Recent UK press reports have been focusing on unscrupulous operators, revealing why it is essential to use reputable airport parking firms such as Airport Parking and Hotels (APH). Therefore, Airport Parking and Hotels (APH), the UK’s award winning long stay airport parking company, has created a list of top 10 tips to help travellers find a reputable airport parking company, ensuring their car is left in good hands and fully secured, whilst away.
The top 10 tips are available at www.aph.com/reputable-airport-parking and include:
Ensure It’s Not Too Good To Be True
Reputable operators invest large amounts of money to ensure customers’ cars are safe; from having well-maintained transfer coaches to 24-hour security staff, these are all areas rogue firms skip to maximise profits at the customers’ expense. So, if customers are tempted by a fee that significantly undercuts the prevailing market – it’s likely they will end up paying the price in other ways.
Choose Park Mark-Approved Car Parks Where Possible
The Safer Parking Scheme is a national standard for UK car parks that have low-crime and measures in place to ensure the safety of people and vehicles. A Park Mark is awarded to each car park that achieves challenging standards.
Choose a Gatwick Approved Operator For Meet and Greet
Gatwick Airport runs an Approved Operator Scheme to ensure passengers can leave their car with confidence when using meet and greet services at the airport. This is a vital tool to help avoid passenger’s cars being left on public streets or unprotected wasteland.
Check Out (Genuine) User Reviews
Looking at how previous customers rate a parking company is a great way to gauge how reputable it is. However, make sure reviews are genuine and are curated by an independent, external site, such as Reevoo. These cannot be tampered with by the car park operator and passengers should make sure that reviews contain negative as well as positive reviews.
Check The Company Physically Exists
Make sure the website has a ‘Contact Us’ section that displays a physical address for correspondence – and not just a registered office. Customers should also consider entering the address into Google Maps and clicking the Streetview option to see just how real it looks.
Check What And Who Is Behind The Website
Unscrupulous operators can set up a website offering unsafe airport parking within a few hours. Therefore, it is essential for customers to check a website’s domain name. If the address looks suspicious, or the domain was only recently registered, it could be worth avoiding or at least making further company checks.
Search Companies House For Information
The government offers a free service allowing customers to search its Companies House Database of registered companies. This can provide customers with a company’s information such as how long a business has been established and a list of its directors.
Check For Content On The Website and Social Media Channels
Checking out Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts is a great way to gauge the validity of a company. Not all firms will have the time or resources to create large amounts of content for social media, but quality over quantity is what customers should be looking for here.
Check The VAT Registration
Finding out if a company is VAT-registered will help customers get an understanding of how the company they are considering operates. This tax is paid by firms that have an annual turnover in excess of £82,000, so checking if it has a VAT number and if that number is genuine will help gauge if the firm is genuine
Trust Experience… It Tells A Long Story
Customers should not underestimate the power of experience and longevity if they want to find a safe and secure space for their vehicle. It’s likely a firm that’s been operating for decades has remained in business because of returning customers and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Nick Caunter, Managing Director for Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) says, “It saddens us every time a news story emerges where a customer has had a poor experience with a rogue trader in the airport parking industry. We know what it takes to provide a quality service on a 24/7/365 basis and those who cut corners will inevitably fail their customers; often in catastrophic ways.
“We understand how easy it is to be attracted to low prices, but for any parking services described as ‘Meet & Greet’ it’s important to note that the low price comes with a huge risk. When provided by a reputable operator, ‘Meet & Greet’ parking is a premium service, so we’d urge consumers to look very carefully at the tips in this article before they decide to entrust their car with anyone offering a price that looks too good to be true.”
For further information on Airport Parking and Hotels (APH),
Visit www.aph.com or call 01542 859515.
ENDS
About Airport Parking and Hotels (APH)
Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) is the UK’s award winning long stay airport parking operator and booking agency, after winning the Best Airport Parking Company for a fifth year running at British Travel Awards 2014. This year APH also celebrates its 35th year as a retailer and operator of pre-booked airport parking and travel extras. APH offers parking at all major UK airports as well as airport hotels packaged with parking and airport lounges. APH is also a carbon balanced company and has, through support of the World Land Trust, helped purchase more than 1,000 acres of endangered rainforest.
Media Enquiries
Sarah Salord / Lauren Hill / McCluskey International / 020 8747 2170 / aph@mccluskey.co.uk