Tim Leonoudakis is CEO of City Park in San Francisco. The company was started by his father and an
uncle.As you walk down its halls, you see a number of employees with the same – Greek – last name. “We have spent a lot of time working on the sustainable
part of our business,” Leonoudakis said. “We live in a city that reflects the environment, and we are proud to be a part of it. “We work on service, and that has brought us 20 of the
top 30 hotels in the city as our customers,” he said.We are a boutique parking operation. It’s the perfect size for our city. We have developed best practices to ensure that our service, audit, marketing and use of technology are excellent. We reflect the top flight attitudes of our customers.” Technology seems to be the name of the game with
today’s parking operator. All we spoke to had extremely active audit departments and centralized operations where they could see what was happening in locations across their market. Denison Parking in Indianapolis has spent considerable
time and energy developing technology to make their serv- ice better. “You don’t want to put in technology in place of good service,” said Mark Pratt, President and COO. “But you still have to be competitive. “Our system, which allows the customer standing at a
pay-on-foot or sitting in a lane and needing help to see the person they are talking to, isn’t just a technological marvel. It’s giving service,” Pratt said. “All parkers have problems. It’s up to us to solve them
quickly and easily. If the two people working on the problem – the parker and the member of our team – can actually see each other, it makes a world of difference.” One would have thought that a parking operator would
have concentrated on revenue collection, ensuring that every penny is put in the bank nightly. These operators have sys- tems in place to do just that, but they also understand that it’s the relationship they have with two entities – the parker and the owner of their garage – that’s important. Both also are customers and each needs to have their
issues addressed quickly and correctly. No one expects per- fection, but they do expect the company to solve problems. Technology is being brought to bear on parking operators.
Pay-on-foot, pay-and-display, license plate recognition, “cloud” centralized computing – all are just some of the tools that make parking operations easier, less expensive and more efficient. However, the operators PT spoke to were concerned that the technology didn’t get in the way of personalized service. And finally, this from Tony Policella, CEO of Valet Park-
ing Service in Los Angeles: “I originally married into this business, and after 40 years, divorce is not an option. “I started as a parking attendant, and along the way
worked various positions for threemajor parking companies, and today I am co-owner ofValet Parking Service – a company founded by Herb Citrin onMay1, 1946, and today, 65 years lat- er, we still service that same location seven days a week. “Parking to me is a microcosm of the ‘American Dream,’
having seen countless success stories along the way of peo- ple working hard, enjoying what they are doing (easily noticeable to the customer and co-worker alike), and having terrific careers in a business that provides a vital service. I feel blessed to be in this industry, for as my partner Victor Morad always says: “To love your job is to have no job.”
John Van Horn is the founder, publisher and editor of Parking Today. Contact him at
jvh@parkingtoday.com.
PT Parking Today
www.parkingtoday.com 33
A Functional Masterpiece
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