VIP Heathrow Blog

The wet and windy autumn weather is here and many lucky people are looking forward to a week in the sunshine this October half term, jetting off abroad. Many will be travelling from London Heathrow airport. If you are one of these people, this is not the time of year to take a gamble with your Heathrow parking.

What is the most important thing on our minds when it comes to the day of flight departure? For most people it is getting to check-in as quickly and painlessly as possible. Many customers have experienced the benefits of meet & greet parking which is where the customer’s vehicle is taken from the terminal by a representative on the customer’s behalf, to be parked in a secure car park. This parking method means the customer can go straight to check-in and have the car returned outside the terminal upon their return. This type of parking is great because it cuts out tedious bus transfers and having to remember where you parked the car after a two week trip!

VIP is a reputable meet & greet provider, one of the longest established companies at Heathrow, and is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this Autumn. Though there are many other meet & greet operators setting up every month and wanting to make a quick buck, they are often far less professionally run. At busy travel times such as school holidays, booking with less dependable, experienced operators can result in a majorly unwelcome T.P.A (Travel Panic Attack), such as the parking representative not showing up to meet the customer as arranged on departure, causing a delay and stress reaching the check-in desk, or a potential lengthy wait for the return of customers’ cars (not good with grumpy kids in tow!) on the date of return to Heathrow airport.

Over the last 10 years VIP has established a loyal customer base who appreciate VIP’s winning combination of value and quality which so few other operators can replicate. VIP was the first to bring affordable meet & greet parking to Heathrow but refuse to compromise quality to achieve this. With VIP, customers have the peace of mind that their vehicles are stored in a car park which has been awarded the ‘Park Mark’, an independent certification that confirms it meets stringent criteria on security. We have all heard the horror stories where certain parking operators were not even using legitimate or properly secure car parks – albeit such reports were found for Gatwick Airport not Heathrow.

VIP has always striven to challenge the norm and raise the bar for quality which is why many operators copy VIP. VIP also allows customers to tailor the service they book based on their individual budget and requirements. Prices for 7 days start from £47.95 with the VIP Budget Meet & Greet service. Whether you are travelling from Heathrow Terminal 1,2, 3, 4 or 5, VIP are the Heathrow parking experts to choose.

Loyal VIP customers can even choose a free gift such as a £10 shopping voucher or a free vehicle valet worth circa £20 after every 3 bookings* (*visit the CLUB VIP page for further details and terms) via ; http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/about-vip/club-vip-loyalty-scheme

Visit the VIP website for further information and prices: http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/our-services/heathrow-meet-and-greet-parking

Tailoring your lunch is easy but non standard travel requirements can be less so. Flying from Gatwick Airport but returning to Heathrow Airport? Or maybe visa versa? Sounds like a bit of a headache? How and where would you park your car? Taxis can cost a fortune and trains & luggage do not mix. However, this duo Airport situation is not unusal for VIP who have adapted to offer customers in this scenario a special parking option.

Sometimes customers find themselves in this situation when booking with an airline who do not fly both ways or that route is the most economical option for their budget.

VIP, the Heathrow parking experts, offer a Meet & Greet parking solution and a Chauffeur Parking solution as standard at Heathrow. ‘Meet & greet parking’ is where the customer is met outside the airport terminal and their car is taken away to be parked for the duration. With Meet & Greet the customer’s vehicle is then returned to them outside the airport upon return.

However, with the VIP ‘Chauffeur Parking’ option the customer meets their VIP driver outside the Heathrow Crowne Plaza hotel and is driven in their own vehicle to their Heathrow terminal where they proceed to check-in whilst their vehicle is taken away to be parked securely at the VIP Park Mark accredited car park. This saves the customer having to find their own way to the terminal which can be very confusing given Heathrow is the World’s busiest International Airport.

