes Alamo, Enterprise and National rental car brands under its umbrella.

Every vehicle rented from Alamo, Enterprise and National carries the Complete Clean Pledge, which follows best practices recommended by leading health authorities to ensure safety for customers and employees. Customers will see Complete Clean Pledge notifications within their rented vehicles confirming they have been thoroughly cleaned.

The 20 high-touch points sanitized as part of Enterprise's Complete Clean Pledge include:

• Key / key fob
• Steering wheel
• Steering column
• Seat belts
• Center console
• Door interiors
• Door pockets
• Interior door handles
• Exterior door handles
• Seat pockets / seat surfaces
• Areas between seats & consoles
• Areas between seats & doorjambs
• Cupholders / compartments
• Instrument panel
• Accessory panel / touchscreen
• Rearview mirror / side mirrors
• Visors / visor mirrors
• Dashboard / vents
• Gear stick / gear shift
• Trunk release

Other safety precautions include social distancing protocols on shuttles, advanced check-in at Enterprise's neighborhood locations, "show your pass and go," and enhanced curbside and delivery options. Signage is located throughout rental locations and parking lots indicating the updated rental processes. Enterprise will continue to roll out updated processes and safety procedures for the continued wellbeing of its employees and customers.

Ride Sharing

Uber is delivering disinfectant sprays to drivers in highly-infected areas, and is distributing millions of ear-loop face masks to active drivers and delivery people around the world.

Lyft has ceased all international operations and is currently only operating in North America. Lyft is currently distributing cleaning supplies like hand sanitizer and face masks to their drivers.

In addition to requiring drivers and passengers to wear face masks or covers, Uber and Lyft ask its drivers and passengers to:

• Wash hands, before and after a ride.
• Cover your mouth and nose, and if you sneeze or cough, do so into your elbow or a tissue.
• Maintain distance; passengers should sit in the backseat to give themselves and drivers more space.
• If possible, roll down the windows to increase and improve ventilation.

Travel will look different for some time to come, but if we all do it safely and with intention, we can successfully get back to traveling and meeting together soon.

Additional resources: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Delos, Global Biorisk Advisory Council, National Restaurant Association, Steelcase Event Experiences, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of State (Travel.State.Gov), U.S. Food & Drug Administration and U.S. Travel Association.

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