Public transport or parking at the airport

Your are going to catch a plane and you don´t know what kind of transport to use to get to the airport? what is better? use public transport or use your own car and parking it at the airport?
Many times when we travel we have to catch a plane and get to the airport. For many of us it is just for pleasure, for others because we have to go out on a short business trip or because we have to go for a long period to work abroad.

If it is not to far away and the plane ticket compensates, or we are in a short time and have to assist to a very important business meeting, we will surely take a plane. Similarly if we are taking a plane for a longer distance, we will have to get to the airport and possibly we will be loaded with a lot of luggage.

What alternatives are there to get to the airport?We might doubt of how to get there. We will have three alternatives.

The first and the most practical one is to ask a friend to bring and take us to the aiport. This alternative s not always the most indicated, because beside that we pay the fuel twice, we will also have a commitment with him/her or in some cases pay him/her as well. Not only that, but depending of our departure/arrival time we might have to ask someone for a big favour.

The second alternative is to take a taxi or public transport, one for when we depart and one for when we arrive.

The third one would be driving with our own vehicle to the airport and parking it there until our return, pick it up and go back home.

It seems like that the second option is the best one, but is it really?If we live in Benidorm for example and our flight departs from Valencia, taking a taxi from and too Valencia would cost us about 324€. Taking into consideration that we are maximum with 3 people.

On the other hand if we decide to take pulic transport, we will have to leave home much earlier. We have to take into consideration that there are not always direct buses from and to the airport. This means that beside of taking the bus we will also have to take a taxi, al local town bus or the subway to get to the airport. I we assume that we are with three people the price can rise up to 140€ if we go off from Benidorm to Valencia.

Than the most advisable thing to do is go with our own car?
Yes, there are several advantages by using our own vehicle. The first one is that you do not depend of any public transport time schedule and that you can leave home whenever you decide.
You load up your luggage, drive carefully to the airport having a rest whenever you want. Contract a service of parking at Valencia airport is the best solution.

This looks fine for me, but, where can I park my car once I get there?
A low cost parking company is the prefect solution. Once you arrive to the parking facilities, the staff of the company will tell you where you can park your car. Your car will be guarded 24 hours a day with video cameras and by cualified personnel. Beside this, they also will take us to the airport and will be waiting for us on our return.

At the same time, because it is a low cost parking it is much cheaper than parking your vehicle in the same airport parking area. For example, hiring a service of car parking in Alicante Airport may cost you aproximatly 25 euros a week. By the other hand, hiring for the same period a service of parking in valencia Airport may cost you 28€ aproximatly.

If we add on top of this rate the fuel expenses we will notice that we are saving quiet a lot of money, beside og gaining time and travelling more comfortable.

And you? what kind of transport do you prefer when you go on travel and have to go to the airport to catch your plane?

Victoria  Parking
Parking Alicante Airport
www.victoria-parking.com

From 2015 all sold cars in Europe will have the e-call.

The new regulation of the EU establishes that from the year 2015 all cars that are sold in Europe will have tp have incorporated the e-call system. The objective mainly is to increase traffic safty and reduce the time it takes for the emergency services in come to rescue where there has been an accident.


But, what is e-call?
The e-call system is a system that works through a telephone card which will be incorporated in our vehicle. In case of accident, when the vehicles airbags go off, automatically there will be send a signal to the emergency services. This will in connection with the police, fire brigade and ambulance.

What advatages does it has?

These calls will function through GPS system, which in case it activates, the receptor centre will know at all times our position. We will not have to make any call and have to try to explain to the operator where exacly we are.

Let us imagine that we are a tourist who has contract a service of car hire in Murcia and has an accident. Due that we are not in are own country we do not know how to contact with the emergency services neither know how to explain where exacly we are. The e-call system will do it all for you.

One of it main advantages that it has is that in the event of a serious accident, where the occupants can not call or move, the system would do it for us.

When will cars have this installed?
There are currently several manufactures that already have them installed in some of its car models. Given that from the year 2015 it will be mandatory for all sold cars in Europe, we will see more oftenly cars having this installed before 2015. Many manufactures will use it to make sure it works properly or as a business strategy.

And you? Are you agree with the implantation of this sytem in your vehicle?



