Background.

Transcription

1 INDUSTRY CASE STUDY

2 2 Background BCP was established in airport car parking in 1978 with the acquisition of a car park at Gatwick situated on the airport boundary at the end of the runway, less than 10 minutes from the airport terminals. Capacity has steadily been increased to its current level of almost 5,000 cars and it remains the busiest off-airport car park in the country. In October 1991 the scope of BCP s car parking operations was extended by setting up a multi-airport car parking booking system using a network of high quality professional airport car parks around the country. BCP continues to work very closely with these Partners in Parking. Over the years BCP continued to develop its range of products and services (see next section). In May 2003 BCP was acquired by Q- Park, Europe s fifth largest car park operator with over 400 car parks and over 180,000 spaces across Europe. It is market leader in Holland and has operations in France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and, most recently, Denmark. Q-Park had already in 2001 acquired what was then named Universal Parking which operates some 50 car parks including off-airport car parks at Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. With the BCP acquisition, Q-Park retained the entire BCP management team, considering BCP s marketing and bookings business as an integral part of it future plans for growth. Q-Park has since added sites at 5 other airports to its portfolio.

3 3 BCP s Product and Services On and off airport car parking The BCP network of 47 car parking products at 21 airports now includes group car parks at: Heathrow Gatwick Manchester Newcastle Glasgow There are also third party off-airport car parks at other UK locations. BCP also has advance booking facilities for the on-airport car parks at: Heathrow Luton London City Manchester Liverpool Nottingham East Midlands Newcastle Humberside Blackpool Doncaster Sheffield Durham Tees Valley Southampton Bristol Cardiff

4 4 Prestwick Belfast International BCP handles all car parking telephone enquiries for a number of airport authorities as well as marketing them through its distribution channels. In April 2007 BCP celebrated the opening of a brand new, purpose built, Fast Link multi-storey car park at Heathrow. The new facility is part of a 11 million investment in UK airport car parks by BCP's parent company, Q-Park. Safety and security is always key for BCP when offering new products and the new Q-Park London Heathrow car park lives up to the high standards set, as recognised by the ParkMark award. Security was a priority from the design stage, with a 10-stage security check procedure including 24-hour manning by trained and uniformed Q- Park hosts, the latest technology in vehicle scanning and CCTV monitoring, and the first application of tracker key technology within an airport parking environment. This technology allows every detail of a vehicle's on-site journey to be recorded, providing the customer with the ultimate peace of mind. The new car park is ideally located just off the A4, only five minutes to the road tunnel that serves Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Frequent courtesy buses are provided to transport customers to the terminals. Prices at Q-Park start from 9.50 per day and motorists do not have to prebook, they simply arrive at the car park and deliver their car for parking.

5 5 City Centre Car Parking BCP customers can also pre-book city centre car parking at 10 car parks in London. This saves them up to 40% off the normal 24-hour turn-up rate, guarantees a parking space and lets customers make a secure credit card booking. City Centre Car Parking is ideal for overnight trips to London, whether on a theatre visit, shopping and sightseeing or simply visiting friends. Car Parks are charged on precisely a 24 hour basis with the 24 hours being taken from the time that the customer enters the car park on the day of travel. Any hours over the 24 hour periods booked are charged locally at the car park. Other Car Parking BCP also offers customers access to facilities for parking at Eurostar Waterloo (introduced in 2002), and the ferry and cruise terminals at Dover. Meet and Greet Parking Service BCP works hard to be innovative in the field of travel-to-airport services. In 1996 a Meet and Greet Parking Service was introduced. With this service the customer is met at the terminal on his/her departure and return, and his/her car driven to a nearby secure car park by a professional and fully insured driver. This service is now available at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.

6 6 Chauffeur Service In 1996 BCP also launched ChauffeurDrive Express, a high quality chauffeur driven car service taking customers to and from their homes or businesses and the U.K.'s top 20 airports and ports. Airport Executive Lounges In 1999 BCP added Airport Executive Lounges to the growing portfolio of inter-linked products. For a small charge passengers can relax in comfort before their flight, while enjoying free beverages, snacks, magazines and newspapers. In addition to the above core products BCP has a range of additional products. Airport Hotel Bookings In 1998, the product range was extended further to include bookings for overnight stays with Superbreak Airport Hotels in the UK and Ireland and UK short breaks around the country. BCP can even provide rail tickets for airport and short break travel. Other Products and Services BCP s website also now offers customers access to Travel Insurance, Holiday Money, worldwide car hire (with BCP partner Holiday Autos) and discounted worldwide hotel bookings with HotelClub

7 7 Booking Platforms New methods of booking and increased access to BCP s products and services has expanded the channels of distribution in recent years to provide a range of booking platforms as shown in the diagram below. Direct Clients Web Travel Trade Contact Centre ABC Voucher Agents / 3rd Party Agents Rainbow System Database Rainbow Front Desk Car Park Management The BCP Airport Car Parking Service is promoted by most of the major travel retailers including Thomson Retail, Thomas Cook, Going Places, First Choice, CTTG (Co-operative Travel Trading Group Ltd) and Worldchoice. BCP works with British Airways Executive Club and Air Miles, bmi, Virgin, Monarch and a number of leading direct sell tour operators, plus many affinity groups and other organisations including the RAC, Civil Service Motoring Association, banks, building societies and travel insurance companies. BCP is also the airport parking supplier for the top six travel web sites, namely Expedia, lastminute.com, Opodo, Ebookers, Teletext and Skytext. BCP has its own highly successful web site in bcponline and an extensive direct mail database.

8 8 The Role of ICT BCP is recognised as the country s leading Airport Car Parking Booking Service with over 750,000 bookings a year transacted through the highly computerised reservation centre at Gatwick where up to 50 staff at any one time take calls 7 days a week. The BCP booking service was awarded the ISO 9002 Certificate for Quality Assurance in From spring 2005 bookings made on-line outgrew those made through call centres, partly due to increasing confidence in and use of the web, and partly in response to BCP s commitment to ICT, demonstrated in the diagram below. The Squeeze Although highly successful, BCP makes a relatively small return on sales. Out of this return all costs must be met before a profit is made. The diagram below illustrates The Squeeze on profits, which is common to many travel companies.

9 9 Staff BCP s mission is to become the employer of choice in their industry. The company is always looking for enthusiastic and dynamic people. The offices in Crawley (Gatwick) are a bright, fun place to work, full of friendly people who are passionate about making BCP a success. Liam, who is one of BCP s Sales Advisors, says: "I love BCP. I think the whole atmosphere here is fun for customers and makes me feel as if I'm going on holiday myself. I feel customers who are travelling become excited about their holiday when they book with us".

10 10 After a qualifying period permanent staff benefits include: Pension Healthcare Life insurance Travel insurance Childcare vouchers Additional holiday long service days Access to BCP s discount scheme BCP believes that staff members are the company s best asset and are vital to the continuing success of the company. Award Winner BCP has won many awards, including being voted the British Travel Awards Best Airport Parking Supplier in 2005 and Quite frankly at BCP we are passionate about quality. For further information about BCP s products and services visit the websites: