A control feature that automatically returns an elevator car to a designated floor when it is idle, ensuring availability at key locations.
Full Definition
Preferential landing (also called home landing or parking floor) directs the elevator car to return to a specified floor — typically the main entrance, lobby, or busiest floor — after completing all registered calls and remaining idle for a set period. This improves service availability for the most-used entry point and reduces average waiting times during quiet periods. In residential buildings the preferential landing is usually the ground floor; in commercial buildings it may be a main lobby floor. The feature can be time-scheduled so that the preferential floor changes by time of day, for example returning to an upper lobby level in the morning peak. ASME A17.1 and EN 81-20 both address parking floor behaviour in their control system requirements.