VictoriaCars
Car hire Alicante Airport
http://www.victoriacars.com/

A shortage of rental cars in Easter Week is expected

A shortage of rental cars for the Easter holidays is expected again as a consequence of important companies's closedown of the sector because of the crisis.

Days pass fast, and by leaps and bounds approach one more year the first holidays of this year 2012, the Easter Halidays Week, beginning this year on Thursday the 5th of April. Because this is a very short vacation, a lot of visitors, most of them foreign people, prefer to come by plane or train and once arrived in destination, would like to rent a car.


Up to date we could see really low prices for car hire. As a tradition, many of the foreign customers have reserved their cars with a few months in advance, in order to be sure that will have a confirmed reservation and at the same time to get the best prices available. For example until only 2 weeks ago we could book a car hire at Alicante airport for less than 100 euros per week.

However, as dates are closer to the Easter Week prices begin to increase. For example now we can hire a car in Murcia from 130 euros and everything points that prices will increase as Easter holidays aproches.
But why do the prices increase?
As we already know the big majority of car hire companies renew the cars of the fleet constantly and as soon as the low season arrives they sell most of the vehicles, keeping the right number of cars for the winter season.
This year the economic situation is very dificult and finding finansation it is now a real challange for most of the companies. Beeing in this situation the companies can not renovate their fleet of vehicles. This way the big majority of car hire companies will have to resign with buying a lot less vehicles that the normally acquire buy this time.

As well is very important to point that important companies of the sector have suspended its activity as a consequence of the financial crisis in which Spain is immersed.

Conclusively, there are less car hire companies and the ones that support the pressure will a minor availability of cars for hire. This situation involves a shortage of fleet in curcial seasons like Easter Week and summer, besides a predictable rise of prices by this time.

How does this affects the travelers?
When the number of vehicles is very low, the companies have no other choice but to increase prices and many times the ones that makes last minute reservations will have to pay very high prices. This is all the way round than in a normal situation, when the last minute bookings haves special discounts.

The ones that have decided to rent their car until today, can say that they have paid a really low price for the Easter holidays. The ones that want to rent a car, it will be advisable to make theis booking now, and so will be sure they will pay a moderate price and at the same time being sure that they will have a car hire for those dates.

What about you? Are you going to risk and not hire a car until the last moment?

The Fallas of Valencia are up to begin!

From the 9th to the 19th of March is when they delebrate the famous Fallas of Valencia. The Levantine capital will be invaded by thousands of visitors searching for the smell of gunpowder, the impressive monuments, the music and the  festivities around the streets during these days.

Once again, Valencia´s streets are filled with happyness, entertainment, concerts and people looking for fun.

We´re talking about the Fallas of Valencia.

Huge cardboard monuments are erected in the middle of the streets anywhere around the city and its towns. Each year with more daring designs, always trying to satirize all kinds of topics related to politics, famous artists...

The Fallas, also known as the "Fiestas Josefinas" are held in honor of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the carpenters. These festivities were born as a result of burning old stuff as a way of celebrating the end of the winter season and entrance of the spring season. In Valencia, the fallera capital, they last for about 1 month and they are a genuine show of color, smell of gunpowder and noise by the millions of firecrackers which are explode at all hours.

This year, despite of a budget reduction, the celebrations haven´t lowered down their level and do keep attrackting tourist from all over the world. There will be held variuos activities and music bands to entertain all visitors along the city.

This year their will be performances of many soloists and groups such as Colti, Celtas Cortos, Ariel Rot, etc. Apart from them, many other lesser-known groups will be performing as well with their own songs and with wordlwides greatest hits to encourage the atmosphere.

Of course during these days we also will be enojying of the typical Fallera music. The more than 300 bands will start touring around the streets every morning at 8 o´clock waking up everyone, forming a true spectacle all over the city.

All the Fallas are part of a competition. On the 18th of March is when a specially elected jury will decide which Falla is the best of all. Not only the Fallas will get rewarded, there will also be a reward for the best Ninot of the normal Fallas and for the infants one, which saves itself to be burned on the 19th.

During the las three days of this festivity, are taking place the Flowers offering to the Virgin. Thousands of Faller@s from all the districts give honor to The Virgin with a bouquet of flowers, and bunch to bunch they make an intense colourful mantle at the monument.

