Challenges for operators of bathing facilities

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High pressure due to seasonality

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The swimming season usually only lasts a short period of time. Therefore, the total turnover of outdoor pools and swimming lakes is mainly generated in the summer months. Operators are therefore under great pressure — in order to operate the facility profitably, the short time must be used in the best possible way and operations must be managed as efficiently as possible.

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High traffic and visitor numbers in the summer months have to be managed as soon as the weather changes, but the situation looks completely different: When it rains or low temperatures, visitors stay out and the parking spaces remain empty or are used by walkers, third-party parkers or other people, while the bathing facilities suffer from the lack of guests and cannot generate any revenue from using the parking areas.

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High traffic volume during peak hours

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Many bathers start their bathing day early at noon and head back home just before sunset. At precisely these times, there is a particularly high volume of traffic when entering and exiting the parking areas of the outdoor pools and swimming lakes.

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Searching for a parking space in vain, backlogs at parking barriers and long waiting times at parking machines can spoil guests' bathing pleasure. If third-party parkers such as campers or walkers occupy the parking spaces, this reduces the available spaces and extends the search for a parking space.

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Even for municipalities and administrations, this rush is not always pleasing, as vehicles are sometimes parked directly on the side of the road or in green areas that are not approved for parking.

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Staff shortages

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Another challenge is the shortage of skilled workers. The search for qualified specialists is very difficult for bathing establishments. As a result, it often happens that bathing establishments are severely understaffed and employees have to perform many different tasks. Managing parking spaces, helping with lost parking tickets or defective hardware are part of this.

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Occupation of parking spaces by third-party parkers

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Challenges also arise from users of parking spaces who occupy the parking spaces for a long period of time or use the parking lot but do not visit the outdoor pool. If the parking areas are not controlled, these third-party parkers use the parking spaces for any length of time and block them from visitors to the outdoor pool, but without generating revenue. This prevents additional economic income for bathing facility operators, who lose potentially paying customers due to the unavailable parking space. Due to a lack of capacity, third-party parkers are not checked and followed up in most cases. For more information on how to avoid bad parkers, see the blog article Avoid incorrect parkers.

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Parking concepts for swimming pools and swimming lakes

In order to use parking space all year round and offer guests a relaxing bathing day and satisfying experience while conserving employee resources, parking concepts are needed that efficiently manage parking space and traffic on parking areas at swimming lakes and leisure pools.

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We will show you how parking operators can manage parking chaos at peak times with low costs and effort and at the same time generate additional revenue from their parking spaces

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Digital parking space management for outdoor pools and swimming lakes

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A particularly effective way to make parking management at swimming lakes and swimming pools more profitable and customer-friendly is to use digital solutions that enable automated access control without parking barriers.

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Benefits of digital parking space management

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Higher sales potential through year-round income

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Operators of outdoor pools and swimming lakes have the opportunity to generate new revenue opportunities through digital parking space management. The prices for the parking process can be individually adjusted to different customer groups, for example, day and season tickets can be configured. If a service with tracking of incorrect parkers is also selected, third-party parkers are avoided without further costs or personnel costs and additional revenue is generated through tracking. Since parking management operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and therefore also runs outside of the bathing facility's operating hours, this can also lead to increased turnover. This reduces the high degree of weather and seasonality of bathing establishments.

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View all data via a simple dashboard

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Data transparency is ensured by the central availability of all parking process data in dashboard guaranteed by Peter Park's parking space management system. In this way, information on parking space utilization can always be viewed, visitor flows, peak hours and other trends identified in order to effectively manage parking space management.

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Payment can also be viewed via the tool. Operators also have an up-to-date overview of all parking areas and their occupancy, can set various rates such as day tickets or hourly tickets and link their offers with various tourism cards and discounts. Parking permits can also be issued digitally, which makes it much easier to manage access for employees, suppliers and repair work and allows free parking for specific groups or people.

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Happy bathers

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Thanks to the automatic registration of license plates, the flow of traffic does not stall when entering and exiting the parking area, even at peak times, as drivers no longer have to stop in front of a barrier to draw or redeem a parking ticket. Searching for a parking space is simplified by a smooth flow of traffic and payment through cashless and contactless payment options such as NFC, which means significantly less effort when parking.

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Visitors can also control their parking stay even more easily with a parking app such as EasyPark or Parkster, which further simplifies the parking process and makes it even faster. Since parking tickets are superfluous due to digital parking space management, they cannot be lost. This saves guests high costs due to loss payments. The entire parking process is smooth and pleasant and guests can start their day at the beach in a relaxed manner and finally head back home feeling refreshed.

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The City of Varel's own Tourism and Baths business has already had very positive experiences with the Peter Park system:

”As a busy holiday destination, we feel committed to our guests to making their stay with us as pleasant as possible — this includes a convenient and seamless parking experience. Especially during peak hours, we want to use the digital parking system to ensure an effective and smooth flow of traffic without traffic jams and long queues at vending machines“,

says Johann Taddigs from Varel's own tourism and spas company.

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Fewer wrong-way parkers and relieves staff

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Long-term parkers, campers or other third-party parkers are identified by license plate recognition as soon as the maximum parking period is exceeded and, if desired, are automatically tracked. As a result, the parking space remains free for bathers and local staff do not have to deal with complaint management.

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Higher profitability due to lower costs

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The implementation of a digital barrier-free parking space management system eliminates the costs of maintenance, repair and control personnel. Downtime is also caused by defective barriers or ticket machines were avoided, as barriers and tickets due to the implementation of ANPR technology and the digital administration system will be replaced. The low-maintenance hardware of the Peter Park system is significantly cheaper to buy and maintain and also reduces your power consumption. There is also no need for personnel to fill the parking area, as parking tickets for wrong-way parkers are automatically generated and tracked. The operating costs of the parking area are thus effectively reduced, while additional revenue potential is opened up.

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Enable cashless payments

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Cashless payment helps visitors to shorten queues when paying at the vending machine. For example, if contactless payments are made, the payment process takes an average of five seconds less. Payment via app completely avoids going to the vending machine.

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Another advantage: There is no need to buy parking tickets in advance; the parking process is only completed when you leave the area. This allows bathers to completely relax and focus on their visit. You don't have to remember to buy a new paper ticket and place it behind the windshield of your car. This increases bathers' satisfaction, they may stay longer and are more likely to come back.

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Improved markings and signs

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Better signs and markings on the parking area offer visitors better orientation and unnecessary traffic is avoided by making additional rounds. This in turn reduces traffic jams and waiting times and thus contributes to a reduction in exhaust gases.

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Possible improvements may include:

• tags
  If there are no road and direction markings yet, they should be drawn urgently to steer traffic on the area.
• signage
  Clear signs with information about where the parking machine is located and information about the parking area at the entrance can steer traffic and flows of people.

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Operators and visitors of outdoor pools and swimming lakes benefit from digital parking solutions

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Especially in the summer months, operators of parking areas at swimming lakes need good parking concepts to cope with the crowds. There are various options for this, such as providing additional parking space, improving signs, automatic number plate recognition and cashless payments. In most cases, a strong concept comprises a combination of the methods presented.

However, modern technologies in digital parking space management are crucial to overcome these challenges. They also offer parking operators many significant advantages, such as increased profitability, lower costs and personnel costs and low-maintenance hardware, while bathers benefit in particular from the time savings and the seamless and congestive parking process.

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