Method and Apparatus for Improved Customer Profiling for Rental Vehicle Reservations

• US 20130046565A1
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Inventors: Fitzgerald, Neil, Belanger, Hugues, Boruff, Kelli, Tucker, Paul, Everson, Jeffrey Lee
• Application Number:
  US13/561,799
• Publication Number:
  US 20130046565A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a reservation booking website for rental vehicle reservations wherein the customer profiles include “favorite” or “preferred” branch locations for rental vehicle reservations to expedite the customers'"'"' rental vehicle reservation booking experiences.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a user'"'"'s ability to book a rental vehicle reservation with a reservation booking website, the reservation booking website being in communication with a user computer via a network, the method comprising:

a server storing a customer account in a database in association with a customer, the customer account comprising an identification of a preferred branch location for a rental vehicle reservation booked for the customer associated with that account.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the server receiving the preferred branch location identification as input from the user through a user-interactive page displayed on the user computer.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the server determining the preferred branch location identification automatically in response to other rental vehicle reservations booked for the customer associated with that account.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing step comprises the server storing identifications for a plurality of preferred branch locations in the customer account.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

the server accessing a stored customer account in response to input from the user through the user computer; and

the server providing a page for display on the user computer, the page including a menu that lists at least one of the stored preferred branch locations from the accessed customer account for selection by the user for a rental vehicle reservation.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the server accessing a stored customer account in response to input from the user through the user computer; and

the server automatically selecting for the rental vehicle reservation the preferred branch location stored in the accessed customer account.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the server receiving data from the user computer, the received data comprising a deep-link uniform resource locator (URL);

the server automatically identifying the customer account based on the deep-link URL;

the server retrieving the preferred branch location from the stored customer account;

the server automatically selecting the retrieved preferred branch location as a pickup location for a rental vehicle reservation transaction; and

the server automatically deep-linking the user computer to a website page for the rental vehicle reservation transaction, the deep-linked website page being configured to identify the retrieved preferred branch location as the pickup location for the rental vehicle reservation transaction.

8. An apparatus for facilitating a user'"'"'s ability to book a rental vehicle reservation with a reservation booking website, the reservation booking website being in communication with a user computer via a network, the apparatus comprising:

a server configured for access by a user computer via a network; and

a database;

wherein the server is configured to store a customer account in the database in association with a customer, the customer account comprising an identification of a preferred branch location for a rental vehicle reservation booked for the customer associated with that account.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the server is further configured to receive the preferred branch location identification as input from the user through a user-interactive page displayed on the user computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the server is further configured to automatically determine the preferred branch location identification in response to other rental vehicle reservations booked for the customer associated with that account.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the server is further configured to store identifications for a plurality of preferred branch locations in the customer account.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the server is further configured to (1) access a stored customer account in response to input from the user through the user computer, and (2) provide a page for display on the user computer, the page including a menu that lists at least one of the stored preferred branch locations from the accessed customer account for selection by the user for a rental vehicle reservation.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the server is further configured to (1) access a stored customer account in response to input from the user through the user computer, and (2) automatically select for the rental vehicle reservation the preferred branch location stored in the accessed customer account.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the server is further configured to:

receive data from the user computer, the received data comprising a deep-link uniform resource locator (URL);

automatically identify the customer account based on the deep-link URL;

retrieve the preferred branch location from the stored customer account;

automatically select the retrieved preferred branch location as a pickup location for a rental vehicle reservation transaction; and

automatically deep-link the user computer to a website page for the rental vehicle reservation transaction, the deep-linked website page being configured to identify the retrieved preferred branch location as the pickup location for the rental vehicle reservation transaction.

15. A method of facilitating a user'"'"'s booking of a rental vehicle reservation via a user computer that is in communication with the reservation booking computer system over a network, the method comprising:

providing a customer profile associated with a user for use by the user to expedite the user'"'"'s booking of a rental vehicle reservation with the reservation booking computer system, the customer profile comprising data representative of a favorite branch location for the user; and

accessing the customer profile following a request from the user to initiate a rental vehicle reservation booking process through the computer system;

in response to the accessing step, automatically selecting the favorite branch location as a pickup location for a rental vehicle reservation;

receiving data from the user computer for the rental vehicle reservation; and

creating the rental vehicle reservation in response to the received data, the created rental vehicle reservation having the favorite branch location as its pickup location; and

wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the customer profile further comprises a favorite vehicle type, the method further comprising the processor automatically selecting, in response to the accessing step, the favorite vehicle type from the customer profile as a vehicle type for the rental vehicle reservation, the created rental vehicle reservation further having the favorite vehicle type as its vehicle type.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

the processor communicating a graphical user interface (GUI) page to the user computer for display thereon, the GUI page configured to permit the user to administer the customer profile including defining the favorite branch location.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

the processor automatically populating the customer profile with the favorite branch location based on a rental history for the user.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the request comprises data corresponding to a selection of a deep-link uniform resource locator (URL), the method further comprising the processor automatically deep-linking the user computer to a website page for the rental vehicle reservation, the deep-linked website page being configured to identify the favorite branch location as the pickup location for the rental vehicle reservation transaction

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the processor comprises a server that hosts a rental vehicle reservation booking website.

21. An apparatus for facilitating a user'"'"'s booking of a rental vehicle reservation, the apparatus comprising:

a server accessible over a network to a user computer, the server being configured to (1) access a customer profile following a request from the user to initiate a rental vehicle reservation booking process through the computer system, the customer profile comprising data representative of a favorite branch location for the user, (2) in response to the access operation, automatically select the favorite branch location as a pickup location for a rental vehicle reservation, (3) receive data from the user computer for the rental vehicle reservation, and (4) create the rental vehicle reservation in response to the received data, the created rental vehicle reservation having the favorite branch location as its pickup location.