The last day of the Fallas is when they celebrate the well known Nit del Foc. Its when they celebrate the greatest pyrotechnical spectacle of Valencia. This year they expect over than 600.000 visitors to join this event. Just when finishing is when they burn all the statues, a whole year work. Many of its visitors cannot hold back their tears.

This is the moment when they start again working for the Fallas of the next year.

All the information about the Fallas for its visitors can be found at http://www.fallasfromvalencia.com/

Which is the best way to go to the Fallas?
To come and visit Valencia during these days, if you travell by plane to the capital of the Comunidad Valenciana, the best thing to do is hiring a service of car hire in Valencia to be able to move around comfortably to all the strategic points of the city during these days.

If you prefer to spend a journey through the different towns where they celebrate this festivity, its advisable to travel by plane up to Alicante Airport and hire a service of car hire in Alicante. Many villages between Alicante and Valencia are also celebrating these festivities, particularly Denia, Oliva, Gandia, Sueca...

Where about are you going to celebrate this festivity?

In a few days... Pego's famous carnival starts again.

For one more year, Pego's well known carnival will start again on the 18th of February.

Why are Pego's carnivals so famous?
In less than a week, the streets of the main cities will become flooded again of all kinds of coloured costumes, parades, and party. During these days everyone around the world will forget about its problems and will enjoy of a happy day. We are talking about the festiviy of the Carnivals 2012.
Stores are ready for this event. For quite a while, many store windows are showing their best and most original costumes.

The village of Pego is one of the most best-known organizers of this event. People from all over the world and from all kind of ages are comming to its event to enjoy from their special nights.

A week where the town leaves the day-to-day routine by side, magic nights, where inhabitants and visitors mingle among, disguise themselves up in the most unimaginable thing.

For many years the population has even arrived to quintuplicate, getting to have in one night more from 30,000 people walking up and down the streets.

It all starts a few weeks before the Carnival takes place. Now is when concerts are getting organized and where the tents will get set up.

Local officers are getting ready to guide the thousands of cars that will come over and lead them to the different parking lots that are specially prepared at the village entrance.

Many groups of young people are planing what to wear during the night. It is very usual to see all kinds of groups on the streets, dressed for example like princesses, queens, in pajamas… The more shameless persons between the boys will dress as ballerinas, wearing heels and makeup or even wearing animal costumes such like cows, bulls or any other kind that they can think about.

A great variety of music bands will offer concerts during these days, some of them with their own music and other ones singing songs from the most popular artists... the good thing is that the organizers has managed every year to cover up practically all types of music. This way, anybody that thinks about going to this festival can enjoy this way of their favourite music songs.

What is the schedule during the main day of the Carnival?
It will start at 11 o´clock in the morning with an infantile parade, that will depart from the Market square up to the Fount square, with all kind of infantile games and music.

At 5 o´clock in the afternoon is when the party begins for the adults ones, with a night parade and with a batucada that will be animating the festivity all afternoon.

From 10 o´clock in the evening until 1 o´clock, people will be able to enjoy from a dance band at the Fount square and at 1,30 the Carnival parade will start, starting from the Passeig Cervantes and will go up to the Market square, were thousands of disguised people will participate in order to win the reward for the best fancy dress.

The Carnival will finish at around 6 o´clock in the morning at the Market square, where there will be 2 music bands animating the atmosphere.

An very well organized event where everybody can have a good time and an unforgettable day, with lots of music, party and fun.

Traveling to Alicante in Carnivals.
VictoriaCars is a well known company by offering car hire services at the airport, confirming it with its service of car hire in Alicante or any other important airports, like car hire in Valencia or car hire in Murcia airport…

So, to enjoy the carnivals festiviy anywhere around the costa blanca area, nothing better than hiring a rental car service, bu hiring a car makes it also easier to move through the city.

If you travel by plane from any another Spanish city, the best thing to do is to leave your carparked in a private parking space near the airport. This way, on your return, the only thing you need to do is to pick up your car and you can drive home straight away, without having to wait for anyone who is picking you up, or paying for taxis, etc.

Victoria also offers parking in Alicante airport and Valencia airport.

What about you? do you already know what fancy dress you are going to wear?

