Dubai: Now, pre-book parking spot at a mall

Dubai motorists who find it tough to find parking at malls will soon be able to pre-book their spots online.

Majid Al Futtaim, which owns and operates major shopping malls across Dubai, is running trials of a new system that will allow customers to pre-book their parking spot online before they reach the mall.

“Some people want to plan their journey before they come to the mall. For example, they ask for the parking space to be booked for them before they reach the mall. The online parking booking is in the testing phase at the Mall of the Emirates and we‘ll definitely roll it out (at other malls),” said Fuad Sharaf, managing director, UAE Shopping Malls, Majid Al Futtaim Properties.

Shoppers can download the Mall of the Emirates app and add their vehicle’s number plate in the parking pre-booking section. The time of arrival and the parking will be booked in a specific zone for the customers.

“Finding a parking spot used to be an issue, but today, things are more organised because the weekend has changed and the timing of people has changed with the hybrid work model. Even residents’ shopping behaviour has changed. Shopping malls used to be packed only on the weekends, but that’s not the case any more. Now we see malls are crowded on the weekdays as well,” added Sharaf.

The group is also running a 'Big City Centre Vote' campaign to help it understand what customers would like to experience in their respective community malls moving forward. So far, over 10,000 respondents have given their feedback about their preferences for dining, entertainment, shopping, occasions, future trends categories, and other matters important to them.

The study’s first-round results revealed that customers would most like to see future City Centre malls as spaces that offer food, health and wellness, hybrid and convenient services, as well as new experiences.

The pre-booking of parking service is currently free of charge. “We want to promote such services to our loyal customers. We have a dedicated parking for the ’Share’ reward scheme members. If you’re a ‘Share’ member, you get dedicated space in the Mall of the Emirates. And this scheme will also be rolled out in other malls. The system reads your numbers, opens the gate and you can park automatically and it’s free of charge service.”

Majid Al Futtaim owns 18 mall brands across the UAE including City Centre, My City Centre, Matajir and Mall of the Emirates.