Competition benefits users of airport parking

The Chronicle's Purva Patel reports that competition among parking providers at the city's airports has had positive benefits for Houstonians:

With competition heating up, airport parking companies are offering more perks and bigger discounts to lure travelers into their lots, making Houston one of the cheapest big cities in the nation for airport parking.

[snip]

Local parking operators say the abundance of land around Houston airports has given companies a cheap way to get good returns on their investments. But with so many companies now, they have to fight for every customer.

Complimentary newspapers and bottled water are common, and almost all offer discount coupons in the newspaper, online or in the mail, but the services offered by some can be more elaborate.

Air Park, for example, offers curbside valet service for a premium, and Xpress Park sells car-washing and auto detailing services for those willing to pay $25 to $95 extra.

As part of its marketing push, the Parking Spot is launching a sweepstakes in which it will give away three Hummer H3s and a parking spot for each. One vehicle will go to a Houston customer.

Such marketing blitzes mean the Houston Airport System has to work harder, too.

The story concludes with what appears to be an editing error:

Barbara Mingarelli, who travels as part of her job at GlaxoSmithKline, has always used Park 'N Fly when flying out of Intercontinental, even though it's more expensive than most of her other options.

"The service is so good I just wouldn't. The drivers are always happy and are always willing to help," she said. "It's worth paying for the extra vans and the help."

The service is so good you just wouldn't WHAT? It's likely that Patel's original version included a reference to switching parking services, and a crack Chron line editor whacked it, thereby screwing up the conclusion.

Perhaps someone should show Richard Vacar this Chronicle article extolling the benefits to travelers of competition among service providers at the airport, given Vacar's past history of restricting competition in ways that seem to benefit the Yellow Cab company.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/21/06 08:08 PM | Print |

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