CHICAGO (JULY 16, 2017) — The Parking Spot, the nation's largest owner and operator of near-airport parking properties, is proud to announce it has received the Project ICARUS National Gold Medal for its companywide sustainability efforts.

Awarded by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation's Project ICARUS advisory board, this honor recognizes The Parking Spot's continued commitment to sustainability. The initiatives that led to the National Gold Medal recognition include investing in shuttles that use compressed natural gas (CNG), housing two CNG filling stations on two The Parking Spot properties, developing programs to encourage recycling of all types, monitoring electric vehicle (EV) adoption and providing charging stations where needed, reducing congestion on airport campuses, and decreasing energy usage at The Parking Spot's facilities.

"Our Project ICARUS program recognizes leaders in the world of travel that are actively driving and improving best practices on sustainability," said Daphne Bryant, Executive Director of the GBTA Foundation. "We are proud to honor The Parking Spot with a National Gold Medal for their continued sustainability efforts."

This award comes just months after The Parking Spot's Austin East facility was designated a Demonstrator Site for Parksmart, the sustainable parking certification of Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). As the global green business and sustainability certification and credentialing body for the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) designation and other green business programs, GBCI designates Demonstrator Sites to recognize sustainability-related best practices in surface-lot design. This location was recognized for The Parking Spot's forward-looking plan to acquire the site of an old concrete plant and convert it to a parking facility, using concrete spoils left behind to create natural filtration of stormwater runoff. The Parking Spot left more than half the site undisturbed, preserving green space and acres of heritage oak trees. This facility boasts canopies for parking with high solar reflectance index (SRI) coatings, minimizing the heat-island effect, and offers EV charging to meet the growing customer demand in the Austin area.

"I have always been eager to help set the standard for sustainable efforts within the parking industry, so I am proud to have been a founding member of the Green Parking Council," said Kevin Shrier, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Parking Spot. "This award validates The Parking Spot's efforts, along with our plans to provide sustainable solutions that are in the best interests of our guests and our environment."

The Parking Spot is the first airport parking supplier to receive this prestigious recognition. Other recipients of the Project ICARUS National Gold Medal include British Airways, IHG, Microsoft, and Sabre. The complete list is available on the GBTA Foundation website.

About The Parking Spot
As the nation's largest near-airport parking company, with 38 convenient locations at 21 major U.S. airports, The Parking Spot makes airport travel simple and seamless. Our friendly, courteous team members, outstanding value, unmatched customer service commitment and industry-leading Spot Club loyalty program combine to ensure that The Parking Spot is the best part of our guests' travel experience. For more information, please visit www.theParkingSpot.com or follow The Parking Spot on Twitter @theparkingspot and on Facebook.

About the GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world's premier business travel and meetings trade organization, headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area with operations on six continents. Collectively, GBTA's 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its growing network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts with world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media. The Foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA's members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, see www.gbta.org and www.gbta.org/foundation.

Media Contact:
Carey Cifranic
Geben Communication
850-714-1344
Carey@gebencommunication.com

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