By Katherine Beaty 

I was recently talking with a technology vendor that provides parking guidance systems. When he asked prospective clients whether parking guidance is a necessary element or a luxury item, the response was almost perfectly split, 50/50.

That answer stuck with me, not because of what it says about parking guidance, but because of what it reveals about how our industry defines value. 

It raises a larger question worth asking: What do we mean when we label something a “luxury” in parking? Who defines it? And is that definition still accurate? 

The problem with the word luxury 

In parking, luxury has quietly become shorthand for optional, non-essential, or nice-to-have. It is often applied to technologies or investments that do not show an immediate line-item return on a pro forma financial statement. 

But that framing is misleading and increasingly harmful. 

Luxury implies indulgence or excess. Many of the things we label as luxury in parking are tools designed to reduce friction, improve safety, and prevent problems before they occur. Although those benefits may not appear neatly in a revenue column, they are clear in operations, liabilities, and customer perception. 

Parking guidance: evaluated with an outdated lens 

Parking guidance is a good example of this disconnect. 

Historically, guidance systems were considered convenience tools (lights, arrows, and signage) that helped drivers find open spaces more quickly. Viewed through that narrow lens, it’s easy to see why some decision-makers classify guidance as a luxury. 

However, modern parking guidance systems have evolved well beyond that description. 

Many now incorporate camera-based technology that can: 

• Capture and document accidents 

• Identify and record suspicious behavior 

• Support post-incident investigations 

• Act as a visible deterrent to criminal activity 

• Generate alerts for potential suicide attempts 

These systems are no longer just about finding a space faster. They are part of a broader safety, documentation, and risk-management ecosystem. 

If a system helps reduce vehicle conflicts, limit pedestrian exposure, deter bad behavior, and provide evidence when incidents occur, calling it a luxury starts to feel like an outdated and incomplete assessment. 

Safety and experience are no longer separate 

One of the industry’s persistent blind spots is the artificial separation between safety and customer experience. 

To the customer, they are the same thing. 

Confusing layouts, excessive circling, congested aisles, and uncertainty about where to go all contribute to stress. Stressed drivers make poor decisions, and poor choices lead to accidents, confrontations, and complaints. 

When guidance reduces circling and frustration, it improves both experience and safety. The fact that those outcomes are preventative rather than reactive does not make them less valuable, but it does make them harder to evaluate correctly. 

A parallel example: frictionless parking 

Parking guidance is not alone in being labeled a luxury. Frictionless parking technologies, such as mobile payment, license plate recognition, and other ticketless entry and exit methods, are often categorized similarly. 

They are frequently described as customer conveniences or premium upgrades. However, like guidance, their value extends well beyond convenience. 

Frictionless systems can: 

• Reduce queuing and backups at exits  

• Eliminate pedestrian trips to pay stations  

• Lower the risk of gate strikes and tailgating  

• Reduce confrontations between customers and staff  

• Create digital records that support dispute resolution  

These outcomes directly affect safety, staffing, and liability. Yet frictionless parking is still routinely dismissed as optional because its value is distributed across operations rather than concentrated in a single metric. 

Who defines luxury, and why? 

In many cases, the label comes from stakeholders who are furthest from day-to-day operations: capital planners, developers, or budget owners focused on short-term costs rather than long-term performance. 

That doesn’t make those perspectives wrong, but it does make them incomplete. 

Operators, frontline staff, and customers experience the consequences of these decisions every day. They see the difference between facilities designed to prevent problems and those built to react to them. 

When the loudest voice in the room defines luxury without accounting for operational reality, the industry pays for it later, in staffing costs, incident response, reputational damage, and customer dissatisfaction. 

The cost of mislabeling value 

The parking industry continues to wrestle with its public image. We talk about wanting to be more customer-focused, safer, and more professional, yet we routinely underinvest in the very tools that support those goals. 

Calling infrastructure that enhances safety and the customer experience a luxury doesn’t just delay adoption; it signals that prevention is optional. That is not a sustainable strategy. 

A better question to ask 

Today’s luxury is often tomorrow’s baseline expectation. The question is whether the industry chooses to lead that transition or wait until circumstances force it. 

Instead of asking whether technology is a luxury, perhaps the better question is this: What problems does it prevent, and what does it cost us when we choose not to prevent them? 

Parking has never lacked reactive solutions. What it continues to undervalue are preventative ones. 

That may be the real luxury we can no longer afford. 

KATHERINE BEATY is the CEO and president of Beaty Solutions. She can be reached at [email protected].