Hiriko, Spanish electric car which will conquer Europe.

Hiriko, the Spanish 100% electric car, has great potential for conquering Europe.

The past 24th of January 2011 was the official presenting day of Hirico. José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, has given the approval to this Spanish project.

But, what is Hiriko?

The project was born beginning 2010 together with the MIT collaboration (Massachussets Institute of Technology), but is completely developed in Spain, Vitoria city, that in addition has been elected as the Green capital.

It´s about a car that is 100% electric and electronic.
Features:

• It is a very small citycar 
• It will be catalogued as a Cyclops, so it will not be necessary to have a driver´s license, except a valid autocycle license according to each country.
• It will reach a maximum speed of 80km/hour on main roads and 50km/hour in the city.
• A car that once it is parked it will reduce almost in half its size.
• The car will cost 12.500 Euros.

What benefits will this vehicle have?

Primary it is an electric vehicle, which means that it does not emit any CO2. As we know, many big cities are prohibiting the entry to its centre to vehicles that emit CO2, problem that Hirico won´t have.

   

Given that the vehicle will know at all times exacly where it is, it will apply the limiting road speed according the road where is driving on. It will reach 50km/hour in just 3 seconds and it has a range of 120 km with only a 30 minutes charge.

Where and when will we see it?

It´s planned that Hiriko will come on the market by 2013, main customers will be the public administrations. Due that it won´t have limited access to certain areas and neither pay toll to enter certain areas, like London for example, it will wake up a great interest in companies who are operating in these cities. This will improve employees mobility in case they need it.

It is likely that soon car rental companies will also take advantage of this technology. VictoriaCars is considiring the possibility to add some of these models in their car fleet for car hire Alicante and this way study the viability of this technology in the car rental sector. We will notice it by it car fleet and probably it will be advertised as rental per hour, like the company Autolib does in Paris.

VictoriaCars

Car hire Murcia

http://www.victoriacars.com/

www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar

New parking facilities fort long and short stayment periods at the airport of Murcia.

Victoria Parking will open soon its parking at Murcia airport San Javier.

The San Javier airport of Murcia is each time attracting more air traffic from different parts of Europe. Currently it has become one of the preffered low-cost airports by many airline companies.
Many of its regularly visitors are people that live in Northern European countries and that come constantly around. Tourists are atracted by its long sandy beaches, la Manga del Mar Menor and its many golf courses that have kept on being built on the course of the years.

Part of the visitors have decided to purchase for a second residence in the area to spend their holidays or longer season periods for those who have more free time.

Some of them have even bought a vehicle in Spain to make their travel around the area easier and more practical. On their return to their countries of origin, or either when the inhabitants of the area decide to go on holidays, they have to park their car at the airport of Murcia.

Victoria Parking has decided to anticipate this increasing demand and open a new parking in 
Murcia, San Javier airport."Just like at our other parking facilities that we have in different Spanish airports we will offer a wide range of services to our customers. We will have a big area with many car parking places, monitored 24 hours a day" declares Teresa Martinez, VictoriaCars´s Communication Manager.

"The service will be very simple. The customer will arrive with ist car to the parking facilities and we will take the customer to the airport with one of the companies courtesy vehicles. By giving us the return flight number, we will be waiting for the customer at the exit terminal and bing him back to collect his car. We will also offer a special car cleaning service and covers to protect the car in case the customers requests for it"

"Our goal is to offer the customer a perfect service and for a much more affordable price than parking at the airport" -she says.

Victoria Parking belongs to the company group VictoriaCars. It has a wide experience in the privat car parking sector at the major airports. It has its facilities at the airports of Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante, and also in Calpe where its main offices are.

Tips for parking your car at Valencia airport.

How to solve the problem about where to park your car if you are planning to travel by plane from Valencia airport.

Valencia airport, not so long ago, has carried out a major renovation and expansion of its facilities. Nowadays it is becoming a very important airport, increasing its air traffic for both national and international public.


Going on holiday by plane, for a weekend or simply go out on a business trip, the easiest and most practical way to get to the airport is by taking your own car. This ensures you to get on time to check in and also you don´t depend of the public transport and its timetable.

