Apple Pay Expands to More Parking and Hotel Apps

[MacRumors]

Apple Pay has expanded to an additional trio of parking services and one hotel booking service over the past week.

Parking Panda, an app that allows you to find and reserve parking in advance, was updated last week to allow customers to use Apple Pay.

Parking Panda is offering customers a 10 percent discount off purchases made with Apple Pay between now and September 1. The discount is automatically applied after choosing Apple Pay at checkout. Apple Pay customers will also be eligible to win a free month or a free year of parking along with other prizes.

Parking Panda is available at thousands of parking garages, lots, and valets in 40 U.S. cities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The app can also be used in Toronto, the most populous city in Canada.

Parking Panda is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad.

Likewise, PayByPhone has updated its app with Apple Pay support along with location aware imagery, personal reminders, and smart notices.

PayByPhone, used by over 12 million motorists, allows you to find and reserve parking in advance, add more time remotely, and stay up to date about local events and parking-related news. The app is available in over 300 cities globally, such as San Francisco, London, Paris, Geneva, and Vancouver.

PayByPhone is also offering U.S. customers that pay with Apple Pay a chance to automatically win a free month of parking until September 1.

PayByPhone Parking is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone.

Meanwhile, parking reservation app SpotHero now enables drivers to use Apple Pay to find and pay for parking without creating a SpotHero account. The app can be used at more than 2,500 garages, lots, and valets in 13 major U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

SpotHero is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone.

Last, last-minute hotel booking app HotelTonight has also been updated to let customers find and book a hotel room using Apple Pay without creating a HotelTonight account. HotelTonight can be used to book hotel rooms up to a week in advance at more than 15,000 hotels in over 500 destinations worldwide.

HotelTonight is offering first-time customers that use Apple Pay $25 off their first $135+ reservation using promo code APPLEPAY25 until September 1. All customers can also redeem promo code TRAVELTUESDAY on any Tuesday through August 30 to get $20, $40 or $100 off bookings of $150+ when using Apple Pay.

HotelTonight is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

When making in-app purchases, Apple Pay is compatible with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, and both the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Article Link: Apple Pay Expands to More Parking and Hotel Apps

 

[tmiw]

My city just recently finally started accepting cards at their parking meters, so it'll probably be a while before any of those apps will work here.

 

[JosephAW]

They are doing it wrong. You don't hold your phone like that using apple pay.

 

[_mdavenport]

Anyone used Parking Panda in Los Angeles? Good experience? This sounds like a useful app...

 

[RedOrchestra]

When is Apple Pay expanding to include purchases in the Canadian Apple Store App - made a $50.00 purchase and had to enter my CC info - what's wrong with this picture Apple?

 

[campingsk8er]

They are doing it wrong. You don't hold your phone like that using apple pay.

For Parking Panda it actually is the way you pay. You pay for your parking before hand by reserving through the app and pay then, and when you get to the garage you hold your phone up to the scanner and it scans a QR code from the app.

 

[azing]

Has anyone managed to use Apple Pay in Paybyphone? When I come to pay it just asks for my credit card info, no Apple Pay button in sight.

 

[mdhwoods]

Has anyone managed to use Apple Pay in Paybyphone? When I come to pay it just asks for my credit card info, no Apple Pay button in sight.

Dumb question but have you updated the app? Had to update lastminutehotel for the apply pay to show up.

 

[azing]

Dumb question but have you updated the app? Had to update lastminutehotel for the apply pay to show up.

Yeah I've got the latest version, even deleted and redownloaded but I can't see the Apple Pay button anywhere.

EDIT: Just saw on their Twitter, they don't offer Apple Pay for UK customers...

 

[Lancer]

Not sure if I'd want to use my iPhone to pay for parking like that. a) many places you can be fined for just touching your phone while driving. b) someone could snatch it or you could drop it.

 

[RedOrchestra]

someone could snatch it or you could drop it.

Do you even use your phone or does it still sit in the unopened box you bought it in?

 

[kdarling]

Not sure if I'd want to use my iPhone to pay for parking like that. a) many places you can be fined for just touching your phone while driving. b) someone could snatch it or you could drop it.

While Panda might require holding up your phone to a QR reader, I think that PayByPhone is like ParkMobile, and does it all via the internet (which requires comms, of course).

One nice shopping street town near me switched from coins to a smartphone based only parking system last year, and it had an immediate effect: suddenly lots of spaces were available, because most had been used by senior citizens without smart phones. That was a bit sad, because there's no alternative way to pay. (And anyone is out of luck if they forget their smartphone or it has no service!)

Also, what I don't see mentioned here is the usual warning about privacy. These parking payment companies keep track of where each of us parks by name and vehicle tag, sometimes up to a year or more, which could be valuable data.

That said, I was quite happy to take my daughter out to lunch while visiting her in St Louis, and discovering that a mobile parking app I already had installed worked there as well. We nabbed a space right across from a popular restaurant because of it.