Today we’re diving into the extraordinarily fascinating topic of….parking. We know. It doesn’t sound like as much fun as a holiday light show, Haunted House, or other attractions that use TicketSignup for ticketing. But parking is also essential for event success. We’ve seen an influx of customers using TicketSignup to sell parking and check-in their parking reservations and wanted to breakdown how TicketSignup customers manage parking and generate revenue.
Why to Sell Parking on TicketSignup
The basics of parking are pretty simple. So why take the time to set up parking on TicketSignup?
- Generate revenue. This is self-explanatory. Reserved parking can help you pay for your parking staff and supplement the income brought in by your event.
- Manage a limited resource. Many events don’t have the capacity to handle every attendee in premium parking. By selling parking reservations in advance, you can avoid event day chaos and scrambling once your best parking options are full.
- Faster entrance to parking areas. Exchanging cash and making change (or fumbling with a card reader) slows down your parking line and creates stress for your attendees. Pre-purchased parking passes eliminate the need to collect payment on-site.
- Easy purchase. If your parking isn’t sold out online, you can continue to sell reservations on-site without cash or credit card processing. Simply setup signage with QR codes to pay for parking and have attendees purchase it on their phone before entering the line. With Apple Pay and other fast purchase options, buying on-site is a snap.
- Time management. For sites with especially high parking demands or shuttles, ticketing your parking allows you to assign times to each parking pass, spreading out your parking rush and reducing traffic issues.
- Easy check-in. With the TicketSignup Tickets App for CheckIn, your parking team can quickly and easily track parking passes with a speedy QR scan. Worried people will lose their QR code? Add a “re-send your confirmation email” button (and to on-site signage via QR codes) to your website to let people quickly access their code. If a customer is still struggling, simply search for them by name to keep the parking line moving.
- Donation collection. Nonprofits that need parking can further boost their revenue by suggesting a donation during the purchase path.
Customer Spotlight: Birkie Week Premium Parking
Birkie Week Events, a RunSignup customer, offered premium parking to participants in their Birkie Week events. The event had very limited parking at the American Birkeheiner Trailhead, with most participants being bussed to the start.
Donations Collection and Parking Permits
As a nonprofit, the event was able to use the allure of start area parking to raise additional money for their campaign to build Mt. Telemark Village. All purchasers of their Premium Permit holders also had the opportunity to provide an additional donation during the purchase path. Additionally, Premium Permit holders who donated $1,000 were given their Premium Permit free via Donation Discounts. This strategy allowed Birkie to use parking as an incentive to drive donations now, while encouraging people to think about donating a little more.
Purchase Path + Donation Option for Premium Permits
Purchase Path for a Premium Permit with a Donation Discount
Customer Spotlight: COOP FIS Cross-Country World Cup Minneapolis
The COOP FIS Cross-Country World Cup was hosted by the Loppet Foundation in 2024, the first world cup race to be held on U.S. soil in twenty years. In other words: this event was a big deal, and there were a lot of logistics to manage. In addition to selling spectator tickets on TicketSignup, Loppet managed parking sales for several parking options via TicketSignup.
Managing Multiple Parking Options (and Times)
With limited space on-site, Loppet set up parking reservation options for both nearby Park-and-Walk lots, and Park-and-Ride lots that operated a shuttle to the event. Their setup allowed spectators to select the lot of their choice for the day(s) they were attending. Additionally, the Park-and-Ride lots required purchasers to reserve a specific time to park. This ensured adequate shuttle space to get everyone to the venue efficiently.
One other simple thing that Loppet set up for World Cup parking? An easy way to look up parking reservations. With so many parking options, they knew that people may need a reminder about what they had purchased. By customizing the default wording from “ticket” to “parking reservation”, they were able to easily set up a button on the homepage that let people request their reservation information (essentially, simply resending their confirmation email).
Need to sell parking reservations for your event? Setup your parking reservations today or schedule a call to speak to a TicketSignup rep.