To assist customers in the duo airport situation who are facing a parking dilemma or having to ask a relative to help out, VIP have adapted their Meet & Greet service into a ‘hybrid’ which draws from Chauffeur Parking and Meet & Greet. Here is an example of the VIP duo airport hybrid service; Customers who are flying from Heathrow on date of departure meet their VIP driver at the relevant Heathrow terminal and go straight to check-in. The vehicle is taken to the VIP secure carpark for the duration. The customer then returns to Gatwick airport upon date of return and telephones VIP who then meets the customer outside the Gatwick terminal where they then provide their VIP driver with a lift back to Heathrow (unless they have arranged otherwise to eliminate that element and continue straight home). All options are fully explained on the VIP website where the customer can tailor-make accordingly via www.vipheathrow.co.uk

For customers departing from Gatwick, they meet their VIP driver at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Heathrow and drive to Gatwick with their VIP driver in their vehicle (unless otherwise arranged where customer is met directly outside their Gatwick terminal). Once the customer has gone to check-in, their vehicle is taken to the VIP secure car park to be stored until return. The customer then later returns to Heathrow where their vehicle is returned to them outside their Heathrow terminal.

The price for this hybrid Gatwick & Heathrow parking service is £88 (excluding potential extra charges) for 7 days. New customers can use the code NEWVIP for an even better deal (Terms & Conditions apply). So although VIP are based at Heathrow and specialise in Heathrow parking, they can be flexible enough to offer Gatwick parking in these scenarios whilst still offering a cost effective, head-ache free solution.

Heathrow only airport parking with VIP starts from just £47 for 7 days with the Budget service. VIP has been established for 10 years and is the expert at customizing parking for the individual, allowing customers to tailor-make parking to their needs.

For further information and prices please visit http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/our-services/heathrow-gatwick-meet-greet-parking

For Gatwick only parking please visit; http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/our-services/gatwick-parking

Park with VIP Heathrow and treat yourself

Many P.A’s around the UK are tasked with making travel arrangements for senior personnel which can be a time consuming and nerve-wracking process. In smaller organizations, often the travel arrangements are made by the traveller themselves, which can be an unwanted chore with mounting to-do lists and vital meetings to attend. The risk of rushing the arrangements?-missed flights or stressful travel experiences, which no one wants.

At least the parking part has been made stress-free by VIP the Heathrow parking experts. VIP even rewards loyal customers with shopping vouchers!* The VIP CLUB scheme is there to reward both loyal customers and those who recommend new customers to VIP.

Customers who book Heathrow Meet & Greet parking with VIP three times are entitled to choose a gift from the CLUB VIP webpage* ranging from a £10 M&S or Love2shop voucher, free vehicle valet worth over £20 through to special seasonal gift choices such as a luxury Christmas chocolate hamper. Lovely!

What’s more? customers who recommend x3 new customers to VIP, get to choose a gift also!

No other Heathrow parking providers offer such a scheme. VIP has always strived to turn parking (a grudge purchase and often a grim ordeal) into an enhancement of the trip through great value and a friendly, easy, convenient service.

Meet & Greet parking is where a customer is met outside the terminal and their car is then taken away to be parked in the secure, vetted car park. Upon return the customer is met outside the airport with their vehicle ready to be driven home. This type of parking cuts out the old fashioned bus transfer- which very few people enjoy.

VIP has been established 10 years and was the first to bring affordable Meet & Greet to Heathrow for the everyday traveller. VIP is the favourite of the savvy Heathrow traveller which is why every week 85% of the bookings come from those who have used VIP before or were recommended by friends/ colleagues. VIP even enables customers to tailor the service by their individual budget but never compromising on the fundamental quality.

Regular business travellers are advised to book their Heathrow Parking through VIP Heathrow Ltd via www.vipheathrow.co.uk so they are rewarded, whilst getting a Heathrow parking service they can trust every time. New customers can also use the code NEWVIP to save 10% off their first booking. (Terms and Conditions apply).

*Visit www.vipheathrow.co.uk for full details on VIP discount codes available,  CLUB VIP and terms & conditions / promotional exclusions

http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/about-vip/club-vip-recommend-a-friend-scheme

http://www.vipheathrow.co.uk/index.php/about-vip/club-vip-loyalty-scheme

This week has seen more changes to which airlines fly from which Heathrow Terminal. Already a frenetic, chaotic place, Heathrow is a daunting airport to fly from for many travellers.

This week, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have joined their fellow Star Alliance carriers in the new Terminal 2. With many recent airline moves, be sure to double-check your airline’s terminal before you travel. Have a look at the “Which Terminal?” guide on the Heathrow website for more information: http://bit.ly/WN214P A programme of moves is scheduled over several months.

