parking attendant

shuttle driver

attendant

lot attendant

Towne Park

This is going to be a very honest review of my time and experience at Towne Park and at Salem Health.

Management: It's extremely obvious when management has a favorite employee. It's difficult to try and criticize or offer constructive feedback to management because they have a very traditional way of running things, and they don't often stray too far from it. When you call out or ask for time off, you are made to feel guilty so extremely by management, oftentimes I felt afraid to ask for a day off, lest I get a target painted on my back for the manager's favorite to take aim at. One good thing I can say about management is that they're very accommodating when setting schedules. Lots of young college students work for Towne Park, and management works with them to set flexible schedules that can be changed quickly if the need arises.

Employees: Most of the employees that work for Towne Park are very polite and friendly. I became good friends with the people I worked with. Captains really do their best to make you feel like you're part of the team; they're very welcoming. Some of the captains are management's favorite, and they love to make it known to everyone.

The Job Itself: It's not hard. It's a typical valet position; take the customer's keys, give them a claim check, park the car, and bring it back when the customer wants it. Pretty simple and easy. Very unfulfilling, however, unless the customer is a regular, or they were very polite and kind; a rarity. You are asked to run to get customer's cars, which is optional but highly encouraged. If you want to work at Towne Park I would recommend being somewhat physically fit. Knowing your way around different makes and models of cars isn't required, but knowing how to drive certain types of cars beforehand is a plus. You are also highly encouraged to know how to drive manual transmission, but captains can teach you on the job as well.

Customers: As I said above, seldom do polite customers come through the drive. While, of course, working in a minimum-wage environment will inevitably bring rudeness, at Towne Park, it seems to be multiplied tenfold. If you wish to apply here, make sure you have thick skin, because some customers have no regard for employee's feelings. Occasionally, some very nice people come through, mostly regulars who are visiting, and they treat valet attendants with respect and politeness, sometimes bringing us food and drinks. These people always seem to make the day brighter and more worthwhile; but bear in mind, these people are few and far between.

Tips: Tips are advertised on indeed as well as on their website. If you applied, or are thinking about applying, based on the assumption that you will get tips, don't get your hopes up. VALET ATTENDANTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ACCEPT TIPS. This is absolutely deplorable and sick. Not allowing their employees to accept tips during a global pandemic when money is tight and scarce is simply evil. I've had to turn down $20 tips as to not get in trouble when I could've used that $20 to pay for gas or to add to my grocery fund. Many employees, as I've said, are young college students who are living paycheck to paycheck, and tips could literally save their lives, or the lives of their loved ones. Employees are putting their lives at risk every day, interacting with random people and touching their things when they could very well have a deadly disease, and we still have to turn down free money. It's absolutely disgusting, and I say this in all seriousness, management should be ashamed of themselves.

TLDR; if you are seriously thinking about applying to work at Towne Park, I would highly recommend you don't. You cannot accept tips, and actually working here feels more like a chore than an actually fulfilling job. Management plays favorites, and unless you're willing to lick the proverbial boot, you'll never be more to them than just another cog in the machine.

Unfortunately, it is a high risk job. 
Even the smallest complaint from customers online will get everyone fired from that specific shift cycle. We were forbidden from wearing masks or using gloves during the COVID#19 pandemic because management is explicitly Conservative (You will immediately notice how the staff are 90% pale skinned). If you report any illegal or suspicious activity on the lot, you will also get fired. Be as unhelpful as you possibly can on this job.

You will often end up torn between making sure customers pay for parking and getting yelled at by management for making sure customers pay for the parking . Which is very frustrating. On slow days, you are rarely allowed to sit . On busy days, everything is grid-locked and middle management refuses to direct excess traffic to our competitors until it is too late. " Find a way to say Yes" but you will often be so overwhelmed that you will be forced to open all gates and set everyone free without paying because other departments have actively sabotaged you.
Different events have different parking costs. It is easy for customers
to pretend to be with a different event in order to secure a unearned discount.

