With escalating airfare prices and a rise in staycations, more people have started traveling by car. And with lots of people driving, parking spots are becoming a precious resource.
For hoteliers, this is a fantastic opportunity to maximize revenue. And here’s the good news: parking spaces can be managed within your hospitality cloud. You can charge your customers directly through an integrated payments system and even open up your parking spaces to non-guests.
With a dedicated parking booking engine on your website, anyone in the area can secure a spot for the day. You can even vary the pricing between guests and non-guests. And if you want to drive extra demand for non-guests, you can have your spaces listed on numerous parking spot websites.
Boost your hotel revenue with parking
Parking spaces – from major challenge to major profit
Before turning to Mews, parking spaces used to be a major challenge for Turing Locke, a design-led aparthotel chain. As part of the edyn group, they have 15 properties across the UK and Europe and – you guessed it – a lot of parking spaces. Overbooking was a risk, so the team had to run reports repeatedly to confirm the accuracy of their reservations and availability. Because of the highly manual process, they lacked control over pricing and struggled with dynamic rate adjustments.
That was until Igor Kostadinov, Product and Deployment Manager at edyn, first learned about the potential of bookable services through Mews. He immediately saw a chance to improve their parking management. They tested the solution at three properties, including the 64 spots at Turing Locke in Cambridge. The results were so positive that he immediately rolled it out across their entire portfolio.
“Our teams had to verify the information and data on the platform multiple times before agreeing to new sales and bookings,” said Kostadinov. “Now we know that if you have a spot booked, that’s it. You can clearly see it on the platform.”
Parking reservation data they can trust
With sizeable properties with shared spaces, the Turing Locke team needed to optimize how they manage their parking bookings. They found themselves running multiple reports and repeatedly checking reservations, all of which was tedious, time-consuming and prone to human error.
Managing their parking space reservations in Mews was a game changer. The team was finally able to confidently handle high volumes of parking and guests without worrying about overbooking. This led to improved and consistent bookings for their 45 parking spaces and 20 EV chargers for guests and community members.
Increased revenue from parking
Previously, Turing Locke had no option to adjust rates for different guest segments. Developing an effective pricing strategy was practically impossible. Mews empowered them to manage parking spaces the same way they manage rooms.
This meant applying segmentation-based rate management rules, including vouchers for corporate clients and discounts for guests who stayed longer. It led to increased revenue based on both segment and peak times. The hotel’s sales team also appreciated the ability to book parking through Mews and used it as a value proposition to draw in new guests.
“Parking is now available together with our other pre-arrival add-ons, and having it on our booking engine has made quite an impact,” continues Kostadinov.
Online reservations save time for staff and guests
The Turing Locke team used to create and manage parking reservations completely offline. Guests had to contact the property to reserve a spot. It was inconvenient for guests and staff, especially with staff members in different locations.
As soon as the Mews functionality became available, Turing Locke added it to their PMS. They’ve since added it to Mews Booking Engine and online check-in as well. This means guests can easily add parking to their reservation without needing to involve a staff member.
The result was an immediate 25% boost in sales of parking spaces. Now they consistently have a 10% increase in parking spot bookings.
“With parking bookable through Mews, we can offer different prices and be more flexible,” adds Kostadinov. “If you dive deep into this functionality, you can come up with a lot of creative ideas to boost benefits and profit.”
Unlocking even more profit and time savings with automation
Turing Locke have managed to automate 28% of parking spot bookings and are currently saving 3-5 minutes per parking reservation. What’s next on their radar? Kostadinov says he’s excited about the potential for even more automation to manage parking and other spaces around the edyn properties. After seeing such strong results, the team plans to continue growing revenue with segmented pricing.
Discover more about modern hotel space management
Do you also want to unlock untapped revenue? Mews can help you monetize every single space in your property, from parking spaces to rooftops. Hear from successful hoteliers and see how much they earned – all within their PMS and without creating extra work for their teams. Our guide, The Best Ways to Reimagine Your Hotel Spaces, also has practical tips about how to use each space to maximize revenue and fuel your growth.
