ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In traffic-clogged cities across the U.S., we all are increasingly happy to turn our keys over to valets and tip them when they return our cars. But what’s the real story with valet parking? Below are fun facts about the industry that even the most serious valet parkers might not know.
AmeriPark, which offers parking management services for all kinds of venues from hotels to medical facilities to entertainment venues to retail, conducted research, including with its customers and drivers, and came up the Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Valet Parking list:
10. Men tip better than women by far. However, women valets get better tips.
9. If you are wondering why there aren’t more women valets, it’s because women don’t apply for the jobs. About 5 percent of AmeriPark valets are female, but the company would like to increase that stat.
8. The average tip is $3.
7. The No. 1 reason people valet park at malls is convenience.
6. You know how you see valets running like crazy? They have to pass a rigorous fitness test—including running around a building in two minutes and dashing up and down stairs—to get hired at AmeriPark.
5. Outside the Terminus mixed-use project in Atlanta, home to several restaurants, one valet wearing a pedometer recently clocked more than 10,000 steps in a six-hour shift.
4. Three-quarters of people tip better in bad weather.
3. Speaking of bad weather, which do valets dislike more, cold or rain? Answer: Rain!
2. T-Pain, Outkast and Usher are regular valet parkers at Atlanta’s Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square malls.
1. The industry’s biggest legend is from Los Angeles. Herb Citron, now in his 80s, was the first modern-day valet parker, at Lawry's The Prime Rib restaurant in 1946. He wore a red jacket and bowtie and charmed the customers. He went on to start his own valet service, which made him wealthy.
About AmeriPark
AmeriPark is a boutique provider of parking management services for a multitude of venues including: entertainment and retail complexes, hotels, hospitals, medical centers, residential buildings, office buildings, airports, restaurants and various special events.