But first and foremost, there always comes up to your mind where to leave your car during our time out.
What options do we have about parking the car at Valencia airport?
First option is parking your car in the neighbourhood of the airport. In this case you can park in any of the industrial zones that are near to the airport. You have to be aware that there is no public transport to go from there to the airport, but you can take a taxi or go walking.

What disadvantages does it has?
Having your car parked on the street in an area with much traffic activity, you never know what might happen. It might happen that they rob your car, damage it or scratch, etc. On the other hand, taking a taxi to the airport and back to your car on your way back might cost you even more than parking your car in a private parking area.

And the option about returning by foot to your car from the airport we can discard it directly, because everyone of us who travells always take with them some luggage that might weight considerably.

So....shall I park my car than at the airport parking?
Another option is parking your car directly at the parking of the airport.

One of the things to keep in mind of parking there is that our car will also be parked in a free access area. We must be aware that these parking areas are very busy areas, cars are parking there constantly, driving in and out all day, with the risk that they possibly scratch or even damage our car.

Also, you have to be aware that the price for parking there is quiet expensive. In many cases the parking at the airport of Valencia might cost you even more than what your flight ticket costs.

Regarding these options the best way to get to the airport is not driving your car, right?
No, there is a third option which is hiring a parking place through a private company near the airport.

Generally these companies offer parking in Valencia airport at a very affordable price and with delivery/collection service to the airport, which usually free of charge.

You also have to bear in mind that yo be able to leav your car parked with one of these companies, you previously must have received a confirmed your reservation. On the same confirmation voucher there will be indicated where too you have to go with your vehicle and also detailed instructions of it.

Once you get there, an employee of the company will guide you to the place where you will have to park your car and afterwards with one of the companys courtesy vehicles he will take you to the airport departure terminal.

By giving them our arrival flight number, the company will also be waiting for us at the arrival terminal with its courtesy vehicle and take us back to our car, it doesn´t matter with how many peoply we arrive and luggage bags that we have with us,

In case you want them to give your car a more special treatment, you have the possibility to hire several extras for a minimal cost, such as hiring an indoor parking place, full cleaning, etc.

And you, have you ever tried a parking place with one of these features?

Where to park your car when you travel from Alicante airport?

When we go on holidays by air plane we always have the inconvenience that we don´t know where to leave our car during the period that we are out, because we normally use the car only to get to the airport and to go back home.

 

Always when we have to travel we have the same inconvenience. We arrive at the airport by car and we don´t know where to leave it.

  

In many of the Spanish airports, near their terminals, we can find industrial areas or a nearby town where we can park and leave our car. In these cases we can easely find a parking place in the street and leave it there until we return from our holiday. But near the Alicante airpoort we do not have this option, there is no nearby town or industrial area, so our options are greatly reduced.

 

The most common option is parking your vehicle on the airport´s public parking. The main advantage of this is that you can park your car for sure and you can go directly to the gate.

  

But, what inconveniences does it has?
Among its major drawbacks the fact is that this parking area is not completely closed and private and of course the price, which is quite high.

 

What problem does this parking has for not being a private area?
At Alicante airport parking, thousands of people are walking dayly through it, and likewise, hundreds of cars are parking at its facilities.

 

Most of these stayings are for less than one hour. Small damages to your car should be also taken into considerations because of the high number of cars that parks in the area. Beside, if the driver who ran into our car doesn´t leave any message or note, it will be very dificult to find out who did it, since the parking area is not monitored.

 

What about the airport parking price, is it a reasonable price
Another aspect to consider is the high price that they charge you. Parking at Alicante airport costs 18,30€/day and if we leave our car for longer than 5 days the dayly price reduces to 14,65€. Quit expensive.

 

Another option is to hire a parking place with any of the many companies specialized in offering this service.

 

These companies are in the vicinity of the airport. They tend to have very spacious plots devoted exclusively for short and long parking stayments

 

I am a user of a short or long period stayment?
Short stayments users are normally customers who must travel by plane from Alicante airport and only dispose about their own vehicle to get to the airport. That´s why they have to leave parked their car for a few days until they come back from their trip and be able to collect it at the airport when they return.

 

Long stayments users are normally customers who spend long periods of time in their country of origin as well as here in Spain, that´s why they prefer having their vehicle parked safely near the airport. It is also the perfect place to leave for example your caravan, trucks or buses which are not going to be used for a long period of time, without involving to a great expense for the owner.

