I was in Dallas again last weekend because my son had an event. The event was scheduled to run late on Saturday. Instead of making the two hour drive home, I decided to spend the night in the metroplex. As you already know, I enjoy any time spent in Dallas/Fort Worth. I booked the overnight stay at the Sheraton Suites, which was across the street from the Hilton Anatole and minutes from the Marriott Suites.
I will finish the full review in the coming days. This post will cover one thing I found a bit different during this hotel visit.
While booking the hotel, I checked to see if the hotel offered complimentary parking. The Marriott Bonvoy app showed parking was supposedly $12/day. $12/day is not a bad price, considering some of the hotel parking in Dallas can be as much as $35/night.
Upon arrival at the property, I noticed a huge, enclosed parking lot to my left and an “open” parking lot to the right. The parking lot to my left, or main parking lot, had way more spaces. During all of my previous hotel stays, the parking fee was added to the bill or removed due to having elite status. Either way, it was handled inside of the hotel.
The entire process was forever changed on this day. I was met with the following sign as I entered the main parking lot.
The sign contained instructions on how to pay for parking prior to entering the hotel. As a matter of fact, these instructions were posted everywhere. This shocked me, as I had never seen such a thing before. Premium Parking was now the overseer of the lot, not the hotel.
I figured that I needed to pay then bring it up to the front desk once inside. I texted the parking lot number to the number listed on the sign and received the following response.
Once I clicked through the link, there were a few other steps to complete. I first entered my license plate information.
I then chose the duration of my stay. The total price ended up being $13.25 for 22 hours. This was a bit more than the $12/day quoted on the website. NOTE: I paid for two cars, one for 22 hours and the other for 14 hours, the prices were the same.
The last step was to enter my credit card information.
The entire process took about five minutes. It was painful, just a bit different.
Once inside, I asked the front desk about the pay in the lot parking. She told me it was something the hotel chose to do a month prior and everyone was getting used to it. Apparently, this parking method was supposed to save guests time. It did not on this visit, maybe because it was my first time using it??? I was also told that if the parking pas expires, cars would be towed.
As I was nearing the end of my stay, I received a message from Premium Parking which served as a 15 minutes warning to the expiration of my visit. I could either leave at that moment or extend my parking through the website or app. I was leaving the property already.
I left the parking lot shortly after my pass expired. The company sent me a survey about the use of this parking method. I have not taken it because I am not sure what to make of this different way of paying for parking.
Have you ever used Premium Parking?