I love how low tech the job is but with that perk comes the horror of how low tech the job is : You have a camera but none of it tracks license plate data of customers who sneak out without paying. All parking is done on paper in a manner that is so inefficient that customers get away with rushing through without paying. You have a computer but the database is not synchronized between networks and you will find yourself re-typing payment data often. Which is frustrating because even after you tell them how much it costs, they will still flip out on you over the price after they finish staying at the 4 star luxury ocean-front resort hotel by the airport. You have a biometric clock-in scanner but it often malfunctions in response to weather. You will often be dealing with malfunctions with self parking gates and the resort hotel managers will often shout at towne park managers to find a quick solution whenever malevolent customers manage to hack our outdated machines that we are forbidden from securing .

Towne Park can be a great place to work if you find the right situation. There are hospital AND hotel locations, which suit very different people.They have hundreds of locations across the country and a great path to promotion for the right candidate. 

One of the great things is that while each site does basically the same things, every account location is different based on the specific needs of the site. In the midwestern markets, the pay can be less than competitive (compared to other entry-level jobs) but the flexible scheduling allows people to work when they can make the most money. Staffing seems to be a systemic issue but if you recruit your friends it makes the shifts a lot of fun. There are a lot of good things about Towne Park, but as a manager, you are responsible for basically running an entire business. While there is some support, in some remote markets you are pretty much on an island. 

There are rules and procedures but there is also a lot of freedom for a manager to do his job, which is to please the client, guests, and staff. If you prefer regular schedules, I would suggest staying on the healthcare/hospital side. However, if you are great with customer service and don't mind variable hours, the hotel sites can be fun. Either way, you learn a lot of skills and grow in your role.

Towne Park can be what you make of it, honestly. If you have a positive attitude and want to grow in your career, it is a great place. However, like any job, there are down sides. As a manager you are the one responsible for covering shifts (ultimately), and starting pay is not very competitive in some markets. Which leads to non-committed employees. Which leads to call-offs. Which leads to other employees covering (or the manager). Which leads to burnout. Which is why I do not work there any more. But for others, they may have solutions that I didn't have so don't be discouraged to work here. There is accountability from corporate but also direct accountability with the client site you operate from. Also, as a leader you are accountable to your team. It is sometimes tough to balance all the different interests but if you can do it, it is a rewarding job.

Good:

I started work at a new location with a group of rookies. This was my first valet job. I liked the hustle. I was working in Midtown at a busy hotel. The tips, even with tip pooling, were pretty good. I ended up moving to overnight after a month because no one wants to work overnight. 

I fell in love with it. 

I met so many different people, usually partying. This has helped me to connect with people easily. I got to drive to many fancy and weird cars, Getting paid to test drive cars is not a bad gig. (Don't worry. No joyriding.) There were some "not-so-good" cars and/or people but nothing I couldn't handle.

The pay was $9/hr plus tips. The tips were nice. VERY NICE. Depending on the night and hours you work, you could be looking at $100+ on tips in one night, maybe two. (Friday and Saturday afternoon/nights) Morning shifts were good for taxi cab kickbacks (get a cabbie a fare, gives you a piece)

There's money to be made here if you hustle. I worked alone overnight mostly so all tips went to me. But so did the work...

Bad:

The Atlanta District of Towne Park Management is a joke. 

Management can find no one worth hiring, no one worth keeping working, and no one to work at all. They would routinely overstaff at some locations while skeleton crews at others.

Employees would routinely no call/no show without penalty. 

There is only one hotel left standing because of this team.

But lets forget the worst park pf Towne Park. 

The average employee.

Here's the procedure for valet.
1.Greet guest
2.Trade keys for ticket
3.Assist guest if needed
4. Park Car
5.Retrieve cars

Most employees have a hard time with all of these tasks. One location couldn't 30 days without accidents for the entire 6 month contract. Rental keys lost regularly. Employees REFUSE to label the keys at all, making their own job harder, well mostly mine or the other overnight guy.