 

Is it cheaper than parking at the airport?
Of course it is. For example parking your car near Alicante airport for one week can cost you meaby 25€ or a long period stayment for one year may cost you about 320€.

 

What services should a parking company include at the airport?

• Because of being located at some distance from the airport, we must pay attention when making the booking and make sure that the transport from and too the airport is included in the price. There are many companies who don´t inlcude this service in there rental parking price and offer it as an additional price.
• By leaving our flight number we will ensure that there will be a courtesy car from the company waiting for us to take us from and too the airport. This way our effor will be minimal and the displacement to the Terminal on foot will even be less than if we park our vehicle directly at the airport parking.
• Normally, the company does not move the customer´s vehicle, the customer is the one who parks the vehicle and take the keys with him. They do offer the service so that you can leave your keys there until you come back, in case there is a mishap and your car needs to be moved.
• The area is guarded 24 hours a day. It is not a busy parking area where hundreds of people or vehicles passes through every day.
• All vehicles entering the premises have a register, as well as they are guided up to his concerted parking place.
• Some companies do also offer free car cleaning service or for a very low cost, as well as car covers or closed enclosures to protect even more your vehicle at an additional price.

 

Can you think of any better idea where to leave your car when you go on holidays by plane?

Key tips for hiring the cheapest car

Always when holidays are approaching we start to organise the voyage. We book the hotel room or the apartment where we will stay, the plane tickets and in case we are not travelling in our own car, the best option is to rent a car at the destination where we travel to.

10 tips for renting a cheap car in Spain.

1. Choosing the most economical pick-up location
Obviously, depending on the selected destination, prices for the same rental car will vary. However in addition, within the same destination in many cases we can find different prices depending on the point of delivery. Generally the cheapest pick-up points are usually the airports.

2. Book in advance.
Car rental prices, and specially in Spain, increases as we move into summer dates.
During the summer months there is such an important increase in demand which makes that the rental car price rises at the same pace than this demand. Booking a car in advance will avoid us now to pay such high prices. And also we will avoid the risk of not getting any car.

3. Prepayment of your booking.
During the low season we can find that most car rental companies launch tenders for "prepayments". For example, if the car is booked for June and paid in March we are usually presented with a significant discount. Reason of this is that these companies concentrate their business during the summer months but need to keep having incomes during the winter months, which is obvious.

4. 7 days rental or more.
Trying to save money by renting a vehicle for less days than what you need, will only increasing the daily price. At most car rental companies daily prices are less as longer the booking period is.

5. Making a booking through a provider with its own base at the selected destination.
It is advisable that the chosen company where you are booking your car with has its own base at the selected destination. This way we ensure that the rental price has no additional charges as for example extra commissions to third parties, intermediaries, etc...

6. Consult accurately the price of the extras.
Many times we make a reservation through a website where the car rental price is much cheaper than the own suppliers one, disregarding of the extras we need. However, by collecting the vehicle we are surprised how the price of the extras increases our booking price. It is advisable not to make any booking until we have checked the exact price of all the extras that we are going to need.

7. Hiring a fully comprehensive insurance.
Yes, oddly enough, by the end it will be much cheaper and will give us less headaches if we do not hire this insurance. In the first place we avoid holding onto our credit card the amount of the excess, which is the deposit that they charge us in case something happens with the car.

The credit on your credit card is to enjoy your holidays not to have a certain amount blocked on it that you can not use.

Secondly, in case of any mishap with the vehicle, and depending on the rental company, we can have the surprise that the insurance that is included in the car rental price does not cover that particular damage.

8. Hiring a fully comprehensive insurance once collecting the car.
Many intermediary car rental companies are offering full risk insurances at their own web site, which you can hire at the same time of making your booking.

Afterwards we find out that such insurance does not cover the totality of what the full risk covers from the company where we collect the car, who is the owner of the vehicle.

Therefore it is advisable that you hire the full risk insurance at the time of picking up the vehicle, this way we ensure us the maximum coverage.

9. Returning the vehicle at the same pick-up location.
Although that the selected company has an office where you want to return the vehicle, in most cases they will charge us a certain amount by returning it at a different destination.

