COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE PARK IT FOR YOU! “Are there any restauranteurs out there who can shed light on their reasoning for forced valet when plenty of easy parking is available? Is it because they want to limit their clientele to those who have enough money not to care?” [Carol, commenting on Houston Valet]
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Great example:
Both El Tiempo’s (Richmond Ave and Washington Ave.
The Washington Ave is closer to my home. I just park on the side streets were there is room to avoid valet. I have no objection to the cost. I just don’t like other people driving my car.
The one on Richmond is trickier. There isn’t much available parking offsite. Of course the light rail will go right in front in the future avoiding the need to park there.
It’s not a cost issue at all – one drink is likely more than the valet cost – it’s about handing over control of your $18-50,000 vehicle to a stranger.
I can certainly walk 100s of extra feet to my dining destination; I don’t need red carpet access to the front door.
Bill — what if you don’t want to park your $18,000-$50,000 car down the street for fear it will get broken into? For instance, the restaurants on Lexington off of Shepherd force you to valet, and I really don’t want to park my car further down that block near Hazard. It’s not a horrible neighborhood at all, but it’s a high-traffic area and the neighbors wouldn’t necessarily notice someone breaking into and/or stealing my car.
How does valet protect your car? As long as the valet driver doesn’t damage anything, the valet service or establishment is not responsible. Valet cars get broken into just like non-valet cars.
A friends car was flooded when she valet parked it. They parked it in fairly visible view of the valet station, and the valets watched as heavy rains made the area flood. Even though the water came in under the doors, and left about 1-2 inches of water inside the car, the valet service was found to be free of blame- like kjb434 said.
I find this story highly interesting in light of last nights epic rainstorm/flood.
Also, I was once told that restaurants had forced valet parking because it raised their profile in restaurant reviews- not quite sure though, can any of you Houston Foodies answer this one?
It’s one more way to generate revenue. It also makes a new place more prestigious to the 30K millionaires.