Hertz President's Circle Maui and Kona disappointment

My fourth trip in four years to Hawaii and I lined up car rentals with Hertz at OGG and KOA. In the past, being a Hertz President's Circle member got me some nice upgrades. Upon arrival in Maui, I was met with a selection of a hand full of Nissan Altimas. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Fortunately, Chad was on duty this day and he walked me out to the upgraded choices area that, let me be clear, are not offered as an upgrade area for loyalty members and got me into a Jeep Rubicon. This is definitely a nice upgrade even if you are not a Jeep fan. Four days later, I arrived at the Big Island and was once again underwhelmed by the choices. While better than the initial selection at Maui (I hate Nissans due to their transmission failure issues), it was still composed of basic vehicles like Ford , Mazda and Kia mid-size SUVs plus some sedans like Chevy Malibus, etc. The nice upgrades were in another section ("Reserved") and included the always present (in Hawaii) Jeep Rubicons, Ford Expeditions, ETC. Essentially, I could not find a vehicle in the President's Circle lot that I would consider an upgrade over the the vehicle I selected at the time of booking.

Since Hertz requires a mid-size or better initial rental to gain access to the President's Circle selection, I noticed no effort to offer an upgrade for my top tier status. In fact, I suspect just the opposite as the upgraded selection was moved away from the President's Circle. Had there not been a line at the KOA location, I probably could have coerced an upgrade from the counter staff, but, out of laziness, I grabbed a KIA Sportage and got on my way.

I don't know if these are corporate owned or franchised locations, but I feel the status is not being fully recognized (except for Chad in Maui who was exceptional). I will still use Hertz, but I will not go out of my way to use them based on the expectation that I will get upgraded because of my status. My suggestion would be to prepare yourself for the possibility of having to stand in line to negotiate with the desk agents for your upgrade. The idea of possibly not being able to grab an upgrade right out of the President's Circle and drive off diminishes this perk. Let me be clear, in both cases, upgraded vehicles were available but were not put into the President's Circle section.