Hotel Palomar Atlanta outfitted with Automated Valet technology

The 4-Star Hotel Palomar in Atlanta is a 21-story, 304-room luxury site with parking services operated by LAZ Parking. Located in Midtown Atlanta near Georgia Tech, Centennial Olympic Park, CNN Center and the Georgia Dome, it hosts a wide range of guests all of whom expect superior accommodations.

The hotels high standards and some site-specific challenges led LAZ Parking to select Automated Valet for the recent installation of a fully automated valet operation. The installation includes features for gate control, security, remote reporting, validation tracking, VIN decoding & recognition and much more. The entire operation functions outdoors so all of the technology and hardware is made to resist heat and cold.

One of the major challenges of the installation was the need for hardware that could withstand the elements. The valet kiosk, with printing, scanning, validation and credit card processing capabilities, is located outdoors. The site required an outdoor touch screen so every valet procedure was programmed to take commands from that type of interface. Automated Valets technology works with the touch screen without a mouse or keyboard.

Access to the garage was also a challenge. Security is tight and the garage entrances are only accessible to staff and guests. At entry, the Virtual Data Entry feature decodes VIN numbers and can even recognize repeat customers. The Garage Access Control feature is installed at the entrance/exit to ensure only employees and guests enter and no vehicle moves through the garage without an employee or leaves the facility without its owner. The gates do not open if the Garage Access Control system does not recognize the valet behind the wheel.

For quality control, two important features were included in the installation. The Operation Board, located inside the facility in the dispatch office, tracks keys and cars to prevent loss or misplacement. If keys are not delivered to the dispatch office within 12 minutes of receipt, staff is alerted to the situation. The Enterprise feature keeps offsite management in touch with the operation at all times.

LAZ Parking Executive Vice President Robert DeBurro says the Enterprise feature has become indispensable at other locations he operates so it was no question it would be part of the Hotel Palomar installation. LAZ headquarters are in Hartford, CT and it has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The company manages more than 500,000 parking spaces in 20 different states so remote access to real-time reports makes everything run more smoothly.

We can see every transaction going on at this location no matter where we are. It saves us time and money to have all this information at our fingertips, DeBurro says.

The Hotel Palomar site is totally automated with exceptional revenue control features and reporting options. Automated Valet Founder and CEO Ken Gulec says it is a model of the possibilities.

We can create a customized installation like this for anyone. We make our great product fit with the operations needs and its all adaptable and expandable, Gulec says. As usual, it has been great to work with LAZ on a facility of this caliber.

AVPM, the only valet parking application of its kind. For more information visit www.automatedvalet.com or www.valetsolutions.com