Commentary

Parking was stagnant before the Pandemic. Since then, the industry has emerged and is pursuing technology like never before.

A recent study of the parking industry focuses some on technology, but much more on customer behavior. Here is a summary of the conclusions from the study:

• Decline in Full Monthly Parkers: Hybrid working options have changed the number of workers who need Monthly parking: “This has resulted in the decline of consumers looking for monthly contract parking passes, and instead looking for parking packages that offer more flexibility at a cheaper rate.”
• Rise of Online and Prepaid Reservations: “offering online and prepaid parking plans is a necessity…data tracked between 2019 and 2022 shows that demand for prepaid parking passes has increased by nearly 60%.”
• Shift in Days of Demand: “Data analysis post-pandemic has revealed that the highest demand for parking occurs from Tuesday through Thursday, with a marked decrease on Monday and Friday. This corresponds with the rise of the hybrid work schedule and the decline of the standard in-person five-day work week. “
• The Growing Need for EV Infrastructure: “In 2021, the global market for EV chargers was valued at $7.01 billion, and by 2030, it’s expected to grow to $64.67 billion” Need we say more?
• Dynamic Pricing: “Dynamic pricing uses data analysis to vary the prices of goods and services based on market conditions, such as high demand for parking spaces at certain times.”

Can’t disagree with any of the above. However, a few were  missed that are very important to your business.

1. Touchless Parking: The Pandemic forever changed the way we think about interacting with machines and humans. The desire for “touchless’ did not go away with the retreat of Covid. It is stronger than ever because it is a better, faster, more convenient way to park.
2. Digital Transformation/Evolution: Most of these trends are enabled by technology advances in the parking Industry. And many operators are embracing technology change wholeheartedly. From scanners and Bluetooth to LPR and WayFinding Directionals, technology is making parking more convenient, faster, more accountable and has reduced the cost of PARCS hardware substantially.
3. The Parking Experience: Mobile App’s and new technology have streamlined the parking experience. Steve Townsend a noted English industry expert has said “As you approach a barrier [or even a non-gated entry] your number plate will be instantly read with ANPR and passed to the parking system. If you have pre-registered, the barrier will raise automatically with no need for a ticket. This makes parking simple and convenient, improving the customer experience and encouraging the customer to return with confidence.”
4. Data Is a Strategic Must-Have: Knowing who your customers are and how they behave has become vitally important to what products you offer, how you operate, what price to charge and how you market. Are you getting the data you need to do all of that? If not, you need different technology.

Check out how to increase revenue by retaining paid fees when issuing refunds in the Genius Tips section!

Please reach out for any questions or parking needs:

David Sparks, Chief Marketing Officer | Email: dsparks@spacegenius.com | Phone: 813-556-6691

Genius Tips

How to Customize Refunds to Cut Expense

Do you have a reservation fee that you don’t want to refund on a cancellation?

Parking operators often see mandatory fees that will cost them, if refunded on a reservation cancellation. For example, there may be mandatory city, state or port fees on the parking business that you do. Refunding these types of fees back to your customer creates a loss to your own business. That is why we provide the option to make any fee a non-refundable fee.

Steps to Customize Refunds

Customizing refunds is a very easy process to put into place. When in place, it is clearly communicated to your customer as non-refundable, when it displays in the price summary detail as “non-refundable fee” during the purchase path.

To customize any fee as non-refundable, simply follow these steps:

1. Log into your Admin portal.
2. Using the left Navigation menu, set the filter to a specific Location.
3. Once the filter has been selected the Options tab will highlight in the left navigation menu.
4. Select Options to load the Additional Options page.
5. Click the ADD button in the top right of the page.
6. The New Additional Option page will load and from here you will select which Channels you want the fee to be applied to. All Channels, regardless of location, can be selected to set up a single fee.
7. Just click the open space in the Channel Name(s) text box and choose from the Channels displayed.
8. Once your Channels are selected, set these two dates:
   • Effective Date
   • Discontinue Date
9. Next, set the Toggle buttons. Toggle buttons can be set for Active, Optional or Taxable, as required.
10. Option Type: Choose Fee by clicking on the drop-down arrow in the Option Type text Box.
11. Option Details: Will be filled in to describe the Fee that is being applied, such as “City or Port Fee”.
12. The Rate can be set to a flat dollar amount or a percentage by selecting the % button or the $ button then entering the amount.
13. The final choices when setting up a fee are:
    • Select if you want the fee setup to be applied to All Plans or only Select Rate Plans:
      • If you choose No for All Plans the text box will highlight to allow you to select the specific plan for the fee you are creating
    • Select when you want the fee to display to the customer.
    • Select whether this is for All Products:
      • If you choose No for All products a text box will become available for you to enter the Products where you are applying the fee

Why do it?

Customizing your fee refunds will cut cost for your business, and is one more way Space Genius helps to mitigate loss to your company’s bottom line.

Send Support Email

As always, we are here to support you and we welcome you to reach out to our Support Team! For assistance or more information, contact support@spacegenius.com.

Read about our powerful and scalable reservation system!