Airport parking customer research evaluating traveler preferences, pricing, and transportation choices.

Airport Parking Breakthroughs Research Case Study | Confero

Airport customer research reveals traveler parking preferences, pricing expectations, and decision drivers—helping airports increase utilization and grow non-aeronautical revenue.


The Challenge

Parking is the largest non-aeronautical revenue stream for many airports. At one U.S. airport with three parking locations, leadership lacked clarity on why travelers chose ride share, taxis, shuttles, or drop-offs instead of on-site parking.

Issues surfaced:

  • Under-used hourly areas → revenue leakage
  • Brand confusion (“only the garage is official parking”)
  • Limited insight into pricing perceptions, product preferences, and decision factors

The Objective

Partner with Confero to:

  • Understand traveler decision-making (parking vs. Uber/Lyft/shuttles)
  • Identify expectations for pricing, branding, and convenience
  • Provide evidence to shape new parking products
  • Align engineering, marketing, parking, and concessions around traveler-led insights

The Approach

Confero delivered a multi-method CX program:

  • Focus Groups: Leisure, business, and mixed-purpose travelers
  • Customer Surveys: Pricing expectations, brand perceptions, product appeal
  • Intercepts & Mystery Shopping: In-terminal, real-time traveler feedback
  • Iterative Testing: Additional groups to refine branding and product concepts

Findings were shared across parking leadership and cross-functional teams to drive consistent, traveler-centric decisions.


The Results:

  • New Parking Products: Converted an under-used lot into a mid-range “hybrid” option
  • Online Pre-Booking: Launched advance reservation + built an email database for loyalty and cross-marketing
  • Clearer Branding: Unified shuttle lots and terminal garages under one official parking brand
  • Loyalty & Revenue Growth: Even premium parkers shifted behavior for certain trip types → targeted offers increased utilization
  • Airport-Wide Impact: Insights also informed concessions strategy and future loyalty/rewards linking parking with F&B/retail

The Success

Traveler-led research enabled a parking portfolio redesign that improved utilization, clarity, and revenue—while aligning multiple departments around a single source of truth.


Key Takeaway

Confero helps airports translate traveler insights into revenue-ready parking strategies—from pricing and branding to pre-booking and loyalty integration.

The Marketing Research and Insight Excellent Awards Finalist powered by Quirks

Note: this work was recognized as a finalist for the Research and Insights Award.


Want to strengthen airport parking, concessions and the end-to-end passenger journey?
Contact Confero .

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