Leading Airport Parking Company Launches for Agents and Signs First Customer

    LEEDS, ENGLAND, November 09, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The UK's biggest provider of meet and greet parking at UK airports has today launched a dedicated sales channel for travel agents - www.StressFreeAirportParking.com, which operates its own facilities at six UK airports and sells at all other major UK airports, plus one UK port, has promised agents market-leading commission rates.

The company, which to date has sold direct-to-consumers online, believes that the airport meet and greet concept is now significant enough both in market size and consumer understanding to launch through travel agents - the company has signed up its first client, TD Travel Management, one of the UK's leading independent business travel agents.

StressFreeAirportParking.com says agents have a significant role to play in expanding the meet and greet sector - figures released recently from airport parking price comparison site Looking4Parking.com showed that the meet and greet sector grew from 49.17% in 2011 to 58.72% in 2012, an increase of 9.6% of all airport parking.

The growth was at the expense of park and ride schemes which lost 5.2% of the overall share (down from 36.08% to 30.92%) and onsite parking which lost 4.4% (down from 14.75% to 10.37%).

Martin Mansell, Managing Director at StressFreeAirportParking.com, said: "The airport parking sector has seen little innovation over the years, but meet and greet is a significant development for the industry and is experiencing rapid, year-on-year growth.

"Having someone collect your car at the airport terminal before you travel and deliver it on your return, used to be perceived as a luxury, but in many cases it is no more expensive than standard airport car parking.

"We believe that savvy, online consumers have worked this out for themselves and this is driving significant growth in the sector.

"We're now opening up a sales channel for agents as we know that this will broaden our reach and expand the industry in the UK.

"We liken the sector to the airport lounge upgrade that was once perceived as an unaffordable luxury used only by business travellers, but actually in some airports, for about the same price as standard airport parking, you can start your holiday stress-free.

"The same is now true of the airport meet and greet service - agents can up-sell a more refined and relaxed start and end to a customer holiday or business trip, but with little extra cost compared to standard airport parking.

"As we provide more meet and greet facilities than any other company, and because we have our own facilities at six UK airports - as well as Southampton port - we're unique in terms of scale and expertise so we can drive the lowest prices meaning we can support travel agents by offering market-leading commissions."

The company's first client is TD Travel Management - its CEO Ian White, said: "As a business travel management company, we make our customers' travel experience as straightforward as possible, and it is critical for us to be able to book travel itineraries seamlessly.

"The StressFreeAirportParking service allows us to factor in parking services into our clients' bookings meaning they are looked after from the moment they leave the door to returning home again and we're delighted to be their launch customer."

StressFreeAirportParking.com prices start from GBP30 per car, per day, rising to GBP40 for a weekend, and GBP55 for one week - the company operates its own facilities for Birmingham, East Midlands, Glasgow, Heathrow, Luton and Southampton, sells at all other major UK airports, plus one UK port, Southampton.

Travellers are greeted by uniformed staff immediately outside the airport terminal, who park the customer's car in a secure parking bay. The car is returned to the customer outside the terminal when they return home.

A poll of 1,000 people in the last 12 months by airport parking price comparison site Looking4Parking.com showed that 83% of travellers using meet and greet airport parking saved between one and two hours compared to other types of airport parking.

*Agents looking to earn commission from selling meet and greet parking can register for free and transact at www.stressfreeairportparking.com/travel-agent-login

About StressFreeAirportParking.com

Established in 2010, StressFreeAirportParking.com is now the biggest provider of meet and greet parking at UK airports. It has its own facilities at six UK airports (Birmingham, East Midlands, Glasgow, Heathrow, Luton and Southampton) and sells at all other major UK airports plus one UK port (Southampton).

www.stressfreeairportparking.com

Further information:

For further press information contact Adrian Johnson [email protected], Jon Priestley [email protected], or Tom Scott [email protected] in the StressFreeAirportParking.com Press Office 0800 4 10 20 10.

Umpf is one of the new breed of PR agencies working beyond traditional, one-way media relations. In today's PR world, interaction, relationships, communities and conversations are equally as important as the ink of media coverage.

We deliver clever, creative campaigns across traditional, digital and social media channels.

It's like PR, but with a bit more Umpf. Visit http://www.umpf.co.uk/.

# # #