Avis Splits Business, Leisure Car Rental Expenses

Avis Car Rental is making it easier for customers to separate business from leisure expenses when renting vehicles.

Reports in Auto Remarketing this week said Avis is updating its mobile app to add the Split My Bill function, a payment feature that allows travelers to split the cost of renting a car between two different cards to separate business from leisure expenses.

In response to the rise in so-called “bleisure” – in which professionals combine personal leisure trips with business trips – Avis is letting car renters choose to split their bill by total amount, by add-ons like SiriusXM Radio or by rental days. If a user upgrades their vehicle during the rental period, Avis can also separate charges between pre- and post-upgrade.

“With the introduction of Split My Bill, our business travelers can go beyond the corporate experience or trip to experience upgrades and additional services that travelers enjoy and want,” said Beth Gibson, Avis Budget Group vice president, ancillary revenue in a statement. “We recognize that many travelers use business trips as an opportunity to explore new cities solo or meet up with family in the area, and are thrilled to offer a feature that will help them make the reconciliation of travel expenses cleaner and easier.

“Our mobile app experience gives customers more personalization of their trip than any other brand,” she added.

In its announcement, Avis cited proprietary research that found 87 percent of business travelers are likely to combine business and leisure within the same trip, a trend that can complicate filing expense reports at the end of a trip. According to the company, professionals are also likely to upgrade their rental vehicle once the business portion of their trip is over and the personal leisure portion of their trip begins.

In an interview with PYMNTS last year, Boris Bogaert, COO of corporate travel and expense management company Rydoo, said the rise in bleisure has introduced disruptive changes to the T&E space.

“Technology and demographic changes are transforming business travel. Gen Y and Z will represent 70 percent of the workplace by 2025, and we can no longer ignore the way they are reshaping today’s workplace and its codes,” he said.