<B>Space Race Ensuing</B>
<I>Off-airport Lots Tout Guaranteed convenience</I>
By Lynn Woods
Parking at the airport is becoming even more of a hassle: Rising enplanements have resulted in a space crunch at many on-airport lots and daily rates are going up. Coming to the harried traveler's rescue are off-airport parking services that guarantee a parking space, offer such perks as valet service and car washing, and charge competitive rates that are negotiable to companies that use large numbers of parking spaces.
"Off-airport parking is happening because of demand and the fact that it's very expensive for airport authorities to add new parking structures,"which on average cost between $9,000 and $11,000 per space, said Larry Donahue, president of a parking consulting firm based in Chicago.
With airport authorities tearing down their cramped, outdated facilities and replacing them with new terminals, retail-mall expansions and extra runways, parking is getting pushed out to more remote locations.
Fed up with paying more for a crowded lot that literally might be miles from the terminal, business travelers are discovering that off-airport lots offer more security and convenience--the shuttle buses run more frequently and make fewer stops--and, in some cases, lower cost.
Extra Car Airport Parking at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, for example, charges a rate of $6.50 per day to travelers who prepay for a 15-day "punch card," a bargain compared with the $18.50 per day rate levied at the on-airport long-term parking lot. Thirty-day cards also are available, offering a $6 per day rate.
Like many off-airport parking companies, Extra Car also provides a corporate program. Companies that spend at least $1,500 per month on parking qualify for rates as low as $5.50 a day.
With 350 parking spaces, Extra Car Airport Parking guarantees a space to corporate accounts and punch-card holders. It's a six-minute ride from the terminal by private shuttle bus (there is a $1.50 charge), and valet service and car washing are available for additional fees.
One popular option for smaller companies is to purchase punch cards that are then shared among employees, said Kimberly Edwards, Extra Car's vice president of sales and marketing. By July, the service expects to offer online reservations through its Website (www.extracar.com). At that point, users will be able to print out directions online, and an interactive interface wil be able to provide instant confirmation.
The Parking Spot, a Dallas-based franchise that has 12 locations in seven cities, is selling security and convenience. "At ninety-five percent of remote parking facilities, you have to go to a central pick-up location point, and the bus frequency is every 15 to 20 minutes," said Mark Wildman, vice president of marketing. In contrast, "we pick you up at your car, and our shuttle ride is five minutes."
Averaging 1,500 spaces, The Parking Spot's lots are located at airports in Atlanta, Dallas (both Dallas/Fort Worth and Love Field), Houston (both Hobby and Intercontinental), Kansas City, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and St. Louis.
Launched just a year and a half ago, The Parking Spot currently has 300 corporate accounts. "Even though parking is the smallest part of a company's travel costs, it's an easily controllable expense," Wildman said.
One-year contracts and corporate discounts between 10 percent and 15 percent are available, he added. Standard rates vary from $3 a day (for an uncovered lot in Dallas) to $14 (for valet service in St. Louis and Los Angeles).
"We will always be less expensive than on-airport short-term parking and a little more than the remote parking lot," said Wildman.
Wildman's firm is planning to continue opening new locations, with the goal of becoming the market leader in three years.
In this highly fragmented industry, however, almost all the off-airport firms are local outfits. To stay true to its promise of convenience, the company is committed to locating all its lots no farther than five miles from the terminal.
David Unruh, vice president of corporate marketing at competitor Park 'N Fly, said that his company's business had grown dramatically over the past few years. The Atlanta-based chain has 15 locations in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Oakland, Calif., Ontario, Calif., Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and St. Louis. It plans to open a lot in Fort Lauderdale within the next few months.
The mainstay of Park 'N Fly's business is the business traveler, and it has national accounts with AT&T, IBM and other behemoths.
"Airport parking is the last thing corporate travel managers dictate to travelers," said Unruh. "But when you show them how much money they spend on parking, it raises concerns."
Like The Parking Spot, Park 'N Fly offers a range of parking services, depending on location. Some lots provide valet service, in which the customer is picked up at his or her car and driven directly to the terminal. Some facilities are covered and some offer car washing.
But the big news is the advent of new technologies that are helping to expedite the entry-and-exit process, said Unruh. "At a few locations," he said, "users can swipe a credit card when they check in. They can pay without seeing a cashier."
Other players also are testing automated checkin and checkout systems. Park Air Express, an off-airport parking company that is a division of Chicago-based Apcoa/Standard Parking Inc., has been piloting such a system at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport since last fall.
Primarily catering to the corporate market, Park Air Express also has locations in Atlanta; Dayton, Ohio; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; and San Diego. The pilot is being conducted with 1,400 users belonging to Park Air's corporate accounts.
Called Express Lane Parking, the service will be rolled out to the firm's other locations within the next 16 months, according to Jack Santa, senior vice president at Park Air Express.
After corporate travelers preregister for the service, Park Air Express inputs the person's name and credit card number into the computer, and the system automatically assigns an account number to the entry. Participants swipe their cards into a special meter at the entrance, which causes the gate to rise; they receive no parking ticket.
Upon checking out, users insert the same card, and the system automatically calculates the cost, charges the card and generates a receipt.
Of perhaps even greater benefit to corporate travel managers, the system also automatically tracks travelers' parking usage and enables administrators to see whether they are using the facility dictated by policy.
Santa said that Park Air Express already generates monthly reports of parking usage to all of its corporate accounts. Eventually, the company hopes to enable clients to manipulate the data electronically through a Windows-based application.
At all Park Air Express locations, travelers are picked up by shuttle bus at their cars and, upon their return, users' vehicles are running and waiting to go, said Santa.
The service is particularly popular with women travelers, many of whom don't feel secure walking to their cars from the central drop-off bus stop in unstaffed remote airport lots, particularly at night, Santa added.
Park Air Express lots are large, ranging in size from 650 to 4,000 parking spaces. Even so, space is tight at some locations. "We just expanded one facility by 50 percent," Santa said.
Valet services and close-in parking facilities that charge a premium also are popping up on the airport. While many airports are prohibited by their charters from forming contractual agreements with companies, according to Santa, individual travelers, particularly those working for law firms or consulting companies, along with local movers and shakers, are willing to pay a premium for a space handily located across the street from the terminal or served by an express shuttle.
Indianapolis International Airport, for example, contracts out a section of the long-term lot to Denison Parking, which manages a service that it calls Premier Business Class.
Users pay $8 a day--compared with the standard long-term rate of $5 a day--for a guaranteed four-minute shuttle ride to the terminal and such perks as a free USA Today on the bus, a rain poncho in the event of inclement weather, and free removal of snow and sleet from their cars.
Other airports that offer valet service or premier parking facilities include Atlanta Hartsfield, Chicago O'Hare, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seattle/Tacoma.
According to Donahue, even the small fries are getting into the act: Allentown, Pa., airport, for example, has a valet service in which travelers park their cars in a 10-space lot across the street from the terminal. Attendants move the car to a remote lot, returning it to the terminal lot just prior to the traveler's return.
The clear demand for more airport parking has proved to be a lucrative business opportunity for many operators, be they mom-and-pop outfits or national chains.
"Whenever airport authorities have gotten too greedy, private off-airport parking facilities have done extremely well," said Rolfe Shellenberger, senior consultant at Runzheimer International, the Rochester, Wis.-based travel research firm. "It's a high-margin business, like collecting tolls."
However, Shellenberger predicted that the airport authorities will begin getting into the act by slapping fees on the off-airport facilities, as they've done for off-airport car rental firms. Just as corporate travel managers start paying attention to their airport parking costs and begin managing it, they might soon find their efforts stymied by extra fees.