If you look Budget up on Google and follow the map, it takes you to the wrong location. We walked around looking for it, and had to ask for directions multiple times. The Budget kiosk is located in the lower level of the Cascade Mall near the food court.
My husband called the 1-800 number and made a reservation to rent a car for the day. When we finally arrived, the young man couldn't find us in his system. Despite us showing him our email confirmation stating we had a car reservation for the day from this very location, we were told by the young man that he didn't have any cars.
Upon further questioning, we discovered that he actually had three cars, but all three were already reserved and waiting pick up at noon. Apparently those reservations held more weight than ours because they were made locally instead of through the national reservation line.
In the end, he was willing to strike a deal. He said if the clients didn't show up by noon, he would release their reservation and we could claim a car. We would have to pick up the car by 2pm because that is when he would close the kiosk. Unfortunately we got the call informing of us this too late. We had already walked several miles across town. We wouldn't make it back to the kiosk in time to get the car, even if we called a cab. In the end, we ended up calling the 1-800 number to cancel our reservation and spent the rest of the day on foot.
The young man at the kiosk was polite, but he definitely wasn't going to go out of his way to help us even though we had a reservation. Due to this and the fact that the national and local reservation system are not synced, I would be weary about booking with them for a car. You just might end up on foot. Thankfully Banff is a great walking town. read more
