A UK based airport parking company has completed a piece of research highlighting the types of people who use airport parking, why, and what they specifically look for. This information has proven to be an invaluable resource for airports and parking providers across the country. Specifically, they looked at meet and greet services, which are becoming increasingly popular across UK airports.

More and more UK travelers are using airport meet and greet services. Despite significant efforts to reduce the number of people who use their cars to get to the airports, in part by raising airport parking prices, people continue to use these types of services. This has led to some companies focusing less on helping to lower carbon emissions by encouraging people not to drive to the airport, and more on making sure that the service they receive is good and of high quality.

UK based airport parking provider Airport Parking has completed a piece of research into the profiles of their customers, looking specifically at those who like to use meet and greet services, but also their other travelers. This was done in an effort to better understand the behaviors of the demographic, thereby giving them the opportunity to better anticipate future needs and opportunities for improvement.

As part of the research, some 1,000 customers received and responded to a questionnaire. These customers came from a cross section of the United Kingdom and had all use the Airport Parking service in the past 12 months.

First, they looked at sociological demographics. In terms of age, they found that:

  • 9% of users were younger than 30.
  • 13% of users were between 30 and 39.
  • 31% of users were between 40 and 49.
  • 34% of users were between 50 and 59.
  • 12% of users were over 60.

They then looked at the relationship status of travelers and found that 35% were single, 54% were married, and 10% had a partner. They also found that 34% of travelers were making a business trip, whereas 65% traveled for leisure.

An area of particular interest was the fact that 94% of travelers preferred to see a parking area that had some sort of quality award, like the Park Mark. In fact, just 6% of people said they didn’t look into that at all. Of those who said they looked for quality marks, 67% classed this as being ‘very important’.

A Park Mark can be provided to car parks (airport or other) if they meet certain standards. It is also proof that they have received police vetting, and that the parking environment is classed as safe. It can only be classed as safe if it has very stringent features in terms of security, lighting, access, and more.

One thing that really stood out from the research was that 66% of respondents felt they saved at least an hour on their full travel time by using a meet and greet service. In fact, 32% stated that they had saved as much as two hours, comparing it to all other types of airport parking. Airport Parking then looked into the reasons why people used meet and greet services. They found that:

  • 26% of people felt it was convenient.
  • 7% of people had been recommended by others.
  • 20% of people thought the price was worth it.
  • 7% of people simply wanted to avoid public transport.
  • 4% of people were regular customers.
  • 1% of people had followed good online reviews.
  • 6% of people were impressed with the service in the past.
  • 1% of people felt it saved time.
  • 5% of people felt it offered excellent value for money.

A representative from AirportParking.co.uk says:

“While many say that they would love to see a complete disuses of airport parking facilities due to their carbon footprint, the reality is that we’re still a long time away from that. This is why our goal is to make sure people receive the service they need, and our research has been able to show us just what it is they do look for.”