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PARKING TECH May 2014 airportbusiness 29 it eliminated cashiers. They put a cashier's desk at the terminal exit and customers could pay the cashier there, pay at a pay-on-foot machine or use a credit card at the exit. "This cashier was to remain in place for 12 months; we eliminated the post after just three, because people converted to using pay-on-foot machines or paid with their credit card at the exit," says Codd. MARKET THE CARPARK "If a U.S. airport installed all of the technology we did, it would bring some benefit, but they also need to employ a commercial team to help get the most out of it," says Codd, who oversees the International Parking Advisory, Commercial and Concession Services Business Unit. Dublin Airport created a commercial team to manage parking as a revenue generating unit. This team consists of a commercial manager, a marketing professional, a research and analysis expert, yield analysis personnel and an opera- tions leader."This team is 100-percent dedicated to parking," says Codd. "There are up to seven people on the team, depending on the time of year, and their jobs are solely focused on parking." Dublin Airport's marketing team implemented a marketing and customer insights program to help them continually upgrade their products. They interview up to 16,000 parking custom- ers throughout the year, asking them who they parked with and if they parked with the airport, how their experience was, how satisfied they were, and what changes they'd like to see. These interviews help the airport classify parking customers and customize parking pro- grams. The team learned most parking customers were either business or leisure travelers, each with a unique set of needs. When business passengers come to the airport they want to park close to the terminal and cost is less of an issue. Leisure passengers only come to the airport once or twice a year. "They want it to be easy, but they also want it to be cheap, therefore they end up parking farther away and taking a shuttle bus in," he says. The airport then tailors marketing to each customer segment and advertises that the best parking prices are available online. "We are trying to let people know that if they go online and pre- book, they'll get the best price, but if they just drive up, they'll pay the highest price," Codd says, noting customers might pay up to 50 percent less online than they'd pay at the gate. Parking prices fluctuate according to demand, much in the same way that airline ticket prices go up and down. The commercial parking team performs ongoing yield analysis to manage pricing at peak and off-peak times. This analysis helps them manage parking inventory and profit mar- gins to maximize revenue. "It's not about giving everybody the less-than-50-percent rate," Codd says. "We identify periods of time when parking is slow and introduce a competitive rate to entice those parking with the competitors to park with us. A 50-percent discount sounds like a lot but if we've got nobody parking at that time, there's no revenue at all. We now have somebody paying us 50 percent of what they should have paid but that's 50 percent more than we had." The team tweaked its promotions as more and more people began booking parking online. The first campaigns were to build awareness while latter ones offered more specific promotions. For example, on Valentine's Day, if passengers booked their parking online, they got fast-tracked through security and received a platter of food and drink at one of the restaurants. But this marketing effort was only available to customers traveling a spe- cific number of days over the holiday, adds Codd. Most recently the commercial parking team partnered with the airport's two main airlines to book parking at the point of sale for airline tick- ets. "They sell our parking as part of their online booking process," says Codd. "Passengers book their flights, and then the system asks if they'd like to book their parking as well. Both bookings go into a single transaction. This has been a great success." Dublin Airport learned a big lesson about parking: An airport is not the only parking game in town. They found that to maximize parking revenues, airports need to combine technolo- gy, know-how and commercial expertise. And only then do they become passengers 'preferred place to park. See how EMS is innovating refueling at www.rampmasters.com/EMS. An Independent Study by WVU's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions has confrmed that EMS DRIVES 78 DIESEL FUEL The Data is In. Rampmaster's Engine Management System (EMS) Delivers Unparalleled Savings for Every Gallon of Jet Fuel Pumped UP TO SAVINGS www.aviationpros.com/10017697 airb_26-29_ParkingTech.indd 29 5/2/14 9:52 AM