Valet services – Curtis Hennigar

Why Hotels should Invest in Valet Parking Services

A respected member of his business community, Curtis Hennigar draws upon mire than four decades of professional experience. The founder of an award-winning company in Florida, CAH Palm Beach, Curtis Hennigar has focused on helping hospitality establishments, including hotels, realize the full benefits of valet parking.

With valet parking, guests who are visiting hotels, restaurants, and other venues can leave their cars with valets, who take care of parking them. This service, now offered by many higher-end establishments, has revolutionized the customer experience.

There are many reasons why hotels should consider investing in a valet parking service. For starters, it offers convenience, as guests don’t have to go through the stress of finding an ideal parking spot. Additionally, clients don’t have to walk long distances searching for their car when they leave. Parking problems can discourage customers from patronizing an establishment. It also helps the bottom line, as valets help increase parking capacity.

Hotels that use valets enjoy flexibility when it comes to controlling their parking lots. For instance, valets can easily park vehicles at an appropriate parking space, depending on whether they are for short-term or overnight guests. In addition, hotels can implement guidelines on where parking is permitted to allow for construction, cleaning, periodic maintenance at the venue, or even self-parking spaces for guests who don’t wish to use valets.

When bad weather is anticipated, valets can park cars in protected areas, then return them to departing guests when they leave. This enables guests to stay safely out of the elements.

Tips for Starting a Valet Parking Service

Curtis Hennigar owns and operates the Florida-based company, CAH Palm Beach, a valet service provider that also operates in Burlington, Vermont, St Louis, Missouri, and St Paul, Minnesota. Curtis Hennigar has led the company for nearly four decades and oversees all its affairs from its headquarters in Boca Raton.

Whether full-time or part-time, a valet parking enterprise can be a lucrative small business to start up if done right. Like all business ventures, it is crucial that entrepreneurs carry out due diligence and put all the necessary logistics in place if they want to succeed.

One of the essentials required to start a private valet parking service is to invest in the best equipment. Valet parking podiums, key cabinets, and signboards should reflect the professionalism and top-notch customer service the company represents.

Also, it is important to hire the right staff. Employees with solid work ethics are extremely vital for companies that want to grow and maintain their clientele. In the valet parking industry, it’s best to hire reliable and trustworthy individuals behind the wheel, as customers will be leaving their automobiles in the care of your staff.

Insurance is another vital prerequisite to have in place. While carrying out their duties, your employees might make mistakes that could damage a client’s vehicle. Having insurance coverage protects you in such cases.

Emerging Trends in Valet Parking

With a degree in business, Curtis Hennigar manages CAH Palm Beach, a valet parking service company that he founded in 1982. Under Curtis Hennigar’s leadership, CAH Palm Beach earned a Small Business of the Year award in 1998.

In recent years, it has become more convenient to go to places where valet parking is available. Especially in major metropolitan cities, the demand for better valet parking services only keeps increasing. One of the rising trends in this field is on-demand valet parking. With on-demand valet parking, customers can book to have a valet reach their location and park their vehicles. When they are ready to leave the hotel or restaurant, they can also request to have their vehicles returned.

Another growing trend in valet parking is cashless payment in which customers can pay using credit cards or through online payments. With cashless payment, customers no longer need to bring or scramble for cash every time they pay for valet parking. Customers can also coordinate payments for different services by paying only once.

A growing number of establishments are integrating VIP or express parking programs into their valet parking service. Giving out VIP cards to regulars is an effective way for establishments to reward loyal customers and keep them coming back. Cards can be programmed to recognize discounted parking rates for exclusive customers.

Offering Valet Parking Service to Improve Your Brand

A successful business owner, Curtis Hennigar owns and operates CAH Palm Beach, a company that offers valet parking service. Curtis Hennigar manages the daily operations of the company, which also operates in Minnesota, Vermont, and Florida.

Valet parking originated in the early 1940s in restaurants and has since been adopted by health care facilities, shopping malls, cinemas, and airports. Although not an essential service, valet parking can provide companies the edge they need to overcome competition.

In hotels, for instance, offering valet parking services is another opportunity to build lasting impressions with customers. Beyond helping with parking needs, valet attendants can leverage their interactions with clients to learn about their personal preferences and find new avenues to enhance their experience of staying at the hotel.

Valet parking service also adds the perception of wealth and sophistication to an establishment. In restaurants, providing valet parking service can attract VIP guests or patrons who prefer to dine in where access to a controlled and safe parking space is feasible.

