Valet Text For Retrieval Technology. If you work in the parking industry, you’ve probably heard of this valet technology or even seen it in action. Maybe you’ve even been told you need to start using it. No matter what, you’ve probably thought: Is it right for my operation?

What is Text for Retrieval Technology?

Text for Retrieval Technology offers your customers the convenience of simply sending a text when they are ready for their vehicle. This makes it possible for you to have their vehicle waiting for them by the time they reach the curb. Who wouldn’t like that?

All text for retrieval technology solutions (also referred to as text ahead) give your customers the ability to text to retrieve their vehicle. Others can offer automated responses and mobile pay solutions. More advanced and complex ones can fully integrate with your point-of-sale system offering all these things and more.

Regardless of the features, the goal of offering a text for retrieval system is to expedite the retrieval process so your customers have little to no wait.

How It Works…

1. Your customer sends a text with their claim check number when they’re ready for their vehicle.
2. The text for retrieval system receives the request and notifies your valet(s) to start the retrieval process.
3. An automated confirmation text is sent back to the customer confirming the request.
4. Your valet retrieves the customer’s vehicle before they reach the staging area.

The Benefits…

• Customers can send a text from anywhere within your venue
• Hotel room
• Casino floor
• Hospital waiting room
• Dining room
• Allows you to deliver customer vehicles with little to no wait
• The customer never gets a busy signal trying to call in their claim check and never has to wait until the valet returns to start the retrieval process in person

What about those customers that request their vehicle and then get side tracked and take longer than expected to get to the curb? (This will happen) Most text for retrieval technology have options to send text reminders and automated calls to notify customers that their vehicle is waiting or that it has been reparked. Keep this in mind when choosing the technology that’s right for you. More about this below.

Is Text for Retrieval Technology Right For Your Operation?

Most of the time, the answer is yes. Why? Couldn’t you just continue to answer the phone and wait for the customer to bring the claim check to you?

Sure you could, but don’t you want to speed up the process for both your valets and your customers? By not offering this solution, your valets will be spending most of their day answering phone calls and searching for customers claim checks all leading to slow vehicle retrieval times and poor customer satisfaction scores.

You can of course keep the phone and claim check hand off options but why not also offer the text for retrieval option? It’s a win win for everyone involved.

How Do You Decide Which Text for Retrieval Technology to Select?

There are many text for retrieval technology solutions that could work for your operation. It all depends on which features your operation needs most. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help figure out which text for retrieval system you should get:

• Do you currently have a point-of-sale system (POS) or do you plan on getting one soon? If you do or are thinking about implementing one, you will want a text for retrieval solution that will integrate with your POS so you aren’t running multiple systems.
• Do you not have a need for a POS system at your operation? In this case look for a standalone text for retrieval system that’s cellular based. Standalone systems are usually much cheaper to operate and everyone loves that.
• Do you care about your customer’s privacy? I’m sure you do so look for a solution that puts your customer’s privacy first. Make sure the solution you choose keeps your customers phone numbers 100% private. If you are searching for a POS solution at the same time, you want to make sure the solution is PCI-DSS Compliant.

The best way to find out what you need right now is to talk with both management and your front line team. This way, you’ll find out what features your operation needs from a high level view and in the day-to-day.

The morale of the story: If you’re running a valet operation and intend to keep growing and keeping customer satisfaction scores at the highest of levels, you should integrate text for retrieval technology into your operation. Your success depends on being able to offer quick service with great customer service. Giving your customers a text for retrieval option only helps take your service to the next level.

Want to see a text for retrieval solution in action? Feel free to contact us to chat about parking or to see one of our text for retrieval solutions in action.

PS. Do you know how many text messages are sent each day? In June of 2014, over 561,000,000,000 text messages were shared each day. A number that grew from 12,000,000 in June of 2000. Source: Neilson