CHALLENGE

DAR Constitution Hall hosts dozens of area high school graduations each spring. Since 2014, DAR has utilized Colonial Parking^® as its primary parking resource to accommodate the large influx of traffic and provide ample parking for each ceremony. This task requires careful planning and savvy marketing expertise, as most graduations occur during the work week when nearby garages often reach capacity and offer limited availability.

APPROACH

To guarantee space for graduation attendees, Colonial developed an online weblink to pre-purchase parking. The link is distributed to all participating high schools before graduation and offers more than 9,900 spaces across 11 Colonial locations near DAR. Colonial strategically prices these locations to distribute traffic equally between the facilities, monitors the reservations in real-time, utilizes reservation data to predict drive-up traffic, and then adjusts inventories and pricing accordingly.

RESULTS

Online sales ensure Colonial successfully parks all graduation attendees each year, while significantly increasing revenue across all participating locations. We average 1,600 online reservations per graduation and our strategic pricing has resulted in a more than $20,000 year-over-year revenue increase.