Automated Valet Parking and its Benefits

An experienced business professional, Curtis Hennigar owns and operates Boca Raton, Florida-based CAH Palm Beach, a valet parking company in business since 1982. Under the direction of Curtis Hennigar, CAH Palm Beach provides valet parking services in several locations across the USA, such as Palm Beach, FL, Minneapolis, MN, St. Louis, MO, and Burlington, VT.

Like many industries, the valet parking industry has been impacted as a result of new technological developments, such as valet parking automation. A disruptive innovation, valet parking automation aims to simplify conventional parking without the need for a human driver to park a car in a specific space.

Automated valet parking uses a driver-less system to locate and park a vehicle and only requires a vehicle that utilizes the technology and a phone app to do so. This novel automated parking system resolves problems apparent in the conventional valet parking system by saving space, reducing vehicle damage incidence due to improper parking, and preventing theft by dishonest valet employees.

How Valet Parking Firms Can Market Their Services

A longtime South Florida entrepreneur, Curtis Hennigar guides CAH Palm Beach, a valet parking service company that operates in Boca Raton and Palm Beach, Florida as well as St. Louis, Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Burlington, Vermont. For more than three decades, he has successfully directed operations across multiple locations building a robust business with emphasis on customer satisfaction. Over the years, Curtis Hennigar has consistently engineered the growth of the valet parking company.

For any valet parking company to achieve growth, a business should implement a robust business marketing plan to reach out to more customers, venture into new markets, as well as gain a competitive advantage in a market segment. To succeed, valet brands should use a multichannel marketing strategy to gain a noticeable presence in the marketplace. An effective strategy should ideally consist of both offline and online marketing initiatives.

To improve their presence and reach more customers, valet parking companies can add extra services that will help clients enjoy their parking experience. Some of the extra offerings can include VIP services, fluid topping, membership reward scheme, vacuuming, highlight security of parking locations as well as the inclusion of flowers and chocolate in the service. The goal should be to make the services as attractive as possible and if customers enjoy the new services, some of them can be included in the standard fee.

Mobile advertising is also a powerful tool valet companies can utilize to reach out to potential customers. Location-based advertising platforms, such as Google Nearby and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), can target locals who are looking for parking services. For instance, using Google Nearby, a business can craft a message advertising its parking services that will appear on customer’s mobile devices via a Google Nearby alert. BLE, on the other hand, taps into phones in which GPS is on and Bluetooth is enabled. Advertisers can include a ‘free valet’ option to attract nearby clients who’re looking for parking services.

Strategies for Increasing the Business of Your Valet Service

Man’s hand is cleaning and waxing the car

Drawing on over 30 years of industry experience, Chris Hennigar owns and operates valet parking companies in three states. Chris Hennigar started his first business in 1982, and it went on to receive a Small Business of the Year Award in 1998.

Like any business, valet parking companies can employ certain strategies to become more competitive. One of the major selling points for a valet company is offering customers extra car services along with parking. Amenities like washing and detailing, vacuuming, and rewards programs can help set your business apart from competitors.

Another is partnering with local noncompeting businesses. Offering promotional items or deals from businesses in the area creates value for customers and helps the partnering businesses while creating relationships in the community.

Also advisable is creating a system by which you receive client feedback, such as through short surveys. Providing strong service is a matter of meeting client expectations, and you can’t do that unless you know what those expectations are.

Tipping Etiquette for Valet Parking

Boca Raton, Florida resident Curtis Hennigar is an avid traveler and successful entrepreneur. Curtis Hennigar is the owner of the valet parking company, CAH Palm Beach, which he founded in 1982.

Valet parking broadly refers to any service that provides parking for clients, rather than self-parking. Valet services, which are often found at upscale restaurants and hotels among other businesses, sometimes requires customers to pay a fee. In other cases, valet parking is provided by an establishment to customers free of charge.

In either case, it is considered common courtesy to tip valet drivers for the service they provide. The amount of the tip itself varies widely, anywhere between $2 and $10. However, the tip should reflect the quality of the service and the vehicle itself. For example, parking a luxury vehicle may return a higher tip compared to an economy car. In addition, tips may be provided to the valet who parks the vehicle as well as the valet who brings the vehicle back if they are different people. In the case of bad service, a lower tip is called for but no tip at all is very uncommon.