Reserve Parking Spots Online with ParkWhiz

Yeah, you heard me.

For those who are familiar with OpenTable (online restaurant reservation service), the ability to go online and reserve a table instead of crossing your fingers and hoping all the other people who like to eat out on Saturday nights are hanging outside of the restaurant just for the breeze is a Godsend.

Take that idea and apply it to parking spots, and you have the new ParkWhiz online parking space reservation service that allows users to reserve parking spots for hundreds of locations across the US, including stadiums, theaters, and airports.

Just taking a look at some of the popular destinations on the site, and it seems as if the Chicago-based startup has a good amount of venues on the list. So far, the site has racked up 50,000 reservations, and plans to hit 100,000 reservations by the end of the year. So the process of finding a spot at your next event shouldn’t be too much of a challenge as ParkWhiz partners with parking lot owners (regardless of size) and handles the payment processing for the lot owners.

So let’s go over the process of finding and reserving (and paying) for a spot. You enter your destination, when you plan to arrive, and when you plan to depart, or you can find your venue and see a list of all the upcoming events for that venue and start there. The available spots are numbered on the map so you can see a graphical representation of where the available spots are in relationship to the venue location. The prices for the spots include any fees, so the price you see to reserve the spot is what you get. When you click on the spot you like, you will get more information about that spot:

- Exact location (and directions)
- Open or covered lot
- Self-park or valet
- Security, restrooms, and/or attendant on site, etc.

You even get recommendations about the spot from others who have parked there before. So you get the ‘low down’ on the spot before you decide to finalize the transaction. Once you’ve decided to pull the trigger on the spot, the payment process is similar to any other online payment system. Print out the ticket, and hand it to the attendant, and you are good to go. Finally, you get a FULL refund as long as you cancel 24 hours prior to your reservation date/time.

For those who want to list their space on ParkWhiz, like I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t matter the size lot. So If you live near an stadium or venue, and agree to ParkWhiz terms, you can list your driveway on the site for people to park. Listing is free, and ParkWhiz only collects a fee when the spot has been reserved.

So there you have it, the next time you plan to get tickets to the next big game, concert, or performance, check out ParkWhiz and plan your parking strategy ahead of time as well.

About the Author
Terrance Gaines is a husband, father and self-proclaimed Technology Evangelist who shares tech news, reviews, tips and tricks on his blog BrothaTech.com as well as other sites and in print media. You can also find him talking "all things tech" on Twitter @BrothaTech.
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