AirGarage Overview
Founded in 2018, AirGarage is a vertically integrated parking management company that builds proprietary software to create a seamless experience for drivers while automating most of the manual operations required to run a parking facility.
AirGarage’s services are used by parking lot owners and commercial real estate owners of all sizes, from enterprises to mom-and-pop shops. Some of AirGarage’s top customers include Hilton, Marriott, Hines, and Starwood Capital, as well as major multifamily firms such as Greystar and Lincoln Property Company.
Our Take On AirGarage
Best for parking garage owners and operators looking to drive revenue growth.
AirGarage is a full-service parking management firm based in San Francisco. Its advanced technology solutions and top-tier on-the-ground operations drive unparalleled revenue growth for parking assets. AirGarage offers solutions for all types of parking owners, including payment collection, enforcement, visitor registration, tenant management, and more.
Pros- AirGarage’s services drive considerable revenue growth.
- Smart analytics give parking owners deeper insights.
- License plate recognition cameras bolster security.
- The parking payment process is simplified for customers.
Cons- Only mobile payments are accepted.
- AirGarage does not integrate with parking gate arms for revenue collection.
- AirGarage does not staff on-site parking attendants.
Pros Explained
AirGarage’s services drive considerable revenue growth: AirGarage clients rake in 23% more revenue than they would with other parking management operators, thanks in part to its real-time dynamic pricing software. The system automatically adjusts parking rates based on a given facility’s real-time occupancy. Optimizing rates helps parking operators capture more revenue from drivers during peak hours and drive more traffic to parking facilities during slower periods.
Smart analytics give parking owners deeper insights: AirGarage customers get exceptional insights into usage patterns, revenue streams, and occupancy rates through an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Clients enjoy real-time info on parking facility peak times, average parking durations, and much more to optimize assets. More up-to-date, cleaner data drives better business performance, and the Intelligence Dashboard is a command center for tracking, interpreting, and optimizing every aspect of a facility’s parking operations.
License plate recognition cameras bolster security: LPR cameras enable parking owners to see every car entering and exiting their facilities. This gives owners access to 24/7 insights into who is parking where so they can ensure compliance and flag suspicious vehicles to law enforcement. AirGarage’s automated system checks if a car is registered or hasn’t paid for parking. The LPR cameras also deter criminal activity and ensure the safety of both vehicles and drivers in parking facilities.
The parking payment process is simplified: AirGarage’s parking payment system is optimized for speed and simplicity and designed with a user-friendly interface that offers hassle-free parking payments for drivers. The platform saves payment information for repeat customers and prioritizes encrypted, secure payment options that safeguard personal financial information.
Cons Explained
Only mobile parking payments are accepted: AirGarage-managed parking facilities don’t accept cash and there are no payment kiosks. Some may see this as a drawback, but many happy clients see it as an advantage. Parking facility technology stacks haven’t advanced much over the years. AirGarage’s seamless mobile payment solution offers a more efficient way to run a parking facility, and most customers prefer it over the old way.
AirGarage does not integrate with parking gate arms for revenue collection: AirGarage-managed facilities don’t incorporate parking gates to collect payments from drivers. Instead, they use cameras to identify license plates and ensure parkers pay. In 2024, parking gate arms are an unnecessary hurdle to revenue collection and can often create bottlenecks to getting into or out of parking facilities, which can result in drivers looking elsewhere for hassle-free parking. While AirGarage does not integrate with parking gate arms, it can integrate with roll-down doors or other barriers that can be opened remotely.
AirGarage does not provide or work with parking attendants: The company believes that the ongoing cost of staffing parking attendants exceeds their value and attendants can be replaced with the company’s full suite of end-to-end, contactless solutions, lowering fixed overhead costs for parking facility owners and operators. AirGarage’s innovative technology solutions can help make facilities more cost-efficient.
AirGarage Product Offerings
AirGarage is a full-service parking management firm that offers a full suite of products and services to help clients boost parking facility revenue and optimize operations:
Optimized revenue generation through dynamic pricing
AirGarageautomatically adjusts rates based on real-time data analytics, such as facility occupancy. This kind of rate optimization captures more revenue from customers during peak times and drives more business during slower periods, too.
Smart analytics and real-time reporting
AirGarage customers also access an analytics dashboard that offers unparalleled insights into usage patterns, revenue, and other data points. Parking facility operators can measure what matters without waiting for end-of-month reports before tweaking operations.
Enhanced security through LPR cameras
License plate recognition cameras help enhance overall parking facility security and also streamline payment operations. LPR cameras see every car entering and exiting AirGarage facilities, ensuring payment compliance while flagging suspicious vehicles.
Streamlined parking payment system
AirGarage’s mobile parking payment system is optimized to simplify and secure the payment process for facility customers. The platform saves payments for repeat customers and is designed for simple, speedy transactions.
Full-service parking management
AirGarage provides all the other services its competitors do, offering the full suite of parking management partner services, including landscaping, maintenance, snow removal, and trash removal. AirGarage-managed properties are also regularly audited to flag on-the-ground issues before they can grow into bigger problems.
