Parking: June 2010 - 19

government, Institutional  and Non-Profit Corner robert Baer
Launching Pad
This month’s issue is dedicated to valet parking— something very close to my heart—so I wanted to write about my experience. Prior to developing my passion for parking, I had a passion for the hotel business and a goal to become a general manager. Eventually, my career path in the hotel industry led me from a banquet manager in the Food and Beverage Division to a valet manager in the Rooms Division, and I have never been the same since. On my last night as a banquet manager, I decided to venture down to the garage and take a gander at the operation that would become my responsibility at the start of the new week. It was a busy Saturday night, the banquet halls were full, the restaurants were packed, and I expected to see some action in the valet as well. What I did not expect to see was a valet driver smashing into the back of another car just as I stepped out the door. I quickly ducked out of there thinking, “Lord have mercy, what have I gotten myself into?” It was too late—I couldn’t back out now. I was going to have to tough it out and make it happen. It was the spring of 1991. The Cincinnati Reds were the defending world champions, hotel occupancy was off the charts, and we were parking in excess of 300 cars a night. I certainly had my hands full and was not sure what I was doing. The hours were long and hard; it was a demanding job. Eventually over a three-year period, I started to figure things out and made some progress improving the operation. To keep up with the job and make steady improvements, it was important to have a consistent disciplinary policy in place that held valet drivers accountable for their work. Unfortunately, for those who failed to meet certain standards and did not pass muster, a trip to the “Launching Pad” was in order. The “Launching Pad” was my metaphor for an untimely and involuntary termination, which many young valets experienced during my time as a manager. My efforts paid off, and in the spring of 1984, a large parking management company recruited me to manage the valet operation at a neighboring hotel. My days in the hotel business would soon end, and my parking career officially began. I have been through a lot in the parking industry since those old valet days and as I reflect back, I realized there was another type of “Launching Pad” that developed during that time. For those valets who showed up on time, who hustled, who did not wreck cars, who understood the meaning of customer service and what we were trying to achieve, they stepped onto a “pad” that “launched” their careers in a direction they never could have imagined. Today several of those valet drivers are my peers, and I am very proud to have been associated with them in those early days. Matthew is assistant general manager of the very hotel where we worked and parked cars. Jim is the executive director of parking for a large U.S. city in the south, and John is a senior vice president for an established parking management company here in the U.S. My valet parking experience gave me an opportunity to reevaluate and adjust my career goals in a very positive way. The point I am trying to make is— whether you are a young adult looking for work, or a college student looking for a part-time job, or in my case, changing your career path—valet parking and the parking industry present many unique opportunities for those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard. Recently, my youngest son started parking cars for one of these hotels in Cincinnati. The sky is the limit for any young person. Who knows what direction a career will take if one takes advantage of the opportunity and steps on the right “Launching Pad?” 
Robert Baer is director of Parking and Transportation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and represents the Government, Institutional and Non-Profit Division on NPA’s Executive Committee. He can be reached at robert.baer@cchmc.org.

www.npapark.org PArkINg June 2010

Parking: June 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Parking: June 2010