by Krista Murphy, Hotspot Parking Transit Taxi
HotSpot, a valued chamber of commerce member, recently launched an update to their already well-loved mobile app. If you work, shop, or play in downtown Fredericton, you are likely familiar with HotSpot Parking Transit Taxis. At the end of November, the new app launched and HotSpot membership sales and member usage went up, keeping people moving and parking in our downtown core.
With the new app, HotSpot also launched an updated version of their Merchant Validation program, an innovative approach to parking validation, which is a co-operative effort between businesses and local parking authorities, that gives customers the ability to waive parking fees.
Merchant Validation isn’t a new concept, especially here in Fredericton. The old program involved the City of Fredericton providing parking tokens to local downtown businesses. The businesses could give parking tokens to customers to keep them shopping or dining longer. It was a great program, but not without some challenges – the customer needed to leave the store to put the token in the meter and then return back to the store. They also risked getting a parking ticket if they didn’t dash in time. Even with these difficulties, it was a viable program that both business and the public appreciated.
As you can imagine, coin collection is a costly endeavor. Separating tokens from while tracking parking validation usage was an overhead issue that HotSpot was happy to help with. While the city meters still accept coins, more and more parkers are using the HotSpot Mobile app to pay for their parking. It only makes sense for businesses to offer merchant validation through the app.
And HotSpot Merchant Validation is super easy for you to set up!
You simply fill out an online form, then HotSpot will mail or hand-deliver a Merchant Validation tile to you. You are also provided with an online dashboard to manage your account. How much funds you put in your validation wallet and the amount of “reward” you want to offer the client is entirely up to you. You can set your account to auto top up, so that you don’t accidentally run out of funds.
Using the Merchant Validation tile is easy!
Keep the handy tile by your checkout, concierge desk, or waiter station where your staff can easily offer clients to tap their phone on the tile, and funds are added to their parking session.
Customers love how easy it is to validate their parking!
From a customer’s perspective, it’s also very easy for them to use. They need to already have an active parking session. When you offer them the tile, they open their mobile app, press Validate My Parking, and simply tap their NFC-enabled phone. That’s all! This keeps them in your establishment longer!
What’s the cost to you? HotSpot’s annual fee is $50 for the Merchant Validation program. Then it’s your choice how much money you put into the account wallet.
What are you waiting for? Sign up for Merchant Validation today!