This is because the rental companies have a determined fleet of vehicles for each of their destinations, calculated in base of the needs. The specific cases where clients require to return the vehicle to a different destination often involves that afterwards the car rental company must return the vehicle to its origin, having to assume this way extra personnel costs, fuel, increases wear on the engine and so on...

10. Fidelity has its reward.
Searching for any offer at the car hire companies website that they might have for their customers. Check their social networks, often just by becoming a fan on Facebook apply us discounts which at times can be up to 30%. In addition to discounts, some companies offer different awards, sweepstakes or contests only available for their clients.


VictoriaCars
Car hire Madrid
http://www.victoriacars.com/
www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar

Victoria Parking will soon present its new web reservation site

Victoria Parking presents its new booking web site for parking service in the main spanish airports such as Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante.



Once we have decided where to spend our hollidays, we have our plane tickets and when almost everything is organized, there comes up one of the most important questions before leaving: "Once at the airport, where can I leave my car while I´m gone? will it be safe leaving it in a public parking area? Victoria Parking is the perfect answer to this question, with over 8 years since they opened for the first time in Alicante Airport, with its own private parking area next to the airport.

You park your car in a secure and always supervised area. But not only that, also our 24 hour a day transfer to and from the airport are included in the service.

After several years of providing this service of parking at the Alicante Airport - El Altet and due to a great success, the company decides to open new parking facilities. First, opening a new parking at Valencia Airport and Parking at Barcelona airport after only one year. Currently, bookings are made either by telephone or online with immediate confirmation.

To provide a better service to the customer, the company decides to release a new web site, making it much easier when browsing, booking and expanding the information on each destination. With the new web site they expect to increase the number of bookings and to increase the average of occupancy in less than 3 months.
"The number of parking places will soon be increased as they are now carrying out extension work at all airports" says Antonio Pons communications manager at Victoria Parking.

"Within our business strategy and according to our expansion plans, soon we will open new facilities at the airport of Madrid, offering the same personalized service", reafirms Antonio Pons

Victoria Parking belongs to VictoriaCars, car rental company with more than 25 years of experience, being a car rental supplier in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia and from their web site and through its partners anywhere over the world.

Visit our web site http://www.victoria-parking.com/ for more information about Parking at Alicante airport, Valencia and Barcelona.

VictoriaCars gives a positive report from their attendance at Fitur 2011.

Fitur 2011 has closed its doors for another year. This international tourism fair held in Madrid, has served as a bridge for VictoriaCars to get in touch with the major players in the car rental sector in Spain.

All agents attending this meeting; the celebration of the 31st edition of Fitur in Madrid, agree that it has been a resounding success. All factors involved in the tourism sector are pushing for a major comeback in the sector for the coming season in 2011.

Operators and representatives of the tourism industry, nationally and internationally, came together at this fair. The objectives; to network, negotiate and conduct business.

With these same goals came VictoriaCars to Fitur 2011, as a participant on the Costa Blanca Stand, in particular the Calpe City Council Stand. Attendance at this event has enabled them to present to the sector its new car hire in Barcelona and car hire in Madrid airport services, two of the destinations with the biggest boom in the market today.

Internet and the tourism industry

If something has been really evident in this edition of Fitur, it was the importance of the role that the Internet plays in the tourism sector. The social networking revolution has dominated this sector impressively.


Among the tourists who use the Internet to prepare their holidays in Spain, 96.1% used it to search for information about the destination, while 67.2% consulted the Internet to make their reservation on line (survey of tourist movements in Spain).

VictoriaCars; aware from the beginning of the changes in this regard, have already been underway with a major presence within social networks, with their Facebook account (http://www.facebook.com/victoriarentacar), Twitter (http://twitter.com/VictoriaCars), their journalistic contributions to blogs (http://alquiler-coches-victoriacars.blogspot.com/) and multimedia forays through Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/victoriacar) not to mention their participation in forums and social networks from the tourism industry, in its eagerness to bring the company closer to its customers.

How to book a hire car in Spain when you’re younger than 25 years old.

The vast majority of Car hire companies limit their services to only drivers who are older than 25 years of age. What are the motives behind this restriction?

You get to 18 years old and finally you can start to travel without the need to be accompanied by your parents.

