Red Room Chronicles

I recently had a short but pleasant stay at the Marriott Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown. This is not your typical Courtyard since it is located in downtown Philadelphia. The building is a high rise in the pre-war architectural style. My king bed guest room had a high ceiling and crown moldings to compliment the features of the room.

One thing that wasn’t such a good experience was the parking. This particular Marriott is in the middle of a very busy circular traffic pattern. And the hotel is situated on a corner such that you have to pull up into a very short driveway to gain access to the front entrance. I pulled up to the front of the hotel and was greeted by a nice valet who offered to park the car. The valet service was great and welcome since I had been driving for hours. What wasn’t welcome was the $40 per day fee charge for parking the car.

I tend to do a bit of research before embarking on a trip to a new city. I’ll admit that I did very little research prior to this trip to Philadelphia. When heading to a big city it is definitely advisable to call the hotel and inquire about parking options in advance. Questions to ask include: Do you have parking at the hotel? How much does it? Are there other options nearby? What do the other options cost?

It would be nice though if each hotel that had valet parking also has a very visible sign that showed the daily rate as well as a lower cost (or free) option that is close by. This way when I pull up to the hotel I can think for a minute about whether or not I want to pay whatever daily fee they are charging for valet parking.

This tactic goes against the whole upsell nature of the hotel industry. So local hotels might see a drop in valet parking fees collected due to people thinking twice and selecting more reasonably priced options. But I bet it also means that more travelers will be satisfied. There will be fewer surprises at checkout. And more customers will feel good about the fact that the hotel was so upfront about the parking situation. After all, customer satisfaction is something that can’t always be measured in dollars.

It wouldn’t surprise me if such an open parking policy resulted in increased expenditures by travelers in other areas. Marriott has been known to be a leader on lodging issues (like the smoke free lodging policy) that matter to travelers. A more open policy towards parking, especially in city centers, would be another strong differentiator to set Marriott apart from other hotel brands.