SUCCESS STORIES: Universal Parking Helps St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Increase Revenue by 200%

St. Joseph Mercy Oakland (SJMO) is a 428-bed comprehensive community hospital and a long-time leader in health care in Oakland County. It is a member of Trinity Health, the fourth largest Catholic health care system in the United States. In terms of parking, the hospital offers both a free self-parking deck and daily valet parking service at the main entrance for a fee. SJMO's parking department is controlled by the Department of Public Safety.

PROBLEM SUMMARY:
The hospital was experiencing several problems related to their parking operations. As a result of a lack in accountability by the previous parking company, guests were allowed to self-park in the circle drive of the main entrance. These vehicles were not included in the parking numbers and the revenues were not credited to the hospital. In addition, this unmonitored self parking was a fire hazard and needed to be eliminated immediately. The un-reconcilable system meant there was no way to accurately control revenue or accuracy evaluate the efficiency of the service. The ability for the hospital to analyze parking data is essential to forecast staffing levels as well as revenues projections. To manage these issues, hospital management needed access to timely, accurate actionable information.

BUSINESS SOLUTION:
The hospital was looking for a parking vendor that could alleviate their immediate issues while providing accurate revenue controls and a hands-on approach to the day to day management of the entire parking operations. SJMO looked to Universal Parking to design and deploy a parking solution to address and alleviate their concerns. The goal of this service was to monitor and improve parking revenues, eliminate self parking in the front lane, and create a positive first and last impression for guest upon arrival and departure of the hospital.

BENEFITS:
Return on Investment (ROI):
The valet parking operation became an integral revenue source for the hospital. Prior to implementing Universal's service, the hospital was recognizing 25 cars parked per day. After Universal introduced its business practices along with its proprietary parking management software, ValeTrac™, the numbers immediately increased to 75 cars parked per day, which was an increase of 300% or an additional $50,000 per year in revenue.

Intangibles:
By employing an active management team and Universal's training program, Hospitality First™, customer complaints were dramatically reduced.

Parking customers noticed a decreased wait time in the retrieval of vehicles due to efficiency monitoring of parking staff.

The entire front area of the hospital has remained clear and free of vehicles allowing easier arrival and departure of patients and visitors.

Due to the increase in revenues the Security Department and Hospital Management recognized a decrease in net expenses for parking related services.

HOW UNIVERSAL PARKING HELPED ST. JOSEPH MERCY OAKLAND:

Prior to the implementation of ValeTrac™ administrators did not have a system of accounting for billable attendant hours, the number of vehicles parked and revenues collected. The data collected allowed Universal Parking to provide educated recommendations on required staffing levels to best serve the needs of the patient and visitor. Following the changeover to Universal Parking, Anthony Iafrate, Director of Public Safety commented, "We immediately noticed improved parking results on our hospital campus, both in the number of cars parked and customer satisfaction.