Long story short:

Get your money

Towne Park is not a bad company. With that being said, there are a LOT of issues they need to work out. Their choice of supervisor was questionable when I was there, and all he did was complain and start arguments with employees. Very immature. The ASM was awesome, by far my favorite person in management. The person above him, a little less so. Seems as though all he cares about is making his client happy and looking good for his bosses, which is understandable, but there were a lot of times that he said things or made decisions that were pretty not cool. 
The pay is NOT, I repeat NOT $12 an hour or whatever they said it is. You get paid about $9 an hour and the rest you work your behind off for and HOPEFULLY you get tipped. Tips are in a tip pool at the end of the day. There are times when you can volunteer to travel for a weekend and make good money, but if you do this you can expect to work 2 or 3 weeks straight depending on how many weekends you want to work. They will not pay you the incentives if you don’t work every scheduled day. 
The time off is pretty lenient. It’s on a point system, and if you call in or leave early, you receive a point. I believe you could get.. 7 points?
There is quite a bit of drama between employees, but I suppose it’s like that everywhere. 
There is little room for advancement. Aside from my personal experience, there are only two supervisor spots and about 10 valet spots and the only way to get supervisor is to go to a different location or wait for a current one to leave. 
If you go into this job expecting nothing, you will probably be content with it. Again, a good starter job for younger people. 

Mostly positive experience.
Advancement opportunities past account manager are incredibly difficult to get.
Lots of good managers, lots of bad managers, makes a huge difference in job experience.

Culture depends on district. I worked in a district with great people and culture and I currently work in a district where the culture is absolutely toxic. My manager here is incredible, however the valet associates have 0 interest in doing anything more than the bare minimum across the district and its honestly hard to even get that much out of them without significant incentive (beyond base pay and tips). District management leaves a lot to be desired. They are again hit or miss but most are at least fairly visible. It can be difficult to get a point across or get support for issues.

I started valet while in college and never intended to stay in the industry after graduating, however i loved every second of it during school. I made more than any of my friends, worked less hours, and got to drive everything from dull economy cars to super rare $1m+ exotics everyday. Moved to management after graduating and the fun  fast paced atmosphere that kept me around started to fade quickly into even more fast paced work (but much less car parking) and very high stress levels.

Work life balance leaves a lot to be desired at the account manager level. You are expected to work 45-55 hours a week minimum as an AM. Assistant account managers used to be salaried with the same expectation for hours, but now, if you have an AAM, he is hourly, and can not go over 40hrs/wk, meaning you are now expected to work 50-65hrs/wk.

Pay leaves a lot to be desired until you rack up years with the company and often requires a move to a different city/state to get any kind of significant bump.

No benefits to part-timers, "useful" benefits for full-timers are either expensive and cut into 3/4 of your take home paycheck, or must be work related to get travel/hotel discounts. Team members get points for good behavior to get rewards like TVs or gift cards, but must work 67 years with a clean record to get enough points for any of these rewards. New management wants $25/hr effort out of a $4.50/hr plus tips employee. Taking tips home daily is nice, but it's not worth the hoops you have to jump through with the secret shopper. Also, management plays favoritism. They will choose a new robot to be a supervisor (lead) over an employee with a clean record, meets the requirements, and has seniority. The pay is fair for the work we do, fill out a ticket, park the car. When they added all the red tape, added stress, and reduced job security with no raise or incentive, it was time to leave. Also, a 3% raise for every year you work there (so I was told) was not given to senior associates or leads. It was promised regularly, but never given. Definitely not worth the added stress. Also, the job ads promise room for growth, but the only growth you can find is into corporate on the other side of the country from where you are now, supervisor positions cost too much for managers to handle, so everyone stays in associate limbo to keep budget costs down. Do not apply unless you're a high school kid looking for easy money, or a retiree looking to stay active. Even then, you might get shingles by 20 from all the unneeded stress.

