Guest's Car Was Towed

[Mary4068]

Hi All. I could use some advice. 

I live in an apartment complex where it is mandatory that ALL cars have parking passes on them. I included that information in the check-in instructions and my guest ignored it, didn't put the parking passes on their car, and as a result, had their car towed. In the check-in instructions, I also noted that there is street parking available that doesn't need a parking pass... Should I pay for their towing fees? To me, it was clear that the parking pass was needed...

Thanks in advance!

[Emiel1]

@Mary4068 

The listing says: :

"Parking: Two parking spaces are available as well as unlimited street parking."

Maybe include parking pass information also there ?

IMO guests are responsible for their car and if they ignore information about parking (assuming it is made clear by you), you can not be blamed.

Allthough i allways tell my guests the parking rules when they arrive, and then noticed frequently they did NOT read it.

Best regards,

Emiel

.

[Helen3]

Why would you offer to pay for something that clearly was the guests error @Mary4068 ?

[Mary4068]

@Helen3 My main reason would be to keep from getting a bad review...

[Helen3]

The guest could take your money and still give you a bad review. @Mary4068 

[Anthony608]

@Helen3 @Mary4068 - And they most certainly will.  I had a case recently where one of the upstairs rooms was incredibly hot, more so than it ever should have been even with the air conditioning on in the summer heat.  The guest alerted me to it and we had a duct work specialist come out who fixed the problem and then actually waited to see if the temperature in the room dropped. 

There was some minor duct repair needed, but added bonus the guest had opened the window in 90 degree weather and never told anyone that.  Had they not done that, there would really have been little difference in the room temperature.

Anyway, emergency repair work, checking on them to see if the room had cooled, standing by if it didn't...left a 4 star review.  They didn't say anything negative in the public feedback, but in the private feedback (get this) they thought they were making a report directly to AirBNB and didn't realize the private feedback was going to me (they had never used AirBNB before apparently).  The private feedback was full of complaints about how they had to go "back and forth" to get the air conditioning turned down (no mention of the repair work) and how I was a condescending host since I had originally asked them if the fan in the room was running and if the vent was blocked (common questions I ask if I hear the rooms are too hot).

So, no.  If they are going to leave a bad review they will do it regardless of how nice you are or even what the truth of the situation may be.

[Lisa723]

@Mary4068 No.

[Mark116]

@Mary4068 No. No. No.

Parking in our area is fairly complicated, you need a visitor permit for even street parking and there is street cleaning 4x per week, as well its congested urban area and everything is parallel parking.  We mention all of this in the listing, tell or message people and almost always give a heads up on street cleaning.  A few people still get tickets.  No one ever asked me to pay for their ticket and I wouldn't do it if they did.  We do get knocked on reviews for difficult parking, but other than gentle persuasion that those driving may not want to choose our place, there is nothing we can do about that. 

[Sarah977]

@Mary4068  No, you should not pay. Hosts shouldn't reward guests for their own failure to read the information provided and act like adults. Hosts need to disabuse themselves of the "So I don't get a bad review" mentality.