With the summer vacation season upon us, airports across the US can expect to receive a sudden surge in passenger numbers. Most of these passengers will need a place to park their vehicles, meaning onsite airport parking is likely to fill up quickly.
This poses a great opportunity for offsite parking. However, to fully seize this opportunity, offsite car parks will need to go a step above their competitors in attracting customers.
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By adopting the below strategies, offsite airport parking companies can forge a path towards superior customer satisfaction, attracting a loyal customer base, and gaining a competitive advantage in the industry.
Leveraging technology
To stand out in a competitive market, offsite parking lots must embrace technology to enhance their services.
One area where this is critically important is communication. Customers today expect ease of communication when booking a service, with messaging that confirms their expected arrival time and anticipates any questions they might have.
This can be as simple as an SMS service that sends automated responses. You could also go a step further and design an app or an AI-powered chatbot for greater ease of communication.
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By GlobalDataAnother technology that can improve customer satisfaction is an e-payments system. For the modern customer, the ability to pay and go has become an expectation, meaning any business that doesn’t have this will quickly lose out to the competition.
Fortunately, setting up an e-payments system is highly cost-effective and simple to implement through a third-party provider, such as PayPal, Stripe, or Authorize.net. For best results, ensure your customers have the most options in how they wish to pay, such as credit and debit cards, e-wallets, and mobile payment apps.
High-end security
Security is of high importance to air travellers, sometimes more so than price. Offsite car parks have an advantage over airports due to their smaller size and relative inaccessibility to the general public.
Even something as simple as a gated entry with fenced walls can be enough to deter would-be thieves, most of whom will just look for an easier target. For added security, ensure your lot also has plenty of lighting and surveillance cameras with as few blind spots as possible.
There are also newer technologies that can boost security significantly. Many offsite car parks are now deploying GPS and Bluetooth trackers that can monitor a vehicle’s location in real-time.
In addition to providing parking lots with an inventory management system, these trackers can also help customers check in on their vehicles at any time through an app. Some of the larger offsite car parks have even installed surveillance cameras for each individual parking space, which owners can log into at any time.
Exceptional customer service
Onsite airport car parks aren’t exactly known for providing anything more than a parking spot. This means that offsite car parks can distinguish themselves by providing additional services.
For example, most offsite car parks will have a shuttle service to bring travellers to and from the airport, but not all these shuttle services will run 24 hours a day. As such, a lot that can provide 24-hour shuttle service will be far more attractive for customers, especially if each bus has a GPS tracker that can tell customers when it will arrive.
Another thing that an offsite car park can provide is service attendants. These workers can be incredibly helpful for customers who need assistance with a tire change or a car battery that needs a jumpstart. By contrast, it’s nearly impossible to find this kind of help at onsite parking.
Other service extras include Wi-Fi, charging stations for electric vehicles, valet parking, and car washing. When combined, all these additional services can go a long way in differentiating an offsite lot from its competitors.
In a competitive niche market like offsite airport parking, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction is paramount. To achieve that, offsite car parks should elevate their services to cover every need a customer might have.
By doing so, you can establish a competitive advantage, drive customer loyalty, and ensure long-term success in this dynamic industry.
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