Case Study
Chicago Athletic Association Hotel
Within one month, we increased revenue, decreased costs and delivered the first profitable month on record for the hotel’s parking department.
Overview
Chicago Athletic Association is a 241-room Chicago Athletic Association hotel. Built in the 1890s, the Venetian Gothic CAA operated until its close in 2007 as a private men’s club. It reopened in 2015 as a 4-star hotel. CAA struggled with service delivery in the parking department and received daily complaints from guests about extremely long vehicle retrieval times. The property was also struggling with parking revenue control and reporting.
Solutions
Leveraging industry relationships, we sourced a closer valet parking garage to reduce wait times. We rewrote the staffing schedule using a data based model. We created a 90-day action plan for service improvement which included luxury service and safety training for the existing valet team and quality measurement through a third party secret shopper program. We implemented revenue control software and a digital marketing plan to help increase parking revenue.
Results
Utilizing a data-based staffing model and closer parking garage, we reduced payroll costs and guest vehicle retrieval times by a staggering 87%. From an average of 30 minutes to under 7 minutes. Through an increase in leadership support, retraining of existing staff, and replacement of low-performing staff we improved service scores and now average 89% with scores as high as 96%.