Originally opening in 1955, Terminal 2 was Heathrow Airport’s first terminal and it was recently redeveloped and reopened in May 2014 renamed The Queens Terminal. The £1 billion Terminal 2 opened as the new home for 23 Star Alliance airlines, United Airlines, Aer Lingus, Virgin Little Red and Germanwings. It is scheduled to provide an estimated 20 million passengers every year with a spacious and modern airport facility.

Parking at Heathrow can be another head-ache if bus transfers or expensive on-site parking is involved. Meet and greet parking is the most convienent to park and is the secret of the savvy Heathrow traveller. It doesn’t have to make a major hole in the travel budget but those who choose the meet & greet parking service provided by the airport do pay quite a premium vs quality independant operators. One week’s Official Heathrow Meet & Greet parking can cost nearly £90 but quality, long established indpenedant operators such as VIP Heathrow Ltd can deliver the same personal parking service from only £47.95 which is nearly half the price. Customers can even choose the level of meet & greet parking service based on the budget they have for parking.

First time users of VIP Meet & Greet Parking can enjoy a special 10% discount for the PLUS & FLEXI parking service options using code NEWVIP (*Terms & Conditions apply). So if you are travelling from Terminal 2 in the near future use VIP Meet & Greet to ensure the parking element is one less complication.

VIP Heathrow Ltd was established in 2004 as the first to bring affordable, quality meet & greet parking to Heathrow. VIP has been successful in delivering brilliant prices but without compromising on quality. Customers using the VIP service can enjoy a friendly, reliable, punctual service with the peace of mind that their vehicle is being stored in a Park Mark accredited carpark for the duration of the trip.

Dozens of other operators have sprung up at Heathrow but many of these fail to deliver the winning combination which has made VIP be loved by thousands of Heathrow travellers whether they are flying for business or leisure. Every week 85% of VIP’s bookings come from returning customers or those who have been recommended to use VIP which is testament to the great value for money VIP provide. With ‘CLUB VIP’ the Loyalty and Recommend A Friend Scheme, customers are made to feel truley valued in return.

Visit www.vipheathrow.co.uk for prices or more information about VIP Heathrow Meet & Greet Parking.

The UK is in the middle of an airport capacity debate that could decide the nation’s future. As we know, Heathrow is the world’s busiest International Airport, the UK’s biggest airport and is subsequently bursting at the seams. Change is often a necessity and the bigger the change the more time it can take ‘in the making’.

Frequent travellers from Heathrow or those with a vested interest can now stay better informed on the expansion plans for Heathrow. Heathrow has launched a new site this week – Taking Britain further – to provide all the latest updates on Heathrow’s expansion plans. Find out more about the vision to create 120,000 new UK jobs, the global hub race and why a bigger Heathrow is crucial to the UK’s future at: http://your.heathrow.com/takingbritainfurther #TakingBritainFurther

At VIP, we think change and evolving with it is generally a good thing, especially when it brings many benefits. VIP has evolved since its launch 10 years ago, always taking a (rather brave) ‘lets shake things up’ approach to parking at Heathrow. VIP was the first to bring affordable meet & greet parking to the everyday Heathrow traveller back in 2004, when few people had even heard about this type of parking service. Subsequently, many other parking operators followed, set-up and copied the concept. Now, Meet & Greet is not exclusive/mega expensive and thus only for the rich and famous, but instead the convenience and time savings of meet & greet parking are being enjoyed by an estimated 25% of travellers from Heathrow.

Customers love the ease of simply dropping off their car outside the Heathrow terminal and having a driver take it away for parking. It’s a great, custom service with no annoying transfer necessary. Savvy travellers choose VIP for its meet & greet Heathrow parking.

Whilst the debate regarding the expansion of Heathrow drags on, VIP has continued to evolve and move parking forwards by successfully launching a range of service levels in 2013, so customers could tailor-make the VIP service based on the price they want to pay. The PLUS & FLEXI options are growing in popularity, some weeks overtaking the original ‘Budget’ service in terms of level of bookings.

