2 Questions

Anyone use Alamo, on the island, for car rental? Please share your experience. Is Orange Fever open yet?

It’s been a few years, but we used National (same company and location) and our experience was fine.

They are the same company in the US but they may or may not be the same on the island.

Orange Fever is open. Chairs ($5), drinks, and his sign says they have a restroom.

Thanks for your input but since both signs are on the same very small building I suspect they are in fact the same company on the island.

It may well be but some businesses on the island "borrow" names from US companies and have no actual affiliation.

I understand that but it is not the case with National/Alamo. The SXM business is appropriately licensed by the US business.

WOW, Orange Fever is open and there is a bathroom? Now that's progress!!!! Going there soon!!!!

To my knowledge, Orange Fever is NOT serving food though..

Yes. No mention of food on their sign.

Are their chairs padded?

may not be quite the same scenario, but we rented a car from Dollar for the last couple of days of our trip in january, the reservation was made on Dollar’s official site, and when i picked up car the amount shown on rental forms was what we had reserved for....a couple days later when i dropped car off on way to airport, the rental office was a madhouse, but the agent checked the mileage, inspected the car, took my keys, and said i was good to go...a couple of days later i noticed the amount charged to my card was like $20 more than i expected

the first odd thing i noticed was when i went to my account on Dollar’s website, i couldn’t pull up a copy of my receipt...said rental could not be found...so i called Dollar’s 800 number, and was told the rental still showed as “open” in their system, and they were surprised that i had already been charged for the rental...after further looking into it, the agent realized that the SXM location was licensed to use the Dollar name, but was not officially part of their system, so she couldn’t provide me a copy of the receipt or explain why i was charged $20 more than i expected....said i had to contact SXM office directly for answers

so, just be aware that being “licensed” by the US company doesn’t always guarantee a smooth process

Island thanks for that info. It helps a lot when choosing a rental company. We had many problems over the years with "name brand" companies on island not affiliated with US.

That's why we started renting from Kennys Car Rental. Leslie is the best, honest person we've met on SXM.

No. Not that I saw. Orange mesh chairs with a built in sun visor.

Thanks. That sun visor could be nice.

No food, no problem. But more important ... what about beer? Is there some type of bar set up?

As mentioned on this site in the past, use of a brand name for car rental may carry little weight if a problem arises. A very long time ago we learned this when we rented from Hertz in SXM and were overcharged. When I contacted the Hertz Customer Service folks when we got home I was informed that SXM Hertz was not part of Hertz USA. They accommodated us as a "good will" action but explained that they were not legally responsible for Hertz in SXM. All's well that ends well but a lesson learned.

With regard to beverages at Orange Fever- yes. The sign indicates that beer and mixed drinks are available. I'll take a picture of the sign next time we're there. We tried to go today, but the weather sent us back home to Simpson Bay Beach Resort. Lunch at Juliette's and now poolside for a snooze.