User Experience
The AirGarage platform offers a user-friendly UI/UX experience for both parking facility owners and customers. For facility owners, the AirGarage dashboard features an easy-to-use interface that provides comprehensive parking facility management data. Facility owners gain access to over a dozen metrics that are easily accessible and discernible, including:
- Lot Occupancy
- Pricing trends & impact on revenue
- Revenue broken down by category
- Dwell time
- Rentals by day and category
- Enforcement trends and revenue
- Marketing and advertising channels and impact
- Driver retention
- Peak rental times
- Nearby demand drivers
- Driver reviews
When drivers arrive at any AirGarage parking facility, all they have to do is scan a QR code. This takes them to the payment screen, where they enter their license plate number and payment info, which can be saved for repeat customers.
Customer Support
Customer support for AirGarage features parking facility owner and driver-specific support services. Each facility owner has a dedicated asset manager, who provides quarterly and as-needed business reviews. AirGarage asset managers are the primary points of contact for clients and can assist with all support requests.
Drivers who use AirGarage facilities can also contact the company’s dedicated support team. The average response time for support inquiries is around 17 minutes. AirGarage’s customer reviews show high satisfaction with customer support, with the mobile app, downloaded over 50,000 times, boasting a 4.8-star rating over 615 reviews in the Google Play store.
Pricing
AirGarage works with most parking facility owners on a revenue-share basis, depending on the level of service provided. On rare occasions, AirGarage will also work with parking facility owners via leases or other deal structures.
AirGarage does not publicly display its prices or pricing model but will provide detailed service options during the proposal stage, ensuring that every client’s unique needs and concerns are addressed.
Competitors
AirGarage’s main competitors are LAZ Parking, Premium Parking, and Metropolis:
LAZ Parking
LAZ Parking offers standard parking facility management services with fixed fees and performance-based agreements for various asset classes, including offices, hotels, residential buildings, and hospitals. Unlike AirGarage, LAZ offers more in-person support and valet services. However, LAZ is a more traditional parking management firm that does not provide the full suite of best-in-class, high-tech solutions that AirGarage does.
Premium Parking
New Orleans-based Premium Parking is a leader in gateless digital parking, providing custom cloud-based parking management software to manage its locations. The company offers an enterprise-class agile parking solution some say is simpler and more affordable than the disconnected hardware and app-based offerings of legacy parking solution providers. Premium Parking operates in 60 markets and 750+ locations.
Metropolis
Based in Santa Monica, Metropolis is similar to AirGarage in that its mobile parking solutions seek to replace all parking revenue systems for a fraction of the cost. Also, like AirGarage, Metropolis-managed facilities are plugged into valuable data insights and real-time analytics on parking visitor behavior to help boost revenues.
FAQs
Most likely. AirGarage currently operates in 40 states and continues expanding into new cities and states.
AirGarage works with almost any parking facility, from hotels to offices to mixed-use locations. However, there are two notable exceptions: 1) AirGarage won’t work in valet-only facilities, and 2) the company has a $100,000 revenue minimum for clients to enroll with the platform.
AirGarage service agreements are month-to-month and can be canceled at any time with a minimum of 14 days’ notice. By not forcing facility owners into long-term agreements, AirGarage hopes to align incentives over the long term. If a customer is ever unhappy with AirGarage’s performance, they can cancel services with no questions asked.
How We Evaluated AirGarage
When evaluating AirGarage, we examined several factors, including:
- Product and service offerings: We dug into AirGarage’s features, products, and services, including its full suite of parking management services.
- Pros and Cons: We checked the boxes on what potential clients are looking for and compared features that make AirGarage stand out from its competitors.
- Ease of use/Functionality: We examined how user-friendly AirGarage’s analytics platform is, how intuitive the onboarding process can be, and also how quickly a new user is likely to understand and take advantage of the platform’s full functionality.
- Customer support: We evaluated AirGarage’s existing customer support network and scored it on response times, training materials, and access to customer service reps.
- Pricing and transparency: We examined how AirGarage products and services are priced and whether readily available pricing info can be found on its website.
Summary of AirGarage Review
AirGarage is a full-service parking management firm that offers cutting-edge, contactless parking facilities monitoring, data analytics, and payment processing solutions to optimize parking facility operations and revenue collection. Its full suite of management services and proprietary software make AirGarage an attractive option for both parking facility owners looking to boost revenue and drivers hoping for a seamless parking and payment experience.
AirGarage has many competitors, including other national parking management firms like Premium Parking and Metropolis. But none are taking the same approach. AirGarage believes its competitive advantage lies in its vertically integrated software and operations solution. AirGarage’s comprehensive platform, which includes dynamic pricing, is proven to boost parking facility revenues beyond what competitors can offer.
Parking facility owners searching for a top-to-bottom management firm to run their facilities 24/7 should consider reviewing what AirGarage offers and take its tech-driven approach for a test run. While gateless parking management and less in-person support may be a new concept for some, AirGarage’s continued success shows its approach could be the future of parking management.
Disclaimer
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