You start to prepare what will be your first holiday as an adult; where to go, accommodation, how to get there and in most cases how to get around and get the most out of your stay once you get to your destination… but alas, the last part isn’t an option.

Being an adult does not imply that you have the experience and responsibility necessary for a car hire company to confide in your skills as a new driver, in fact, booking a car with most car hire companies is only available to those who are older than 24; but why is this restriction in place?

Is it legal to prohibit hiring a car to under 25’s?

According to the consumer associations, it is illegal for a company to not want to hire somebody a car due to the age of the driver, yet these hire car companies feel they need to have this restriction in place, why?

It’s very simple; the car hire companies are not directly responsible for this restriction. In the majority of cases it is the insurance companies that don’t offer cover for cars driven by under 25’s.

The same occurs when insuring your own vehicle, the age and experience of the driver are the basic factors that affect the cover of the insurance. Most insurance companies don’t want to run the risk of covering new drivers, even less when the car isn’t their own, and thus, not their responsibility.

So for these motives, the majority of services of car hire in Murcia, Madrid, Alicante etc. will not let you book if the drivers age is not over 24 years old.

Some companies offer the solution

Conscious of the problem imposed on an important area of their potential customers, some car hire companies have decided to offer an intermediate solution.

After arriving to an agreement with their insurance companies, they will now accept reservations for new drivers but only by contracting an additional insurance for under 25’s or for those who have had their driving licence less than 2 years.

VictoriaCars has assumed this initiative.

The national Spanish car hire company Victoria Cars has put into motion this new feature for their services of car hire in Madrid, Murcia, Alicante… with the aim of not leaving any customer without a hire car.

More information at http://www.victoriacars.com

VictoriaCars, pioneers in the launch of the OTA-XML technology for its car hire services in Alicante Airport, Murcia...

With this new system, the pursued objective by VictoriaCars is to speed up their car hire Alicante Airport, Murcia services when a reservation is made through an agency.

This technology enables the computer servers at Victoria Rent a Car and at the agency’s to communicate with out the need of any human interaction and always in real-time, eliminating any waiting times that would be caused if the reservations where made under human management.

What is the OTA-XML standard?

XML is a language used to distribute information and OTA is the standard of communication for booking tourism accommodation, allowing businesses to perform bookings through electronic transaction for hotels, airlines, car hire, loyalty marketing, etc. with other tourism businesses, automatically and unattended.

OTA is the standard for sharing information between reservation systems, and the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) association is the one who defines these standards.

It is a non-profit and self-financing organisation that includes large air lines, hotels, car hire companies, leisure providers, travel agents, GDS, technology providers and others that work to create and put into service e-business specifications for the entire tourism industry.

These specifications form a common language aimed at encouraging e-business system development to create new services that can better attend the demand and expectations of travellers and the travel industry.

How does this benefit the customer?

At present you can solicit, for example, services for a car hire Murcia from VictoriaCars website or also from the website of any of the agencies that collaborate with them.

If the reservation were to be made through VictoriaCars website, the communication between the website and the server would be done in real-time, so that immediately after making the reservation, the customer receives an e-mail confirmation.

However, if the booking was made through the website of one of the agencies, this would have been remitted to VictoriaCars manually for its validation, and the confirmation process on VictoriaCars part was also done manually. Due to this, the time it took to receive an answer confirming the reservation to the customer sometimes surpassed 12 hours, with the consequent discomfort that this put upon the customer.

With the implantation of the new OTA-XML technology the problem disappears completely. Thanks to this technology the computer servers at VictoriaCars and those of the agents are able to interact directly, without any human intervention.

Thus, when a customer solicits a booking through an agencies website for, for example, car hire Alicante Airport services, the computer servers will contact each other through XML in order to confirm the reservation in real-time.

For more information please visit http://www.victoriacars.com

The new blog of Victoria Rent a Car...Congratulations!

Car hire company, VictoriaCars, from Spain is offering this blog to everyone who is interested in our car hire service at Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia and Valencia airport as well as at further locations at Costa Blanca.

You are welcome to post everything what is worth knowing about your Spain holidays here. On the other side, we will try to update it constantly and to let you know about our current car hire offers in Spain.
For more information and our current car rental rates, please visit www.victoriacars.com.