Press Release
Visitors toting luggage through Charleston have been an ongoing struggle for the city within the small shops, tours, and restaurants who bear the burden of accommodating the bulky items within their small spaces. This problem is being amplified given the current staffing crisis within the hospitality industry. Hotels and restaurants don't have expendable space or staff to watch, let alone secure and store these items.
There is a new technology platform by BagValet that is aiming to alleviate this problem in Charleston and beyond.
Amanda Sheridan began BagValet, a unique mobile luggage storage company, in summer 2019 to address this issue. She then went on to win local Business Accelerator Cohort 12 at The Harbor Entrepreneur Center in spring of 2020. She, like the rest of us, couldn't foresee the challenges 2020 would continue to bring for a tourism focused business. BagValet was able to weather the storm however, and is now ideally poised to relieve understaffed hospitality teams as tourism trends back toward pre-Covid levels.
The service is simple but incredibly beneficial. Book online in minutes and your luggage is picked up and dropped off wherever you need it, allowing travelers the convenience of luggage-free hours before check-in/out to maximize time exploring Charleston.
“Our company aims to assist travelers to bridge the gap between lodging accommodations and flight times by providing daily luggage storage with the convenience of door-to-door service,” states Amanda Founder/CEO. Not only does this service benefit vacation rental and hotel staff by providing a quick and easy solution to guests requests about luggage options, it also contributes to the wider tourism industry in the area. “We recently had a customer who had a 7 hour layover in Charleston. She wanted to have lunch at a specific downtown restaurant, but was limited by her luggage. The airport wouldn't keep it, there are no lockers to store it, and no rental cars available. She called BagValet and was pleasantly
surprised when her belongings were picked-up, stored, and delivered back to her at the airport, allowing her to have the experience she would have otherwise missed out on.” -Amanda Founder/CEO
The truth is, every extra hour that vacationers can make use of during their stay in the city is another guided tour, meal, drinks on a rooftop, or shopping on King, which puts more money into our local economy, a large portion of which relies on these guests. In the 2019 Annual Report the Office of Tourism Analysis stated that around 24% of Charleston County sales could be “attributed to tourism.”
To learn more about BagValet call 843-737-3116, visit them on Instagram @charlestonbagvalet or visit their website at www.charlestonbagvalet.com. Keep this service in mind when you have friends coming to visit the Lowcountry!
