When looking at how to ease the parking problems at your office campus, you should first go out and time how long it takes an employee to find a parking spot during key congestion times.

For a typical office, key congestion times might be during the 8–9 a.m. rush hour and then again during the 12–1 p.m. lunch hour. Analyze how long it takes to walk from the available spaces to the building(s). Aside from reserved VIP spaces, are most of the available spaces quite a distance from the building? How far? Also note the flow of traffic in your lot or garage — does it get congested during the peak hours? How much time does that slow an employee (or visitor) down from getting to their destination?

Next, look at how many employees you have (and plan to have) and how many non-reserved spaces are available. Finally, talk to your employees about their parking frustrations; they’ll be able to give you personal insights that you otherwise might not be considering.

At All About Parking, when we do a site parking analysis, we often hear from businesses that their employees arrive 15–20 minutes early just to get a spot. Then they are afraid to leave for lunch (or meetings) because they don’t want to lose their coveted parking space. And then when they leave work for the day they’re stuck in a long queue of cars just trying to exit the parking lot! All this frustration can be avoided by deploying a valet service company to handle traffic flow and parking demand. At All About Parking, we’ve been working for years at the best-known companies in Silicon Valley to resolve parking problems. Let us know how we can help you come up with the best solution for your company!

How long has the valet parking company been in business? For obvious reasons, you’ll want to choose a company that has been in business for years. Understanding parking issues and solutions doesn’t happen overnight, so it’s important to choose a company that has seen what works, and what doesn’t, in a variety of office setups.

Who are their customers and what do they say about them? Reputation is paramount in the valet parking business. Find out who the valet parking company currently handles parking for, and ask to speak to their clients’ parking & transportation managers. Do these clients have similar parking challenges to yours? If so, find out how the valet parking company is addressing these issues. Find out how reliable they are, how well they know their client’s business, and how professional their attendants are.

Are they a national company or a local one? A big advantage of going with a local business is that they will be more nimble and quick to respond to your parking needs. Typically, a local business will deploy their senior management to assess and roll out a company-wide parking and valet plan. The large, national firms will often rely on a less-senior department head, who doesn’t have the same skin in the game as a local owner-operator does.

Ask about their valet training. A valet attendant will be the first — and last — person that your employees or guest see at the beginning and end of each workday. As such, it’s critical that the valet attendant best represents your business. Find out how the company trains their attendants and go check out how their valets operate at an office facility. Are they professional? Are they dressed appropriately for the job? Do they answer questions in a respectful, helpful manner? How do they handle your car? Do they foresee issues and offer solutions — such as reminding you that you left your phone in the car? How about that computer that’s in the back seat? After all, valet is about more than just parking cars; it’s about facilitating the best possible start (and finish) to an employee’s day.