Dallas Valet Parking Comes with Controversy

I met a woman from Dallas who told me that in her neighborhood, every house costs at least $600K.she said hers was so big that she never even went upstairs, preferring to leave it unairconditioned since it costs so much and they never use all of the space.

I thought of this when I read that a new service is being launched at Dallas Fort worth Airport, offering valet parking branded under the airport’s own name. I thought, ‘who can afford that?’ then I realized it is Dallas we’re talking about.

The new service is not without controversy, since another company, FreedomParkLP, already offers valet parking at DFW. But the mayor of the city announced today that Parking Concepts, of Irvine CA will begin their own competing valet parking service in late February.

Ken Kundmueller told the Dallas Morning News that under the terms of the deal, Parking Concepts will have to hand over $800,000 in fees for the first year. That means they’d have to bring in 17 times as much money as his company did to break even. In addition, the airport will lose the parking tolls and the 8 percent fees paid by three existing valet companies for those customers who switch to the D/FW-branded service.

But the airport bosses are unfazed. Airport chief executive Jeff Fegan reiterated Thursday that “nothing that we’re doing here will move or impact or change the process with which the current operators are performing.”