VIP continues to challenge and raise the bar in Heathrow parking, on a quest to NEVER compromise quality but still offer fantastic prices. With the ‘Park Mark’ seal of approval (which gives customers peace of mind that the VIP car park has been vetted etc), VIP is the parking provider the competition try to copy, but very few operators successfully manage to get the winning combination that keeps VIP customers coming back time after time. Testimony to this is that 85% of the VIP sales every week come from returning customers or those who have been recommended to use VIP by colleagues. Loyal customers are further rewarded through the newly launched CLUB VIP reward scheme where after every 3^rd booking customers can choose a free gift!* (Terms apply)

If you require an affordable, friendly parking solution for a trip from Heathrow visit the website www.vipheathrow.co.uk for further details, there is even a special discount code for first time users of the service with code NEWVIP (Terms & Conditions apply)

Heathrow is Britain’s biggest airport and the world’s busiest international airport. The heat was definitely on Heathrow Airport this summer as they have reported that August was its busiest month on record with over 7 million passengers travelling through its terminals, topping July’s record-high of 6.97 million passengers.

The airport said that larger, fuller aircraft were behind the growth in passenger traffic in August. Passenger numbers in August were up 1.3 percent from the same month last year, the airport said. Passenger traffic with Mexico grew 15.3 percent and was up 9.3 percent with China.

Is this another sign of economic recovery with more of the general public / businesses travelling abroad or are more travellers just opting for flights from Heathrow? Either way, travellers still want great value and convenience which is why thousands choose to park their vehicle with vipheathrow.co.uk. VIP has served this airport for 10 years delivering a professional, friendly, affordable and above all else convenient parking service. When you are travelling from the World’s busiest international airport (amongst the millions), who wants to get caught up in queues, transfers and buses?!

With VIP, travellers are met outside their Terminal where their car is taken to be parked in VIP’s secure Park Mark awarded car park. Travellers can go straight to check-in and beat the queues. VIP returns the customer’s car to them outside the Terminal on the date of their return making parking as painless and easy as possible with this quality, great value Meet & Greet parking service at Heathrow.

So is this growth at Heathrow sustainable without airport expansion? Heathrow, situated west of London, is operating at 98 percent of its capacity, and is at the centre of a long-running political tussle over airport expansion in the south-east of England.

A government-appointed commission is due to make a recommendation on where to expand London’s airports next year, from a short-list comprised of two options at Heathrow and one at Gatwick, an airport to the south of London.

In September, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry said that trade growth would be best delivered by a single British hub airport with spare capacity, a view which would favour expanding Heathrow.

The airport is owned by unlisted Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH). Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial, is the largest shareholder in HAH alongside partners Qatar Holding, China Investment Corp. and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

Visit www.vipheathrow.co.uk for more information regarding Heathrow parking services.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/11/uk-heathrow-traffic-idUKKBN0H60QG20140911

Whilst we are enjoying a welcome last taste of summer here in the UK with the glorious September sunshine so far, we know the cooler temperatures are inevitably looming. Will we have weeks of ice/snow or another deluge of rainwater? Neither is particularly tempting! If you are planning to get another fix of sunshine before the year is out or maybe early in 2015 to break up the winter, you may be looking for inspiration of where best to escape- but without breaking the bank, visit this great article from The Independent Travel which unveils the top 10 destinations to visit for sunnier climbs during the winter months.
The travel search engine KAYAK has discovered that financially, the winter sun is much closer than most people think. The company have put together a list of the places where temperatures still average 26 degrees throughout October, November and December, but cost under £650 to reach. In November it is possible to get a return flight to see world’s tallest building in Dubai for as little as £266, whilst a December return for Christmas in Mumbai will only set you back £360.
Transatlantic, a return flight to Florida costs £464 in October. In November it is even possible to get as far as Cancun in Mexico for just £485. If you don’t fancy spending even that much, or prefer somewhere a little closer to home, you can still reach the sun in Cyprus next month for a wallet-friendly £148, or Tenerife for £169. (Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/cheapest-winter-sun-holiday-destinations-revealed-9721769.html )
Whilst you know that you may well return to a freezing UK but at least if you book meet & greet parking with VIP your car will be warmed up and waiting for you outside the terminal. If you do choose to fly from Heathrow and need to park your car, VIP offers the best value, quality parking solution which is uniquely tailor-made to your needs. Want the lowest price, choose VIP Meet & Greet Budget. If you want the priority fast-track service choose VIP Meet & Greet FLEXI. 7 days parking with VIP starts from just £47.95.

Visit www.vipheathrow.co.uk now to get your Heathrow parking sorted and secure your space as this service is in demand with those who are in the know.