Hello, Brett! Tell us a little something about yourself. What's your background and professional expertise?
Hello there. I’ve trained as a lawyer and joined a multigenerational family company in the late 1970s as a general counsel of the company at the time. That job morphed into various responsibilities, including business development law, government relations, banking, a whole display of activities to build a successful company that continues to this day, changed somewhat by the fact this very large company was sold. I took a break, then resumed my role doing investment, advisory, management operations and investing in promising companies within the parking industry.
What first drew you to the parking industry?
It was an unintentional result of a law firm breaking up back in the day, before the internet, and finding the need to have interviews and dropping off my resume with lawyers. My family had a small business, just a desk and a phone, but I used that platform to find my next position. However, a new position was not to be the case. I added value to the company and convinced my family to hire me.
In 1920, my family opened a parking company in Jersey City, NJ, where it’s located to this day. My father and uncle joined the business after World War II, and I joined in the late 70s, after getting a law degree.
Are there any challenges you've striven to overcome, either personal or professional?
Businesses are always a challenge. There are economic challenges, competitive challenges, skilled competitors, family commitments, and balance against corporate needs. Once in a while as a professional, I screwed up and made some not-so-wise business decisions, such as expansion and leverage, which needed course corrections, but were valuable lessons learned.
How did On Air Parking get started?
I'm a former chair and president of the National Parking Association, active there for many years. In the beginning, I was greeted at my first meeting by people I didn’t know, and therefore I have fulfilled that role going forward. Patrick Murray showed up at that first meeting. He didn’t know anyone, so I introduced myself and chatted with him and invited him to lunch. We discussed background and experience, and he invited me to visit him with his then-employer and I spent a day with him. I have a high regard for enthusiasm and initiative.
Soon after, it became apparent he and I should do something together, and he took leave of his existing employer.
It all started with a simple idea. In the course of my entire history in the parking business, at the end of the day, there are parking spaces that are chronically unsold. How do we monetize and sell those spaces? How do we sell them without sacrificing existing customers? On Air Parking solves that question. Unsold inventory can be sold, bringing in money for operators and creating a tiered pricing system without interfering with operators selling the parking spaces at their own facility. How do you do it successfully? On Air is the answer.
Pat was undaunted in his ability to create something out of nothing and to create all the pieces of a successful business. I provided investment and lifetime opportunities—business opportunities. We formed a very effective business plan. The two of us formed a perfect pairing.
How has the parking industry grown over the years, and have you noticed any exciting new trends or developments?
It has benefited from technological innovations, from attractiveness to potential investors, mobility, movement—it’s an important cog in the transportation needs of the country. People will continue to need a place to put their cars when they’re not at home. The industry has grown dramatically. The number of talented young people in the industry is also a great trend. I’ve sponsored Forbes’ 40 Under 40 over the years, and the number of applicants in that group is huge. They’re seeking to make the parking industry a career for themselves, whereas before it was a stopping point to something else.
How has On Air Parking remained relevant among similar parking competitors?
We have created a particular answer in the parking industry that the competitors don't have—the ability to place people in parking facilities at sometimes highly value-oriented rates, and when those spaces fill up we have a tiered pricing system. Our competitors, our aggregators, don’t answer. Ours is a highly specialized answer.
What we have found is the customers who have enjoyed parking with us are relatively unlikely to pay full price for their parking. It’s equivalent to when the off-price shopping outlets came to be, when people who wouldn't go to the department store to buy a shirt for $40 will go to the outlet to buy for $20. We market to new customers and returning customers because the clients we deal with provide first-class service and we provide a stream of customers they wouldn’t ordinarily have. We are pretty unique in the industry. We’ve made proprietary software and have maintained relationships that have continued on to this day.
An example of a service our competitors couldn’t provide would be how we took care of our customers during the Covid-19 lockdown. Back in 2020, no one could travel. The parking industry took a huge hit. We had customers all over the country who could no longer take that vacation or that business trip and we had to make a scary business decision, one that could have easily tanked the company. But we decided to refund them all.
This resulted in highly impressing our new and returning customers, making them amazingly loyal to our brand. Refunding every customer during those times was a bold move, yet none of our competitors did the same. We survived the lockdown and now thrive due to that decision. It was one of the best decisions we ever made as a company.
What innovations do you see on the horizon?
We are testing various innovations that make the customer experience easier and quicker, with better execution. We pride ourselves on our high level of customer service, so we have many innovations in the works here.
The On Air Parking app is a wonderful way for people to find us, use us, and shortcut the commitment process. We’ll be promoting it heavily going forward, and it already has a large following, which makes what we do very easy for our customers.
What does the future look like for On Air Parking? What are some ways the company might continue or grow their 5-star service?
We have grown in the off-airport parking marking with a very significant presence. We are seeing growth in city centers and commercial parking operations around the country. In fact, we have ongoing sales in several cities as a test to see what works. We know we have the ability to attract multi-day users who will fill spaces over days—not peak days—Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are the work days, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the weekends. Yet they are far from what they were in the past. Therefore we intend to continue to mind those areas where we know we can bring value to parking operators, where we know people are there looking for multi-day stays. Our work has shown seventy-five percent of the people in New York City take one weekend day for multi-day stays. It will have a significant impact on our business and growth. That’s where we’re headed.
In your opinion, how might an online parking business adapt to growing trends in the parking industry?
We like to think we’re a trendsetter in what we’re doing. I feel very proprietary about the company and that people don’t follow us as a trend. Anything that makes the customer experience superior and less cumbersome, our app is an example of finding those opportunities overlooked by other people in the industry and using our resources to focus our efforts and continue to succeed.
Since travel fluctuations are seen more often during holiday seasons and certain times of year, how does a parking business accommodate capacity challenges during the busy seasons?
There is seasonality to the business and certainly holiday travel is significant. It’s interesting, one of the statistics I’ve heard over Labor Day weekend was from AAA, that more people plan to drive than to fly as airlines have reduced capacity. They’re able to use their pricing power to achieve higher prices which discourages people from air travel. Now when that happens at off-air locations, who have more inventory than normal, and as travel becomes higher-priced and people seek more options, it creates more opportunities for us.
Considering the downturn in the economy, we are at the lower end of the value chain—the bargain basement of parking—so we seek to have significant inventory for lower-priced parking. However, where we can’t do that, where we have agreements to raise our prices due to demand, we can have inventory, but we are committed to continuing to have the lowest price available. Our business plan is to continue to place people at parking facilities, but perhaps not at the level they expected.
We are doing the same thing the airlines have done for years—we have become the bargain brand, but when that bargain is not available, we are able to give parking at a higher price to satisfy our clients and parking partners. Not the higher price, mind, but we’re still around when nobody else is.
What words of wisdom do you have for anyone who might be looking to break into the parking industry?
There’s opportunity. There are energized, potential employees that want to make a career of it. It's a pathway to have great success and I encourage people to be part of this industry. It has come such a long way over the years, and opportunities are abounding! Look at the industry as an opportunity to succeed in America.
Any advice to entrepreneurs or business owners in general?
Try not to screw up too much. Learn all you can from colleagues, watch what the successful people do, but forge your own path. I can’t say it enough, the value the National Association has created for networking and understanding the state of the parking business. It’s a great way to gain knowledge and relationships for their entire career.
Anything else you'd like us to know?
I’m proud of what On Air has done, and like every other business, I think pride is great but ongoing success is even greater. We’re all dedicated to a successful path into the future.
Watch the Parking Pioneers Brett Harwood YouTube Interview: