Harbor Park Garage Generates Additional $350k+ Annualized Revenue Using Smarking’s SmartPass
Updated: Dec 16, 2022
In Q1 2022, Gateway Parking Services (GPS) sought to fill capacity at its large Harbor Park Garage in Inner Harbor, Baltimore, and to capture tourist & leisure parkers visiting nearby attractions such as the National Aquarium and the Port Discovery Children’s Museum.
GPS President Andrew Sachs, CAPP, an entrepreneur and digital media expert who has pioneered online marketing in the parking industry, knew that many of these visitors planned their parking in advance of arrival. As such, a key component of his growth strategy involved targeting specific parkers with customized products (a discounted Aquarium parking pass, a flexible day pass, a St. Patrick’s Day event pass, etc.), which could be marketed and purchased online.
To activate the strategy, GPS partnered with Smarking and launched SmartPass, the leading digital parking platform designed to meet the evolving parker’s needs.
Harbor Park Garage, Baltimore, Maryland
The Garage Is Located Near Major Harbor Attractions, Including The National Aquarium
SmartPass integrated seamlessly with Harbor Park Garage’s PARCS provider, TIBA. In the initial months, SmartPass parkers scanned a QR code of their SmartPass upon arrival. More recently, after a SmartPass+TIBA upgrade leveraging license plate recognition (LPR), parkers can simply show up and the gate opens for them.
In partnership with Smarking, GPS was able to not only create customized parking products, but to aggressively promote them online. Today, Harbor Park’s SmartPass products are marketed and purchasable from a number of online channels, including:
1. The websites of major nearby attractions, including The National Aquarium, Port Discovery, and Baltimore Soundstage
SmartPass is the First Link on the National Aquarium’s Website
SmartPass is the Only Parking Link on the Port Discovery Museum’s Website
2. Harbor Park Garage’s own webpage
SmartPass is Purchasable Directly from Google
4. Search results, using best-in-class Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics
Results for Harbor Parking Search Terms Lead to Harbor Park Garage
GPS and its operator, SP+, also use SmartPass for event-specific parking, creating customized parking for events such as the 1-day “Pawject Runway” dog show on April 29th.
Discounted SmartPass Event Parking Advertised on the Pawject Runway Website
Event parking generates significant revenue for GPS. For the June 26th Baltimore Women’s Classic 5k race, GPS generated $4.5k+ revenue by creating and marketing a one-day, event-specific SmartPass.
“When we found out about the Women’s Classic, we immediately contacted the organizers who agreed to sell our garage’s parking passes on the race website. We were able to create an event-specific SmartPass and provide the link to the organizers literally within minutes.”
-Andrew Sachs, President, GPS
The Results
By combining ongoing digital parking products with event-specific ones, GPS has been able to significantly grow revenue at Harbor Park Garage. As of August 2022, GPS is on pace to generate $350,000+ in annualized revenue through SmartPass.
“SmartPass is a gamechanger. Our customers want digital products designed to meet their specific parking needs, and SmartPass is the only solution that allows us to do that. It’s been successful beyond my wildest dreams. If you are a garage owner or operator in search of parker growth, you need to have SmartPass!”
-Andrew Sachs, President, GPS
“SmartPass has been a great success at Harbor Park Garage! It’s super easy to create new parking products in the SmartPass Admin portal, and the integration with TIBA has facilitated seamless operations at the garage.” -Kera Miller, Facility Manager, Harbor Park Garage, SP+
Interested in learning more? Email smartpass@smarking.com or call us at 855.949.4800.