What I had learned from this job was more about how to utilize my social skills rather than the driving part of being a valet attendant. Knowing how to greet and speak to each and every guest and make them feel welcomed is what was more important at work. Keeping a good relationship with the guests was a focus to every valet attendant. Management for the workers were professional and kept everything running smoothly. Team work and leadership was the main focus as a Valet to have everything run as efficient as possible. For example one person is positioned to direct cars into the hotel while another is helping checking in cars and while those cars are finished checked in then another person is parking the cars. Rinse and repeat till the driveway is clear. While working at a hotel I can understand that there are times where the days are either slow or busy. The workdays would be slower on the weekdays and busier on the weekends. Hardest part about the job would probably be driving certain cars. This is hard since not all cars work the same. Sometimes cars have different ways to turn on or different ways to drive the cars. Over the 2 years I worked at the hotel I had a main idea on how each car drives. For example knowing where the pedals, handbrakes, windshield wipers, parking brake, driving manual cars, and the size of each car. The most enjoyable part of the job to me was going to the job itself since each day had different problems to solve. My workplace was in downtown and there were a lot of different scenarios that I had to solve whether it was helping a guest out, giving direction, or showing how cars worked to my employees it was all enjoyable for me to help and solve each problem.

I will start off by saying that this is a decent job that works around anyone's schedule (ideal for college students). You get to drive some exotic cars and meet a wide array of different people. The coworkers you get to work with are awesome, there is a chemistry that develops after you put some time in. That is a plus because when everyone is working is in sync, money is made. With that being said you certainly have to hustle for your tips as the hourly wage is flat out awful. 

I will also say that this job can be frustrating at times due to the management. Account managers often over staff, which sounds like a plus to some because more people equals less of a work load, but given that the associates and supervisors share tips, that makes (what should be) a $100-$125 dollar day, a $15-$20 dollar day which completely destroys morale and willingness to stay with the company. Account managers try to offset that attitude by falsely promising pay raises that we never see. (Been promised 3 pay raises in the last year). 

Account managers are way too hard on their employees. They are quick to point out anything negative (no matter how small) and do not acknowledge a job well done, period. Sites are supposed to be awarded company outings for consecutive days without damaging a vehicle (usually every 60 days), but my particular site has been claim free for right around 200 days now with no sign of an outing in sight.  

In my opinion, the negatives outweigh the positives which is why I am currently seeking other job opportunities.

This makes for a great part-time job as long as you're lucky enough to keep a consistent, set schedule.  Having worked almost all positions within the company from valet to manager, I have a well verse understanding of how the company exploits each employee on every level. If you are driven and wish to succeed, promise of money is thrown at your day in and day out, however those dreams haven't become a reality for those who've been managers for upwards of five to ten years. 

As a lower level employee, exploitation is as common as a one dollar bill for pulling up a gentleman's new red Porsche. If you have an open schedule, one week you may work 50 hours followed by a 20 hour week.  Don't dare to question the system because you'll notice a dramatic cut in hours and scheduled shifts where no money can be made. The complete lack of pay for a job that promises 10-15/hr is outright illegal.  The excuse given is its up to you to make your own money from tips.  However with constantly rising prices to compete with hotels become wiser to the scheme that is Towne Park, less and less guests wish to hand over large bills when dropping upwards of $50 a night for parking.  

All in all, if you're looking for quick cash and are flexible enough to deal with an ever changing schedule and lack of support from above, apply.  If you are just bored and looking for a job to keep you entertained, apply elsewhere.  And whatever you do, do not 'Drink the Koolaid.' You'll regret it from the very moment you sign on.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Parking attendant 166 salaries reported	$15.95 per hour
Pt 71 salaries reported	$16.97 per hour
Shuttle driver 2 salaries reported	$14.75 per hour
Attendant 1 salary reported	$18.50 per hour
Lot attendant 8 salaries reported	$17.94 per hour

Working at Towne Park: Company Overview and Reviews

Towne Park

Towne Park Ratings

Popular jobs at Towne Park

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected