Inconvenience with a guest about an additional demand

[Ece180]

Hello all, 

I am hosting Airbnb guests at times that I am away from my home, so I am not a fulltime host. I try comforting my guests and help as much as I can when they need something in order to enhance their experience during their stay. However, I am experiencing an inconvenience with my current guest. I would like to treat my guests fair and appreciate your opinion and input about the situation.

My guest sent me a booking inquiry and asked the parking availability in the apartment in case she rents a car. I told her that there is paid parking on the street (free at the weekends) and I can rent a space in the garage from another resident if she wants and pays for that. This is not offered on my listing but I did it for some other guests that arrives by car. She booked my apartment for 3 weeks. 

**I showed her the garage on her check-in in case she decides to rent a parking space.** On her last weekend, she asked to rent a parking space in the garage. I reminded her that the street parking is free on the weekend but she preferred having the convenience of parking the car without searching for a place on the street. I inquired 2-3 residents in the building to get the best offer and informed her about the price for the weekend, which was 10 euros. 

She agreed for the price and rented the slot. Later, she came with a SUV that didn't fit to the parking spot so she had to park on the street. Then I reminded her that although she is not using the parking space, I rented and paid for it and asked if she would be willing to compensate. She didn't agreed first and said she is not using the parking space. I reminded her that I paid for it regardless but I told that I won't insist. She said she will pay the money but she still complained that she should have been informed about the dimensions of the parking space. I thanked for her understanding. At the moment, the communication is not flowing as it was before.  

I am upset about the inconvenience that both of us experienced but don't want to take the blame that I am not responsible.

I am also worried about my review, I have few reviews for this apartment but all 5-stars so a bad review would affect my average directly. During the communication, I thought about sucking it up since 10 eur is not a big amount to risk my ranking but then decided otherwise since a good review is guarantied even if I solve the situation in her favor and people should take the responsibility for their actions. 

How would you handle the situation?

Thanks in advance!

[Gordon0]

Being burnt for doing something nice is anything but, @Ece180, and the guest has behaved poorly. Let it go, and don't resort to being extra nice to secure a good review. Would-be guests will see from any review this wasn't your fault. 

Maybe something to remember for future car parking asks. 

[Ece180]

Hello Gordon! Thanks for the advice. I actually didn't arrange the parking space for a good review but just because it was something that she needed and I could. However, I couldn't see the possible negative situations that might have occurred - lack of experience let's say.

I know now that I could a) never offer such a help OR b) confirm the dimensions with the guest and take the rent upfront.

Other than that, do you think there was something I could have done better after the conflict occured?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ece180  she saw the parking spot before she agreed to take it, right? So, It's her fault she didn't measure it, how could you know how big her car is! Oh, well, the next time you should collect the money from your guest first, and then rent a garage.

[Ece180]

Thank you for your answer! Yes, she had seen the garage before and I will definitely be more cautious next time for this kind of arrangements even in deciding whether I will offer my help. 

She agreed to pay the rent at the end but I was still uncomfortable probably because she didnt agree to take the responsibility.

[Heidi588]

I suggest you don't cave to pressure. You are far more likely to get a bad review if you cave than if you stand firm and hold her to what she is responsible for.

She's just trying to get out of it. She is resisting personal responsibility. If you let her get out of it and take ownership of her responsibility, it will be tacit permission to treat you even worse, and then she will likely nitpick or even create tiny little things, magnify them, and then leave a bad review.  It's like the boundary of your initial agreement is a container. If you lower the boundary of her responsibility, it's a small leak, and she will want even more of her responsibility to come pouring out of the container of your agreement. It's just how the mind works, not that everyone is consciously out to screw over someone else. People often resist personal responsibility, and letting them off the hook means they will resist even more. 

[Ece180]

Thank you for the support! In some of my reservations, some guests accidentally broke somethings. Like once a plate and the mechanism of the trash can another time. In both times, the guests informed me immediately and offered to pay for the damage. I just said it is ok in both of the cases because the damage was minor but also both of the guests took responsibility and offered to cover the damage. 

This was my first conflict with a guest, I decided to keep my stand but because of the nature of having a conflict and lack of experience I kept feeling uncomfortable and wanted to share. Thanks again!