Westgate Mall Parking Scam (Scottsdale: garage, stadiums, farm)

[49erfan916]

I went to a hockey game earlier this year and the parking was free. I parked over there by twin peaks. It was a 5-10 min walk but I didn't have to pay for parking.

[exit2lef]

This is no more a scam than surge pricing for Uber and Lyft or on-peak rates for APS and SRP. When there is high demand for a limited supply, pricing becomes a way of allocating a scarce resource.

[Bondurant]

Last few games I attended I went early and beat the parking police and parked for free as I have since '10. This change, however, has ensured that I will never again buy a Coyotes ticket direct (which have parking fees factored in) nor will Westgate receive any non-hockey business I may have there.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

Last few games I attended I went early and beat the parking police and parked for free as I have since '10. This change, however, has ensured that I will never again buy a Coyotes ticket direct (which have parking fees factored in) nor will Westgate receive any non-hockey business I may have there.

LOL, because of a $10 refundable parking fee? I can think of a million reasons to avoid that area and the Coyotes - this isn’t one of them.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

It’s a poorly executed miserable mall of chains and asphalt. Several cities have the same concept, Plano, Myrtle Beach, Austin, but all of them executed it significantly better

The acres of parking lot would have been better served as a garage with the farm land surrounding. Or better yet it could have never been built and our stadiums wouldn’t be all the way over there

It's a decent area to my eyes. It is kind of like Kieland Commons. Everyone brags about how it has "everything" there. I like it better than Westgate. But I get sick of each fairly quickly. A once a year visit and I'm full.

[asufan]

Same for ASU games, park at Macayo's, pay the $20 parking fee or whatever, get $20 of free drinks (or food) and walk to the game. It's a good deal if you're doing both, you break even if you're just going to the restaurant.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by locolife

This isn't a scam, this is free market economics at it's finest. A privately owned property is charging the general public for use of it's property to store your vehicle for a set period of time. Not only that but you were refunded your $10 by doing exactly what you said.

The venues do sell parking with their tickets, it's optional but on the other side of the stadium from Westgate. Patrons can choose to park at Westgate or they can go into the stadium specific parking on the South and East sides of the stadium. You can also park on the West side of the 101 during Cards games and get shuttled in from the furniture store.

I actually like what Westgate is doing, I can go to a Cards game, pay a meager $10 to park, grab some grub afterwards and end up not paying anything to park. They're making a smart decision to entice game attendees to wine and dine while out there, which as you can imagine is the only reason Westgate can exist.

Maybe the word "scam" is too strong, I was wondering if they sold parking with sporting event tickets, I guess they do. Like I said, I wish they could have made things simpler, yes I know I got my $10 back, but the price of the food was a little higher than average. The peeves I had was with the way the whole thing is set up, if they could separate the sporting event crowds from folks who just want to go out and dine and watch a movie it would be much better. I know it was a hassle also getting into the parking lot, plus we left before the game was over so I'm sure we would have been stuck in traffic. Walking quite a ways from the parking area to the restaurant, which didn't bother me but I'm sure it may not have worked for an elderly person or someone who is not able to walk that much, that might be a problem. But, I guess Westgate is not for everyone.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by Burning Madolf

How was your bill "a little inflated"?

In my case, I didn't get much food for the money I paid, and others I was with said that the price of the food was a little high, it wasn't any better than the food we could have gotten at Denny's for a lot less.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

It’s a poorly executed miserable mall of chains and asphalt. Several cities have the same concept, Plano, Myrtle Beach, Austin, but all of them executed it significantly better

The acres of parking lot would have been better served as a garage with the farm land surrounding. Or better yet it could have never been built and our stadiums wouldn’t be all the way over there

The location of both venues is quite a ways out there for the folks in the east valley, and like I mentioned previously, I think they could have done a better job of keeping hockey game parking separate from all other.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

In my case, I didn't get much food for the money I paid, and others I was with said that the price of the food was a little high, it wasn't any better than the food we could have gotten at Denny's for a lot less.

Got it. I thought they hit you with an unexpected fee or something.