Your monthly parkers will always have the highest priority at your garage; you want to make sure they have their spots when needed and are happy with the services you provide. But when your garage becomes empty at night or during the weekend, how do you take advantage of the open spaces?
Seasonal sporting events can be a lucrative way to supplement revenue during downtime at your garage. Most cities have a stadium (or multiple) and nightlife nearby that have frequent events attracting thousands of visitors. We’ve compiled a few useful tips when pursuing these seasonal sports goers, how to cater to their unique needs, along with keeping your garage in shape and ready again for monthly parkers when needed.
Bringing in Eventers
With dozens of garages surrounding a stadium, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. We recommend using flags or flag holders and curb signs to wave in and attract visitors wandering the streets in their cars. Sometimes buildings and garages can blend in together, so having an OPEN or PARK HERE flag outside your garage, or even a person waving cars into the entrance, can alert eager drivers to open spots in your garage.
One way to attract the rare eventers who do their research ahead of time looking for parking is to advertise on SpotHero, or one of the other many parking reservation phone apps, allowing them to book their spot beforehand and drive straight to you, overlooking any other garages they may see.
Remember that sporting events can mean considerable supplemental income, and you can adjust the cost depending on the event. For example, 20 to 30 dollars could be average during a regular season game, but during the playoffs, ticket prices can drastically increase. You can take advantage of this and increase the fee to 50 or 60 dollars, almost doubling your profit.
Catering to Eventers
Sports fans have a different agenda than your monthly parkers — they’re ready to have fun! How can you provide a different experience for these unique customers? If you allow tailgating in your garage or parking lots for events, having a cleanup team is of utmost importance. One tip we recommend is to hand out trash bags to your customers ahead of time. If they are provided with a trash bag, you can assume they will use them, which makes cleaning up much easier than picking up individual pieces of trash.
You also want to be sure they have clear access to the entrance due to competition in the area. If entering your garage is difficult, it can easily be skipped over and your potential customer will think “I can find another garage.” You can prepare your employees with directions to the event, by word of mouth or a handout, helping the eventers plan their trip in the most convenient way.
What About Non-Sporting Events?
In between sports seasons, your garage still empties out at night and on the weekends. How can you find other events to supplement the extra income you’ve become used to?
Nightlife, concerts, valets from restaurants, and smaller sporting events can all require garage parking year round. Doing your research and knowing when to advertise for these events or who to contact is crucial; that way, you can put out your signs and make sure your team is ready to clean and prepare for a large volume of customers. For example, in 2014, Jay-Z and Beyoncé sold more than 50,000 tickets for their concert at M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore. That required a lot of parking spaces, and you can be sure garages were full that night!
The most crucial aspect to remember when attracting non-monthly customers is that your monthly customers and their comfort are always top of mind. You never want to make their daily parking experience more difficult in search of supplemental income. Stay on top of your amenities and keep the garage in pristine condition so that your monthly parkers will never know what you do on the weekends!
Contact us to learn more about how you can take advantage of sporting and recreational events during your garage’s downtime.