We’ve all dealt with it at some point.
They put up some new hotel, mall or casino, hype it up like a Justin Bieber concert (I never thought I’d ever use his name in a story), yet for one reason or another, their parking sucks. Big time.
Just recently, I went over to Discover Suites in Ortigas for an event. Now being a classy hotel and all, you would expect them to have great parking and they do… if your car is no larger than a Fiesta.
So imagine my surprise when I drove down to the Discovery Suites basement in the new 300C. Apparently, guests are only allowed to park on Basement 3, 4 and 5, yet the ramps that lead down to it will only fit the smallest compact cars. Surely they realize that customers that can afford to stay here will probably drive nice, big cars right?
The turn to the ramp just seems to have been designed by a guy who has never, ever driven a car before. The sharp corner is literally a corner. No matter how sharply I tried to turn the Chrysler, I would have either sheared off the door or scraped the bumper on the wall… and both walls already had the scars from previous patrons.
When I tried to reason with the attendants if I could park on the level I was on, they vehemently tried to get me to go down the ramp because all the empty slots were reserved for delivery trucks and other vehicles. Who delivers to a hotel on a Sunday, just before midnight?
Is this how they repay patronage? With crappy parking that’ll damage your car?
Then there’s Tomas Morato Avenue’s parking. Now all those red parking slots were constructed by the city government of Quezon City, not by the restaurants or establishments in front of them. So it’s annoying that those restaurants have the audacity to put a “reserved” sign on them.
I remember this one security guard who tried to force me to move my car because I wasn’t going to their restaurant in front. What I told him, the head waiter and the restaurant manager was really simple: show me a certificate or some kind of title that you have some kind of right to exercise ownership of the slot and I’ll move. If you can’t, then I’ll be on my way. Oh, and you can forget the tip.
For me, the hands down worst place in terms of parking (vis-a-vis the location) has to be Resorts World Manila. Seriously, why would you bother putting up a first world hotel and casino yet screw it all up with third, fourth and fifth world parking?
There’s a parking complex built into the main building of RWM, but the way it was designed is just wrong. At one point, cars going in will cross the path of the cars going out. They’ve sorely miscalculated the number of cars that will also be using the parking building and thus only opened one payment booth (at the time) leading to extremely long lines that stretch up to 3 levels, ramps and all. It’s like they’re trying to piss us off and force us to valet our cars.
And then comes that open parking (now steel) complex outside. It’s a bit of a walk, but that’s not the problem. Once again, it’s the crappy way it was conceived as the line going out used to stretch up to the 2nd level. Of course, they wanted to cure this problem so they listened to what the carpark and RWM patrons suggested: open a separate booth where customers can pay before they get in their cars.
Well, that suggestion seems to have been lost in translation, as while they did put up a separate booth, they also saw fit to close the booth at the exit of the carpark. The result? Customers now had to stand in an equally long line in our hot, tropical weather or worse, monsoon rains instead of having two places to pay at. Who wants to stand in line for up to 30 minutes (no kidding) after having a nice evening and playing at the tables inside their nice hotel and casino?
You went to a high class hotel, but ended up parking at the last resort.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s the ridiculous “Management will not be held responsible for any damage, theft or loss that occurs within the carpark premises” or any of its similar permutations. Isn’t that why there are security guards in the first place? Aren’t they paid to “guard” the cars?
There are so many stories, but very little time. I’m sure you have your own horror stories to tell, and please feel free to do so below.
To the management of these places, all I can say is that customer service does not begin with the pretty girl’s smile at the concierge. It begins the moment we park our cars at your place… after all, we are entrusting our cars -the second most important purchase many of us have made- to your care.
We deserve better.
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Vince Pornelos
Associate Editor
www.autoindustriya.com
