Valet Parking Gets High Tech With Flash Valet

Eliseo Diaz and Juan Rodriguez were just two normal guys — entrepreneurs, mind you, but normal guys nonetheless — who were living out their lives in Austin, Texas earlier this year when an opportunity presented itself to them in a most unlikely way. Now the two Dominicanos are focused on their burgeoning mobile business, Flash Valet, which at once makes valet parking high-tech, and easier to deal with.

The way it started was that Diaz’s wife was doing work at the time that required her to frequently visit hotels, and thus, valet park her car up to 15 times a day. It’s a pain, it turns out, to do this so often because she would spend 10 minutes at the hotel and 20 minutes waiting for her car — not to mention having to carry cash for tip. So Diaz and Rodriguez got together and created the prototype for Flash Valet.

Now’s probably a good time to mention that Diaz (right) and Rodriguez (left) have been family friends since their childhood in the Dominican Republic, but became partners in a previous tech venture which landed them in the world of mobile payments. Taking that experience and applying it to valet parking, the pair has managed to create a multi-pronged solution to help both valet customers and business owners.

Flash Valet works by text message. When you’re ready for your car, you send a text message. If you want to pick your car up at another participating location, valet employees will bring your car to you. Had too much to drink? Text and your car may be dropped off at your home. Don’t have money for a tip? You can do that by phone, too. Flash Valet has also developed technology solutions for the owners of valet parking businesses to help them keep track of money, worker time and vehicles. The two claim it’s a win-win both for customers and business people when it comes to valet parking.

So far the two say Flash Valet has been successful beyond their wildest dreams. Shortly after they developed the rough version of the platform in June, they tested it in Miami to a 30% response rate — with no prompting other than the valet ticket mention. Now the company is being used in 12 venues in Austin, including bars, restaurants and hotels, and sometimes achieves an 88% participation rate, meaning that the majority of valet customers use the service. Over time, Diaz and Rodriguez hope to build-in incentives for the valet companies to increase this participation.